1.

Daily Journal G. M. Tate

Wednesday, 28 January 1948. It had not been my intention to open this journal

until after the departure of S.S. Marine Phoenix
from San Francisco on 30 January 1948 but the circumstances of the journey
across the continent from New York to San Francisco were sufficiently unusual
to justify my doing so.

We left New York (fl. M. Van Deusen and G. M. Tate) by the Commodore Vander¬
bilt, N ew York Central, at 4:45 PM on Saturday, 24 January 1948. There had been
a fairly heavy snow fall, about five or six inches, the thermometer was 18 degrees
and falling. The train was in poor condition and should not have been allowed to
leave the station in her condition. Van and I noticed on our way to the diner for
a meal, that all light was off in one of the sleepers j service in other depart¬
ments was disrupted and by the time the train had reached Harmon, normally about
a forty minute run from New York, we were three hours late. Van and I turned in
fairly early, waking about an hour before we were due in Chicago to find that we
were still at Cleveland and were then six hours late. Things went from bad to
worse and lunch was given to us "with the compliments of the New York Central."

Had we known before lunch, we would probably have eaten more.

Shortly after lunch we were switched into a siding, waiting there for
another hour while the coach without light was cut out. We moved on but just be¬
fore we reached South bend, we backed up a very considerable distance and waited

there for about twenty minutes. Several passengers who had been sitting in the
lounge car at the rear of the train, stated that we had struck something, the
women saying it was four children and the men an automobile which had tried to
race us to a level crossing. It was rumor, of course, as the train was about
fourteen cars in length and anyway the people sitting at the rear could not see
what the front hit. No broken bodies or machines being found, we moved on
again and arrived in Chicago nine hours late. It was dark when we reached
La Salle Street and the light in our coach, which was supposed to go right through
to San Francisco, failed then. We were informed that we should have to get out
and take taxis -over to Union Station and those people who had unpacked had to
pack up again in the dark. The switch was finally made and we went out from Union
Station on the Burlington Zephyr, an excellent train, bound for Denver, where we
would have to transfer again. The conductor of the Zuphyr did not seem favorably
impressed at receiving twenty-three unexpected passengers and having to fina
space for them but he got us in somehow. We had an excellent dinner and the
prices, service and everything else were much betten than on the New York Central.
We were due in Denver at 8.30 the following morning.

Next morning, the 26th, I roused about 5 A.M. and, going to the washroom,
found a fellow passenger, who wished to get off at McCook, Nebraska, and had
asked for a 5 A.M. call. He was incensed at the porter who had failed to wake
him, but had roused under his own steam, dressed and was waiting to get off the
train. The porter then came in and told us that the train had been at a stand¬
still most of the night, was four houss late and the McCook passenger could go
back for that length of time to his bed. The passenger's face was the only funny
thing I saw during the whole of the trip.

We reached Denver five hours late, in zero temperature, snow falling and
twenty inches of it predicted. Actually though the delays had approximately
equalled what would have been our normal lay-over time both at Chicago and at
Denver and we got away from the latter city for the trip over the Rockies at
about the scheduled time. Snow was falling and most of the time there was no

*

2

visibility at all. The windows iced up and when we scraped they iced almost as
fast as we could rub the film away. Could not observe much of the scenery though
what I did see was grandly picturesque. The run from Denver to San Francisco was
without much event and we arrived at Oakland and the S.F. Ferry on time.

Several of the passengers were English families en route for California,
Australia or New Zealand. I think England will profit by the departure of some of
them and those who stay in California will not be of any great value to the U.S.
One family named Whitear, father, mother, daughter of eighteen, son of twelve,
openly boasted of their smuggling of jewelry, both from England and into the U.S.
Pa Whitear being plied with beer in the lounge car by some soldiers who were tra¬
velling, on the last night sang nasally "God Bless H' America" and then tried to
put on the porter's hat. "I 'ave a mania for 'ats" said he. It confirms my be¬
lief that England is. cutting off all those parts which she does not consider
trustworthy and of advantage in case of trouble, Egypt, Palestine, India and
the Whitear family.

Van and I settled in at the Hotel Whitcomb in San Francisco, glad to.be able
to stretch our legs. I have one or two small purchases to make and have just had
a call from Colonel Slack, shall be spending the evening with him and Eleanor,
his wife, both friends chiefly of Major Rowe, so shall close this for the present,
bringing it up to date before leaving San Francisco on Friday.

It might be worth adding, before I close, that people here in S.F. are
shivering in the grip of a cold wave, 50 degrees j the papers warn them that there
may be rain at the weekend, it now being Wednesday , with the probability that
there will be more within a few weeks.

Thursday, 29 January 1948. Last night was taken around San Francisco by Colonel

and Mrs. Slackand had very pleasant time. Visited
show places, St. Francis Orchid Room, Top of the Mark and ended up after riding
cable car, at Italian place named Veneto's, for dinner. Everything drowned with
garlic and woke myself during the night by my own odor. This morning went down
to Matson office. No mail there and no change in time of embarkation but dis¬
covered what I have been wondering about S.F. The place is unfinished. There
are several branches of "Painless Parker", a dental chain which I knew in Brook¬
lyn in 1913 and 1914 but have not seen since then until now. What I have dis¬
covered is that San Francisco reminds me of Manhattan as it was in 1913.

This afternoon am going out to Redwood City, about thirty miles from San
Franfisco, to spend the evening with Prof. Spurr and Van is dining out with
friends. I shall not be able to write anything in this tomorrow so shall close
at the end of this page and start in earnest after we sail.

Prices in San Francisco seem in general to be somewhat lower than compara¬
ble things in New York but in the matter of articles we have for the expedition,
my costs still are lower than anything I have seen anywhere else.

Am lunching with Col. Slack tomorrow and now shall close the U.S. part of
the hournal.

k*— ■ — ~9r

3.

Friday, 30 January 1948. Yesterday afternoon went out to Redwood City to see

Bill Spurr at Stanford. Saw Marine Phoenix at pier

while passing in bus. One funnel, well aft, and looks ixtt±g like Great Lakes
grain boat. Bill took me around Stanford, showing me his office and general
lay-out of University. Then went up tower of Hoover Library but collection of
first war placards is not yet on view. Met his new wife, Hallie, and three
month old daughter, Patricia, and got back to hotel at 10.30 PM last night.

This morning started packing and Col. Slack called for me at 11.45; took me to
lunch at St. Francis Yacht Club, introducing me to another retired Colonel,
McCullough, associated with Jim in real estate business. Beautiful club and
had excellent lunch, then returned to Shitcomb about 2.30, finished packing and
checked out. Boarded Phoenix about 3-45 with no trouble of any sort. Ship was
built in August, 1945, evidently on war contract; markings such as "gun room
mess" still showing. Alongside us was another Matson ship, Matsonia, bound for
Honolulu, much larger than ours and well found from outward appearance. She is
in the luxury class whereas we are utilitarian only, if that. Found young man
is his berth sick but no doctor called to see him until well after we had
sailed; then he was given a sleeping draught and forgotten for the rest of the
night. Ate a hearty meal, however.

There are six men including Van and myself in our cabin, all apparently
bound for Sydney. Our sailing was delayed for about half an hour because the
Matsonia had to be taken out first. Van and I were invited to sit at the
Captain* s table, second sitting, and feel duly pleased. On our going on board
were given letters from the Matson Line apologizing for the condition of the
ship and stating that they had limited the number of passengers to 552. Obvious¬
ly it would be impossible to get any more on anyway. Passengers are about as
mixed a group as I have ever met. Some nuns and pastors, many children and
young parents and shall learn more about them later.

The captain, Johansen, a Boston Swede, according to Len, did not appear
for dinner but there are only about a dozen places at his table and no children ;
the other tables are for about forty persons and are jammed. We are fortunate.
Dinner was good, plain food, well cooked but the saloon is much like an army
mess, with the kitchens in the centre and the tables all around. Evidently con¬
structed originally for queueing purposes. Our table steward good and service
qhiek and coutteous. By his accent perhaps Dutch or Danish. Reflection of San
Francisco lights still to be seen in the sky behind us when we turned in at
10 PM after setting watches back an hour.

Saturday, 31 January 1948. The Phoenix is a roller if ever there was one. Our

bunks run thwartships and one slid during the night

from end to end of the berth. Passengers pretty well decimated this morning
and obvious sights of distress on decks and companion ways. Our ailing cabin
mate woke from his sleeping draught enough to eat orange juice, parsley omelette,
toast and coffee, so I judge it is not Virus X and shall not spend much more time
on him. Capt. Johansen still has not appeared but imagine we shall see him for
dinner tonight if not at lunch. Twelve men have to share our meagre washing and
lavatory facilities so the line started to form about 6.30 AM. There were six
persons at our table for breakfast, all on the elderly side and evidently sea¬
soned travellers, but of our cabil, only Van, myself and the man above Van have
stayed up; the others have suddenly died again. It is now 10.15 AM and Van is
busy watching some Albatross which are following us. He confided to me that the
one thing he would like to do just now would be to fish for one of the albatross
and spend the day dissecting it. Odd people, these scientists. Got a letter from

'U ■

1 .1 1 -

a 'i w . ^ ■

... ...

.

of pti -- 0 t

* - y . «r *

•

. .-...- . M-. -

X.-C' ' ; -iL i ..

- : -

-

XI- Cm- 0 4-L.-W ■ . ■%

•

- >o : ...i

d>- J'.'xj ..-a.'-' c ’ •

^ . --»<• . .

w t x;

.

ro-yf r.

::o;

" - «y frJ

- - — -

■

coi -Jcf;- ar.; ..

_ i .. .,o .! ,.a'i v : •

■JJ

■ r? Ji3 i>-- „• ••

I. f&Si

V: . iJ

L, .10

, -

• tso'jc 'x

SO

: V . .'v >01

if*

:

' 0 ©i

.

uoo . v.ri- o‘ro* I. o;rc •.

..v .i •-!-: L.; .c-od ...:

'I'-:- ... OijS.J

•/UU fjgj

Xtf.j-.

wla

' > . *-

••XC

\ .V X f\

< 0 ■ j*j . ■ — ■ o ■.

V. 1 1 \

•• . ... . : : '

:4 t-VTOOx

JV-J Xir iXd

.

■

'

:;i"'££>U j&is

, o i.: 6- ,

d X-

X,

• "...anc

v : .

kjL . c

vVtr...

->v. : i . •

iO

U'v ;

.: ' !. X: . v v

.?xr

tV.M V-

.

:.- '. oolo .<y -> rc. v j

.ixu’O"''': 'Ic J : ‘

oo '•

•-T

■-.olOv, S

K}.. i. x .

..U .ri.G i-

-J-fcTo

/do

d .. .i. j o *

, -j ( .•..'i". . 6\

. • V V- .

J •

4.

I suppose. Just for the record, I shall tny to draw a plan of our cabin and
the one next to it. They have a common entrance and not a sign of a door
anywhere in the place.

Sunday, 1 February 1948. Yesterday’s swell has ceased somewhat during the night

and this morning the sea is very quiet. Every¬

body is out pretending that they are the best of sailors, impervious to anything
the sea can offer. I omitted to sketch the cabin yesterday so here it is: , . .

_ tev _ _ _ SH s ,de'

/I

<

<

IDT

^ in*

—

—

-Two b«.vlV\4 j yne.

. Washr^m^orTWeAve.

. “Two \>e.vVV\*

- EAiiSYdn tc

CoV'VvAo'r'

Our cabin mates are not particularly interestinf but one old Scotsman, re¬
cently retired, has just spent six months in California, is now about to spend
six more in Sydney and then will continue around the rest of the world. Capt.
Johansen arrived for dinner last night and is pretty much as Len described him;
he is not a bit interested in his ship and is simply looking for the day when he
can leave her. This, by the way, is the last run of the Marine Phoenix on this
charter and her place is to be taken by the Aorangi, which carried me and the 2nd
Medium Regt., R.C.A., from Halifax to Glasgow.

The weather is distinctly hotter now than it was yesterday and tomorrow I
shall discard my heavy clothing and get into slacks and sport shirts.

The departure from San Francisco was my first experience with colored paper
streamers from ship to shore. I was under the impression that it was done only at
Honolulu but apparently it is an old west coast custom. The ship being still in
her wartime grey, the colors were very effective besides being rather touching.

A strip is such a tenuous thing on which to hang one’s departing emotions. Now,
with the advent of calmer seas and warmer weather, the decks are pretty crowded
and practically everybody except Van and me has a portable radii. The only place
we can get away from them has no seats but it is worth standing to hace a pleasant
silence.

Neither Van nor I has reached the point of knowing anybody’s name though we
have been introduced to seceral, mainly the teople at out table. I suppose as
time passes we shall get to know them but so far have felt no urge to be on any
better acquaintance. In a week the nearness of land will supply a little more
excitement; we are due at Pago Pago on the 10th, Suva on the 13th, Auckland on
the 16 th and Sydney on the 20th. The short jumps between ports will keep us
animated but I am feeling desperately the need of exercise as, as I always do,

I am eating with gusto and in quantity. However, six weeks from now and there
will be a very different story. I’m afraid.

The sick lad in the bunk below me was in hospital for ten days before em¬
barking at San Francisco, he tells me, but has had a very nice trip, visiting
England, Holland, Sweden, the U. S. and back to Australia. Somewhere along the
line he heard of our expedition and broke records by being the only man who has
not asked to join us.

Last night there was a bingo game, in whiph I did. not indulge, and today,
Sunday, the daylight hours are filled iith divine services of va?ious kinds,

a x ' 'MrL

• u r_ x ■ ; r; . ? ti& •

tw ?•: V ; a.

..XU: j r:: ,

■ .uv-

’ . . . ... . ■- •. v; t ; , - uu;..

; ‘ . C

; . -i.- - .. - - it. ! . . ii . -■ S.

. J

’■ . s '1 D ... .j'.j . £>!.;.• vi ■ r‘-.i ■ (..>•■ aT< ‘ 'Vv'iii

. xjj ax ■ . . : I V- •

\3 . \ ■ ..r

Btfij

j. ' '-"UK, 9iiujj .? j\. . V v C1C& -

... ./.v.'i:

. • •

. .... . . . -t

■

1

•S-J ' '''i ■ • . ■- ■ V. • r' ■ :'C ■. . .1 0

t . , ■ '/ - - ... *

i -•

I . . _ . ... . . i ' t . ... v_ .. . ... ... , . v* t. - - ■ t .

v . :i.-b . : : ? ; i • .... si ' - : a ...

- - ■ ~ ... i . ..

.t -as\J .. . r.. ... -a.. i--f- ■,

•?c ii:;.-. Limy . -‘.X Hii4 nc ..-vuL -»;•.? .•:<

... : .; X i -■■■• .sac ; ■

. . c:

■■ a.! I A..' - J ■ *. .. ^ . : y .

_i . ...

.

1 , . . .

*

. , . .• . • •. . li si.; '., v.:."- J

- i

■Jim* JT .. . - -

,J... t-l! 'O- , ; . • . ■ t.1 • .

o . - .

.-y...*rA JQ&- 3

•5?v

; I--; * ' - ■

f .

followed by a movie at night. Before very long I can start getting mail ready
for despatch from Pago and am very anxious to hear from Len regarding any new
developments. We hope to spend two nights in Sydney j I have written for reserva¬
tions at the Carlton Hotel, and there might be mail from him as well as from
the D.S. waiting us there This is being written in a hot, dark little room
and I am not able to see the keys very clearly sotf. doubtless there will be many
typographical errors. The readers can simply figure them out for themselves.

I'm quitting for the day now.

Monday, 2 February 1948. Probably the time has now come to write a few im¬
pressions of the ship as Van and I have just returned
from a visit to the bridge. Capt. Johansen wss not there but we were shown
around by Mr. Gobel, the 3rd mate. The navigating equipment and safety devices
seem to leave nothing to be desired and a great many of the instruments are quite
new to me even in name. There is, however, something missing to one accustomed
to ships and seafarers say twenty years ago. It is in the organization somehow
and probably is the influence of the C.I.O. and A.F.L. For example one rarely
hears an order given to a deck-hand and in fact one rarely sees a deck hand or
even a deck steward. The cabin steward shows up in the morning to make up the
berths but somehow I for rhe impression that after that he is through until the
following morning because John L. Lewis says so. One of the very junior officers
is in charge of our lifeboat, which will be too bad; describing the boat's posi¬
tion, he pointed at a grating and said something about "this thing, I don't know
what it is called". Poor staff work, I think.

There was a slight fog this morning and we only logged 377 miles during the
last 24 hours, as compared with 409 during the previous 24. Now the sea is tak¬
ing on a heavy swell again and there will probably be more decimation.

It really is shameful how some of the passengers are wedged in} one man,
Wilmot, an Englishman who is doing something in connection with educational mat¬
ters in conjunction with the Dominions, is one fo eighty men in a single dor-
motory. A lady at my table told me of a woman, evidently in a similar place,
who has had no sleep since our departure from San Francisco, who was found by a
passenger, not a steward or stewardessk in a state of collapse on one of the
companion ways. The only thing in the favor of the line is that they gave warning
of conditions in advance.

There are a surprising number of G.I.'s who, with their Australian wives and
one or more children, are returning to Australia. The propaganda to that end must
have been very cleverly worked out.

The weather up to this point has been continually overcast and somewhat
chillyj at the moment there is no change and we continue to run into rain squalls
and get very rare glimpses of the sun. I am working hard to cut down the enormous
supply of paper-back who-dun-its so that I can sometime get my clothing packed
decently and be able to lift my luggage without the aid of a crane. I think,

when we reach Sydney, I shall give the room steward half og his tip and tell him

he will get the other half when all our stuff is on the wharf.

Tuesday, 3 February 1948. With twelve men using our small lavatory equip¬
ment, there is something of a crowd in the morn¬
ing. This morning I think I was twelfth as I decided there would be a lull be¬

tween first and second sittings. I was wrong and now do my shaving and showering
between three and four in the afternoon. It works very well.

<-

Vaa and I spent a large part of the morning in one of the forward gun tur¬
rets, to which we are given free access on account of our scientific need for ob¬
servation. The sun was hot and strong and both of out faces are quite red from it.
The temperature in the dining saloon this evening was 86 degrees and for the next
week at lease it will get hotter. We are beginning to get better acquainted with
some of our fellow passengers also, and at this stage of the game there is not much
to write about save them, their activities and other such trivialities. Fvr ex¬
ample there is the Rev. Weems, in our cabin; he spent the first two days in his bunk
and explained to me that it was because he had worked so hard at digging post holes
the day before our sailing that his stomach muscles strained and unable to retain
any food. That's all right, and it's none of my business where the Rev. Weems
spends his money, so to speak. But there is a Mrs. Weems and a young son^ who is
travelling with her The boy calls for his father every morning when we are get¬
ting dressed. They go out together and a few minutes laterMrs. Weems comes barging
into the cabin shrieking for her son. Wrapping ourselves in some sort of covering,
we exp4&in that he has gone out with his father; she looks us up and down to make
sure that the son^ and father are not hidden under whatever blanket or other cover¬
ing we have concealed our nakedness with, snorts and leaves. It happens every
morning.

We do not cross the date line until some time between Pago Pago and Suva.

Capt. Johnasen says that the air mail service from Suva is more frequent than from
Pago Pago but I think I shall mail this from the first port anyway. It will be
two or three days before we reach Suva and I can make enquiries at the Post Office
at Pago anyway.

During the day we saw some flying fish, which prove that we are now in tropic
waters. There have been albatross following the ship almost since the second day;
and we had both albatrosses and gulls then but the gulls have dropped out of the
race now. Our nearest land at the moment is the Hawaiian group, about five hundred
miles away. Our day' s run now is averaging something under 400 miles per day.

Wednesday, 4 February 1948. The temperature in the dining saloon at breakfast time

was 90 degrees but did not rise at all during the day,
in fact was 88 at dinner time. There really is not much else of any importance to
record during the past twentyfour hours. Deck sports started this afternoon and
men and women in various stages of nudity have been running all over the ship.

They do not quite realize the ferocity of a tropic sun, I think, and there will be
some sore backs tomorrow.

The food continues to be very good but not much else about the ship deserves
and very favorable adjective. Time drags considerably and I am deeply indebted
to the many people who gave me who-dun-its and crossword puzzle books. The small
group with which Van and I spend most of our time does not constitute enough
players to make up a bridge four.

I think I can close this up and start a few letters for mailing when we
reach Pago on the 10th.

Thursday, 5 February 1948. Another hot day today, 91 degrees in the dining saloon,

but there will be at lease another ten days of this and
not much drop after that as it will ne warm in Sydney at this time of year. Then
when we move up to the Cape, it will get warmer again and I might as well prepare
kek myself now for the fact that it will not again be below 80 until I am practi¬
cally back in the D.S. again. Van was slightly under the weather this morning and
did not get through his breakfast or lunch. Seems fairly fit again this evening
and I judge it to be a slight touch of sun.

¥ ■**'

This evening before dinner I broke out one of my bottles of whisky and had
a couple of drinks with Wilmot, an Englishman who is doing some form of educa¬
tional work and is concerned with the establishment in the Dominions of bureaus
such as the British Library of Information in New York. It is odd that while
there are such places in most of the Foreign countries as well as the U.S.,
nothing of the sort has been set up in any of the Dominions. It Wilmot' s job to
look after their establishment in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa,
etc. Another couple with whom we fraternize are Mr. and ^rs. Speight j they have
just completed a world-wide trip promoting Australian goods and Speight has some
very good stories to tell. One of them is connected with the sale of gall stones
from cattle to Chinese firms, who make sundry mysterious drugs of them. Van
found a Chinese place in San Francisco which sold dried lizards, also for medicinal
purposes j he tried to buy one but was refused because they were a sholesale house.

A remark of Speight's concerning the willingness of English lads, who travelled all
over the world during the war, to settle down in Bradford as weaver’s assistants or
color boys in a dye works has given me an idea for another opening for the article
I slanted toward the National Geographic. Since the N.G. doesn't like the idea,

I have to get it in shape to offer to somebody else.

Friday, 6 February 1948. Tonight about 1 AM we shall pass within about ten miles

of Christmas Island, an uninhabited bit of landapproxi-
mately one thousand miles south of Honolulu. While not particularly a bird sanctu¬
ary, it shelters many thousands of sea birds of various sorts, some of which are
now flying around the ship making rasping noises at us.

About the only other activity worthy of note for the day is a fire and life¬
boat drill this afternoon. The fire drill of course was for crew only and a thin ,
trickle of water was produced from the fire hoses. For the boat drill passengers had
to assemble at boat stations, eomplete with life belts but there was no effort
made to examine the fastenings of the belts or to explain how they should be worn.

I think this is the only passenger ship I have ever been on where there was no

II AM inspection by the Captain j somehow, however, one does not expect it here.

Wilmot and I finished off my first pint of whisky before dinner tonight and
I think I shall use the reaminder for one party to which I shall invite Mr. and
Mrs. Speight and Dr. Lilley, an Australian Govt, doctor who has just concluded a
round of hospital inspections in Canada, the D.S. and Mexico.

Saturday, 7 February 1948. Just after I had finished last night's entry Van came

into the writing room with a tern which he had caught
while it rested on the ship.. Later he got a red-footed booby; he made various
measurements and then let both birds go. No doubt they were from Christmas Island.

At 11.15 AM this morning we crossed the line. There was no particular cele¬
bration other than a toot on the ship’s whistle but several people got up to look
out through the portholes and there was the usual discussion about the bump. One
woman insisted that the water was much higher, whatever that meant, and a great
many people detected a drop in temperature immediately. .

This afternoon, having nothing better to do and hoping that it would help
to pass the time, I entered the contract bridge tournament. Got into the round
of eight without any great difficulty and feel that I am not a bit out of my class.

At the moment Van is writing voluminous notes aboi t his birds of last night,
sitting across the table from me.

There must be at least 150 children on the ship and all of them between one
and five years old. That is, none are more than five though there are several of

4

« » «r

only a few months or weeks. The cabins on B and C decks, with no direct
ventilation, are far too hot for either children or mothers to sleep and in
consequence they are running around the decks up till all honors of the night,
their little brassy voices making the evening hideous. Fortunately they are all
at the first meal sitting so we can escape them there for a few minutes each day,
and they are not permitted on the sun deck. All the lounges are crawling with
them.

Sunday, 8 February 1948. This must be closed up and ready for mailing by tomorrow
nigkfc night as we are due in Pago Pago at 8 AM on Tuesday,

the 10th. There are to be buses to drive people around the island, I understand,
but think I would prefer to walk and see the sights. The buses are to take people
out to a place where native dances are being held but it does not appeal to me and
I think I can karcgxfcsaExx ferret out more interesting things than the trippers bene¬
fits by myself. This, therefore, will be mailed without any particulars and
opinions on Pago Pago. Those will be mailed from Fiji. Likewise impressions of
Fiji will be mailed from Auckland and comments on Auckland will be sent off after
arrival at Sydney.

Monday, 9 February 1948. The closing entry must now be made and this made ready

for mailing tomorrow. Last night Van got two sooty terns
which struck parts of the ship and dropped on deck and this morning Gobel, the
third mate, came in to the cabin to tell us that he had procured another one dur¬
ing the small hours of the morning. That one turns out to be something that Van
does not recognize and is probably due to become our first specimen, in spite
of my urging that we are not bird collectors but mammal people.

✓

9

Tuesday, 10 February 1948* A very heavy rain squall occurred during last night,

long before bed time, and the inadequacy of this ship
was very evident. There are not enough either of rooms for the passengers to sit
in nor of chairs for them to sit on, in the event that they are unable to sit on
the decks. Last night also was Wilnot's birthday and the final Imperial has now
gone.

At dawn this morning Pago Pago was in sight and very lovely; it is a pre¬
cipitous island, rising almost sheer from the water and is very mountanous. I
should estimate some of the peaks at about eight or nine hundred feet but all are
totally covered with a lush growth of green vegetation. The ship docked on the
dot of 8 AM, according to schedule and there was a native band, actually drawn
from members of the U.S. Naval Base, to play us in. Van had his glasses on the
shore line all the way and did not stay on board for breakfast.

Meals were served at the usual time so Wilmot and I did not get on land
until about 10AM. The main dirt road was lined with natives, all with something
for sale but there was nothing that interested me enough to warrant carting it
around for the next nine months. My souvenirs will be bought on my return trip
unless I see something that seems particularly lovely and desirable.

The Naval Base and dock installations all seem to be made of corrugated iron
and there is a branch of Burns Philp here; seemingly it is in the hands of a
native so I imagine it is one of their very smallest stations. The few roads are
all of baked dirt and the dock itself consists of a wharf not jutting out into
the harbor but running along one side of it. There was a destroyer at anchor a
few hundred feet ahead of us. The waters of the harbor were dotted with native
canoes, very simple craft consisting of a hollowed-out log, with an outrigger
attachment on one side.

The natives are of the usual Polynesian type; physically well built and
proportioned and apparently very good tempered. The souvenirs they had for sale
were mainly shell necklaces, and not very different from the things one might
see along the Jersey coast, and pieces of tapa cloth. The latter would make
interesting wall tapestries and I might get some but the prices were atrocious.
They dropped considerably when sailing time came near, of course, but I think I
shall find stuff no worse later on.

The houses of the naval personnel were like many summer cottages I have seen,
with open walls, shaded by split bamboo and raised slightly on cement blocks.

Those of the natives were in many cases simply circular roofs, with curtains of
tapa dropping down to the ground; during the day and probably whenever there is
no rain, the curtains are rolled up. Clothing for the women was largely the
well-known Mother Hubbard but many of the men still wear the lava lava, a skirt¬
like garment wrapped around the waist, and a sort of pajama jacket.

The port is saicLto have been shelled during the war but there are no scars;
certainly it would be/ difficult place to bomb as it nestles so closely under the
shelter of the mountains.

Wilmot and I wandered around together, finally ending up at a beer place;
no liquor is obtainable on the island, as far as we were able to find out. The
beer place was cool, clean, as are the people and in fact all the village, and
comfortable but we moved on to another. There we were met by the proprietor
who told us mysteriously that his place was full, and it certainly was, to the
point of smelling, but that he would direct us to the "best place in town". We
both expected to be shown into the local red lamp when he sent us up a narrow lane

,'ISV

.a- .

.

■-

_

-}#d , -m-v. •- t ; -.".i

o - - : ^ ■ ■-

-

, d.- •. .-i ■ -i •

& 'V: -j Oi -

if " •* ' —

; _ ^ -.,i -yi. :

r .. ;• '

, -l: ~'i ‘ :5f i , .-'"w ■ ,}i: ’.'.V

> .. v. : . £ » ••

. .

.. "• - ■ J

>’■ j. "it. .. j :y
. . i y\: .. ' - ' -i . .. - ■:! w

'• .vi, _;tJL • -■ ** *- Y ; -‘.’.i. •-

. .. — x - ( . -

c ' :: -.fj . -J ■ •

. .

■ - •, L .. .M : -- -i iT-. - • V--,. . . . '

-

' .■ >i * f ' - - r.o ■ -■ " v -*

j. , \:r' ' ■/, - ...... ■ ; -y-.-r ig". i 1. 3 rib’ j ’ vX." r 1 O ', ‘j'S'.J' X

J JL -X>-*XJ - y' - J ' - - . y- — - -

. . 3 . _ ■-

. . .. ' ■ ’ y'O- - .. - V” -

v<? • •ijj j- . • * ’• * • “■ ;

' i *; , n i , * • • i. - x

: , ' ' . <i . Y . - x

r-j -in' . ■.

.] -i, - -i*.'

-

, 1 . x.

. 3'- , ---

^ ^ - - J - -

. . ' .. . i, o. : :-0 J: 3

; ; .• »'i. .4 •

Y. • • - ,«-Y.Y YJJY

.

■ r . . . jo ■: ■- . :

'-..•'fx-.y’*:.

VL ;-3'i '.'ii

Cijo'iq

■ic.u . ‘.3 ,

•,e:; ' r 1.

.la 3 ■

. 1 .

. -

:•■ ; - e

J .. 1 0- . '

a i.*; • : -t Lor "

. ■- -'u

r.5»;

. ..

3R*r . ois -1; J '/j • :

IJl/m •:

.. CM- . ■- . . . -

;■ ?•. -.G :-ar.! 'il'iy -

. 0 - - - - - - ■ •

. ,.,'J Zi : 3 -ji: i! ”

> ....'o .ioiv; t : _■ . -;rt4

-lyiVC:^ .. J.-

- S. -i. 3v;-3.'' -

• i L: ^ " u v . i*4 . Tt

*

yj- - r

tv- ■

*'ro '

i o/f

Y .a'rO-Y i^;

. * J . ' . • 1

L > ; \i.'W .t'ii'V . . ©a-

•ass . ■. ‘ 'I ^ ■- _ ■.. . ■? -

i. :
ooJ iy ..

.

,

.

. ,&c. -i . -

■’W ■ ••

f.’SEffi' .'!»i

S3;j.i . O'!

, ’.i -■•••

■

and instructed us to go in the "place with the bicycle in front of it" but it
turned out to be a much less crowded and more pleasant joint than the other.

There we had a little more beer and then wandered as far as we could go up the
side of the nearest mountain.

Returning from our climb, we walked along the harbor shore and there were
caught in a sudden very heavy rain shower, after which we returned to the ship,
it being lunch time. Immediately after lunch we hoisted the anchor, took our
hawsers aboard again and started off for Fiji, travelling about WSW. We cross
the date line tonight and therefore Wednesday, 11 February 1948 will not appear
in this journal at all. Tomorrow is Thursday, 12 February 1948.

Temperature ej.sh.ore was srim± about 92 and in the dining saloon it was 95.

Dr. Lilley engaged one of the local chiefs in conversation and was told that
the Samoans feel they are being exploited by the U.S. It is not a new story, of
course, but the feeling may have been rather intensified by the fact that British
Samoa has recently been raised to the status of Crown Colony, and is self-administ-
ered.

We steamed out of the harbor at 2 PM and a plane circled ovgg^gad and then
headed away in the opposite direction from ours. I was able to xissd: some air-mail

away and trust it was being carried on that plane.

Thursday, 12 February 1948. The island on which Pago Pago is situated is

named Tua Tula, just for the record, and on
waking this morning we were abreast of another island Nauafua, a not very large
place planted extensively with coconut palms. It was about seven or eight miles
on our starboard.

The newspaper this morning contained the disturbing news that all the rail¬
ways in the state of Queensland are on strike and the government proposes to fight
them. We cannot take any chances in the matter of getting to Cairns so I wired to
a friend of Wilmot's (radioed, of course, not wired) at the British Education
Council to make plane reservations for us from Sydney to Brisbane on the 23rd.

Copy of the radio follows :-
Thomas, Britcoun, Sydney.

Assistance requested please reserve two air passages Sydney Brisbane 23rd Febru¬
ary names Tate and Vandeusen excess baggage hundred pounds. Wilmot.

Full address: A.J. Thomas, British Council, 104 Hunter Street, cor. Philip.

I can get a letter off to Len from Suva tomorrow to keep him informed and
should receive word of any new developments on my arrival at Sydney.

This has to be finished this day in order to be ready for mailing at Suva.

We arrive at 8 AM and leave at 11, everybody having to be back an board at 10.30
AM. If I have breakfast on board, there will not be time to do much else but mail
my letters. Frank, the cabin steward, just came in to ask about landing baggage
at Sydney and in several respects the trip seems to be drawing to a close. We
had a birth on board a couple of nights ago and in general the passengers have
been behaving very well, everything considered. There have been many things hap¬
pen that should not and many things have not happened which should have and for
which the line is extremely culpable j they have fully lived up to their reputation
for taking as much and giving as little as possible.

tffi n.
yy Is, i

-

awSSOfs'.#* jj&JtM .'.' " "SCriy

a;:... t- *i .

f rt. ■ ■ i'S

'

1 U lc- '■$?• '

, . . -W .. . / •'■

■ , j ' , . .

j - : ; z. : s*vo .a . ■

, j .UGG,

. .. . : :;1 Ku-.V'., ■! v - .:,v ,<S ■;*

0 Si- — ■ f v|{' •

. .. .• .. - i- 3t' CO

a ' ■-

• . iJ'. - . , - . vv ..

T ,i

-i. ' . c V

•• 1 y. •?*>■'. /i- ..:•

•■y y, . si I/:- u , a

.

) iU.

,<j3 . . . y.i

* - - - * •

; _ - ...

, . ... yJ

iac .

e

Sv.y .;. i

■ a - :..,2 . : y. ' - - ^ c j a .... ..

a.o ■ a . y a . — j ; av •.. ..... ; ■ ■ 1 ..Lay

. ... . t a. . ... . -

... J , . . .. . . .. . ‘. - * - ^ • •’ - • . . .‘w . j

. ., a

...., . • . :v

.

,t ! : i .' .> /- a ' Jc r. a : ss- yy ; . . ..,

a ,.■■■ , . -■... a .' >'•. ■ .... .. a a .

11

Friday, 13 February 1948. Last night about 8.30 PM we passed the first light

at the Fiji group and this morning at 6.30 we began
to enter Suva harbor, On our right there was a quite populous and large town
and on the left rows of formidable mountains faded back into the distance. Most
of us/, myself included, had arranged to omit breakfast on board, preferring to
tkae a chance on what we could get ashore as our time was limited to 2§ hours.

My cabin mates were all up and wandering around when I got up.

There were not very many people on stssk the dock xsk when we tied up and
two ocean-going ships at the wharf before us, showed that a steamer here is not
the novelty tt is in Pago. A few Fijian native police were there, dressed in
blue tunics with silver buttons, white lava-lavas with scalloped bottoms and
nothing on their huge fuzzy knots of hair.

Last night Wilmot feeling it to be a matter of duty, had radioed to the
Director of Education at Suva who was at the dock to meet him. I was included in
the party and we were taken to his house, a lovely cool and open sort of place
on a headland overlooking the sea, for breakfast. We were introduced to his wife
and had an excellent breakfast, after which our shoes were cleaned for us as we
were to be presented to his Excellency, Mr. Brian Freeston, the Governor of Fiji.

I was wearing khaki trousers and shirt and was considered appropriately dressed;
Wilmot had an old blue shirt and tweed trousers and had to be given a tie and a
linen coat. Hayden, the Director of Education, evidently had carte blanche on
all taxis, of which there are many in Suva, and our progress from breakfast on
was a glorious ride ana around and through the beautiful grounds of the Residency.

Wilmot had educational business to discuss with Hayden and His Excellency
so I was turned over 'to a Major Sears? to be taken care of. After the business
had been concluded, the Governor drove us around in his official car with the
Union Jack attached to the front. Sentries sprung to attention and presented
arms all over the place, we were able to buy a bottle of whisky for 12/-, and
in general we had a most delightful time. I am grateful both to Wilmot and to
Hayden.

Back on board shortly after 10.30 AM and away at 11 AM. The opening in the
coral reef, which I had not seen on our way in, was clearly marked though the
sea was very quiet and breaking only in small ripples over the reef. Once through
the reef the pilot was dropped and we steamed awayj now it is 2.30 PM and we still
have islands in the distance east and west of us. The Governor of Fiji has an
area of about 230,000 square miles under his control.

There must be a population of several thousand in Suva and Indian indentured
labor is becoming something of a problem. The Indians were brought in some years
ago and are an industrious lot, good workers and breeders. The Fijian native,
is a delightful and cheerful soul but does not like to work. Consequently the
Indians now outnumber the native Fijians and worry them somewhat. The approxi¬
mate figures of population run something like 130,000 Indians, 128,000 Fijians
and 30,000 shites. The Fijians, while worried slightly, seem perfectly willing
to let the white population worry about the Indians.

Burns, Philp have a very large installation here and run a large (almost)
department store. I had neither time nor need to introduce myself there particu¬
larly in view of xy our very short stay. Compared with Pago, however, Suva is a
bustling metropolis though further out on its island. Vita Laveu?, the Fijian be¬
comes a very primitive fellow.

12.

I was able to get letters away by air, including one to Len to tell him of
our proposed flight from Sydney to hriBbane but there was nothing more in the
paper this morning about the strike. There is, however, an ominous paragraph
dealing with the consumption of gold reserves by the British Commonwealth and
the stock market slump in London and New York does not seem to ease at all.

Another general alarm for boat drill has just rung so I had better close unis
up for the present. The boat drills seem to be held after departure from each
port, presumably as instruction to whatever passengers were taken on at that port.
Auckland comes next so there will be only one more drill, I trust. >>e are due at
Auckland on Monday, the 16 th.

Saturday, 14 February 1948. Fairly heavy swell running all last night and today,

with strong head winds but temperature quite a bit
lower and comfortable. Highest record during the trip has been 96 degrees^.

Morning paper reports strike still going on in Queensland so hope that plane
reservations have been obtained. Wilmot went ot bed last night with a tempera¬
ture of 103 but seems well today and talks of getting up for dinner this evening.
Auckland passengers, of which he is one, are beginning to start their packing
now and there is at last an air of approaching the end of the trip. For myself,
shall be glad to do and get on with the job.

No land in sight today, of course, and next land sighted will be North
Island, New Zealand. There is a report going around to the effect that nobody
will be permitted ashore in Auckland other than disembarking passengers; I rather
doubt it myself but possibly others will be held on board until N.Z. passengers
are cleared by customs.

Van tells me that the flash bulbs he is carrying will explode if plane
reaches 12,000 or 15,000 feet. Shall have to check this but there are no hills
more than 4,000 feet between Sydney and Brisbane and probably we shall not reach
any altitude more than 10,000 at the outside.

Will finish and get this installment ready for mailing tomorrow aid write
regarding Auckland from Sydney. Speight, who I learn, is a Swift Company man,
has offered the services of his firm should we have any difficulty in obtaining
plane passages. Burns, Philp, too, would help, I am sure, though we have had
no contact with the Sydney branch.

Sunday, 15 February 1948. Strong head winds and heavy swell continued all through

the night and this morning. Our departure from Auckland
tomorrow has been delayed one hour and probably we shall be that much behind in
our arrival. Sydney passengers are being allowed ashore after all New Zealand
passengers have been cleared by the Customs and Immigration people, and children
under 16 years are to be held on board on account of severe outbreak of Polio in
Auckland.

This evening we shall have a final party for the members of our table and
consume what is left of the two bottles of scotch we were collectively able to
procure at Suva.

Wilmot and I estimated the income per trip for the Marine Phoenix at about
a quarter of a million; we were unable to figure expenses and costs but are con¬
vinced that there is a mighty fine profit shown.

Monday, 16 February 1948. This morning I woke to see from my porthole, to the

starboard, what looked like abrupt hills rising direct
from the water but after the haze of dawn cleared I could see that the ship was in
the middle of a large, land-locked bay. The sea had moderated but we were about
three hours late in making our dock and breakfast was served at the usual hour and
sittings. Passengers for Auckland had to have their baggage ready by 8 AM but that
was the only preliminary preparation.

After breakfast we steamed slowly along the bay which gradually closed in;
finally we made a sudden turn to starboard into an inlet from the bay and Auckland
lay before us, on both sides of the inlet. It looked a busy place. On our left
was a flying boat basin and on the right the Navy lard, in which two cruisers and
a destroyer were at anchor. A press boat came out xhh to meet us and I was inter¬
viewed by a couple of pleasant lads whose subsequent article in the Auckland Star
was restrained and reasonable.

Something over a hundred passengers left the ship here, including Charles
Wilmot, whose brother, I found out, either was or is Minister of Supply in
England.

The business of taking baggage down to the dock and the process of exami¬
nation was the most disgracefully sloppy job I have ever seen in connection with
anything pertaining to the sea. Baggage was shot from a chute, many pieces were
ripped and torn anu the men who received the bags on the dock just dumped them
anywhere. The letters of the alphabet were not separated as they have been in any
other port I have ever seen, but grouped A-E, F-K, L-P, and Q-Z. Thus the baggage
of at least seven persons was all piled up in one heap. The unloading is done by
the dock workers, who are highly and horribly unionized and as it was noon when
the baggage reached the dock, they quit work then and nothing further was done
until 1 PM. wilmot. Van and I went ashore together and Wilmot decided to come
back later in the afternoon rather than wait for his stuff to reach the wharf. A
room had been reserved for him by his agent at Wellington but to his dismay he
found that he could not get a drink there as he was an honorary, bot a subscribing
member of the club in which the room was.

fie went a little further and found a beer bar in the Grand Hotel, which
could have been almost any one of many inns in England that I have been in. After
our beer we had an excellent lunch. Van mailed our letters and went up to the
Museum, a war Memorial, while Charles and I went over the town and ended at the
Art Museum. The paintings were pretty bad but the things concerning Hew Zealand
were of considerable interest/.

The town itself is rather on the dingy side ana the prices of articles in
the shop windows was very high. The dollar is worth 6/l but even at that rate
of exchange I would estimate the prices that I saw as the same or higher than in
New York. Some of the passengers who have returned from visits to New York,

London, Paris, etc. will, I imagine, have some difficulty in readjusting to New
Zealand small- town conditions.

As far as I can tell, we have not taken on as many passengers as we dis¬
embarked, at least judging from the empty seats at dinner. We are now heading
noth, retracing our track of the morning for a time, and then turn due weat. In¬
structions have been given to batten down tight so heavy weather must be expected.
Crossing the Tasman Sea we shall receive the full force of weather straight from
the South Pole as there is nothing between us now and the Antarctic. However, we
are due in Sydney at 8 AM on the 20th and then the next chapter of the journey
starts.

Tuesday, 17 February, 1948. The light in the reading and writing rooms is so

poor in the evening and also during the day that
I have been writing this in the cabin for the last few days. He are the

fortunate psssessors of two portholes. X thinlc X omitted to say that this hell

ship is certified for only 248 pwesons; we have 552 passengers pips whatever
the crew is.

This morning we rounded North Cape, Mew Zealand, and headed due west for
Sydney, about 5 AM. On looking out about 7 AM, the sea was almost glassy, with

an underlying heave and swell. There was hardly a ripplp disturbing the surface

but the bows of the ship passed through an arc of something like 25 degrees.

On our starboard, three rugged crags stuck up from the water. They
are called the Three Kings and are joined together by a line of smaller
separated rocks, the whole looking lomething like half a lower jaw. There are
no inhabitants ana according to the chart are the last bits of land we see
until the coast of Australia heaves into sight sometime during the night og
the 19th.

My stock of who-done-its has made the journey somewhat less tedious
for many of the passengers but it has been monotonous in the extreme. I wonder
how I have managed to fill fourteen pages of this, but at least it is practice
and I have learned in the past how quickly one loses not only extent of vacabu-
lary when on a job like this, but even the ability to write at all. No matter
whom I may bore, I shall try to avoid that, . The Smithsonian men, who left
New York on January 24th by one of the Port ships and are not due in Brisbane
until March 6tj, should be almost speechless by the time they reach there.

Wednesday, 15th February 1948. A strong wind blew all night from the north

through the portholes fif our cabin, making it
necessary for them to be closed. Oddly enough the wind from that direction
seemed to compensate for something and there was less motion to the ship than
any night since leaving the U. S. In the afternoon, things were enlivened
by a school of whales, a shoal of porpoises and several birds which careered
around the ship, making noises.

In the morning we were honored by a kej visit from Capt. Johnson and
staff; it was the first official inspection there has been on the ship during
the trip.

There probably will be little to write about tomorrow except the land¬
ing instructions. Should just comfortably fill this page and have it ready for
mailing is at Sydney on the next day.

Thursday, 19 February 1948. The "Terrible Tasman" has completely failed to

live up to its reputation and the passage, now
almost completed, has been accomplished with no trace of bad weather. Last
night's weather was simply a repetition of the day previously; a strong wind
from the north counteracting the motion of the ship.

At noon we were reported 224 knots from Sydney and are ahe there about
5 AM tomorrow. Bradkfast is advanced an hour and tickets for medical inspection
have been issued. I hope our delay at Customs will not be too great and that I
can get my urgent calls made during the afternoon as nobody is likely to be
in his office on Saturday or Sunday. Anyway, the voyage is now over and we
can begin to think and make plans for the real 'work.

15.

• •

Friday, 20 Febraury 1943. When I first woke this morning, disturbed by

loud voices outside the cabin, the lights of
Sydney were lining the ri-rirfcgwRK horizon to our west. I went back to sellp,
finally rising about 6.30 for medical inspection. We had been issued with
numbered tickets though I cannot tell why. The tickets were taken up as we
passed the doctor and there had been no attempt maae to get us into numeri¬
cal order. The diseases specifically looked for were typhus, plague,
smallpox and yellow fever and apparently they all show on the forearms some¬
how. That was the only part of our bodies exposed, other than our faces.

After the medical inspection we were directed into the lounge
where the immigration officers held forth but there was no single way into
the place and mobs of people collided from three directions, ending in a
milling mass like a cattle stampede. After that I returned to the cabin.

Van having to register as an alien and appear before the police, to find
that my express orders to leave all our bags there had been ignorea and
they were out on the deck mixed in with everybody elses.

Finally we we were buttonholed by the press and made to talk and
have our pictures taken, after which the plank was put across and passengers
were allowed to disembark, we located our letters with some difficulty ana
then Van went aboard again to extract our belongings; fortunately he was
able to find and bring them to the head of the gangway where I met him and
put them under our respective letters. Then, after having made a little
broadcast, I brought out my Dept, of External affairs letter and asked the
broadcasting man to introduce me to the chief Customs Inspector, a man named
Latham, who procured inspectors for us and rushed us through as I told him
we had to depart for Cairns as rapidly as possible.

There were no taxis on the dock and I had to walk some distance
away from the pier to find one but did so ana after that it was plain sailing.
Our room at the Carlton Hotel was reserved, though it is far from elaborate;
apparently in Australia if you want a room with a bath, you say so. However,
we have separate and comfortable looking beds and there is a wash basin in
the room. ,

we sent off some mail and them lunched, after which we set about
the important chores there were to be done. First we called at the British
Council and found that plane reservations to Brisbane had been made for us.
There will be little difference between that and rail fares as we should be
eating a day end a half by train whereas the plane aoes the journey in one
and a half hours. Then we went up to the Australian Museum and I found that
the missing documents covering George's freight shipment had arrived later
and I need not have worried after all. Then we saw Mr. Troughton, one of the
leading mammalogists, with whom George has done a lot of work, returned to the
British Council, and were invited out for drinks by Mr. Thomas, the local
representative, to his house. Van left me then as he had some private letters
to present and I returned to the hotel to write this up after having a re¬
freshing shower. That brings me up to date.

There was a terrific storm here last night and even sixty miles
out at sea we were able to see the glare of the lightening. One inch of
rain fell in about five minutes, they tell me; it has been a humid, moist
day and now looks as though another storm might bread at any minute.

A letter from George reached us on board before disembarkingbut
there was no news and it had been written on February 5tn. I expect some
word from Len tomorrow.

m ■

16.

It seems rather odd after all these days of crowded cabins and
rooms to be sitting alone ana comfortably typing this. Newsboys outside
are calling special editions, there is a reasonably cool breeze blowing in
through the window which may indicate that the storm has already broken
somewhere in the vicinity and in a few minutes I am going out for cocktails,
a thing I have neither done nor tasted for three weeks.

A letter from Charles liiimot waited me at the British Council and
I was glaa to have it though there was little news of any sort in it. I am
sorry that we shall not see him before our departure. He is expecting a
visit from some high ranking English friends in August; we shall probably be
working inland from Cooktown tnen and I have suggested that he bring them up
to see Australia in the rough^. He thinks that they would not enjoy it.

Have to close this* and get dressed now.

Saturday, 21 February 1948* Had an amusing experience yesterday when send¬
ing off a couple of Samoan post cards to Museum friends; native girls were
depicted and the man at the Post Office looked at them and said "There's a slight
technical uifficulty here." He referred to the state of nature in which the
girls were photographed but finally let the cards go. Another peculiarity of
Sydney is that the pubs all close at 6 PM., though drinks can be obtained
at hotels after that hour.

Had a delightful evening with 'Thomas; his wife is a Canadian girl
and they met and were married during the war in North Africa. Have arranged
to dine with them tonight and go to the ballet* which is organized by the
British Council. One of the things that I did not expect to do in Australia.

Have just called Mrs. Speight and shall be seeing her and Robin for
dinner tomorrow night. And now for business of the morning.

After breakfast Van and I went first to the Rationing Bureau but
were unable to get our coupons, this being Saturday. Then we presented our
letter of introduction to Edward Lumley & Co.,, insurance people, the letter
having been supplied to me by Lumley & Go. of New York who are associated with
Page Hufty, Lick's brother-in-law, who handles the A.E. insurance affairs.

Met Mr. Creighton-Brovm Jr. (the letter was addressed to his father), Mr.
Harrington, recently out from the English branch, and Mr. Rennick. They recog¬
nised me from my picture in yesterday's paper ana were very helpful, calling
their Brisbane representative aha advising him, Mr. Spence, too look after us.

After that, while on our way to present out letter to the Port Line,
we bumpea into lack Thomas who informed us that all was set for the ballet,
this evening, and then reached the Port Line office. Our letter was general,
not to any person, but we saw Mr1. xxshKK George A. Archer and discussed our
return trip. He of course could not predict anything but has registered us
with the American Pioneer Line as well as his own. The Port Line ships, after
reaching Sydney, ao not return to New York but continue via the United King¬
dom. Questioned about fares, it turns out that we could travel that way,
trans-shipping in England to a trans-Atlantic ship for New York, for just
about the fare we paid from San Francisco plus our trans-American expenses.
Questions to be asked in this connection are the matter of freight, though
Archer says they have a good and frequent freight service, unfortunately

« ' '

17.

carrying no passengers, and also what can Matson do for us.

There vras a call from a Mrs. Dixon while I was out last night and
on Galling her this morning I tound that she had entertained George, Dick
Archbold and len during the 1936 and 1938 expeditions at her Port Moresby
place5, evacuated during the Jap attack on New Guinea.

A telegram in from Len last night read ap follows:

Tate, Carlton Hotel, Sydney.

Just arrivea from Peninsula Burphil" (Burns, Philp) has your reservations
Cairns train leaving Brisbane twentyfifth stop Urge you hasten Brisbane and
if rail strike still on make own arrangements air or boat for Cairns
through burphil stop. Expect be here over weekend

Brass care Bank Sales, Cooktown
to which I replied this morning
Leonard Brass, Bank Wales, Cooktown, Queensland

Wire received due Brisbane 1320 Mona&y stop Will see burphil leave Brisbane
Brisbane 25th rail or air

Tate

These things of course are put here in detail in case of future
reference, as with our interviews with the Lumley and Port people.

After the above had been completed I returned to the hotel to get
this stuff ana some mail written while Van went to register Jjdmself with the
Alien Bureau. Fro the moment I shall stop but expect a call about 2 PM from
Troughton of the Australian Museum. Van and I both wish to visit the place
but feel we would prefer not to bring Troughton into the city for that purpose.
Shall have to be tactful when he calls.

Sunday, 22 February 1948. Closing this for mailing tomorrow as time will be

short before departure of plane. Had extremely
pleasant evening last night - dinner at Gleneagles, followed by Ballet Ram¬
bert, dancing Giselle, Blue Bird ana Gaia Performance. Were presented to
Mme. Rambert at end of performance.

Our party consisted of Jack and Ann Thomas, Miss Shirley Grant, who
is conducting the tour of the Old Vic Company through New Zealand, and Van
ana self.

Rose later than usual this morning, refreshed and rested] breakfast
at hotel, which, by the way, is includea in our night' s hotel bill, is a little
later than -weekdays . During the meal had a call from Robin Speight and shall
be meeting them at 7.30 this evening, again at Gleneagles. I am spending the
day completing maip journal, letter to Sydney Tribune ana on odds and ends;
during thib afternoon shall visit Museum ana look over the herpetological ana
ethnological exhibits particularly. Van says this type of display is old-
fashioned - everything jumbled together and nothing of the giorama form of
exhibit or habitat thAt we have at A.M.N.H. Very likely Museum is unable to
modernise on account of lack of funds.

The ballet oerformance was the largest attendance known for Sydney
last night and greatly surprised all concerned. Culture is supposed to be
sweeping Sydney ana evicently it is stylish to go to the Ballet. It should
be a good augury for the Old Vic as both Olivier and Vivien Leigh will be
present in the cast. Their repertoire is to include "School for Scandal".

"One of Noel Coward's best" said one of the reporters to Jack Thomas when
told of it.

Monday, 23 February 1948. Before shifting our locale to Brisbane, I shall add

a little more about Sydney. Yesterday afternoon we
separated forces. Van going to the Botanical Gardens whilt I took a turn at
the Museum: I found it to be fairly complete so far as Ethnology foes but
woefullu lacking and incredibly poorly arranged in other sections. Even in
ethnology one would find Egyptical and Peruvian relics stuck in the Australian
aboriginal room. After leaving the Museum I listened for a while to the
band in Hyde r'ark, visited the Ansae Memorial, which impressed me much more
than did the other people Inside it, and wandered back to the hotel. There
is a complete closeGup on Sunday, even movies being shut, which is too bad.
There is a picture "Frieda" which I would like to have seen but it may be in
Brisbane.

Prices of foodstuffs* are considerably loweP than in the U.S. but in
other things, notably/ shoes, they seem at least as high as in New York. Al¬
most all the shops are advertising for help and the people we have in con¬
versation with all unite in damning the current Labor government and say
that even with a greater population, there is no hope under the present regime.

The heat this afternoon was stifling but the fact that there is an over¬
hang from the shops along the main streets gives one some shelter both from
rain and sun.

I find the accents of the people somewhat oddj there is definitely an
English pronunciation but the voices are shrill and nasal. Other oddities
are no butter on Sundays for lunch and the fact that almost all the news¬
papers are of the tabloid variety.

fie had a very pleasant evening with Ho bin and Mrs. Speight who are not
only extremely nice people, but may also be of considerable help to us when
the time for departure comes. Swift & Company are of course very big ship¬
pers and have considerable influence with the steamship companies and I think
if we need it we shall have Speight's assistance.

Now for Brisbane. We checked out of the hotel about 10.15 after I ma.de
a call on old man Creighton-Brown, of Lumleu St Co. Everything went smoothly
and there was little excitement about the air passage even though it was the
f A.rst time I had flown. To me it is just another mechanical method of trans¬
portation about which I know nothing and therefore do not worry. There were
one or two bumps but nothing alarming and a heavy bank of cloud obscured a
lot of the scenery. We followed the coastline pretty closely all the way.

I was mildly tickled to arrive at the Lennon Hotel at exactly the
minute and day that I had mentioned when I wrote them from New York on
January 16th, and was extremely pleased with the hotel itself. It was Mac-
Arthur's headquarters during the wai and a great many of the American
features have been retained. *Ye share a room but have a private bath and
shower and do not have a quarter of a mile of passage to walk xhh along
whenever we wish to go. Also the place is air-conditioned throughout ana
it has a pleasant cocktail lounge. It may be the latter or any of the other
pleasant things that has put me in a beneficent mobd but I immediately
liked Brisbane just as I immediately disliked Sydney.

We lunched on the plane so as soon as we were settled in and had sent
clothing for pressing and shirts for laundering, we went out to make
some calls. First on Mr. Spence, who is / Creighton-Brown's Brisbane agent
and very nice to deal with. He is taking us calling on the shippers, John

Burke, whose ship will take us up to Thursday Island. After that we
went to call on Burns, Philp, Brisbane, and received some news that was
not of the best. Our freight, which reached Brisbane on January 26th
has only today been shipped; that explains Len's silence. No doubt he
does not know even now when the stuff will reach Cairns but I learned
from Mitchel, of B-P, about the steamer today. Further, the Mandana,
Burke's ship, will not leave Brisbane until the 6th of March and Cairns
about the 11th. Actually there will be no time lost as there will be
space between the arrival of the freight and of the Wandana for us to
do our repacking. Mitchel said he had been receiving very heated let¬
ters from Mr. Dupain, our Cairns (and B-P's) agent, no doubt inspired
by Len.

There is no sign of a let-up of the rail strike so I asked B-P
to book passage for us by air to Cairns for Wednesday, which, I hope
will be forthcoming. That also has prevented the shipment of our
freight by rail.

Tomorrow, after Spence has introduced us to Burke's, he is taking
us to see C.T. White, the Government botanist under whom Len served, and
then to lunch. Those will complete our business calls and if we leave on
Wednesday, there will not be much time for anything more anyway.

as a fitting ending to the day, which seemed somehow to be full of
accomplishment though we did very little personally, we went to the
movies and saw "Frieda", the picture I had hoped to see in Sydney yester¬
day.

If we get away as I hope there will be a gap of about ten days be¬
fore the freight comes in. Most likely George and Van may do a bit of
local collecting; I shall have to meet the bank people and do various
business odds and ends, and anyway my collecting gear is with the freight
whereas both George and Van have some with them. From the point of view
of economy it will be advisable for us to get away as soon as possible.

Our Sydney expenses were higher than elsewhere as we had some entertain¬
ing to do, but it will pay us in the long run.

Tuesday, 24 February 1948. The ship "Time" which was to leave with our

freight yesterday evening was reported this
morning as delayed again on account of a seeman falling into the river and
being drowned. The ship incidentally was carrying fifty tons of flour to
a small town, Mackay, which was one of her stops. There is starvation in
Mackay and this morning's paper, in addition to reporting the delay of
the Time, announced that there was now no bread at «n in Mackay.

It is still morning. Van has been out to register with the Queens-
;amd police and I am awaiting a call from Mitchel, of Burns Philp. We had
a very restful night in our air— conditioned room and enjoyed the privacy
of our bath to the full. Spence is to call for us with the Lumley Sc Co.
car at 10.30 and I hope by that time the call will have come in from
Mitchell, Apart from holding up Spance, I want to know if me have the
reservations for tomorrow's plane to Cairns.

Mitchell telephoned at 10 AM to say that they have two seats on the
2.30 plane tomorrow, due Cairns 9.25 PM. Wired Len as follows:

Dupain, Burphil, Cairns.

Please inform Brass quote Due Cairns airport 2125 Wednesday arrange ac¬
commodation two.

Geoffrey Tate.

V

t

20.

Sent the message to Dupain in case Len and George should not be there. Then
I hope, Dupain will take the necessary steps.

For clarity's sake, I should have said that Dupain is the representative of
D-P in Cairns, I suppose. After the foregoing had been completed, things
began to happen with a certain amount of rapidity but I shall finish the
day off before getting to that.

Mr. Spence arrived on schedule at 10.30 ana took us first to the Botan¬
ic Gardens to call on Dr. White, under whom Len served his apprenticeship.
White was away on a protracted vacation and we were unable to see him though
we met his two i/c, Francis, and his two assistants, Blake ana Smith.. From
there we went to see Jack Burke, the ship' operator, about whom more later.

Then Spence took us to lunch at Tatterss.ll' s Club, the local bookmaking place,
then to a very lovely spot. One Tree Hill, from which we had an excellent
view of the whole of Brisbane and of the mountains to the south and west.

Our next call was on Dr. Mack, director of the Queensland Museum, most help¬
ful and keenly interested in the expedition. The museum itself was in woe¬
ful shape and Mack has years of work laid out in front of him to bring it into
some form of modernity. He has two assistants, Vernon and McCanna, the former
of whom will join us at Portland Roads and make that part of the trip with
us. Both are good lads, from first observation, but they will fit in the
story in due course.

pv. A

rv.-.u'..

How, in order to get things straightened out, I have to recapitulate
our plans to some extent. Our freight was to be sent to Cairns where we
were to repack certain parts of it, getting the whole of it on the Burke
ship "Y»andana", and dropping at Cooktown and Portland Roads that part of it
which we did not need for the Tip. The Wandana was to leave Brisbane on
March, 6th and Cairns on March 11th. Our freight reached Brisbane on Janua¬
ry 26th. That seemed clear and easy to manage a£ first but what happened
was that the rail strike stopped any form of transportation of freight
other than by sea and the "Timen was the only steamer available. She has
been a jinx ship; her round trip started last October when she left Brisbane
for Sydney and return, after which seh was to proceed north to Cairns. She
had an accident in Sydney Harbor and had to be flooded. Then her crew went
on strike after the ship had been salved in Sydney. Finally she got to
Brisbane and was to leave last night, as I said, with our freight buried
under some thousands of tons of other freight, but she was delayed by the
seaman v<ho fell overboard. She is not due in Cairns until the 15th or 16th
of ““arch, four days at least after the Wandana was supposed to le ave, so
unless something happens, that connection will not be made and there will
be a loss of six to eight weeks before we can get to Thursday Island.

However, there is a loop-hole. Owing to the coal strike, Wandana is
out of fuel though apparently Time has some. Wandana today is at Cairns,
southbound, and succeeded in getting enough (ten tons. Jack Burke told us)
to get to Townsville. However, there is no coal in Townsville and Wanaana
may be held there, still southbound, until after the rail strike is ended
and coal is carried that far north by the trains again. It seems reasona¬
bly certain that Wandana will be delayed in her southbound trip and conse¬
quently will not reach Cairns borthbound on the 6th, as scheduled. The
whole thing boils down to the question "Will Wandana be delayed long enough
for Time to reach Cairns ana for us to unpack and repack?"" We can do
that part of the job on board Wandana, if only we can get the stuff there
by Time before Wandana arrives.

There was a telegram in from Len on our return reading:

Jeffry Tate, Lennon's Hotel, Brisbane

Dupain advises your expected arrival tomorrow night please try bring me one

pound cigarette tobacco from burphil
Len.

1

21.

No reply is needed and I shall see him tomorrow, now I know where he is.
Wednesday, 25 February 1948. Visited Burns Philp in morning and was able to

procure two pounds of cigarette tobacco. Can

getting another pound while he was out. Called on Spence to bid him fare¬
well, lunched at Lennon’s and caught 2.30 PM plane, which left one hour
late. Trip was without incident, stops being made at Mackay, Townsville and
finally Cairns, where Len met us with truck. Len has lost a little weight
and looks very fit and well. Had no word of George's arrival.

Our route was almost entirely coastal but dusk came down shortly after
leaving Mackay and were unable to note much of the scenery.

We are domiciled at Hides' Hotel, a roomy structure much like any other
tropical hotel. Made of wood, balconied, beds fitted with mosquito nets.

Len had drinks waiting for us ai the bar closes at 10 PM, and we turned in
somewhere about 10.30.

Thursday, 26 February 1948. Roused at 7 AM by maid with a cup of tea and

after breakfast went around town, meeting first

the director of the local natural history club, Mr. Ernie Stevens. Then to
Burns Philp, to learn that SS Time is now due here about the 9th of March.

If that is correct, we shall just make the ffandana connection, even if she
is running to schedule.

Met Dupain, manager of Burns Philp, who have a large establishment
here, and his department managers, Ormsbee, groceries and liquors, Roy,
hardware, Hanson, meats, and McKenzie, who looks after the various agents.

Then to the bank, where we met Handow, the manager and Trenier, the account¬
ant. Walked around the town for a while and returned to the hotel for lunch.

While at breakfast a wire came through from George from Townsville,
saying he was taking the first plane j he should be with us tonight.

There seems to be a lot to do in the way of organization but so far
we have not really had a chance to go into much detail. Len has engaged
Jetty Joe McLoughlin, but there are the usual things such as with-holding
income taxes, even at Thursday Island. I shall have to give all that in
greater detail when I know more about it all.

Cairns itself is at the base of a bay between two fairly high headlands,
forest covered for the most part. It has a population of several thousand,

I should judge, and is a clean, nice little place. As with Sydney and Bris¬
bane, the stores all have overhanging balconies which give a grateful shelter
from a pretty hot sun. I have not yet been in any of the stores and shops
but their windows are well dressed and attractive. The population of course
is practically 100% white. The town is only about three feet above sea-level
and there is an unkempt sort of park, with a few shade trees, along the water
front. Many of the houses, including Hides' Hotel, are fitted with balconies
or iron— grilled verandas, the windows are always open, let one have the bene¬
fit of whatever air there may be circulating around.

I have not yet found out what commodities are short, other than tobacco,
amd B-P's warehouses seem to be fairly full. All those details and others
will be found out in due course and set down here.

I both have separate funds and a

a workable system will have to be installed.

After lunch Len and I went over to B-P with our food and equipment
lists and it seems that we can get practically everything we are in need
of. Coupons will have to be turned in for those things that are rationed
and Len got a letter from the -Protector of Islanders authorizing the issue
of rice for native helpers. It is not available to whites.

The Cairns Naturalists ' Club held a meeting in the evening at which
Len was to speak on Nyasaland. He made a nice talk. Van and I were intro¬
duced to the members, about twenty of them, and many of them remembered a
visit and talk in 1938 by Richard Archbold, while Guba was at anchor here.

About mid-afternoon a telegram came in from George saying he was due
in the same plane that Van and I were on. It was a little more than an
hour late, as was ours, and George was fit and in good shape on arrival.
Now, at last, we four have met and the personnel anyway is complete.

Friday, 27 February 1948. George and Van went out with a local crop in¬
spector, Gilbert hates, to look around the
country a bit, while Len and 1 went ahead with the work of straightening
thiftgs out. Bates is just under fifty but has been living oh the Cape
for the last thirty years. During the last war he was instructing U. S.
and American troops in bush travel and jungle fighting. He is a symphony
in red, white and blue - his skin is burnt brick red, he has a clipped
white mustache and his language is blue.

Owing to the delay in arrival of our freight, it is necessary to get
certain things in order to make local collecting trips and here the short¬
ages are beginning to show up. There is not a single shot-gun cartridge
in Cairns ; they have to send to Brisbane to get the .303 rifle I want for
myself, there are only two gallons of formalin in the town, which we have
reserved, such things as that.

George brought several specimens in with him last night, which have
to be laid out for drying, and when they came in this afternoon, he and Van
had prpcured some insects for me. I have directed them to collect stuff
for themselves as I have about three days work before I am ready to start
that sort of thing. I believe we have been invited to attend the local
Orchid Club this evening. People are so very hospitable that it is hard
to get even a few minutes to oneself or to get work and letters done.

During our wanderings around we have run into several far from com¬
plimentary criticisms of the Commonwealth Government and its protection of
labor at anybody eise's expense. There has really been a tremendous job
done in the effort to establish minimum wages and scales, called the Award,
Here's what happens to Jetty Joe, our cook. He is engaged at an Award
wage of L 7-2-0; he must be given a tent 7 x 7 x 8, with a 12 foot fly
above it; he is entitled to vacation with pay at the rate of two weeks per
year; he works only a 40 hour week for his L 7-2-0, and if he works on
Saturdays or Sundays he must receive time and a half. That's what he has
coming to him, gross, but he doesn't get it. I start by deducting 7/6
weekly from his pay for income tax; I am allowed to deduct t 1 - 5 - 0
for his food and we can fire him on three days notice. Poor old Joe and
poor old us, all of us victims of a machine which so complicates things
that never again will either Joe or I know who owes who what.

It would almost be better for us to try somehow to do our own cook¬
ing, except that unquestionably it would fall on me and even the most will¬
ing of camels sometimes gets its back broken by that last straw.

»

W 23.

Saturday, 28 February 1948. All hanas except myself left at 6.45 AM this

morning with members of the Cairns Naturalists'
Club for a jaunt lasting overnight. I shall get details of the places
visited when they return. I answered four applicants for jobs and got the
books in shape for work. I shall try to get all bills cleaned up as of
March 1st. Things prior to that date, when we were scattered all over the
place can be considered as odds and ends but now that we are together and
presumably will remain so, it would be well to get ourselves systematized.

I have a feirly heavy cold in my head, which seems to have been working
up for the last few days. Presumably the modern airconditioning of Lennon's
in Brisbane was too much for me. Anyway, there will be no more air condition¬
ing for some time to come now.

Later in the afternoon I took a look at the swimming pool and sat on
the little park overlooking the mouth of the bay for a while. Then returned
to the hotel, did a little more work and got some letters written. Tomorrow
I may try to wander along the shore in one or another direction.

This turns out to be a big evening for fiiaes Hotel, the installation
of a string orchestra, no less, and a most radical move, ^according to the
waiters. Accompanying it is the opening of a cocktail bar and there is a
Communist orator outside in the street busily engaged in haranguing nobody.

The whole populace has gone to the movies to look at Anne Sothern.

Sunday, 29 February 1948. Ha,d a good night' s rest and the cold is considera-
±>±yxim^EEDCBhx bly improved. It is now about 2.30 PM and the

boys have not yet returned but I think I shall get this finished and close
Up my letters.

After breakfast I decided that I would take a walk in order to break in
my field boots but what actually happened was that the boots pretty near broke

me in. I have had no walking of any kind really since embarking on the train

in Hew Iprk and it is good that I was not our over the week-end. I wanted to

reach a point which forms the northern side of the Cairns bay but was unable
to get there as the way was barred by mangrove swamps, set in deep cozy mud.
Foiled there, I scaled one of the hills to the north of Cairns and then start¬
ed back but found both feet blistered. The return took me about twice as long
as the outward journey and was something of an ordeal. Shall have to do some
walking every day until I harden up a bit.

The heat is oppressive and except ±a for the periods spent under the
shower I think I have been sweating constantly since arriving here. On return¬
ing from my walk I looked as though I had had the swim, which was my original
objective in trying to get out to that point. There is a nice-looking beach
there but I guess I shall have to hire a boat to get there.

Most of the houses are built on piles, to let the breeze circulate
under as well as around them. They are made of wood, the walls being chiefly
of lattice or trellis, ana have fxa roofs of corrugated iron.

I think I covered somewhergnground eight miles this morning, leaving
at 9-30. The hills to the back xxx north and south of Cairns, even at that
hour had the tops in the clouds though they cannot be much more than a thou¬
sand feet at the most. They form part of the Great Dividing Range, which ap¬
pears on the maps and runs right up to the very tip of the Cape. It will be
very interesting once I get my feet into shape to contend with them.

24

Monday, 1 March 1948. Very hot and steamy night with no breeze whatever and

some rain which increased the humidity. Have not yet
reached that comfortable stage when I sweat for an hour and then am dehy¬
drated and sweat no more.

Called at Howard Smith, S.S. Agency and learn that there is nothing new
in the matter fo the arrival of Time. Still due on the 9th. Called at Sami.
Allen and Sons, large firm and agents t in Cairns for Spence of Brisbane, Who
had written to them about me. Good contact. Capt. Barnum, young German
seaman, (Name is Gunther Bahrenemann, I find) skipper of the Yalata, small
ship about 89 feet in length, recently on Cairns-T.I. run. May be useful to
us if Wandana does not perform according to schedule.

George, Len and Van had a good trip over the week-end, Len getting a
vine which has. only been found twice before and George getting some bandi¬
coots and other things that Van is now working on in the warehouse put at
our disposal by B-P. They also brought in a tree snake and multitudes of
insects for me but I steadfastly refuse to do anything about them until I
have the business side of things properly in control.

Dupain, manager of B-P, is going away for ten days on 'Wednesday and our
affairs will be handled by Pierson, chief clerk. This memo just to help in
remembering Pierson's name.

The rail strike is partly over since the Queensland Govt declared a
state of emergency. Some men have returned to work but quite a small minori¬
ty, according to the paper. Instead, the Cairns dockhands and wharf ies
have now gone out and the SS. Belinda, which arrived last Friday, is still
not unloaded, nor has the work of unloading yet begun.

Tuesday, 2 March 1948. Pretty busy in morning XHnsd±Kg running around get-
t ting various odds and ends finished and getting food and

stuff for a trip to Chillagoe which George and Van are making from tommrrow
for gist about six days.

Introduced myself at Sami. Allen's and consider them good alternative
source of supply for things which may not be available at B-P.

Several army and navy barracks along the wharf are being taken over for
use as a museum for Cairns in the days to come and one of them has been
placed at our disposal for all purposes, mainly preparation of specimens as
they are brought in from the small side trips. It is much more comfortable
and suitable for our purposes than thp tin shed B-P gave us, though we shall
have to use the latter when and if the cargo comes in. The strike news does
not improve at all and the tie-up, so far as we are concerned, is somewhat
serious as our budget is limited and we are spending much more than we ex¬
pected to do in hotel bills. The small side trips help a little in cutting
down expenses, of course, but certain forms of equipment, which we have on
board Time, have Bkrr to be purchased in order to equip the side trips. One
thing that has happened and which may have a decisive effect on the strike is
that all the beer has been consumed. Other places are practically out of much
more seri us commodities and a threat of a general strike is looming up. So far
as the outlying places such as this are concerned, this is a general strike; no
matter what there may be available in Brisbane, it cannot be brought here by
any method except air, which would run costs completely out of range.

25.

Wednesday, 3 March 1948. Heavy rain which started yesterday afternoon,

beat on the corrugated iron roofs and balconies
of the hotel, and still, this morning, there is a slight fall, which expands
into heavy showers every so often. The atmosphere is steamy and humid and
as I write, ray fingers sweat and the drops slide down my forearms and drip
from my elbows.

George and Van left at 7.30 this morning, George going to Chillagoe, to
the bat caves there, for a day, and Van to a place called Suttee Gap. Both
will take up residence with road-making gangs during their stay at their
respective posts. Len spent the morning at the experimental agricultural
station at Mareeba which Gil Bates is to take over, while I continued working
on the books and organization. We are planning a rearrangement of our sup¬
plies but will have to plot it out before the arrival, if any, of S.S. Time.

Thus far I have run against no Somerset Maugham characters although
otherwise the setting is appropriate. The brothel system is accepted in
Queensland, as in France, with bi-weekly ^ inspections but in Cairns the
street which used to house them has been cleaned up and there no longer is
any red lamp district.

A grizzly-bearded, parchment-faced old gent who lives in the hotel
turns out to be one of Queensland's leading jurists in the past, the various
men whom we meet and beer with are mostly in some form of government employ,
in agricultural, road-making, or experimental departments. Shorts or white
linen clothes are the usual thing, with the women wearing printed cotton with
a minimum of chic both in the design and in the wearing. At Hides ^otel, the
male guests are expected to wear coats for all meals and ties also for dinner.
With such a climate it seems to sx me that even the Old School can be duly,
upheld with some less constricting garment than a tie. However, when we final¬
ly leave here, all that will be a thing of the past. The only settlement ox
any size, Cooktown, which we may touch on the last leg of the trip, was once
quite a flourishing place when the Palmer gold fields were newly discovered,
but now it has dwindled to less than a couple of hundred population, most of
whom are over seventy.

During Len's recce trip, while he was at Thursday island, he told me of
an evening at the hotel there, which was run by a woman. She got arunk, fell
and split her head and when Len came down next morning he found a pool of
blood at the foot of the stairs and a little puppy, with both feet in it,
busily lapping it up. The hotel woman took a day off and the following day
appeared wearing a turban.

The delay we are experiencing here is annoying in many ways. In order
to do any collecting locally it is necessary to purchase many things of which
we have large stores in S.S. Timej even apart from that, while collecting of
anything is better than nothing, it still is not what we came for. Then
also money, which could be much more profitably spent on other tilings, /is
being used for hotel bills and living expenses, when we expected to live on
our own supplies and in our own tents. However, it is mot to be expected
that any expedition can be run without any hitch and certainly this is not
a result of any culpability on our part. But one cannot tell what is being
done about the strike and the reports are quite conflicting - one source
says it is ending and another states that more and other trades will be go¬
ing almost any minute. This morning's papers say that PERHAPS the strikers
will allow Time to proceed from *“ackay, where she has been since last Friday,

but a shortage of bread in Cairns is developing ana soon there will be ^-cute
need! if not starvation, in many smaller ana less accessible places, lhe
’ , , ,, r _ -T ,3 nf a state of emergency, seems to

have made no difference whatever.

26.

Thursday, 4 March. 1948. Again heavy rain all last night and much of the

morning hut oddly enough, in spite of the intense
heat, we are all putting on a great deal of weight. Len looks plump,

Van aerated. George has added 10 lbs. and I am over 200. Probably a month
or so of field conditions will make a great difference in all of us.

I don't quite know where the time goes toj Len and I seem to do very
little and yet the day passes with amazing rapidity. This morning I got in
the last of my February outstanding bills and am happy to say that we are
still solvent, though this strike is making severe inroads on our balance.
This afternoon I visited Burns, Philp to pay our bill to date, called at
the museum and" had a yarn with Wilson and Old Tom Baird, and here it is
practically 5 o'clock. A number of flying men, stationed in flew Guinea
for the last six months, have arrived here and are they disgusted with the
strike, flo been available.

The excessive perspiring seems to have washed or bleached out all ray
rich dark red complexion. That too should return before very long.

Absolutely nothing new in the way of the strike ending j last night Len
and I strolled along the wharf and there was S.S. Bedelia, still unloaded,
although it is six days since the tied up there. Doubtless, if people get
hungry the strike will be broken by force and now the paper reports great
shartage of bread in Townsville, next town to Cairns. Cairns itself seems
to have good stocks of all commodities, except cigarettes and tobacco.

In the evening we were driven out by a Mr. Harvey to see another roan,
Mr. Hansen, who has some unique knowledge about Mt. Finnegan, a point which
we shall cover from our last base at Cooktown. It is a table-topped mount¬
ain, usually under clouds or mist, and the working of it will require a few
days of extreme discomfort.

Friday, 5 March 1948. Rain most of the night and during the morning, which

seem^ to be the regular times. No suggestion of an

ending of the strike yet and the weather may bring George and Van back al¬
most any time. It is a little cooler, however.

There is so much to be done, once we can get hold of our gear, that it
is utterly exasperating to have it so near and yet so far away. It still is
at “ackay, just two ports away from us, and if only it could be got to
Townsville, we would personally interview the local Labor board and tell
them the conditions. Such things as grinding of the machetes and axes,
splitting of collecting equipment, distribution of ammunition, will all take
time, though we certainly should be able to get those things done before the
arrival of the next north-bound ship, once we can start.

I have noted with interest that the Australians all seem to have a sort
of morbid pride in their venomous snakes j they do not tell their stories for
our benefit at all, but sooner or later in any conversation the subject will
arise. All have had, or claim to have had, hair-breadth escapes, which still
have a morbid fascination for them. There are also the stories of the abori¬
gines, on whose lowly position in human life, the white Australian loves to
dwell. The Qape black seems to be herded onto reservations rub by the Mis¬
sions as much as possible but they are all a nomad crowd and will not stay.

At certain times of the year the urge comes and they simply pack up their
little belongings and go " walk-about" . There may be a few dangerous ones
lying around here and there but we anticipate no trouble from that source at
all. vie hope to get two or three to join us at Rhursday Island and make the
complete trip with us, prodded tne walk-about urge does not take uhem away

from us.

•f

27

. v

Saturday, 6 March, 1948. Last night, after dinner, Len and I went around

to visit some old friends of his, Mr. and Mrs.
Hunter, whom he had not seen since 1932*

This morning Gil Bates called for us and we started out in his Bedford
truck for Mossman, about fifty miles to the north of here. The road was of
Bitumen, good going, and followed the coast very closely. At times we were
barely above sea level and only a few yards from the water, then we would
come to a bluff over which the road led, and would find ourselves five hun¬
dred feet above the water, gazing almost straight down on it.

Truck trouble began to develop after some crossings of streams which
flowed down from the mountains, which rose three thousand feet abruptly on
our left, and shortly after we had passed the half way mark, a sort of look¬
out spot commemorating Capt. Cook's visit in 1779, something fell out from
inside the truck and there was a succession of fearful bangs. Gill decided
that we had better not try the remainder of the trip and we came all the way
back to Cairns in second gear. On taking the truck to a garage, no tiling
could be found wrong with it.

The evening passed with little event except a brawl between Capt. Bahr-
nemann, of the Yalata, who was drinking with us, and a drunken first mate
who wanted to know where Behrnemann came from. It was diverted but the first
mate was far too far gone to know what he escaped. Bahrnemann is a lad about
twenty-eight and still an ardent Nazi; I judge him to be of the young, tough
and cruel type which we ran into in the war, very fit physically, and I
think he would have devoured the first mate, who had a broken wrist anyway.

The dance hall opposite my window is in full swing but I shall close
this and try for some sleep. Gil comes again tomorrow and we try again to
reach Mossman. Incidentally, there is no habitation of any sort in that
fifty miles of road between there and Cairns.

Sunday, 7 March 1948. Gil arrived bright and early again this morning with

another truck and we reached Mossman without incident,
other than pleasant ones. I was greatly impressed with the view from the
high bluff over which we travelled on the winding and climbing road. The
beaches were a series of golden scallops, the sea was completely unrufxled
and the whole area looked like the place that I have dreamea of in which to
end ray days.

Mossman is a little hamlet of perhaps a thousand persons and is backed
by mountains ranging from three to four thousand feet in height. Gil is
going there again tomorrow on an inspection of the sugar cane plantations in
the district, and of course is well-known anyway: he dug out Mr. Lane, who
is in charge of the small plant which supplies Mossman with its electric
power and light. Lane drove us up the mountain to the plant, buried deep in
the forests of the mountain and drawing its power from a rushing stream which
cascades down the mountain side. It would be anotner good collecting site for
us; the trouble of course is that we have no camp equipment available and
very little collecting gear.

On our return from the mountains, we stopped at the local lawn bowling
club where we were regaled with beer and tea, the former being more or less
bootleg as beer is not supposed to be sola on Sundays. None of us knew any¬
thing about bowling and therefore were not invited to take part in the games,
which suited us well.

Monday, 8 March 1948. This day occupied mainly with routine things, get¬
ting soil ready for mailing, some small purchases of
of equipment end finally a call on Samuel Allen & Sons, rival firm to Burns,
Philp, and local representatives of John Burke Shipping Company. They repre¬
sent also Lloyd' s and Lumley' s and Spence of Brisbane, had sent them a letter
about me. They have a reputation for being able to get hard-to-get items so
I put them on the job of finding an 18" camp oven, a thing that B-P had failed
on. They are to let me know in two days. The manager, Mr. Bedowsky, called
in about 6 PM for a drink or so, and in general they seem much more anxious
for business and much more obliging than B-P. I have opened an account with
them for possible future eventualities.

In the evening George and Van arrived back, after having had fair luck
in their collecting. After dinner took their specimens over to the space
in the museum allotted, to us and worked on them for some time, after which
we all turned in.

Tuesday, 9 March 1949. This morning it was decided that Van and I would go

either tomorrow or the next day to Mossman, pitch
our camp in the Gorge at the power plant, and stay there for five or six
days, or until the Time seems somewhat nearer Cairns. She was reported as
still being unloaded at lackay in the morning paper, vut it did say that as
she was carrying food, the wharf ies would start work unloading her.

Since for all these side trips, we have to purcnase equipment until our
own stuff eomes in, today was spent in a flurry of purchasing of collecting
gear. Tow, for the filling of specimen bodies, is not available at all and
we have had to purchase hemp rope and unravel it. My foot caved in and I
have had to contrive some sort of pad. Other thiiigs had to be bought and
there was no time to get res,q» for departure tomorrow? instead we shall
leave on Thursday.

The Naturalists' Club held another meeting this evening, at which
George spoke, making a comparison, scientifically, of Australia and South
America, not so much comparing the countries, but describing how the natural
denizens of each country happened to get there. Tomorrow, for us, will be
spent getting supplies for the trip, food, etc., and cleaning up this day's
journal, ready for mailing before I leave for Mossman. There is a lot to be
done here still, cataloguing specimens already brougnt in, both as gifts by
the locals and the things in my departments that George and Van have brought
in from their jaunts, but I don't quite know when I shall be able to get at
it.

Also bought three second-hand bicycles for our use on the trails on the
Cape, if and when we get away from Cairns.

Wednesday, 10 March 1948. It has been a rushed morning and afternoon but

I want to get this closed and ready for mailing.

Van and I will probably be in the Mossman River Gorge for seven or eight
days, unless something unexpected in the way of a break in the strike shoulr
arrive. There is nothing in the morning paper to indicate any such thing.

Had to purchase not only rations for us but also camp utensils, cutlery
and cooking outfit, all due to the strike and tie-up of our stuff, fte leave
Cairns at 7.55 tomorrow morning and should reach our camp site, at the elec¬
tric plant, shortly after noon. It will not take long to get the tent up
and a meal prepared, after which we shall get to work. Our traps are few and
our arms-ment one old shot-gun with a hole in the barrel, other than the muz¬
zle, and no safety catch. It is crude equipment but we’ll do what we can.

Thursday, 11 March 1948. The white of this paper is attracting myriads of bugs

of all degree, mostly low. Van and I got away from
Cairns at 7.55, reaching Mossman at about 11 A';H. Harold Lane met us and drove
us up to the power station, where we are settled for a period of a week to ten
days, all depending on the strike and the Time.

The power station has a caretaker, an olddtime bush man from the Daintree
section, where a river, Cobb ftiver, was named after him. The name, naturally,
is Cobb, Jim Cobb. Our camp, pitched in a clearing planted with paw paw and
bananas, consists of one tent for our sleeping accomodation. Vie do our work in
a sort of out-house, attached to the station, which is a corrugated iron shed
housing the machines which supply Mossman with its light and dlectricai power.

It was noon when we reached the station and after Lane left, we whipped
together a lunch of bully, bread and tea. I had brought in our rations some
lemon crystals and Van contrived a swee£ lemon drink, not too unpalatable. Just
before going to bed I shall try some of it laced with rum. The rum should
certainly improve the lemon and I can merely hope for the vice cersa.

In the afternoon we went up to the intake of water, which moves the tur¬
bines and set a line of traps there, also catching one or two various other
things and after that returned, very hot and sweaty, for a most delightful swim
in the river, a pleasure which we shall not, unfortunately, be able to allow
ourselves in the rivers further north, unless they too are rapid and bouldery
and inaccessible for crocs.

Gil Bates, who had been working on the cane fields, came up for a few
minutes in the evening with Arthur Taylor (see last Sunday's notes, I think)
and a couple of abbo field hands. They brought us a well-sized brown snake
and had found the remains of a taipnn, measuring about seven feet, which had
been run over by trucks until it was too mutilated to have any value. Sic
semper taipanus.

Bor the present our meals come out of cans and supper consisted of can¬
ned beef stew and peas, on toast, followed ty pineapple jam, taken by the
spoon from the can. I have hung our larder from a high cross piece so it will
be safe from ants ana at the moment I am waiting for some water to heat so we

can do the washing up. Lane comes up here about 8 every evening for his final

inspection and after his departure we shall take our fine side-shooting gun

and torches and see what we can find. The field hands who came up with Gil^

have promised us a platypus; they are rare this far north and would be very
welcome additions to the collection, but if only we had our own equipment
we really could do some good work.

About the worst thing in this part of the scrub, taipans, brown snakes
and shatnot included, is the stinging tree, or nettle tree. It inflicts, mere¬
ly if one brushes up against it, a most painful and lasting irritation and rash
and has been known to put men hors de combat for weeks, fortunately it is
distinctive and cannot be missed by daylight.

Five hundred cigarettes, marked "botanical samples", came in from Spence,
in Brisbane, last night. I split with Len end ?/e mutually blessed Spence and
praised his name.

Friday, \f 12 March 1948. Last night we went out jack-lighting and did not get

even one pair of eyes. Cap. got two specimens, both
rats, in . the line tr&pfe he wet when he went out to collect end re-bait them this

morning and I went out afterward, going up beyond the water in-take into
virgin scrub. Got plenty of insects but no sign of any retiles until this
evening when two snakes came marching right into camp. Both were taken but
we do not yet know what they are. They are in formaldehyde and neither of
us cares to examine them until they are thoroughly dead.

The power house, beside Jim Cobb, possesses three cats and several
toads as residents. One of the cats caught and consumed a large cockroach
last night, eating up a final leg which had dropped off the roach with gusto
and licking its chops. One of the toaas came hopping around from wherever
it lives and squatted looking at me and pulsing its throat ; every now and then
it would dark out a long tongue and lick up some insect, again turning its eyes
toward me and eyeing my cup of rum and water with a certain amount of contemps.

The second engineer, Thompson, came up this morning and is due again
some time this evening. Lane returns tomorrow night for his shift of visits
and is bringing up some food for us. I have gone to town, ordering a two
pound steak, tomatoes, cabbage, etc., and have thought of other things and
listed them for Thompson to take back tonight and give to Lane.

Len telephones this afternoon (being a power-house, we have a telephone
here) while I -was out; evidently not very much news but we may see George
here on Monday.

In addition to the two snakes, there were two lizards in Van' s traps
early this evening, so it has been a good day for herpetology and entomolo¬
gy-

Above the water in- take, the Mossman Elver rushes and cascades over
and among a mass of great boulders. I followed the stream for about a quarter
of a mile and then left it, 'working approximately south from itand forcing ray
way through a fairly thick scrub; ferns, tree and otherwise, were in abundance
and the floor of the forest is much matted with vines and fallen trees and
brahches. It is advisable to use care as in the event of a broken leg or some
such thing, a search party would be required to find a person and there is
nobody to form such a party. The trees are fairly tall and many have vines
and lianas falling to the ground, as in South America, but they do not attain
the great girth of the S. A. trees. However they are laced together tith law¬
yer cane, a thick cane furnished with sharp, barbed spikes, and form a barrier
most uncomfortable to be bushed in.

Saturday, 13 March, 1948. The morning was much of a repetition of yesterday;

1 went to the same area and managed to make my way
across the river but there is of course no sort of trail on the opposite side
and the scrub is such that even if one had some equipment, it would be next
to impossible to do anything except lay a trap line.

Van got five mice or rats or something in his traps when he went to clear
them this morning; in the afternoon I was invited to and made a member of the
Mossman Bowling Club and Harold Lane, wife and daughter came up in the evening.
Lane is to show us some of the bush trails tomorrow afternoon but I doubt if we
shall profit by them very much. The Time is said to have reached Bowen and to
be unloading there. The story is well-authenticated and if it is correct she
may reach Cairns Thursday and most likely we shall be recalled.

Lane brought up some rations / I had asked for and we had a substantial
meat dinner tonight. Jim Cobb has gone down to Mossman for today and tomorrow.
Mrs. Lane is about the first good-looking woman I have seen, but has the fault
of all of them, bad teeth.

I had to make a little speech at the Mossman Club, during the interval

for tea, and have a nice little badge attesting to my membership.

«

Sunday, 14 March 1948* Van got four or five specimens in his traps again

this morning and was busy most of the day skinning them.
As a result Harold Land and I went mp the mountain alone. There is an enormous
sheer cliff, perhaps about seven or eight hundred feet in height which forms the
summit of the mountain on whose side we are camped. Nobody, Lane tells me, has
yet reached the base of that cliff and I can well understand it. The scrub we
passed through for two hours this afternoon was dense and hard to penetrate
though there was an old blazea trail which we followed. The cliff is about
seven miles away and offers a challenge which I, for one, will ignore completely.

On our visit to the swimming hole we found it populated with children
from the Abbo Mission between us and Mossman. Lane had a pair of swiioaing
trunks so he was Alright; Van dived in with his shorts on and found them around
his knees when he came pu. I went away somewhere else and found a nice, bath¬
shaped pool hidden behind a boulder where I could soap myself and rest with
my feet up at one end of my bath.

Thompson, Lane's assistant, whose evening it was to come up and look
over the power plant, tells me tlr t G.S. Time is reported as h via left Bowen
for Townsviile. The next stop will be Cairns and I doubt if we shall be here
after Wednesday though I don't know the distance between Bowen and Townes ville
or To7msville and Cairns.

Monday, 15 March 1948. The morning was much as usual and there is little to say

about it. Van is having poor luch with his collecting
and I dabble around, not knowing whether I am doing well or not, nor if what I
get is of any value.

We had a very enjoyable and much needed bath, and swim at Noon and dur¬
ing the morning I washed ray shirt. Len called from Cairns just before we re¬
turned from our swim to say tnat he would be coming out in the evening. Gil
Bates drove him but we have not yet had a chance to discuss plans for our
future. S.S. Time either is in Toffnsville or on her way, she has left Bowen
anyway, and I suppose we shall probably return to Cairns about Thursday.

A heavy storm developed about 3.30 P.M. and is going on now; the river
will not be passable tomorrow, but there is no need to pass it anyway. Len
brought up another tent with him, fortunately, but has not yet erected it. Our
camp is in a clearea garden and will be somewhat muddy. The three cats are
huddled together in what shelter they can find but I have no doubt that the
toads are enjoying themselves thoroughly.

George is somewhere to the south ana east of us at a place called
Devil-Devil Creek. His original plan of circling around and joining us here
at Mossman is off, but I have not heard what plan has been substituted. However,
it is good to know that we are approaching the last obstacle, the arrival of
the ship and the re-packing, before we start on the job we came to do.

Tomorrow evening Gil Bates and Art Taylor, the man who sponsored my
membership in the Mossman Bowling Club, will probably come up for a while in
the evening, making a bit of a change and the camp a little livelier. I shall
not be sorry to return to Ciarns; this is the half-way sort of thing that I
dislike so much. The real, job, in the real scrub, gives one more of a feeling
of accomplishment.

Tuesday, 16 March 1948. Len and I spent the morning in an area some distance

up the river from camp, having varying collecting
luch each. Van got only one specimen in his line of fifty traps and is feeling
downcast about it.

The afternoon is clouding up again, as id did yesterday, and it looks
almost certain that we shall have rain, though the symptoms have not yet com¬
menced. They are the accumulation of flies around the lamps and the entry
into camp of the snakes. Last night the snakes did not arrive, though the
rain did. The flies made up for them though; they flowed in like a stream,
bumping into the light and falling in as constant a stream to the ground until
there was a large puddle of flies wriggling there, wingless from their contact
with the heat of the light.

The rain arrived during the late afternoon; Van and I were out, he re¬
turning with nothing whereas I had one good dragon fly and three leeches..

They had picked me up somewhere in the woods and refused to let go. Finally
the application of a cigarette end did the trick, but they leave a huge gap
in one's flesh and seem to have some venom which stops coagulation, so that

one bleeds for hours after they have been removed from the flesh.

The rains continued almost all night and at 6.30 P.M. Jim Cobb took a
reading, apparently his job includes reading the rain fall, and at that time
there had been a fall of over two inches, in less than that number of hours.

Wednesday, 17 March 1948. This is something of an anniversary for me, in
that I left Sew Xork to enlist for the second war on this day and left Kingston,
Ontario, for overseas also on St. Patrick's Day. However, nothing much hap¬
pened. We went in separate directions this morning, I going down to the
aborigine village. Van following his trap line, and Len following the Mossman
River. Len and I joined up later in tne morning, returning to camp together
to find Van there and we all went down to the pool for a swim.

It was my day to do the cooking and I was late getting away in the

afternoon but went up to the in- take, my favorite spot. My equipment is
rather sketchy, consisting of a butterfly net, a killing bottle and a club.
Seeing a butterfly, I put down both bottle and club, and of course then ran
across a carpet snake, I could see only the last four feet of him and, not
being quite positive that he was a carpet snake, made no effort to grab him
with my hands. By the time I could get my club and return, only his tail
was showing and while I landed on that with force, it did not prevent him
from going wherever he intended to go, down a gully below some thick bushes,
apparently. I did not follow him there, still, and even now, not being
sure he was only a carpet snake. He must have been about eight feet, total
length.

In the evening, Gil Bates, Art Taylor and Harold Lane arrived, the
last being on his regular job at the power house. The balance of my rum vanish¬
ed but fortunately Len came up heeled and the party was quite successful. Van
has taken Lane out hack-lighting. Gill and Art have returned to Mossman, Len
has gone to bed, after reading me all the news from The Cairns paper, so I
might as well bring this to a close.

Tomorrow will be our last full day at Mossman River Gorge as we are
planning to return to Cairns on the Friday bus from Mossman. S.S. Time sends
in varying reports but she should reach Gairns some time during the first
half of next week J My fingers are hitting the wrong keys with such consistency
that I had better close up.

4 • • »

Thursday, 18 March 1948. Len and I out this morning, first up to the in¬
take and then down the branch river as far a3 we
could go. Separated at a good collecting spot and after about a half hour's
work I managed to break my way do?m the stream to the spot where Harold Lane
and I crossed last Sunday. Len came along a little later, as I waited and
rested there for a while, having had a bad spill and broken a bottle which he
had been carrying in his pocket.

We had a number of visitors during the evening; Art Taylor and his wife
arrived in, bringing with them a very nice cake, baked entirely in our honor.
They had been with Gil Bates up to Devil Devil and had seen George there.

Harold Lane also came, having sent his linesman up during the afternoon with
a loaf of bread and a pineapple for our tomorrow's meals. Both Arthur and
Harold have made reservations for us on the bus that runs to Cairns, and
since the Mossman agent is the lad with whom I bowled last Saturday, we should
have no difficulty in getting both oursleves and our gear on the bus.

According to the Cairns paper, which I have not yet read, the strike
has broken out with redoubled fury and the strikers in Townsville have re¬
fused to load the Time. Everything seems to happen to that ship and she is
known as a hoodoo all along the coast; just why, nobody knows, except that
she is a sort of whipping boy and if anybody wishes to vent spite against
anything, they show it by giving a severe kick in the stern to Time.

It is now 10.45 P.M. and our guests have left; Len and Van have gone
out jack-lighting, since art brought up another gun, and I am sitting here
holding the fort with some difficulty. This time tomorrow we shall be back
in Hides Cairns Hotel, if that means anything.

Friday, 19 March 1948. I failed to mention the most important thing about

yesterday; Art Taylor brought up a pound and a half
of tobacco, which they had purchased by some devious means known only to them¬
selves. We V7ere in desperate straits, Len having about ten cigarettes and I
four and neither of us with anything in our pouches.

Last night Len and Van got a large wallaby, redeeming to some extent
the mammal collecting average for our first camp, hereafter known as Mossman
River Gorge.

This morning things were somewhat rushed as Art Lane was to call for
us at 1.30 and Van had to get his traps in and his wallaby skinned before
that time. Len was limping somewhat from his tumble of yesterday and did not
go out of camp at all; I went up to my favorite spot, the water in- take, and
gathered in one or two odds and ends. Harold arrived on time and drove us to
Mossman where, somewhat to our surprise George joined us for a few minutes
while we were waiting for the Cairns bus. V.e had not expected to meet him
until we all arrived at Cairns.

In celebration of the return of the hunters, I experimented with the
nearest thing I could find to a Manhattan, brandy and Italian vermouth. It
arrived nestling at the bottom of a huge goblet, evidently the local idea of
a cocktail glass, and did not resemble a Manhattan to any noticeable degree.

It was revivifying, however,. Our dinner was a large and slow one,

slow on account of its size, and it tasted very good.

Strike news is still bad and the men in Townsville have refused to
unload S.S. Time. Of course she cannot leave Townsville for Cairns until
she has discharged and we are as uncertain as ever.

Saturday, 20 March. 1948. The morning was filled with odd jobs,EE±Jsx to be

completed before the town closed down for the week¬
end and in the afternoon Van and I spent our time at the Museum, the place
which has been loaned to us for storage and working, while Len and George

drove out with Gil Bates to look over the land in the neighborhood of Bellend-

en Kerr, a mountain to the south of us.

Van and I occupied our silves for the bulk of the afternoon and I,
finishing first, returned to the hotel to find a placard on the elevator ask¬
ing that it he not taken to the second, or top, floor, where our rooms are. On

inquiring I was informed that a wedding was to be held on the first floor. (I

had better explain here that the floors run Ground, First and Second) and
that when the elevator stuck, it always did so at the second floor. To cir-
cemvent that, the thing was not to be taken that high until after the cere¬
mony.

I bathed and cleaned up, by which time Van had come in, and we went
down to the first floor for a drink. That was the scene of action, and the
bridal party was gathered there, the bride dressed in a vivid crimson net gown.
Being Saturday, the Cairns string orchestra was playing on the landing between
the ground and first floors and signals were passed to them to play the appro¬
priate music for the wedding in between other numbers rendered for the diners
on the ground floor. Van and I sat sipping our drinks and watching in the
lounge on the first floor, amid wedding visitors all dressed up with hats on,
when the first break occurred, in the shape of a man in a bathrobe with a
towel around his neck, who arrived in our midst looking for the shower room.

A little later "Here comes the Bride1' struck up"and the wedding guests rose
and stood still, only to be parted by the same man, returning wringing wet
from his shower. Then it was found that signals had been crossed anyway and
the bridge had not moved from her post behind the elevator shaft. That ended
the ceremony for us and we went down for dinner.

In the evening we went to the movies and saw "Appointment with Crime"
and "Home, sweet homicide", altogether a pretty bloody evening.

Some time during our absence Len and George returned, not too im¬
pressed with Bellenden Kerr, so the coming week is still uncertain.

For future reference it might be as well to bring the strike situation

in here, as far as we know it. The S.G. Time is still at Townsville and only

a part of her cargo for that port has been unloaded. New South Wales is now
on strike in sympathy with Queensland, but we need concern ourselves only with
the latter. At the best possible. Time could not reach Cairns until the end
of this week, and in that event would arrive at Easter, during which period
Australia closes from Thursday until the following Tuesday. No work could
be done during that period and the only hope, which is not even a faint chance,
is that our freight might be unloaded prior to Thursday. Then we, at least,
could get on with our repacking.

This situation also brings up the long range effect of this on the
expedition. Money is being used up - we have applied for reservations homeward
for October but it is conceivable that lack of cash could force a return be¬
fore then. On the other hand, if cash holds out we should put in this lost

three weeks at the end of the trip. Things can simply be said to be remarkably
indefinite.

Our results, with the sketchy equipment available to us, so far have
been good, but we are all champing at the bit and desperately anxious to get

to the right place and job.

35

Sunday, 21 March 1943. George and Van webt out during the morning and for the

day with Mr. and Mrs. Brooks, up to the Tully Falls, a
lovely scenic spot. Len and I stayed in the hotel all the morning catching up
with mail, etc., and consequently there is little to report just noy*.

Until something happens there is not likely to be much to write about
anyway and. if only I could tell what dat it was without writing this thing
daily, I would cease to do so for the present.

Monday, 22 March 1948. Today's news is far from good, in so fax as the Time

is concerned. Her agents report she is still in Towns¬
ville with only a part of her cargo unloaded. Her coal is all consumed and
they are no longer able to keep the ship's lighting system working although
there are tons of coal on the wharf. Worst of the lot is the fact that three
of the crew have been discharged for subversive activities and it is on the
cards that when all the other strikers return to work, the seamen will go out.

take

frith Easter coming up, we shall iauos no particular steps though we are
planning a camp for all four of us, either at bellenden Herr or at a point
north-west of Cairns or both. If, after the Easter period is over, tnere is
nothing new in strike conditions, we must consider the possibility of borrow¬
ing or procuring enough equipment somehow for two or three of us to start
work in one of the areas which fit our original plans. It will be difficult
as so much of the equipment is irreplaceable, by any method whatever j even
the matter of food would offer quite a problem, but the whole situation is
becoming quite serious.

One or two trains ran today and some equipment of George's, which he
had left at Rockhampton when he flew up, has arrived. That gives us a little
more to work with. The rifle I ordered from Brisbane also came in but the
ammunition could not be shipped by air and is following at some date by
freight.

Tuesday, 23 March 1948. The morning paper came out with the good news that

the strikers at Townsville had decided to continue
with the unloading of the Time. That, to us, brought us three possibilities,

(1) That we leave our gear aboard the ship for the rest of the trip. (2)

That we try to have it unloaded at Townsville and sent up by rail. (3) That

we have it unloaded at Townsville and have it sent up by road. In the mat— .

ter of (l) we learn that the ship really is being unloaded snd that there will
be no delay in rebunkering but that now five men of the crew have been laid
off and the remainder of the crew may strike as a result. In any event the
unloading cannot finish before Thursday, Easter then intervenes and if they
are able to fill the crew, the ship cannot possibly leave before next Ttmrx
Tuesday or Wednesday. It is a twenty hour run from Townsville to Cairns. In
the matter of (2) tha railway people say that if the stuff is set down on the
Station platform at Townsville, and if there is a freight train, they will get
it up to us, but the railway men are now on the verge of striking and there is
no guarantee of any trains at all. In the case of (3)> as with (2) also, we
have no knowledge of whether the stuff is so loaded tnat it can be shifted at
Townsville anyway, and if it can the freight charges by road would be very high.

Burns Philp's man in Townsville was to examine the ship today and ascer¬

tain if the stuff was in such a position that it could be unloaded but he tele-
o’honed that while he was on board the ship, he did not get below decks and
will not be able to do so until Thursday. By that time of course it will be
imoossible to unload there anyway until next Tuesday. Dupain, ox Cairns B-P,
likes the idea of read travel and of course would get a fat fee from the trans¬
action. I would hesitate to trust him with a bent nickel anyway.

36.

In view of the fact that by no means whatever can we get at the freight
until next Tuesday, it seems the most sensible thing to let the stuff remain
in the ship, to me. Crew trouble may delay that, of course, but there will
be no additional costs. In the case of rail, the delay may be just as long
and we will be saddled with extra costs. In the case of road, we do not yet
know that we can get the stuff from the ship at Townsville anyway, and the
tracking costs would be extortionate.

In the meantime, we shall make a camp for four or five days over the Eas¬
ter period at a place called Speewah, on the Clohesy River, northwest of here.
We shall all be there and in addition Ernie Stevens and his brother may be
with ug for part of the time, if not all. I have to quit this and start on
a food equipment list, the equipment being the harder. I must avoid as much
as possible purchasing stuff that is included in our freight, yet I must
have adequate cooking and lighting means.

Len and George were out with Ernie this morning and afternoon selecting
this area, Van worked in the Museum while I busied myself finding out what I
could about the activities of S.S. Time.

A cyclone passed somewhere just south of us yesterday and as a result
we had an extremely high tide last night. The water flooded the streets
along the front and reached about a foot up the piles on which the Museum
is constructed. Another six inches and a lot of the stuff we have already
collected would have been jeopardised.

In my wanderings and enquiries I made the acquaintance of McLoughlin,
District Superintendent of railways. Good, Cairns head of Howard Smith, Ltd.,
who run the Time, and, of course, Dupain. Each of them referred me to the
other, at least by inference, and all three of them had a meeting this after¬
noon, accomplishing precisely nothing, according to their latest reports. The
whole situation is something that not even the U.S, would put up with from
its labor leaders. It is all blamed on Communist influence, of course, as
such things are everywhere, yet One cannot conceive such things happening in
Russia itself.

Wednesday, 24 March 1943. A lovely new precedent has been set by the Towns¬
ville wharfies - they are unloading the Time but
are receiving an extra ten shillings an hour, known as "stench pay". A lot
of her cargo consisted of vegetables, which owing to the efforts, or lack of
them, of the strikers, have gone bad. The workers demanded therefore an in¬
crease of about 1505&, before they would return to the ship to work her, on
account of the evil smell of the rotting cargo.

There is not much to add to remarks previously made; we may receive
some sort of information from Townsville tomorrow relative to the costs and
possibility of shipping the stuff by road but are inclined to let it remain
on the ship and take a chance on its arrival. There are pros and cons to
both methods of shipment and the third, shipping by rail, is as dubious as
either of the other two alternatives.

Today was spent, so far as I was concerned, in preparing for the five
day camp over the Easter period, which will receive the name Speewah Gamp,
Clohesy River. Rations have been purchased, all necessary supplies are
being borrowed, when possible, and we should not be out of pocket as most of
the stuff I have got consists of expendables, such as batteries, collecting
materia.ls and so on. The costs of rations will be much more than offset by
the money saved in hotel bills.

By the time we return, probably some time on Tuesday, there may be some¬
thing definite, and perhaps even good, about S.S. Time.

37.

Thursday, 25 March 1948. The day was fairly active in the assembling and

packing of equipment for Speewah Camp and vre have
an inordinate amount of -stuff, considering the fact tdat vre shall be back
here on Monday. However, an extra man is joining us, making it seven and we
are prociaing the food for all hands so we shall come back lighter than we
set out.

Latest developments in our main journey are good but again hinge on the
Townsville situation. The B-P man at that town telephoned that he had been
on board Time and had been unable to locate our cargo, but tnere was still a
lot of Townsville stuff not yet unloaded. The wharf ies are stringing the job
out as far as it will go, particularly with their extra "stench pay" ana it
was to be expected that they would not finish uhe job before the Easter holi¬
days set in. Also the report given to me only yesterday that there would be
no trouble rebunkering has now been replaced by the statement that ohere will
be a great deal of trouble. To set against all that, there is a truck coming
by road from Townsville on Wednesday night, if our baggage can be found^ana
loadea on the truck, and the Yalata is scheduled to leave for Thursday island
about the -Saturday following so there is a faint possibility that we may be
able to get away about the end of next week.

Arthur and Mrs. Taylor came down from Mossman for the evening, and had
dinner with us at the hotel. They have just left and we are getting ready
to turn in ourselves. The weather has been stifling again the last couple of
days; the Museum, which is our workshop, is like a Turkish bath and sweat ran
down my body in streams all day, while I was working there. The weather add¬
ed to the uncertainty of everything makes the whole situation that much more
trying on all hands.

Len is still limping from the tumble he took during the Gorge Camp and
complains that the pain is moving down his leg. I hope there is nothing
seriously wrong.

We depart for Speewah about 9 A.M. tcmorrovf.

March . .

Friday, 2j6/l948. Gordon Steven6 and Alf Reed called for us .bout o (sicj

/ A. M. this morning and we started first for the Museum to

load gear, and then set out along the Kuranda— Mareebe road over the range .
After about two hours driving we turned off the good Bitumen road onto a
bush track and ra.n into trouble with the light car in which Ernie and Mrs.
Stevens were travelling. They had to get up a steep gully ana managed it.
at the cost of a hole punctured in the radiator, which meant filling up with
water every ten minutes or so.

Speewah is a clearing of several acres cut out of the deep forest and
a house stands there, built on stilts about ten feet high. The owner, Mr.
Beavers, has about five head of cattle, horses, chickens and ducks at a lit¬
tle stream, called either the Munonga or Upper Clohesy, runs near the house.

We separated into parties, some being well-equipped and others ill; I
was one of the latter, of course, and went out with Van, later separating
from him to search for death adders, which are said, with the usual Austra¬
lian exaggeration, to be plentiful. The only thing I could find worth writ¬
ing about was a scorpion, against whose whole tribe I have a gruage since one
stung me on the Soraima trip. The other parties got nothing at all, and
Van who set a line of perhaps thirty traps, found them all untouchedon
his night round. This is said to be native cat, the striped variety whose

« ■ - y •

38.

existence we very much doubt, country, but so far, in spite of our fairly
large party, there has been no sign or trace whatever. In the evening
George went out, returning with a brown snake, now in formalin, which I must
look over when I finish this, but no native striped cat.

Alf Reed and I drew the assignment of dimmer orderlies and turned out a
very tasty dish of canned beef stew and celery, plus bananas, bread, butter
and cheese, and tea.

Sleeping accommodations vary somewhat; Len is spending the night on a
cot, under the house, George has his South American hammock slung on the veran¬
dah, Van is sleeping on the verandah floor and the others are draped around thd
place in various positions. I have the best of the lot. One of Mr. Beaver's
possessions is an operating table, the first to grace the town of Cairns and

dating back about seventy years, whose legs have been cut down; it has been

converted into a cotch but the jointed part which in those days was elevated
and propped up much as a deck chair is, remains and works. I have issued an
ultimatum that if anybody gets any surgical ideas, he is in danger of my club,
which at the moment forms my whole collecting equipment.

Saturday, 27 March 1948. This turned out to be a somewhat mixed sort of a

day with some of us, including myself, suffering
various minor troubles. To start Van complained of a pain in his lower abdo¬
men and was off his feed. However, his traps turned in a fair collection, which
did him a lot of good. George got through the day without any mishap, so far
as the rest of us know, and has been rather patronizing. Len, Ernie and Gordon

started up-stream to a junction named Stony Creek but got bushed and were away

for about seven or eight hours, arriving back in a state of near-collapse. My
own trouble came after dark; I had no light and got tangled up with some barbed
wire, incurring two gashes across my chest and a deep puncture between my right
thumb and forefinger.

The original plan this morning was that I should return to Cairns with
Ernie and Gordon, get what information I could on the subject of Tiem and
cargo and radio a message out to the rest at Speewah. It turns out however
that George does not like the place as a hunting ground, so Ernie will come
out to get us some time on Monday afternoon and we shall all be on hand when
and if there is any particular news. Gordon, oddly enough, is working on the
installation of a motor in Yalata, which ship, we hope, will carry us up to
Thursday -‘■sland at the end of next week.

Saw my first cassowary in the open forest this morning but having only a
stick and a butterfly net, there was not much I could do about it. Not that I
would anyway because we do not want any birds.

Sunday, 28 March 1948. Out at 6 A. M. with George this morning; he had set

a new trap line yesterday afternoon and we went to¬
gether to the point where the line started, separating tnere, and I worked
my way back until I struck the trail back from the hill I had climbed yester¬
day morning.

My bad consisted of one centipede, one green spider ana one damsel fly
ana to my mind that does not justify getting up at 5*45* Van got a smaller
catch in his line, five assorted rats, and George picked up nothing in his
new line. In some respects, I suppose, it is worthwhile getting everything
in sight as it will all be new to the Bug Dept, but it also seems rather a
waste of time, in that we are not where we are supposed to be. Once we
reach our proper area, I surmise that collecting will be faster and more
furious and everybody except Jetty Joe, if he has not by then taken another
job, will put in very full days and nights.

In connection with Jetty Joe, a telegram came from about two weeks ago,
asking if everything was still as arranged. He was somewhat disturbed by our
delay probably, but Len replied explaining the trouble with Time, etc., so we
still expect to find Joe waiting when we reach T. I.

Since yesterday's was the first cassowary I have ever seen in the flesh
it might be an idea to put in a little bit of description of it. It was in
scrub and didn't wait for me to make any close examination but looks very
much like a cross between a very large turkey and an emu. The long neck is a
metallic blue, the crest or comb and watt-Les bright rea and the rest of the
bird almost sooty black. Len tells me that the young are very good eating,
and that will be about our only interest in them, for the pot.

George, in desperation, spent the time from 5»3Q until 9 1*. M. in the
bush searching for at least a sign of the native cat. There was none, though
he did return with a bandicoot and something else which I do not remember. For
myself, the daughter of the house rendered a concert for her boy friend and me,
playing a long series of old songs and tunes on the piano by the light of a
hurricane lantern. There is no other form of light available. She was taught
to play by a cousin end does very well. The nearest neighbors are about eight
miles away, a journey of several hours through the scrub on horseback.

Monday, 29 March 1948. This will be our last day at Speewaji as we are expecting
Ernie Stevens to arrive for us somewhere about 3 P. M. I listened to the ^
radio news, hoping for some word of Time but could learn nothing but the fact
that Russia can make two atomic bombs whereas the U. S. can produce them in
the necessary military quantity, and that the striking men at Rockhampton
have decided to hold a meeting next Wednesday to decide when they will return
to work.

George and Van were away early on their traps, Len has just gone out
and I have finished my specimen packing, both bugs and reptiles, must have a
bit of a wash ana then must go out and procure enough to fill a partly filled

box so must close this up for the present. As we had prepared rations for

six men for five days and it turned out to be four men for three and a half
days, there is quite a lot of food to be packed and taken back.

I notice that the only time I have referred to our hosts, I spoke of Mr.

Beavers. That is wrong, the name is Veivers, there is a Mrs. as well as a Mr.,
a son, a daughter and a cousin all living there, in addition to whom the^
daughter, Ivy, had her boy friend staying for the Easter holidays. ^ As might
have been inferred from the description of their farm, they are definitely
backwoods people, whose travel and horizon is limited to the village of Ku-
randa, which may contain two hundred souls. But they all have a good control
of English and speak well and with good accents. Their attitude towards the
war is one of indifference, I find; it is generally regarded as something which
interfered with their running of the farm and none of them were in any branch
of the service. They found a mild resnetment to an Australian who was found
concealed at the bottom of a well with a wireless transmitter, by which means
he was communicating with the Japs, but I think they would not have lynched
him or taken any very stringent action. Iv^y, the daughter, had found the
farm too quiet and had tasted the joys of Cairns, but had come backto relieve
her mother of some of the work around the place. They treated us with great
courtesy and consideration and seemea sorry when we left this afternoon. A
present of some kind for Mrs. Veivers is in order.

Van seemed rather under the weather still on our return, Len has tick
bites, George seems all right, and I nave my barbed scratches. Now I must ciose

to get these sheets mailed.

Tuesday, 30 March 1948. As was to be expected there was nothing new in the

matter of equipment when Len called at B-P’ s this
morning; we knew, of course, that no work would have been done during the
holidays and the call was merely a matter of form. Later in the afternoon a
telephone call came from Dupain to say tyat four of Time’s holds had been al¬
most emptied and there was no sign of our equipment. The fifth hold, said to
be loaded with Cairns cargo, would not be touched in Townsville and doubtless
it is there that our stuff is.

Heavy showers during the afternoon and evening did little to break the
thick, muggy heat of Cairns; I spent most of my day running around looking for
other kinds of meat supplies than those we have as my companions do not like
what we have already purchased. The fact that there is nothing else to be
procured does not seem to enter the matter. The search was fruitless and was
simply a repetition of previous searches.

The little side trips, while productive of some specimens, do not do very
much good and the enforced inactivity of our daily existences and thh uncer¬
tainty of our future ones does harm to tempers and dispositions.

Van is still indisposed and went to a doctor this afternoon; the trouble,
tne doctor said, is some local form of colitis, whatever that may be, and Van
was delighted with his medicine, a thick, creamy mess smelling strongly of
vanilla.

’Wednesday, 31 March 1948. And still the news is unreasonably bad. The unload¬
ing of Time should be completed this evening but for
seme reason not apparent, the coal re-bunkering is not to be carried out until
next Monday and there is just a faint chance that she may arrive at Cairns a
seek £sx from today. It really is the most abominable thing and it happens in
every nation, that one small body can hold up and do untold damage to the much
greater balance of the population. To blame it on communism does not melee any
sense to me.

We shall probably go away tomorrow for six or seven days but I am not
quite sure just where as nobody feels inclined to transport us and it is quite
possible that the railwaymen may decide to strike again tomorrow. I think
they have had their turn and gone back to work but they may be feeling a lit¬
tle tired now. The general idea is in the neighborhood of Bellenden Kerr, a
mountain some sixty miles to the south of Cairns. I would hesitate very much
in going out of telephone distance as it could be that the re-bunkering of
Time might be carried out before next Monday. Anything can happen but it
seems at present that our only chance of getting clear in time to take Xalata
will be if the coaling is done sooner than expected. It would be too bad if,
for the sake of a few local specimens, we were to miss the Xalata connection,
through not being within telephone call.

The usual supplies of food have been laid in and I think I shall make a
deal that I shall prepare all the meals if the others will do the washing-up
and. clearing-up. They have complained so much about the food that the only
thing I can do is show them that it is good and palatable, prociedd somebody
takes time and pains in preparation. Their method is to grab and open the
first tin they see; if they happen to find the bully beef is nearest, we have
bully beef until it is gone, during which time there is a constant tumult
about unbalanced and monotonous diets.

Must take this out now and get some letters away or ready for mailing
tomorrow. The usual evening storm (it is about 5:30) has started and there is
a cool breeze blowing on my spine for a few moments.

41.

Thursday, 1 April 1948. There was a fairly hectic rushing around in the

mroning in view of the fact that there was no train
or rail-motor, which is a sort of trolley-car which runs along rails, to
Bellenden Kerr. I dickered for a while with B-P who got hold of a man who
wanted L6-6-G to take us out. That seemed high and finally a man was was found
to do it for L3-10-0. He called for us at 2.30 at the hotel and we reached our
destination about 5.30. It is a former can-cutter's camp, consisting of a
large corrugated iron shed, divided into separate rooms and having a kitchen
stove set up in one room. It is situated in the middle of cane fields, as
might be expected, and our run after leaving the main road was rough.

It did not take long to settle, however, and Van and George set a short
trap line while Len ana I got t he camp into shape and began to prepare the
evening meal. Then a very serious oversight svas discovered - I had packed
everything bot one of the other three had for some purpose rearranged the
contents and all the plates had been left behind. I took my meal from a.
frying-pan and the others each had a vegetable serving bowl, looking some¬
thing like the three bears except that the bowls acre all the same size,

Re shall have to do something about it tomorrow as the chances are that we
shall be here for six or seven days.

So far it is too early to give much in the way of impressions but we
nestle close up under tne slopes of Bellenden Kerr and it seems to be fairly
cool, so far. No mosquitoes are apparent so far but almost every other
kind of insect there is congregates about the lamp by which I am writing.

There is a general feeling by all hands also that it will be well to watch
one's step when walking around.

The strike news was unchanged when we left but about two miles away
there is a house with a telephone; the occupants have promised to receive
messages for us and Dupain has been advised where he can get in touch with
us, should there be any change.

The; others have turned in' now though it is only 8.40; I think I shall
read one of my who-dun-its for a while and then do likewise. By the way,
those books are a God-send and I wish to record my gratitude to everybody who
subscribed to my library.

Friday, 2 April 1948, There is one range of hills to our east and then the

ocean; in other words our camp lies between the low?
coastal range and the higher second ranve which includes Bellenden Kerr.

Len is preparing breakfasts during this camp and as he moved around the kit¬
chen this morning, where I am sleeping, he roused me and I looked out. The
rays of the sun were just appearing over the coastal range and hitting the
top of Bellenden Kerr, the sky was blue, orange, goSd and white with clouds
and grey tendrils of mist roved down the mountain side to lose themselves in
the green of the forest with which B. K. is covered.

Last night, for no particular reason, I looked under my bed and found
a nice little black snake there; of course I had absolutely nothing to take
him with and by the time I had found an old broom stick with which to
clout him, he had disappeared. Probably he was harmless but I bear the ad¬
vice of Herpetology well in mind.

George and Van did very well with their traps last night but my early
insect results were poor and last night's snake was the only one seen by any¬
body. Later in the^ morning I had a little better luck and in the afternoon
went up the foothills of B.K. to the point where water for the few shacks
hich comprise the village is piped down. There is a charming little glen
there and a one inch pipe seems to supply everybody's needs.

42

The night last night was cool, even under a mosquito netting and al¬
though we are at no altitude. I had to pull a blanket over me after a while
and George got up about 4 A.M., dressed and went back to his hammock. Some
kind person gave Len a pair of sheets of which he is very proud 5 it has even
been suggested that we take sheets up to the Cape when we finally get away
but there has been enough havoc created with the budget without going into
luxuries such as that.

The food which we are having this time seems to meet with more approval
but it is simply, I believe, because I have supplied serving dishes instead
of dumping each man’s share on his plate. Psychology, that's the thing.

My stomach itches as the barbed wire gashes heal up but the hole in my
thumb is still deep and open.

Just for the record, the name of the man who drove us uut here, and who
says he will be glad to take us, back at the same rate when the time comes ,
is Woodward.

Saturday, 3 April 1948. There is not much to set down in the way of histo¬
ries tonight. Heavy rains last night just about
ruined all trapping for George and Vanj Len and I went up to the foothills
of Bellenaen 4err, separating there, and Len went up to about 1,600 feet
wlule I hit off at a tangent to get into scrub. Collecting, from my point
of view, was poor though I managed to rid the world of another scorpion.

George established a new trap line, telling me that he had cut a very
plain trail from where we enter the scrub over to Junction Creek. Len ?/as
late getting in for lunch so I went to meet him, passed him about half a
mile from camp, he going in, and went to look at George’s line. I was able
to follow it for a short distance and then got hopelessly off it. Managed
to force my way through thick growths of painful lawyer cane and event¬
ually reached Junction Creek but was then faced writh the job of returning.

I followed the Creek down for some distance hoping that I would reach the
open cane lands but the stream went into a gorge and I had to come up to
the level of the high banks and return through the scrub. Herpetology was
enriched by three leeches which were trying hard to work their way through
my boots, I found on getting back to camp.

George and Gen are going to try,ydth guides, to get to the top of B.K,
on Monday, spending Monday night on the trail. Van has to take over George's
traps and though they invited me, I see no particular point in trying to
get to the top, just for the sake of getting there. I shall stay with Van
and try to augment my collections, with which I am not pleased.

Some cane cutters turned in a blind-snake, the first of the trip, and
Len told me he stepped on one during the morning but he and the snake re¬
treated rapidly in opposite directions and did not meet again. Tomorrow
George and I will go out together and he will show me that bread highway
he cut through the jungle, which I could not find this afternoon.

Sunday, 4 April 1948. George and Len have just finished preparing their packs

for their climb of Bellenden Kerr tomorrow and expect
to take about two and a half days for the job. Van seems to want to go with
them but to gie the very sight of a pack is enough to make me shiver. They
have not had to carry them for nine years.

George ana I went out together early this morning to examine that line he
cut in the scrub and I could not find. As far as I can judge, I lost it at a

43.

river crossing and picked up a spur line, leading nowhere, which he had cut
in order to lay out some traps. Not knowing that I followed the spur and
afterwards got myself bushed on reaching the end of the spur.

Another nasty thing I find about the Australian scrub is connected with
lawyer vine, that spiked and vicious thing that grows so profusely. The small
young tendrils of it cling and tear at one and if removed by hand leave spines
sticking in the flesh so small that they are not noticed or felt - until next
day, when the flesh around the spot sweels and festers. Just at the moment I
have no fewer than seven such swellings.

Dupain is supposed to telephone some time tomorrow giving us word of Time
but if I do not hear, I shall go to the nearest telephone on Tuesday and call
him. If there is no particular news it is uncertain when we shall return to
Cairns but I am prepared to pack up at a moment's notice myself and get back
and on with the job. There is the matter of ous passage north to be considered
as well as the actual arrival of the freight.

Monday, 5 April 1948. This is the first really, consistently wet day we have

had and incidentally is the day on which Len and George
started their climb of Bellenden Kerr. They went up with two local boys who
are acting as guides and had not been gone from camp a half-hour before the
rain started. That was about 7.15 and it is now 2.15j the whole day has been
a series of heavy downpours separated by lighter drizzles. George and I had
hoped to signal by morse, using flashlights but now I can barely see the loom
of the mountain, They will not get back until Wednesday, if they carry out
their plan.

Van took over George's trap-line in addition to his own and for the first
part of the morning was bemoaning the fact that he was not with them. Recently
however, his moans have become less. The new trap-lines which both Van and
George laid last night were quite productive and Van has a full day of prepa¬
ration.

For myself, I have spent the morning soaking my hand in a bichloride of
mercury solution; the barbed wire jag in it finally became infected, together
with a couple of lawyer cane splinters which penetrated near the barbed wire
hole. In any event, the weather has been such that I could do nothing in the
way of collecting and I decided against the B.K. climb because I feel that the
things to come will be rather harder and there is no poiny in burning myself
out over non-essentials like that. Tomorrow, unless word has come from him, I
must somehow get in touch with Dupazn and arrange for our return to Cairns on
Thursday, whether or not there is any particular word of L.S. Time.

I think this is the first time since leaving the Museum that I have
touched a typewriter by daylight and it feels odd somehow.

Shortly before coming to this camp, we .took delivery of three secondhand
bicycles and Van and I ride gravely about our various duties. Len and George
have not yet been persuaded to ride them, although they were Len' s idea, but
I find mine to be a great saving on the feet. Pretty well everyboay ^rides
them in Cairns but I find myself showing huge attention to motor trafiic and
judging carefully whether or not I can cross a road in safe time before a car
perhaps almost half a mile away, which I see in the distance, can do so.

As I am more or less on the sick list and Van is so busy anywaj , I am
doing all the cooking today. <<e have just consumed a lunch of Vienna sausage,
carrots,, iipast, m^rmelade,- cheese, butter, tea ana oranges, plicken j.rom a tree

growing behind tne camp. I aouot if Sing ala as •*1J ana

Sre Oeorle end Len did not. Bully beef, under a rock overhang, likeay.

44.

Tuesday, 6 April 1948. Shortly after finishing yesterday's entry here, a

boy came up from the village to say that somebody
wanted to"see" me on the telephone; having been house-bound all day on ac¬
count of my infected hand, I was disgusted at being caught half-way in a
roaring rain storm but it was worth it, if the news I received is true.

First of all, the strike is finished in all departments, coal, rail,
sea and wharfies. All are to return to work today. Secondly S.S. Time is
supposed to leave Townsville tonight and reach Cairns early Thursday. It
was Dupain who gave me that information and I had myself switched over to
Cutmore and arranged for Woodward to call for us at 2.30 PM on Thursday and
transport us back to Cairns.

The remainder of last evening continued the downpour in which I was
caught and at times the rain beat so heavily on our tin roof that Van and I
had to shout to make ourselves heard across the width of the table. Bel¬
lenden Kerr was invisible practically all of the evening and there was no
possibility of signals being seen between George and me.

Van and I have one dry pair of pants and one dry sport shirt each, with
no chance of getting anything else dry but our plight must be luxurious com¬
pared sith the chaps up the mountain. It is not likely that they will be able
to make fires as everything will be completely soaked, and the only shelter
they -.Till have will be under overhanging rocks unless they can contrive some¬
thing from ban,ana. leaves and other foliage.

The rain this morning was not so incessent but there has been no sign
of the sun anc if anything is hung outside, one must rush out in a few min¬
utes and bring it back in again. I have to go to the village again this
afternoon and Dupain was to telephone again, after communication with his
Townsville branch. To go, I shall put my wet clothes on again and save my
dry stuff for my return. Shall cease this until I have the latest word, but
it will be good to have our equipment. Even boots cannot be greased until
we get it and mine certainly need that; I am afraid they will fall apart
unless they are treated pretty soon.

Later , same day. Found a message waiting for me when I went down to the
place where our telephone messages were received, stating that S.S. Time is
due to start unloading at Cairns at 9 ^.M. on Friday.

Mist over Bellenden Kerr in the evening prevented me xJBRoiHg seeing any
sign of George's light but, in case he was able to see mine, I sent the fol¬
lowing message. "Strike over - Time unloading Cairns Friday morning - cannot
see your light." I sent the message twice so if he could see my light, he
and Len know the late developments.

It seems that we shall soon have a constructively busy time, though as
yet we know nothing of ships to the north other than Xalata, which is sup¬
posed to depart from Cairns tomorrow.

Wednesday, 7 April 1948. This is our last full day at Bellenden Kerr and

as with the last several, it has rained on and off

all day. Van had average luck with his traps on his round this morning
early but I aid very little for myself. Reptiles are scarce so I have been
putting most of my time on bugs, wandering around with net and killing bottle.

I had a few specimens in the bottle this morning and was after another;

it escaped through a hole in the net and somehow the bottle was overturned,

the lid came off and those in it went floating down the stream.

45

George ana Len arrived in just about noon from their successful at¬
tempt against Bellenden-Kerr . Both looked very bedraggled and weary and had
not been dry since their departure on Monday morning. Many bites of leeches
were visible on them and several of the pesta fell from their clothing as
taey cnanged into drier stuff.

The climb had been pretty tough and the weather atrocious, of course j
their first camp. Tick Camp, was. at 3,000 feet and they spent both nights at
that spot, reaching the summit and returning to Tick again last night.

The whole of the trail apparently is through scrub, with lawyer vines and
their attendant thorns plentiful, as the scratches on them uenoted. They had
contrived packs for themselves from old potato sacks and both had carried
weights of about t-vnetjr-five pounds. Rain had rotted the straps of the packs
ana caused considerable trouble in un-balance of weight.

I fixed both up with some good hot food khd again at supper time filled
them up; it is not 8. 40 but Len has turned, in. George is reading one of my
who-dun-its while I type this and Van works on his skins. The rain is pour¬
ing down again and not once have we seen the top of the mountain from this camp
since our arrival here.

... " ■’<*. J.. ->'• > V. •

The name of the camp, which I think I have not before recorded, has
been settled as Junction Creek, Russell River; permission to collect mammals
on- Bellenden Kerr itself was refused so all specimens taken are from the
surrounding lowlands -and from the Junction Greek camp. The refusal of a
collecting permit is odd - it is based theoretically on the fact that Bellen¬
den Kerr is a national park. Insects and plants may be collected there but
nothing else and the remainder of the wild life is vanishing because fires
are fairly common and it is illegal to put out a bush fire in a national
park. However our worries will soon be over on that score; there are no more
national parks north of here.

Thursday, 8 April 1948. There was a little more smnlight on this, our last

day at Bellenden Kerr, but it was frequently broken
by showers and in general this has been by far the wettest week we have so
far spent in Australia .

Van’s traps last night produced only five specimens and my reptiles
were augmented by two large lizards. Nothing much was contributed to the
cause of science during the day.

Woodward called for us at 2 o'clock on the button and we had every¬
thing packed and ready; the stream, however, which his car crossed with ease
when bringing us up, was so high that he could not cross and we had to carry
our gear out to the truck. It was not far but the slippery stepping stones
across the brook put a bit of zest in it.

Returning to Cairns now is a wuite usual thing for us and we feel rather
like old inhabitants, resenting, or at lease commenting on, new arrivals at
the hotel who were not there when we went away. This time there are a num¬
ber of Philippines staying here. However, the staff always seems glad to
have us return ana our waitress usually produces double scoops of ice-cream
for those who desire them. I will admit that out ainner tasted perhaps a bit
better than those I have been preparing hut also I defy any chef to produce
from the cans I use, any more tasty dish than I produce.

S.8. Time is not yet in so we do not know much about the various reports
that have reached us; that will have to await our investigations tomorrow, as
will the steamer north from here and other related matters. In the meantime
we shall have at least one good night' s sleep.

46

Friday, 9 April 1948. Right after breakfast Van and went down to the

wharf to make certain Time was there; she was, her
hull red with rust ana the gilt letters of her name black with tarnish. A
few of the fraw were leaning against her rail, throwing bits of meat to
stray dogs and looking a bit sheepish though to give credit where due, they
did not strike, merely enjoyed a lot of pay and idleness while others struck.

Unloading started about 10 A. 38., by which time Len and I had called on
Dupain, of B-P, and received his promise that everything to hasten things
would be done as soon as our stuff showed up. Then we investigated ships
leaving for the north and gathered a lot of information, none of which is
entirely definite. John Burke's ship. Bandana, is not due to leave Cairns
until the 23rd (she is just now at Brisbane and leaves there on the 17th);
another Burke ship, Cora, is supposed to leaVe Cairns for Thursday Island
nest Tuesday or Wednesday but has no passenger space, though she could carry
the cargo; another ship already mentioned, Yalata, is still up the stream
and also expects to leave about Shaxxxxy weonesday, a week later than she had
previously expected; Len has engaged two plane reservations for next ftednes-
day and four for the Wednesday following, in case we are unable to travel
with the freight, as would be the case with Cora, though we are all exceed¬
ingly reluctant to let the stuff out of our hands again.

The main thing is to: get the freight out of the ship and in our hands
and then we can make final plans.

There seemed to be quite a .bit of work to be done during the day -
finishing touches to collections, ena of month settlements with the bank and
our various accounts, dinner for Gil and Mrs. Bates who are going away on
Monday for about two weeks, and so on. We ended up at an exhibition of
Queensland wood and timber which bored me so much that I went out to sit on
the step of the place and almost fell asleep. I rectified that by getting
back to Hiaes Hotel and sleeping there.

Saturday, 10 April 1948. Van watched the docks this morning and came back

with the report that never before had he seen such
.quantities of peas and jam and that no part of our cargo had yet emerged,

Of course the wharfies stopped work at noon and do not start again until
Monday. ; . j , , ,v 1 i _ ( „ t

George and ^en are both suffering somewhat from the leech bites they
acquired when climbing Bellenden Kerr and George had medical attention for
his this morning. I have had one or two but high boots; laced outside my
trousers have kept roe pretty free from the loathsome things. They are
black, about the size and color of the lead in an ordinary pencil and about
an inch long p at first. They show a horrid eagerness as they 'writhe to¬
wards whatever piece of flesh they think they would like, and if left to
their oval devices, swell up almost to the size of my little finger, with
some of them, you c^n feel their first puncture but most attach themselves
without betraying their presence at all. After being detached, which is best
done by applying a lighted cigarette, they leave behind then a hole about a
quarter inch in diameter, which bleeds profusely. They seem to inject some
form of venov, which retards coagulatioh and Len particularly just streams
with blood from one of their bites. In rain forest they are in abundance
and will attack the face, neck or any other part that is exposed.

47

Sunday, April 11 1948. This has been a pleasant day, with nothing being Re¬
quired to be done very urgently. It is about the
first day we have had when we could really slack and take things easy.

Len spent most of it at our warehouse, straightening out his plants ;

Van went out to Green Island, a spot about fifteen miles offshore from Cairns j
George loafed around during the morning and went out bat-hunting with George
Brooks, the local dentist; I wrote letters all morning and in the afternoon
went out to see a Rugby game. Shortly after 5 PM Len and I went to call on
Mr. and “rs. Dupain, where we were invited for cocktails. I had hoped that
as Mrs. is the leader of society in Cairns we might really get a cocktail,
but it turned out to be Scotch and soda. Not that 1 sneer at that by any
means.

The dentist, George Brooks, holds a good dental degree but is far more
interested in natural history than dentistry. I had to have some minor re¬
pairs made on Friday, going to his office twice. Each time George left the
victim in the chair, once with his mouth stuffed full of what looked like
cotton bandage, to come out and talk expedtionary affairs with me. I have
to see him again on Monday to have a cleaning job done and am wondering what
effect his interest in the expedition will have on his fees.

Dupain was in good form and would, I think, be good fun out on a party.

He knows the South Pacific well and has spent all his life at the various
Burns, Philp branches, serving in the small islands as well as in New liuinea
and on the mainland.

Tomorrow we start waiting again for our stuff to come out of Time's
capacious holds so I hope I shall have something interesting to set down
in this by tomorrow evening.

Monday, 12 April 1947. Today has been another of those rushed periods with

many small things to be done which appear simple and
easy and, of course, are, but they take up a lot of time, such things as
transference of funds from our dollar account to our sterling account, pack¬
ing of specimens which people insist on bringing in just when everything has
been packed, searching of the town for enamel plates and scarce commodities,
repairs to a camp cot belonging to Ernie Stevens and so on, with never a
sign of our freight emerging from the black and smelly bowels of the Time.

This evening I had to go to the Museum to take some cartons over there
and to pack up a hermit crab that Van brought in last night and forgot un¬
til noon, and after attending to these jobs, at 6 P.M., I walked over to the
wharf. To my vast delight and relief, I arrived there in time to see our
first crate come out of the hold, quickly followed by another. I did not
wait for them all - they must be somewhere near each other - but it means
we can start work tomorrow morning on the re-packing and dismantling of the
crates. That in turn means that we can be ready to sail on Wednesday or
Thursday, if there is a ship to take us.

There simply is nothing definite in this country and if a definite state¬
ment is made, it is sure to be corrected eight hours later. For example we
were told that Cora, the Burke ship, will leave here definitely on Tuesday.
That was last Friday. Today I learn that she is sill in Townsville. Many
such things have happened, quite unrelated to the strike, and nobody seems
to care very much whether they know anything about anything or not. The
manana spirit is abroad in the land here just as much as in South America.
However, I shall have some envelopes tomorrow.

48

Tuesday, 15 April 1948. Our crates reached us at the B-P warehouse we are

using about 9*30 this morning and from then until
now, 10.15 P.M. things have been very busy.

Much more repacking was done than I had expected and even now the job
is far from finished though we should complete it tomorrow. After that all
the stuff we have collected so far, which is stored in the Cairns Museum,
also has to be packed and removed to the B-P warehouse.

It seems likely that we shall use the Lochiel, an awful little tub
about fifty feet long, to get us to Red Asland, and there is some talk of
George and Len flying up, which means of course that Van and I have not only
the dirty part of the journey, but also the dirty job of finishing up the
packing. It is not yet definite, though - nothing ever is definite in
Australia, as far as I have seen up to now.

The day has been hotter than the last few and working under a corrugated
iron roof did not tend towards coolness anyway. However, the thing to do is
get things ready and then wait again, perhaps not for long. Lochiel is not
yet in Ciirns but is said to be arriving tomorrow and leaving perhaps on
Thursday night.

Breakfast is early tomorrow so I shall close this up and write more at
length when the job is done. As an afterthought, it is three years ago today
that I left the Canadian Army and presumably ended my soldiering career.

Wednesday, 14 April 1948. The big news of the day came through just before

noon when our trans-shipment by the Lochiel was
finally arranged for all hands and all baggage. We leave some time tomorrow
evening and loading starts at 9 A.M.

Lochiel herself rather beggars description j she is about forty or fifty
feet long, carries a crew of one black man, two white men and the captain.
Smith, whom I have not yet met. She is probably ten feet in beam and has an
oil burning engine which she rarely uses, relying instead on her jib and a
big mainsail. Just where we shall all sleep remains to be seen as there is
practically no cabin space and hardly any room on deck to lay down cots. The
masts are too far apart for George to hang his hammock and rather too short
and stumpy for us to drape ourselves as bats do. I went down to see her this
afternoon and learn that one of the crew is Canadian and the other from
Seattle. Smith is Australian.

They were loading tomatoes for the journey north but I did not see much
else in the way of rations.

Other news came from Thursday Island - The Protector of islanders has
engaged three natives for us who, subject to our approval, will make the
whole trip with us. Jetty Joe will be waiting at Red Island and our first
camp will be at Lockerbie Springs, not on any may but xta* about eleven
miles east of Red Island Point, which is known locally and ominously as R.I.P.
The reason will be investigated and reported later.

The repacking job has been hectic but has been completed, though no
listing of the repacked boxes was kept. No doubt each man knows just what
part of the operation he performed and each man’s personal kit of course is
his own responsibility. Tents and primary camp supplies ere unmistakable
and readily available.

Our Thursday Island visit will have to be deferred until the return trip
to Portland Roaas as we shall save two days by going direct to Red Island.
Also we shall omit Cooktown, calling only at Portland Roads on the northward
trip. In general, we shall oe able to pick up about five of our lost days.

Thursday, 15 April 1943- Before shifting from the Cairns scene, I wish to re¬
cord an amusing incident which happened during the
Bellenden Kerr period. George had been much plagued by leeches and sewed on
the bottom of his trousers a strap to pass under his instep, thus holding his
trousers well down inside his boots. The straps worked so well that when he
stooped, his trousers split from crotch to top, up the back, and had to be fast¬
ened together with some safety pins from the medical kit. That was not too bad
but on the return from the mountain top, wringing wet as he was, Deogge decided
to change his clothes. Shortly there was a yell from him and he was found tied
up in an almost inextricable knot. His clothes had not been off for three days
and it was not found out,until he was almost completely dislocated, that his
trousers had been pinned together with his underwear.

Last evening we entertained Mr. and Mrs* brooks, the dentist, and Mr. and
Mrs. Stevens, the Govt, horticulturalist, all four of them ardent naturalists,
and all of them having been of great help and assistance to us.

The morning passed quickly, odds and ends having accumulated ana sundry
jobs having to be rushed through in time for sailing. That hour was indefinite
until the last minute, the crew, about 5 P.M., being almost in a state of mutiny
over a deckload of four tons of ice and two tons of salt which arrived at the
last minute.

Dupain came in for drinks shortly after 5 P.M. and a small party started,
carrying on through dinner and continuing after when Henderson, the manager of
Hides Hotel, took over the programme. It was not until about 10 P.M. that we
were informed that there was a man at the door wearing only a pair of shorts,
who wanted to see Len. To let a person clad so lightly into the hotel would have
been a major infraction of the rules governing this miniature Waldorf (have I
stated that on the wall of the elevator there is a sign which reads "Guests will
wear coats for all meals and ties for dinner - signed The Management") so Len
went down and brought the man up to the lounge muffled in his, Len* s, coat.
Henderson and his wife came down to the dock to see us depart and were horror-
struck at the Lochiel. Our sleeping quarters are in the forecastle, which on-
tains bunks (4) and is possibly eight feet square. Roaches in their thousands
were scampering over everything and practically stood ip and cheered when they
realised that there were to be four sets of eyebrows for them to chew on dur¬
ing the hours of darkness.

Loading had just xtswtHd finished when we arrived on board and the crew
were having their first meal of the day, steaks and eggs; one or two of them
were quite well oiled but we were also and formalities were not observed £o
any great extent. The boys of the crew are an interesting lot but I shall do
more In the way of description of them and the ship tomorrow. Let me sign off
tonight by describing my last conversation, which took place with the one black
member of the crew. He informed me that his name was Koko and he was the son
of Jerry Koko. He told me further of the death of his father and of his effort
to buy a headstone costing L180 but the protector would not let him pay more
than L75, the money coining from the fortune of L300 left by Jerry at his de¬
cease. At this point poor Koko Junior was taken with a fearful attack of hic¬
coughs, fell from the coil of rope on which he had been seated, and was piloted
to whatever place he sleeps. I crawled down to the forecastle, myself fortified
against roaches or anything else and slept as soundly as Koko.

Friday, 16 April 1948. I do not know whether or not I can give an adequate

description of Lochiel or whether I shall have to
try my hand at drawing. Perhaps both, but I shall try words first. She is

fifty feet in length, with a beam of fifteen feet amidships. Tonnage would
be about one hundred tons, her power is one Diesel engine, two mainsails and
a jib but so far the sails have not been used. She is of no particular color,
nor ever has been, as fas as I can see, as there are not even an remains of
any paint job, but she is sturdy and very strongly built. If the reader knows
what one of the Messick tugboats, which flit around New fork harbor, looks
like, and adds a fore and a main mast, there you have the Loehile, outwardly.

Working from bow to stem along the deck, first one comes to a hatchway
about two foot sx square; that is the entrance to our quarters, about six
feet below the deck, and from our quarters there is a door leading into the
galley which contains a kerosene fewwgiw&rmjEmra burning stove constantly in a
state either of refusing entirely to light at all or else burning with such
ferocity that we are in constant danger of being blown sky high. Back on
deck again and moving aft, one comes to the main hatch, an opening in the deck
perhaps nine or ten feet square; the hold is filled with cargo and on top of
that hatch is the two tons of salt and four tons of ice that caused the trouble
yesterday, so I cannot comment very much on the conditions in the hold, though I
cann well imagine them. Just after the main hatch there is the wheel house,
which contains three bunks, and between the wheel house and the stern of the
ship there is a space of about three or four feet. I do not know where the
rest of the crew sleeps. The decks are piled high with cargo and one climbs
over crates of oranges, bags of pumpkins and the four ton berg of ice in or¬
der to move from bow to stem; sedately and decently nestling on top of a
large sack of potatoes are our three second-hand bicycles.

The captain, a lad of perhaps thirty-five, named Bill Wallace, is from
Portland, Oregon, strangely enough, and was in Tucson, Arizona, when we ran
the 1940 Expedition to Tucson. He knows all the air crew and has met Dick
Archbold. The cook, Terry, was bom in Winnipeg but has taken out Philip¬
pine citizenship, deciding that only fools work and he can live comfortably
in the islands without working. How he decides that cooking for eleven or
twelve men in his minute galley escapes the name of work, I do not know.

He rejoices in the possession of a new yiKBbiiix coffee percolator and he and
I have the same liking for that drink, which is considerably greater than that
possessed by anybody else on board. Consequently, after meals, another coffee
pot is made and shared by us both. A third member of the crew is a redheaded
lad, an Australian. I don't know if he has a name and when I inquired was
informed "We just call him Bluey. " There is also Koko, spoken of yesterday,
and two other men whose positions I do not know; I think they are both pas¬
sengers and one is leaving at Cooktown this evening.

We have cruised all day about five miles offshore and were level with
Mossman when we woke this morning. At first our only stop was to be Port¬
land Roads but the passenger and the additional cargo have made a Cooktown
stop necessary. We should be there about 7 F.M. this evening but do not
anticipate a long stay there. So far the engine, which was in something of
a state of chaos yesterday, has pulled manfully and Bill Wallace seems an
efficient engineer. Terry, the Canadian Philippine, does a good job of
cooking and tells us he will be sorry for us when we get into the hands of
Jetty Joe McLoughlin, our field cook. Maybe professional jealousy. The sea
has been like a sheet of deep blue glass; what small wind there is is dead
against us so sail has not yet been called into service. Just recently we
passed under the loom of Mount Finnegan, which most likely will be our last
camp on the way home; as with Bellenden Kerr, its summit was deep in mist
and we shall know little of its difficulties until we encounter them, maybe
in August or September.

51

Our toilet facilities are strange and strained; water is carried in a
cask on deck, from which a hose protrudes - the water is obtained on thesi-
phon principle, serving for washing and drinking purposes. Perhaps a scien¬
tific journal is no place for a description of a john but ours is so unique
that it must go into this - it lies in a narrow space between our quarters
and the galley and outwardly looks normal and usual. The trick is the flush¬
ing of it; first one turns a knob which permits the entry of water into the
pan, then you pump very vigorously at another handle which compels the water
to go in, rather than merely permitting it to, and finally a third operation,
involving additional furious pumping activities, forces the water out again
and into the blue Pacific.

A certain part of our deck cargo consists of crates of mandarin oranges
consigned to one Lee Foo, a Chinese merchant of Thrusday Island, syspected of
collaboration with the Japs during the war. Two of his crates are open and his
choice oranges are being handed around freely. Terry has just informed me that
he is making lemon meringue pie for supper and indeed there is a very pleasnat
smell of baking seeping into our small and close quarters. He intends to feed
us well and we were promised "the best accommodation the ship can afford."

So much for Lochiel: I feel, after reading this over, that to try and
draw a sketch of here merely would be gilding the lily.

Saturday, 17 April 1948. The coastal range is getting lower and lower and the

temperature higher and higher; metal parts of the
ship are so hot during the day that one cannot touch them and when we called
at Cooktown last evening, about 7 P.M. the thermometer was at ninety degrees.

This entry must be mainly about Cooktown, both because it is the last out¬
post of civilization and because it will be our last main base camp on our re¬
turn journey when we make the collecting camp on Mount Finnegan. I can best
describe Cooktown by comparing it to a village crossroads in Wisconsin or Ohio;
the usual pub, church, general store idea and although the Cooktown area includes
many, many square miles, there are not more than two hundred white people in the
whole district.

In honor of our arrival today’ s ration of beer had been laid on last night,
one nine gallon keg, and with the crew as our guests largely, the keg was emptied
as the hotel keeper, Mrs. Johnston, requested. George, Len and Van went up to
the hospital to call on Dr. Kestevan, with whom they had had correspondence, while
I maintained things in the hotel. Most of the township came down to see us off
and to bid us hasten our return, but it will not be until July or August that we
taste beer again, with the possible exception of Thursday Island, after our camp
at the Tip has been finished.

It is now mid-afternoon and we are sailing along past mountain ranges on the
mainland which probably are no more explored now than they were when Captain Cook
first discovered them. Large and small islands appear on the seaward side and
shortly, about 4 P.M. we should reach Switzer's Reef, where another small craft
like this is aground. We are carrying some salvage equipment to her sid but our
next and only scheduled stop is Portland Roads, where we should arrive some time
tomorrow. That will mark something over half of our journey and we should reach
R.I.P. on Tuesday.

Fortunately the evenings are fairly cool and even our little oven-like
fo’c8sle gets some drop in temperature until sleep becomes possible. Terry keeps
up his high standard of cooking but two more days of this will be ample and I at
least will be glad to reach the field of operations and get things started. Then
we shall find out fairly quickly how long the job at the Tip will take and whether
we shall be able to catch Alsgna on May 21st.

4

52.

Sunday, 18 April 1948. Even under conditions such as these which might con¬
ceivably be considered as out of the ordinary, if not
tinged with some touch of romance, one can get good end tired of a sea journey.

Yesterday late afternoon was enlivened with our visit onto the reef at
the place where the Darwin went aground. The copper sheathing was tom on the
coral and a lump of the sharp, jagged formation had pierced right through her
hnl 1 in one place. The reef itself was about twelve inches under water when we
got out from the dinghy in which we paddled around the wreck and went fossicking
around on our own account. I was interested in the giant clams though elsewhere
they grow to much greater sizes than we found them here. The largest I saw was
not more than ten inched across. What pleased me more was the finding of some
cowrie shells, parasitic on the giant clams. The cowries have been in my shirt
pocket for twenty hours now and it is time I took some measures to get the fish
out of the shells.

It will probably be well to list the various promontories passed during the
time after leaving Cooktown. Between that point and Switzer's Reef, the branch
of the great Barrier on which Darwin ran aground, the saleint features are Cape
Bedford, Cape Flattery, Weary Bay being south of Cooktown and none of the other
bays marked until we passed Cape Melville j we headed away from the mainland to
reach Switzer's Reef and it was dark when we left that point . We rounded Cape
Melville shortly after midnight and passed north of Flinders Island, heading
about northwest across Princess Charlotte Bay. Annie River and Annie River Land¬
ing, the point where we intend to emerge after our second, Portland Roads, camp
has been finished, lies at the foot of Princess Charlotte Bay, as do the Normanby
and North Kennedy Rivers. Port Stewart, once the portin' Coen, no longer is
active and we reached the main shore-line some distance *or it anyway.

We came ilose in to the mainland about at the mouth of Dinner Creek at
somewhere around 10 A.M. The Great Dividing Range, at this point shown as the
Mcliwraith Range, could be seen some distance back from the shore line and on
the further side of the range Attack Creek, Archer River and Peach River flow
off the west side of the range. We passed the mouths of Scrubby Creek and Rocky
River, then Nesbitt River, and now, at the time of writing, we are about forty
miles south of Cape Direction, which forms the eastern side of Lloyd's Bay. The
Lockhart River, having its source in the main range and flowing eastward, turns
north and opens into Lloyd' s Bay and is mentioned here because we have been ad¬
vised to get blacks form the Lockhart River Mission for our work in the Portland
Roads-Annie River stretch. Portland Roads itself is another seventeen to twenty
miles NNW after we round Cape Direction and we shall not get there before dark,
a fact that I regret because I wished to have a look at Restoration Island,
where Capt. Bligh made his first landfall. Iron Range, another district of
interest ot us, where we shall be camped for some time, is about twenty miles
SW from Portland Roads and the Ciaudie River, of particular interest to as me
because Jetty Joe wrote that it teems with crocodiles, has its origin near Iron
Range. My new 303 rifle should get some exercise about there and Gil Bates
gave me nearly 300 rounds of ammunition for it before he left Cairns.

I started this entry by saying that even a journey like this palls after a
while. I find myself itching to get on with the work we have come here to do
and it is so much of a holiday cruise that I am beginning to resent the slowness
of the trip. Some time during the night or early morning we shall cross Weymouth
and Temple Bays and leave the Map Sheet I am referring to now. Another two days
must elapse before we can round the tip of the Cape and prepare for our disembark¬
ing at T.I.P. Our first camp after landing will be at Lockerbie Springs, as I
have said somewhere, and we shall set up camps also at Matee Head, or in its vi¬
cinity, and somewhere near the mouth of Jacky Jacky Creek. If we can get things
done in time to get the Alagna on May 21st remains to be seen. We shall try.

rt Inn
A

Tomorrow or Tuesday I shall start getting mail ready for sending off with
these sheets j it will be given to Bill Wallace for mailing when Lochiel gets
to T.I. Apart from the map points and perhaps a few words about Portland Roads
there probably will be little to write and as we shall reach and leave P.R. in
darkness and the only place we are interested in or which, in fact, exists at
P.R., the Fisher store, is some miles from our landing point, there will not be
much to Bay anyway. This diary is good practice, thoufh, and keeps me informed
as to the date. -

Monday, 19 April 1948. At the very bottom of Map Sheet 1 there is a prominent

headland jutting almost due east into the Pacific. No
name is given on the map but it is Cape Grenville and we were level with it when
we rose this morning, having made no stop at Portland Roads last night. Resto¬
ration Island is marked with a beacon and I stayed up until we had passed that
point. Weymouth Bay and Temple Bay followed and then we ran off that sheet onto
No. 1, where we now are, which shows the rest of our journey.

Bill Wallace says that but for the stop at the scene of Darwin* s wreck, we
should have been able to reach R.I.P. this evening but as it is and with that
port being in the condition it is, not navigable at night, we shall not dock
until tomorrow morning. We are some distance out from the main shore line but
heading in toward it and should close up on it about the area of Pudding Pan
Hill. Then travelling north, we shall pass in turn the mouth of Escape River,
Turtle Island, the mouth of Jacky-J&cky Creek and Somerset, swinging west around
Cape lork village and the extreme Tip and then running south-west down to R.I.P.

We hoisted sail yesterday afternoon, which increased our speed by about a
knot, and had us bouncing around over the waves like a cork. The wind freshened
during the night but dropped toward dawn and now there is not much more than a
alight breeze blowing. The engine had to have an overhaul this morning and al¬
though the main-sail was at right angles to the hull, there was barely steerage
way on the ship. A turtle was sighted floating perhaps asleep in the water and
Perry and Koko were planning to get if for foodj they did not, however, and now,
the engine is chugging away again, we are bowling along at a good speed.

Our cargo consists of eleven pieces, special, which means ammunition, medi¬
cines and such things, to be kept away from the engines; forty-eight pieces of
food and equipment, which were packed in fairly small lots so that we should
have cases and crates of a usable size for other purposes; fifty-two pieces of
expeditionary equipment and supplies, mainly in our expedition boxes; fourteen
pieces of personal baggage, including our blanket rolls ana personal boxes; our
three bicycles make up the balance. There will be something of a job in the
checking of them tomorrow when we land.

During Len’s visit to Thursday Island he arranged with the man who runs
the saw mill at Rad Island, Richard Holland, (known to his two sons, Ted and Bill,
as Ginger Dick, the bastard) to transport us somehow to our camp site at Lockerbie
Springs, and we hope to be met by Ginger Dick, our own Jetty Joe and the three
black boys who have been provided by the Protector of Islanders. If we are, and
Ginger Dick is ready, there is nothing to delay our departure from R.I.P straight
out to Lockerbie. Lockerbie can be sighted by drawing a line from Red Island to
Somerset and spotting it about the middle. Then we shall erect our camp and be
in shape to start work on Wednesday morning.

Now I have to close up and get mail ready for despatch; tomorrow I shall
find out what arrangements we can make for the despatch of later mail but this
at least, should get away fairly promptly. There is one trick - before leaving
New York we understood that there was daily plane service between Cairns and
T.I. but actually it is once a week.

54

Tuesday, 20 April 1948. Xesterday afternoon, having time to kill since Bill

does not want to enter R.I.P. harbor by night, we
spent severla hours ashore on a double island which shows on the maps under the
name of Hannibal. It was a pleasant break and a couple of turtle's nests were
turned up, yielding nearly two hundred eggs.

An apple pie, which I had requested from Terry, did not materialize in
time for last night's dinner but our breakfast this morning consisted of
scrambled turtle eggs and a somewhat soggy apple pie.

The entrance to R.I.P. was a twisting, tortuous channel and I could read¬
ily understand Bill's reluctance to come in by night. There was a fairly well-
built pier, constructed by the Arrqy during the war, against which we tied up the

Lochiel and disembarked to make the acquaintance of Jetty Joe McLaughlin, our

cook, and an old comrade of Bill, Terry, et al. Jetty lee is Australian but had
all the earmarks of a somewhat wizened, small Irishman. He proved his competence
as a cook by procuring a large mackerel and serving a good fried fish lunch with¬
in an hour of our unloading. The two Holland boys, Stan and Tom, arrived to meet

us in and then their father. Ginger Dick, showed up and took command. He is a

man of perhaps fifty-five to sixty and his knowledge of Cape York goes back to
the time of Frank Jardine, one of the earliest explorers of the district. Ginger
Dick was in the first war and a speedy raprochement was established.

His homestead, at Lockerbie Spring, is only a few score yards away from
our camp and he had done a lot in preparation for us. There is no doubt that
these people are genuinely glad to have us around, if for no other reason than
that we bring news of the outside world and a new outlook.

Our baggage was divided into two lots on the pier, one for immediate trans¬
portation, containing the tents, camp equipment, food and so on, and the other
with stuff not urgently needed, is to be brought out tomorrow. We set up camp
in a grove of mango trees, giving us good shade and green ants by the million.

The camp is formed with Len's tnet and work tent at one end, a long dorridor of
canvas flies for work purposes connecting his area with our three tents at the
other end of the corridor. The tents were not set up by the time darkness came
on us but that is the plan, with Jetty Joe sleeping in his cookhouse.

Three baleck boys, arranged for by Jensen, the Protector of islanders, also
were waiting at R.IVP. They, or two of them, are young men and fully alive to
what is their due. Their names are Robert Massey (probably named after Massey, the
former Prime Minister), and Bob McDonnell. The third, George Moreton, from the
district of Moreton telegraph station, is older and has not had so many of the
advantages of civilization. He arrived with three many-pronged fishing spears,
which will look well on the wall of my Brooklyn Museum.

We spent a large part of the evening at Ginger Dick's ranch-house, he doing
most of the talking and as usual, the subject turned to snakes - taipans even
chase the horses, says Dick, and it is well not to wear boots because then you
can tell when you step on a death-adder. Next time I hear that one I shall tell
about the rattlers which emerge from the drains along Broadway and the bush-
masters which drop from the trees .pn Park Avenue. That should settle the snake
business. And so to bed.

Wednesday, 21 April 1948. Joe served a substantial breakfast of curried bully

beef but I contented myself with the first course,
oatmeal, and toast and coffee. I must make a note to get a percolator but I
still have a little Nescafe - enough for a few breakfasts.

Camp construction went on and things were in good shape by dusk, even the

55

unpacking being completed and the tent for the boys erected. Each of us has
his own tent, such as it is, with table and chair, but somewhat crowded by the
fact that each of us has taken in a certain number of expedition boxes and in
addition to my boxes, I have the stores of tobacco and rum.

Work should start tomorrow and conditions will be good and easy for
the first period, the time we spend at Lockerbie. Later we shall start the
subsidiary camps, of which the first probably will be somewhere on the eastern
side of the Peninsula, either in the district of Somerset or about the mouth
of *acky Jacky. Later we shall most likely make another camp in the Mutee
Head district and perhaps one as far south as the Jardine River.

George is busy trying to explain in pidgin how to set traps. I am quite
certain he would make much better progress if he used ordinary English. It is
the pidgin that puzzles them, not the traps. In a few minutes Jetty Joe will
be banging on his dishpan to indicate that another of his enticing meals is
ready for consumption. I wish I could write George's pidgin, whieh is directed
mainly at George Moreton, henceforth to be known as Moreton. It runs something
like this "I show you, you use dis hand. Put the wire in the hole with dis hand."
Then suddenly he forgets his pidgin "Go alow. Mind the spring. Go slow, take it
easy, now you have it." Then a mixture "Tomorrow morning you take out five
traps and set them. Then go lookum see." No wonder poor Moreton looks bewildered.

Len has just returned from the cook-*housej supper will be in about fifteen
minutes so it is time for the cocktail hour and I must stop.

Thursday, 22 April 1948. It is still before mid-day but there is a chance of

getting mail out this evening so I mant to fihish
this page. Some of the equipment never reached shore from the Lochiel and I
want to find out just what. Also I have to check the B-P supplies, having found
out that they substituted on the tobacco and soap without informing us about it.

Eor the record. Jetty Joe went on the payroll as of the 20th, at an all-
inclusive salary pf L9-0-0 weekly? during a discussion with him yesterday after¬
noon, he asked me to hold his full salary unless he asks for it. There will be
quite a party when Joe really breaks out, I guess.

Ginger Dick borrowed my rifle last evening and went out and shot a bullock
so we had good steaks for breakfast this morning. The animals were originally
domestic but for several years have been running wild, are unbranded and free
for the taking. If the mammalogists don't stop bringing in specimens for me,
when I least want them, I shall go out and get a cow and tell them to skin it.

In the evening we want over to the house and listened to a quiz contest
between Australia and Great Britain, followed by the news. Dick had heard in
a previous newscast that Walter Reuther, the automobile Union boss, had been
shot, but there was no mention of it in the news we heard. Sleeping was good
and cool, though the day heat goes up around 95 degrees.

Len and George got out for a while this morning and Moreton, as a result
of George's pidgin talk, brought in one mouse. George's response to that was
"You one fine-feller boy, it's a Melomys" . Moreton just grinned.

There is a boat coming in from T.I. which will take our mail back there
for mailing and may bring some in to us as the weekly plane reached Thursday
Island yesterday.

56.

Friday, 23 April 1948. The mail went out from here about 3*30 yesterday

afternoon but I have no idea on what day the mail
plane leaves T.I. ; I understand it arrives on Wednesdays. It will be
interesting to learn when the letters reach New Xork.

Nothing more happened yesterday afternoon though during the night
I fought the third World War. Oddly enough Turkey first attacked ue and
later China joined her. I am not quite sure who "us" may bem but I know it
was a furioud war and I spent most of it in a dug-out. It must have been the
result of reminiscing with George and Ginger Dick about the first one.

This morning I started my own field work by taking a walk through the
scrub to the top of a hill which lies east of camp. The vegetation was too
dense to do much but I was able to secure a particularly ugly specimen of
centipede, about eight inches long. After a long battle, I got him into a
cyanide jar bjr use of a pair of long forceps but did that deter him? Not a
bit of it. In a burst of fury he tore literally limb from limb several
other specimens of beetles I had there and it was not until I got back
gave him a bath in the reptile formalin tank that he finally quieted down.

The afternoon was occupied in another jaunt of about four miles which
produced a lot of specimens of winged things, butterflies, dragon flies and
such, but nothing more.

It might be an idea to set down just what each of us does to earn his
living. Len most nearly approaches a normal time-table ; his collecting is
done during the morning, the preparation in the afternoon and his notes and
observations take up the evening. George, Van, More ton and Bob McConnel
form a team; their traps are baited during the previous evening and their
day starts with a cup of tea at 6.15 and the collection of specimens taken
during the night. Traps which have been sprung are reset and when necessary,
re-baited. Then they come back to breakfast, about two hours later, as they
have long trap lines. Moretcn and McConnell have twenty-five traps each
and set their own lines; soon they will be given guns in addition to traps.
After breakfast, George and Van prepare the specimens taken, with the blacks
looking on, so far, and later they too will take on preparation. That occu¬
pies them until lunch and sometimes after and in the afternoon they hunt
independently of their traps, Moreton with his fish spear and McConnel by
hyptonism, I suppose. The evening sees another inspection and re-baiting of
traps. My own day is yet another story. I can eat my breakfast in comfort
before going out and then put away the specimens taken during the previous
evening. After that I dress up like Astor’s pet horse, since I must carry
gear forboth reptile and insect work, and stagger forth to a destination I
have previously selected. My haversack bulges with bottles for beetles,
bottles of alcohol for wet and slimy things, bottled for butterflies, a bag
for snakes, forceps for picking things up, four sizes of ammunition (I have
three rifles but am only able to carry one at a time) a heavy net and a ma¬
chete. I arrive back after a couple of hours because I know that Jetty Joe
will have some tea ready and a bun or something, and from then until lunch I
fix up what I have taken earlier in the morning. The afternoon is much the
same sort of thing and in the evening I set up my bug trap, which consists oi'
a funnel pendant beneath my lamp, with a cyanide bottle hanging from its open
thin end. Bugs attracted to the light,fall into the funnel and thence down
into the cyanide jar and I end up with terrific numbers of them. Sometimes
I have to go out after dark, as tonight - I had set out some bait for land-
crabs, and had to go and inspect it. There were two crabs feasting on it and
a third disappeared into its hole when it saw my light. The two waited, to
their sorrow, as they also are in the formalin bath now.

That may give a rough idea of the way we four, and the blacks, occupy

ourselves at present and there probably will be little change during the
long months ahead. I should have said that Robert Massey is Len' s boy and
only I am without an assistant. Presumably that is because I have two jobs,
and therefore would need two boys. My training of them would be somewhat
imperfect since I do not quite know what I am doing myself half the time,
but I am amassing a collection in both departments.

The last but not least member. Jetty Joe, cooks merrily away from
dawn to dark, and turns out some very good baked stuff; tonight, for in¬
stance, there were four pies, the filling being made from different jams.

Joe joins us in the evening tot of rum, pretending some reluctance but pour¬
ing himself a shot about twice as large as anybody else's; he shows no ten¬
dency to want anything more, thoufh, and presumably will hold off until the
end of the trip and then go off on a terrible toot. We hope he will hold
off untiljpangc then anyway.

A word about the weather should suffice for this day's entry; the
daytime is hot, from 95 to 100 in the sun, but evenings are down in the lower
70’ s. I think I have said a blanket is necessary, and soon I must go and
get into mine.

Saturday, 24 April 1948. I tried some pidgin on George this afternoon, say¬
ing in pure abbo "I go now. I catchum bug. I
catchum snake. Bimeby I come back for kai-kain and he understood every word.
Both of us are letter-perfect now, but I’ll bet Moreton would have been fool¬
ed ty it.

The day has been much the same as yesterday and no doubt the remainder
of the days will also. Only when we move can there be much to interest any¬
body who is not here unless he has a vivid interest in the natural sciences.

I shall assume that none of my readers have, and therefore our moves will be
of greater interest than our daily bread-winning. To the northeast of us
lies Somerset, on the Pacific, and to the south-west are Cowal Creek and Mutee
Head, All three places appear on our list as possible later camps and from my
point of view, anyway, offer more of general interest than does our present
spot. I like ocean and Somerset has that to offer; I like people and Cowal
Creek has a Mission Station and Mutee has an abbo settlement. Here we have
baked earth with bare hills rising a hundred or so feet above the rest of the
surrounding land. There is little water, just a few creeks wandering through
the eucalyptus forest; to an expert undoubtedly there would be lots to be seen,
found and learnt, but with my sparse knowledge, there is little.

Collections mount up, however, and I suppose that by the end of the trip
we shall have a very fair amount of stuff as a result of our visit. At the
moment George, Len and I are in camp and Van is out jack— lighting. I shall
have to do it occasionally, I suppose, though I do not know just how it ap¬
plies to insect collecting and so far as reptiles are concerned, while their
eyes do show, some of them, they do so very faintly and my eyes are not what
they used to be in the spotting of the reptile^ eyes.

One of the Bad things I have to contend with is the fact that my watch
has ceased to function and heaven knows when I shall again know what time it
is.

Tomorrow is Sunday but no day of rest for us; the boys are singing in
their tent, a dismal monotone. It is only about 8.30 but the days are long
and tough. Again my blessings go out to those good friends who subscribed
who-dun-its; I 3hall read for a while and then turn in, though the moon is
bright overhead and the breeze blowing aool and strong.

Sunday, 25 ^pril 1948. The thing most worth recording today is the fact that

nt watch has started going again and some mail came
in from New Xork, England and Florida. I do not quite know how it got here as
Tom Holland has not yet returned from T. I., but I think it was sent over to
the telegraph station with theirs and the lineman brought it over.

My collecting trips of the morning and afternoon did not produce a
great deal and the afternoon one was most noteworthy for the fact that i rode
my bicycle to the area A had selected. The bike is in bad shape after the
treatment it received on the Lochiel and 1 shall have to give it some atten¬
tion tomorrow. The mammal collecting also fell off in numbers last night but
we shall most likely put in another ten days or so here before moving to the
Pacific Coast point selected. Our journeying south, so far as the mode of
transportation is concerned, is quite uncertain.

When Pallister, Museum entomologist, returned from Peru shortly before
we left, the papers made much of the fact that he brought back somewhere
around 70,000 specimens of insect. It seemed incredible but the answer mist
be in the collecting by light and funnel, referred to in last night’s entry.

So many minute things fall into the jar that even I must have by now, after
only having the contraction rigged four nights, several thousand of the lit¬
tle things. I wonder what Casier and the rest of the entomology department
will do with them and how long it will take to examine and identify them all.

The south-east trade wind has been blowing all day and will continue for
the next few months. It is a breeze much beloved by sailors but does not help
a bit if one is typing or if there is a table loaded with specimen envelopes.

Moreton asked me for an electric torch so the boys could go walk-about by
night. We have no extras but I lent him a cycle lamp. He asked how much it
was sind on being told seven shillings, produced from Borne secret store two
florins and four threepenny pieces which he proffered. I refused but had bet¬
ter order a few extra batteries for the lamp.

A scrub turkey, shot yesterday by Len, formed our supper tonight and
Jetty Joe did things up completely by boiling a plum pudding to go with it.

Monday, 26 April 1948. Sometime long after we had turned in last night we were

disturbed by the advent of several people from T.I. who
had come over on a picnic to the telegraph station. They had heard of our ar¬
rival, wished to make our acquaintance and borrow some rum. Both wishes were
gratified and they spent some time at Ginger Dick's house singing, though we
returned to camp and turned in. Terry McLeod, the Winnipeg lad from the Lochiel
was on the party though barely with it} he experienced considerable difficulty
in standing but talked at length about the apple pies he had baked for us and
would bring over personally this morning.

He did not arrive, of course, but this evening young Dick Holland, young¬
est son of Ginger Dick, drove to R.I.P. and returned with our missing tent and
the bag of tow. There also was a crate containing some bats and a letter which
reads as follows

Archbold Expedition and Company
Dear Friends

Here with is twenty four Possession Island bats secured from the
abandoned ml living shafts ajacent to Captain Cook’s monument

The two bats of one species came from the shaft of some elevation,
the remainder from the lower shaft at sea level.

We are also sending with the bats, two sack bags which you missed

and two apple pies just baked by the Lochiel's chef.

Wishing you a successful expedition we of the Lochiel remain.

Yours faithfully,

W. W. Wallace.

Terry MacLeod.

Ian Mackay.

W. W. Johnson. (Bluey)

P.S. Apple pies aint much good without ice cream.

We are agreed that it was exceedingly decent of the lads, but tnere was
one flaw in their gesture. They did not send the pies.

This morning I found the best collecting area I have struck since ar¬
riving at Lockerbie. By the way, the official name of this camp is "Locker¬
bie: 10 miles WSW of Somerset." There is a tongue of scrub forest reaching
from the main forest out to the main trail to R.I.P.j it contains tall, stand¬
ing timber, a considerable amouit of fallen trees, is clear and east to get
through and contains also many glades into which the sun can filter. It seems
to be crawling with scorpions - I got six of them within an hour, as well as
seveeal six inch centipedes, a few butterflies which I had not previously had,
and some widgety grubs, which, Gil Bates maintains, taste like almonds and
cream. I think somehow I shall never like that dish, should it ever be offered
to me.

The afternoon I spent tinkering with onr bicycles; one of them is smash¬
ed beyond repair, the axle of the front wheel being snapped, so I am trying to
produoe two good bicycles from the three poor ones. Think I can do it but there
is one nut which bothers me - it is rusted on fast but as soon as I can free it
we shall be able to ride to work again.

Think this will be all for tonight; tomorrow I want to go out and try
my peice of forest by night, with a jack-light. For some not very good reason,

I think it will be a good spot by dark as well as by day, and tomorrow daytime
I 6hall clear a few trails through it.

Tuesday, 27 April 1948. This marks the beginning of our second week at the Tip.

I issued the second batch of tabacco to the boys yes¬
terday afternoon - they are allowed three ounces weekly and the packets are
only two ounce so it works out about right.

In the morning I went again to my little strip of forest and found a huge
fallen tree which yielded bugs in great quantities, including several kinds of
which I had not previously taken any specimens. The afternoon was devoted
chiefly to an attempt to improve the condition of our bicycles. With the aid
of Ginger Dick and his tool-shed, I was able to fix the broken chain by manu¬
facturing a new link so we have two bikes in usable condition. The third com¬
pletely baffles me as the axle of the front wheel is broken and it is a special
kind of bike and one cannot just put a piece of metal through and expect the
wheel to revolve; it is a custom-made job and I shall have to find one of the
thousands of bicycles left in the bush by the Array and steal a whole front
wheel .

In the evening I went out with a head-light to my bit of forest but had

no luck of any sort. Bats WQuld occasionally flash th
light but their passage was instantaneous anfi there WS

them. The glade, which I expected to be teeming with

movement whatever and even when I turned off the light

there was no sound of any sort to be heard.

S^ci&c^ afs&t at
wild life, showed no
and stood quietly.

Wednesday, 28 April 1948. Mosquitoes have been increasingly bad rai the last

few nights and we have all gone onto an anti-
malaria course of some kind. Len sticks to quinine as atebrine seems to be
harmful to him, George and I each take three atebrines on one day weekly,

George taking bne at each mea, and I taking all three at once, and Van has
been taking atebrine since we reached Brisbane. As far as we can tell, the
mosquitoes are not anopheles, but it would be foolisn to take no form of
protection.

My big tree again yielded a harvest, ending up with a small python, I
think, which I found asleep beneath the bark. I got his head with long for¬
ceps and stuck it in a bottle of alcohol, which seemed to numb the snake and
I crammed the whole body into the bottle. The next thing to go in was a large
centipede and I was amazed at the ferocity the creature showed. The snake
was the hearest object and the centipede dug in on the snake with its jaws
and all its many blue-green legs. As it expired from the alcohol, its grip
loosened but when I took them both out later, the blood was trickling from the
snake's neck and the markB of the centipede bite were evident and deep.

In the afternoon I went again hoping to see the father and mother of the
little python but was disappointed. Nothing showed at all and 1 guess I have
milked that part of the forest dry.

This evening George and Van have gone with young Dick Holland to do
some hunting in the neighborhood of Dick's elder brother's saw-mill j we may
be able to get mail out tomorrow so when I finish this I shall get some let¬
ters written and stamped.

In about a week we shall move from here to Somerset, most likely, which
sounds as though we are going to have a nice stay at some old English village.
That is wrong - once upon a time one man lived at Somerset and the shack which
he occupied is still standing, but that is all there is to Somerset. In fact,
on the Peninsula north of the Jar dine River, there are probably not more than
a dozen white people, most of whom are members of Ginger Dick's family. The
area is somewhere in the neighborhood of two hundred square miles, which is a
mighty small population. Here, at Lockerbie, apart from ourselves, there are
Dick, his wife and one son. At R.I.P., there is another son who has a wife and
one child but they have gone to T.I. as a second is imminent. The saw-mill
houses another son and his wife and at Cape Xork telegraph station, there are
four or five men. Cowal Creek may have a white Missioner but Mutee haxxx Head
has a black in charge. About a dozen is somewhere or bund right and the small
islands between the mainland and T.I. are uninhabited.

So far we do not have much knowledge of the Somerset camp but we under¬
stand there is a large freshwater lagoon inland from the coast. That sends
streams of fresh water down to the ocean and will provide our water supply.

Very likely our camp will be back about a quamter of a mile from the sea but
what there is in the way of timber for tent erection, fire wood and so on,
remains to be seen. Water, of course, is of prime importance as we have plenty
of food and supplies, but the difference between a comfortable camp and a less
comfortable one depends on many other things.

There is a very pleasing feeling of accomplishment now, which was entire¬
ly absent while we were at Cairns. We visited many places while there but al¬
ways we knew that the job was still ahead. Now we can say, when we leave Locker¬
bie that that part of the job has been done. A week or ten days at Somerset, the
same period in one other place at the Tip, and then the first of our three main
camps will have been completed and a quarter of the job done. That really does
give some satisfaction. We shall have about this length of time at the Cooktown
district, the last of the three camps and the length of time needed for the
Iron Range and Portland Roads is our chief uncertainty.

61

Thursday, 29 April 1948. Today was something of a disappointment j we were

informed last night that a boat was due in from
T.I. this afternoon, would bring the mail, wait the night and take mail out
for posting at T.I. tomorrow. All hands wrote madly this morning and Ginger
Dick drove me over to R.I.P. this afternoon but no ship came in. Our mail
was left there with a half-caste who will be going over when some form of
ship really does arrive.

I made up my order on Burns Philp for our next lot of supplies, which are
to be shipped from Cairns to Portland Roads about the middle of next month,
and had hoped to have a reply to a letter sent to the T.I. manager of B.P.
about some other stuff. My letter will go by the half-caste but I don't know
when I shall hear from the T.I. man. Even should the ship come in tomporrow,
we shall not know it until somebody has occasion to ride over to Lockerbie.

Apart from the rushing around caused by this false alarm, there is little
to report tonight. Some of us may go over to the Holland house to listen to
the radio newj we were informed last night that the world was on the verge of
war again.

Friday, 30 April 1948. This is George's birthday and the only present I can

give him is a little tin of G. Washington coffee. It
is not much but it is my most prosed possession at the moment. I give it con¬
fident that I shall get at least a cup from it. Maybe somebody will send me
some more anyway.

He was duly appreciative but to my dismay went off to the cook-house al ter
running his trap-line and had a cup by himself.

We took a large goanna, an iguana-like creature, about five feet long in
the morning and I spent the rest of the time until lunch getting the skin off «.
The afternoon was unproductive but I got some stuff in the evening and have
just returned with Len from listening to the nine o'clock news at the Holland
house.

Yesterday at R.I.P. I picked up some somewhat disturbing news to the ef¬
fect that our Bob McDonald is the leader or main thief of a band of abbo sneak-
thieves. When we are nearer to some place with a shop or a grog dump, we shall
have to use padlocks profusely. Another thing I learned was that the abbos
have been deprived of their war spears and forbidden to make more because of
the fre uency with which they punctured each other during corroborees. Also
they are forbidden to have rifles and only a 12 gauge shot-gun can legally be
owned and used by them to procure their food. They are allowed the use of
fish-spears, many— pronged affairs which would puncture about four times as
secerely as a war spear, and of course many of them were in the Army and have
managed to carry their rifles with them.

We all seem to be rather tired this evening - it has been a hot day and
I think salt tablets will be on the dinner table from now on. I have never
had occasion to use them but they pep one up and do a job of reviving in case
of heat fatigue, from which we are all probably suffering.

Saturday, 1 May 1948. Ginger Dick and young Dick told me this morning they

were taking the truck out to get a bullock and suggest¬
ed that I go along. I did and some time out of camp we came across George who
joined the party. George and I hunted around while the two Dicks rounded up
and shot their animal. It was quartered and we all drove back to camp but
George and I had not had much success in our efforts.

On our return we found that two of the boys had quit t$xeir jobs, the rea—

son being that they did not want to work on Sundays. They were Robert Mas¬
sey sind Bob McDonald, old Moreton remaining with us. fie is a wise old bird
and got the week-end off by saying that he would go to Cowal Creek and get
soma friends of his to take over the vacant jobs. Len seems to doubt if even
Moreton will be willing to make the whole trip with us and if when we get to
Portland Roads we have to get new boys from the Lockhart River Mission, there
will again have to be the probationary period.

The pillows I invested in, old automobile are rests, work out very well
but are hot. I solved the difficulty by stuffing mine into a snake bag,
which makes a very comfortable pillow-case, holds the pillows together ana
cools it off.

Sunday, 2 May 1948. Presumably the happy event for the Holland family is

over for Tom arrived back at Lockerbie late last night.

His wife and the new infant were not with him. This morning we received a
half-sack of onions and a kerosene pump, which I had ordered from Burns-
Philp, T.I., a few days ago. Tom had brought them over with him.

We also received a little mail, mainly Australian, and it is such that we
really must make definite plans now. The schedule of the John Burke steamers
has been changed again and there is one south-bound, leaving T.I. on the 28th
of this month. We cannot wait any longer than that so tomorrow I shall go
over to the cable station in the afternoon, get through to T.I. from there
and make reservations for us on that ship, the Alagna, we believe.

Tomorrow seems to be quite an interesting day for us as Moreton is due

back and may possibly, if he comes himself, bring some other boys to take the

places of Robert and Bob.

The day has been run-of-the-mill, nothing particularly exciting happen¬
ing to anybody. Collecting goes on without respite, day and some of the nightj
it is my turn to go out again tonight so I am writing this entry early.

Dick Holland tells us there is a mail boat due in on Thursday so there

is a chance of getting mail out; as that is the day we are supposed to move

over to the east coast, I cannot say that the chances of incoming mail are.

My watch is completely exasperating; if left on its face, with the back
cover off, it will go, but when one turns it over to find out what time it is,
the blamed thing stops. George's watch has also cracked up and Van's did be¬
fore mine. Len's is the only one now operating so I am ordering an alarm
clock to be sent in from B-P.

Mosquitoes are getting a# bit thicker as the weather becomes drier (I
don't know if there is any connection there) and, being Sunday, I have taken
my weekly dose of atebrine. The others are all taking preventatives of some
kind.

Monday, 3 May 1948. This will be a very brief entry, firstly because there

is nothing to say and secondly because I have to get the
paper out of the machine in order to write a reply to the letter from the Lo-
chiel crew before I start out to the relay station to make my telephone calls.

I think/ most likely, as this is May Day, another Australian holiday,
that I shall spend the night at the station, make my calls tomorrow morning
and return to camp then. It would not be much use trying today to find anybody
in his office at T.I. today.

Len and I cycled over to the Larradeenya Creek this morning; got very
hot but not many specimens.

«■ • • *

63

Tuesday, 4 May 1948. This has been a day of both high lights and dim lights

and under the conditions by which we are living, both
are small things; the highest of the high was a plain glass of ice water and
the dullest of the dim a punctured bicycle tire. There were other events but
those two stand out.

Last night I was driven over to the Cape York Telegraph station, a dis¬
tance of between eight and nine miles. It was dark and our headlights turn¬
ed a glare on objects not otherwise seen. A large wallaby sprang from cover
and raced madly along in front of us for some distance until it occurred to
him to get back into the scrub again. At one point several birds, apparently
sleeping on the trail, sprang into life, seeming to come from under the wheels
of the jeep.

In about an hour we reached the telegraph station, a collection of cor¬
rugated iron shacks, comprising living quarters, dining hut and telegraph of¬
fice and after a comfortable night we breakfasted. During the mean, Jacp
Cu pid, the lineman in charge, came down from his quarters and took me up
there. He has a very comfortable and roomy house right at the tip of the cape.
His house is perhaps fifty yards from the Torres Straits and is the most nor¬
therly place of abode in Australia. During the war he entertained many Ameri¬
can soldiers and his most prised possession is his gue3t book. With him live
his wife and a son of about fourteen.

There I was given tea and cold watermelon, a high light only less than
the glass of ice water, and returned to the main station where I made my
calls. Those to Mills, B-P and Jensen, the Protector of Islanders, were
satisfactory, but from George Asange, Burke's agent at T.I., I found that the
shipping confusion still exists. Alagna should leave Brisbane on the 8th
northbound and T.I. on the 21st southbound. Wandana, not laid up as we had
been told, should leave Brisbane on the 15th northbound and T.I. south on the
31st. I made reservations for our party on both, but if the dates hold, it
will be Wandana. li either will make the trip to R.I.P. so we have to contrive
our own transportation form there to T.I.

From Jensen' s office I obtained considerable information on tne matter
of the black boys. They are entitled to L1Q monthly, of which they receive
ten shillings weekly, less the cost of tabacco and tea issued to them, as
pocket money. On being told of the desertion of Robert and Bob, they told
me that they were glad old More ton was still with us as he was the best of
the lot, and they suggested that we try to get two other boys, Martin Ropeyarn
and Willie Somerset, as they were both good.

My calls finished, I said goodbye to the men at the station and was
shown the holy of holies, a kerosene operated Electrolux. A tray of ice cubes
was taken out, allowed to thaw, and I had my drink of ice— water . That' s what
they called it - my name was nectar. And to think that some people do not
like ice in their drinks.

My bicycle, which had been tied on the jeep last night, had survived the
journey though one wheel stuck out about a foot from the side of the jeep and
more than once looked as though it would be torn from the rest of the machine
by the trees which reached out as we passed. It should be understood that a
road in this part of the world consists of a two-wheeled cart track and out¬
side the track is a waste of head-high grass and short trees.

Mounting my fine velocipede I started the nine-mile ride back to Locker¬
bie and covered the first three miles in good style though the road there was
covered with small stones about the size of one’s fist, and the jolting was
considerable. But by that time I had had my spell of good for the day and

about three miles away from the station the rear tire went flat. I had left

around 11.30, expecting to make the trip in about an hour but as it turned

out I had to walk six miles, pushing the darned cycle along with me. About
half way back I crossed the Larradeenya Creek, there about thigh deep, ana
was so pooped out that I simply took off my clothes, though I don’t knojr why

as they were soaked anyway, and lay down in the river for ten minutes.

That did something in the way of reviving me but by the time I completed
the next three miles and Lockerbie hove in view, I was something of a wreck,
and more than that, a tantalized wreck. That delivious gladd of ice water
floated along in front of me, just our of reach, for the whole time.

My feet were in poor shape, as was the rest of me, but some food and a
bath did wonders and I must try to repair the bike tomorrow.

Old Moreton had returned from Cowal Creek, bminging with him Willie
Somerset, mentioned by the Protector’s Office, and a/ note from the man in
charge at Cowal Creek, Tamway, a Malay I think, saying that Robert and Bob
were in the jail-house for desertion. Martin Ropeyam, Moreton told me, had
gone walkabout, but might join us later and another boy is due tomorrow any¬
way. The staff is intact again and the two Roberts languishing in the cooler
should do something for us in the matter of prestige.

Another result of my visit was permission to use the lineman’s hut when
we reach Canameia Lagoon, the camp which follows Somerset. Somerset, by the
way is nominal, because the place does show on the map. Actually we shall
make camp at Lake Bronte, south and west from Somerset. At Sanameia we
shall be in alligator country, the place being a freshwater marsh, draining
through one small outlet into the Jardine River, itself famous for its croco¬
dile content. At Sanameia the .303 should come into its own. *

I hope to get some mail finished either tonight or tomorrow and leave
it with Ginger Dick for transportation to R.I.P., whence it will go to Thurs¬
day island sometime. And it is odd, under the nomadic conditions we live by,
how attached one will get to a camp site. We shall rais3 Ginger Dick dropping
in and I know Van will miss young Dick, who has been his night- hunting compan¬
ion almost every evening. More than anything else I shall, I trust, miss the
green ants. Mango trees attract them and while they have not penetrated our
mosquito nets, they have invaded psactically everything else. They rarely
bite or sting or whatever ants do, but delight in falling down one’s shirt
and walking around under the clothing.

May 1st was the start of the official Australian winter, which we
celebrated with a temperature of 96. From now on, people will come north
from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in order to get warm as it goes as low
as 50 in those cities and in Victoria and the south portion of New South
Wales. Hides Hotel in Cairns, will do a roaring business for the next four
months but by the time we are able to go there again winter will be over and
there should be room for us for the few days required for our packing and de¬
parture, On that score, in a month or so, I suppose I should be doing some¬
thing about our return trans-Pacific trip.

Tomorrow the boys are picking up their traps and except for visits
during which we shall refresh our supplies, Lockerbie will be a thing of the
past. Something accomplished and finished with, which gives one a very good
feeling as during the Cairns period we accomplished so many things but never
could say that we had finished any part of our job.

Wednesday, 5 May 1948. This day has been one of packing and preparing for

the more tomorrow. Everybody has been flying around
in something of a dither, each asking the other where such and such is and if
it has been packed.

For me the morning was broken abruptly about 11 A.M. by an agonized cell
from the Holland house. It was Mrs. H. asking me to come quick and bring my
gun. A brown snake had traversed the length of their clearing and taken cover
under a pile of planks. Both Ginger Dick and young Dick were prancing around
and warning me not to go near it and Mrs. H. beat a precipitate retreat into
the house. Finally the snake came out and I shot it. It was about five feet
or a little more in length, deep brown along the back, shading almost to a
purplish color underneath. "It's a taipan", said Dick, so, although it looks
very harmless to me and has a very small mouth and fangs, it is a taipan until
somebody proves it is not. I have more than a suspicion that it is quite
harmless.

We shall leave here immediately after breakfast which will be at crack of
dawn. Ginger Dick will drive us in his fine Army truck and except for the
last three miles, we have the usual cart-rut road. That last three miles we
shall travel by pushing our way through though undoubtedly there will be
trees and suchlike to be moved from the road part.

The heavy guns will go into action there j George has been trying out
the 30.30 and I am taking fifty rounds for my .303. Crocs are said to be
numerous both in the sea and in Lake Bronto but snakes were said to be plen¬
tiful also and I have taken only four in the last two weeks. Two we saw and
missed, but they cannot be said to be in great quantity.

Ronight will be an early night, in preparation for the morning's early
activities, so I shall close up now.

Thursday, 6 May 1948* I a® very doubtful if I can do this day justice on ac¬
count of the fact that I am nearly out on my feet but
the sound of the sea is in my ears and the waves themselves are not fifty yards
away. I am writing by the light of a lantern which is swinging from a bough
and swaying with the force of the wind. Camp is still not fully established
but sleeping quarters are ready for us and we are ready for them. A few mat¬
ters of arrangement have still to be done and then we shall be ready for work.

We left Lockerhir, Ginger Dick driving, at 7.45 and had fairly good tra¬
vel for the first three miles after which we ran into trouble. The trail, not
travelled by anyone for the last Una seven years, consisted only of a cart track
in the first place, and the times that all hands had to dismount from the heavi¬
ly loaded truck and fell trees which leaned over the track, or dismember others
which had fallen on the track were countless. Finally Dick remembered a short
cut and we left the dimly marked road, only to find ourselves completely hem¬
med in by forest. Dick crashed through, pushing trees and foliage out of his
way as though he were in a tank while the five of us riding on the top did the
best we could to fend off or at least guard ourselves from the branches which
sometimes scraped the top of the lead as well as us. The worst snakes were the
loops of thick vines which hung down in loops: one of them took Van's hat off
and barely left him his head.

About 12.30 P.M. we reached Lake Bronto, a lagoon said to be crocodile in¬
fested, where we stopped to stretch our legs and have a drink of water. There
was no sign of any saurians though there is no reason to doubt their existence
there. A half hour later we broke out of the scrub and saw the Pacific spsxk
spreading in front of us. It was a welcome sight and a camp site was quickly
selected. The camp name has not yet been decided but the point of land on which

66.

• •

as

we pitched our camp shows on the large-scale mape/Naru Point and is about
four miles south of Somerset. Probably it will receive that name.

The shore here is composed of sand dunes, lying some yards back from a
gentle surf. Rivulets of freah water run down from the Bronto Lagoon and
we are camped beside one of them. Actually the camp occupies three of those
gullies. Joe, the cook-house, George and Van occupy onej south of them Oen
and I share space and south of us again, George Moreton and Willie Somerset
have set up their shelter. Martin Ropeyarn did not join us add presumably
has not yet returned from his walk-about.

1 cannot yet give much of a description of our surroundings other than
the fact that we are in one of the scallops of the beach which form Newcastle
Bay and there are headlands both north and south of us. Behind us there is
flat country with low, scrubby bushes running a mile or so back to Bronto La¬
goon and from there back to Lockerbie there is deep forest and scrub. We have
not succeeded in escaping the green ants which seem to sting with a bit more
abandon here. They cannot penetrate a mosquito net, though, and I know I
shall sleep soundly tonight. The wind in the trees and the beat of the surf
is a lullaby that few people can resist, I least of all.

Ginger Dick is spending the night with us, being unwilling to tackle
the journey back in darkness. We were badly bogged for a half-hour in one
spot and he will be going back alone.

Friday, 7 May 1948. The day has been one of eonstant heavy rain-squalls,

with a very watery sun shining fitfully between. We
can see the rain coming from the south-east and, if we are lucky, can take
cover at the crucial moment. It doesn’t matter a great deal though as the tem¬
perature is high and perspiration profuse. Moisture of one kind is much the
same as moisture of another.

The final name decided on for the camp is Newcastle Bay, 2f miles S of
Somerset. That lands more or less on the camp and covers divergence in any
direction.

This morning, after the departure of Ginger Dick, I went north along the
coast, skirting Naru Point, on the south of which we have our camp. Collect¬
ions for reptiles and bugs were poor but I managed to pick some likely spots
which I shall visit tomorrow. What struck ne most was the cruelty of the
coast. The headlands are composed of iron-stone, a reddish rock split and
channelled until it looks almost like a coral formation. It cuts through the
leather or rubber of the soles of shoes like a hot knife through butter and
the ship or cast upon those rocks and rolled around by the force of the
waves would soon have every bit of flesh or covering stripped from the ribs.

George and I bumped into each other at intervals through the morning
and in the afternoon started out in the same direction. We travelled along
the hard sand of the shore but George left it and worked inland before I did*
Behind our camp there is a swampy marsh and it was my idea to travel down the
shore perhaps a half or full mile, turn west into the sand dunes and scrub,
pass them to the marsh and travel north again until I reached the level of
the camp. I found out, however, that further south there is no swampy marsh,
only thick forest, behind the dunes. I got into that and soon found that I
had no space for working even if there was anything to work on. Machete work
was necessary the time. X struggled along for an hour and a ha if and then
turned myself around and cut my way out to the shore again.

Len did well with his plants and the second specimen of mammal brought in
was new to the collection so far, but things in my department did not prosper.

. «

67

There is stuff to be taken, of course, but I must first have space to wield my
various implements and secondly not tire nyself oat completely by my efforts to
reach the collecting area. I shall head back into the big scrub through which
we drove yesterday, and work around to the point I reached this morning, fol¬
lowing, if I can, along the edge of the scrub.

Joe found us some oysters this afternoon and dinner consisted of a very
savory oyster stew. Just before dinner, Moreton rushed up, pointed out some
cattle in the distance and wanted me to shoot a "Booloock" for supper. If we
were in need of food I would have but we have plenty to eat.

Dick is coming back next Wednesday, will spend the night here and A drive
us back to Lockerbie on 'Thursday. A few days there, with possibly a night or
so at Higgins Field, the abandoned airport on the Jacky Jacky, and then a
week at Sanameia Lagoon v/ill finish the job on the Tip.

Saturday, 8 May 1948. Another story about Moreton $ Just before we left Lock¬
erbie Van decided to take our picture, the loaded truck,
the baggage and the men. Moreton was completely scandalised over the fact that
Ginger Dick was not wearing a shirt. "You no sort, him take picture" to which
Dick replied "No matter my sort (shirt), you fellow face likeum this" screwing
up his face. That brought out a loud fuff aw from Moreton and quite satisfied
his sense of the proprieties.

Last night was quite a disappointment to the mammal collectors, the

The place is not too good for in¬

whole catch of 150 traps being one mouse
sects either but I carried out my plan for the day and garnered a few things.
There is lots of new vegetation so Len is pleased.

My morning ended up with a very pleasant bath at a place where a fresh¬
water creek opens out into the ocean. X could put one side of me in salt and
the other in fresh almost: both the stream and the ocean were shallow at this
place, which is good. Either salt or fresh could possibly contain something
more or less lethal so care is observed and I, at any rate, do not go in above
my knees.

The afternoon brought the heaviest and most sustained rain we have had
since leaving Bellenden Kerr. I was out in it and the few clothes I was wear¬
ing were completely saturated. I had planned some laundry late this afternoon
anyway so it did not matter much but, had I had some soap with me, I could
have done the laundry while wearing the clothes.

Apropos of the mammal department, the evening I spent at the telegraph sta¬
tion brought a new form of rat trap to my attention. They have the only electri¬
cal power on the Cape, of course, and one of the men loves to experiment. He
Viflri rigged a rat-trap with a metal floor and a drop— door. The rat goes in springs
a trigger which drops the door, the door completes contact, passing 240 volts
through the floor of the trap and the rat is electrocuted. Now I must go out
with a light and see what I can find in the way of nocturnal creatures.

Sunday, 9 May 1948. This was atebrine day and has been duly observed. It also

marks about half our time here as Dick is to arrive on Wed¬
nesday, I believe, and we shall move out on Thursday back to Lockerbie.

An extremely odd coincidence occurred last night and today. Last night
George, Van and I were out with lights, all in different directions. George
and I do not matter in this but Van saw and shot at something which he thought
was a small flying squirrel. He hit it and thought he saw it fall but was un¬
able to find it on the ground. Bright and early this morning he went out to

the place where he had been but still could not find it. fle probed around and
eventually, under a log, saw something that he could not identify; he poked
the object, which moved, and turned out to be a seven-foot carpet snake, non-
venomous and of the constrictor group. He killed it and brought it back to
camp where we opened it, Inside was a young flying squirrel. It has now been
separated from the rest of the collection and is to be z-rayed in order to find
out if there are any bullets in it. But that is not the whole of the story; it
is of a genus which has not previously been known north of the Ravenshoe, a place
about five hundred miles away.

In the snake also was a young bandicoot so it was a case of three speci¬
mens with one shot.

green

Later I got a/tree snake in our camp kitchen and these are the only
snakes collected in this camp though Len saw one this morning when he was out.

It has been a miserable day, overcast with constant rain spells. Hunting
of all sorts was very poor though I personally covered many miles in the forest
and came in with quite a selection of vermin, centipedes, scorpions, bugs of
varying descriptions and, finally, my green tree snake. It has just begun to
rain again now and quite a heavy shower is going on. I don't know when the
laundry I did yesterday will get dry but imagine it will not be until I
wear the things.

Monday, 10 May 1948. The moderately gentle south-east trade wind changed last

night into a roaring, blustering gale, bringing heavy
showers of rain and dashing the drops against the taut canvas of the tents like
so many thrown pebbles. There is no land to the south-east of us, unless it be
Cape Horn, many thousands of miles away and there is nothing to break the force
of the wind except the low ridge of sand dunes behind which we are camped.

The day broke dull and overcast and the showers have come every fifteen
minutes or so throughout the day. I was out all morning and was soaked twice.
This time I back-tracked along the wagon road towards Lockerbie for perhaps a
mile and then turned off to the left, in general a south-easterly direction.

About a hundred yards from the trail £ came to an open glade, about the size
of a football field, sandy ground, with rivers of clear water flawing as a
result of the rains. Under normal conditions it should have been a good col¬
lecting area but everything was awash, even the clumps of ti-tree and casua-
rina with which it was dotted. If the weather clears before we return to
Lockerbie I shall try it again.

The showers seem to have driven all the creatures to cover and mammal
collecting continues to be poor. In addition, the salt air and driving sand
are doing considerable damage to the traps.

On my way back this morning I came across Moreton sitting disconsolately
on the ground. He had uses his last match and wanted a smoke. I supplied him
with one, he lit a long tube of newspaper with a few chunks of twist tobacco
in it and trotted back to camp.

Both the boys seem a little nervous in this country and may be afraid
of ghosts. Willie, born in this neighborhood, would know all the hanuted
spots and pass them on to Moreton. Moreton, older and more of an abbo, would
fear them as much as Willie, and all of them are afraid of the "quinkin",
the little hairy men, who seem to be forest Pucks, more mischievous than evil,
who apparently do harm just to watch their larger black bretheren squirm. The
story goes that one of the Cowall Creek blacks came home late and found one of
the quinkin in bed with his wife. The quinkin knocked the husband cold and it

might be argued by the skeptical that for a supernatural little man, the
quinkin was remarkably adept with a club.

The heavy rains have a more serious side in that Ginger Dick could get
bogged on his journey over to get us in a couple of days. However he is about
the finest bush driver I have ever seen and his truck will be carrying no load.
It will be heavy on the return journey, of course, but we shall all be there
to help with the road-making if necessary, as we did on the way here.

There should be quite a good batch of mail awaiting us; I shall be glad
to get it; apart from personal letters, there should be interesting communi¬
cations from Burns-Philp, Cairns, containing the bills for our food, in which
I shall be very interested. Then also there may be some word about the ships
southward, and we shall perhaps know whether we shall have to make our own way
somehow over to T.I. or whether the ship will call. The Wandana cannot anyway
as R.I.P. is too shallow and tricky a port for a ship of that size, 1,200 tons.
After that, or perhaps after the Sanameia camp, we shall have to do something
about signing on the boys, if we take moreton and Willie Somerset south with
us. Moreton told me he would like to go, but half an hour later told George
he would like to go to Hospital, so it is somewhat indefinite. There has
been no sign of Martin Ropeyarn, for which I am sorry, as I became completely
enamored of his name.

Rain is about to start again; it is beginning to patter on the tent and,

I have no doubt, soon will become a roar.

Tuesday, 11 May 1948. ^ast night the wind blew again with vagaries not pre¬
viously indulged in; alternately the rain arrived on
my head and my feet until in disgust I ceased to care where it landed and
slept through it as best I could.

The sun has appeared fitfully during the day, which has been busy for me.
In the insect realm my isuxi alcohol bottle has been filled with its ssual
chamber of horrors, centipedes, milipedes, scorpions, widgety grubs and all
the other things which live in dead logs and under dead leaves were taken
this morning and in the dry bottle, the other side of the insect world, the
lovely butterflies, dragon flies, bees and moths all constibuted

themselves t

Reptiles also did themwelves well, at least so far as size goes. Two
snakes and one goanna were added though heither of the snakes had anything in
its insides to add to the mammal collection. One of them was a mere thread,
not much i.ore than a foot long, but the other was eight feet if? he was an
inch and probably would be neared nine feet. The goanna, the sedond in the
collection, measured 162 centimeters, nearly five feet. He cannot do much
in the way of biting but is well equipped with claws.

A third black boy arrived here this afternoon. Not Martin Ropeyarn, as
I had hoped, but Roy Sampson, who should do, so far as names go. He looks an
intelligent lad and wants to make the full trip with us, but an opinion can¬
not yet be given. Probably Ginger Dick, if he arrives tomorrow, can tell us
something about him since almost all the local blacks have worked either for
Dick or for his older sons, Stan not at R.I.P. or Tom at the saw-mill.

Now the evening bug- trap, a conical cloth funnel, ending in a cyanide
jar, is erected and will add its contribution, I hope. Already a very love¬
ly, pure white motivhas called and succumbed to the attraction of the bright
lights. Funny, hOT/Si humans and insects are in so many things.

The wind is rising but one can see a star here and there so perhaps there

will be no rain either on face or feet this night.

George and Van are out with the lights again tonight. Len Is busy with
his plants. Jetty Joe is sleeping the sleep of a good camp cook, after hav¬
ing produced another of his excellent oyster stews. I cannot go out until we
have another headlight, which will be with the Portland Roads baggage, but
should be thinking about writing covering letters for this journal and the
other things I shall have to attend to but may as well wait until Dick arrives
with whatever mail there may be for us.

Wednesday, 12 May 1948. Nothing very much happened this day until evening

when Dick arriver over from Lockerbie. With him he
brought a case of supplies from B-P, Thursday island, and in the mass was a
good amount of mail, dated variously from April 15th to 23rd.

I do not yet know what we are to do in the matter of returning, whether
we go tomorrow or not. I suppose it does not matter very much to us though
Dick may not want to wait any longer than necessary. I shall find out to¬
morrow, I suppose^.

There was no mail in regarding ships to Portland Roads but that too
will be explained sooner or later.

Thursday, 13 May 1948. Although it is afternoon, it seems a good idea to

write this up now and save the late afternoon and
evening for packing. All the party except Jetty Joe and myself went off
early in Dick* s truck to visit Somerset, a couple of miles north of here.

There are no inhabitants there bjrt the house of Frank Jar dine, pioneer of
this country, still stands and his grave also is there.

Jardine I believe was the first white man to traverse the length of the
Cape and his work was done between 1890 and 1910. He died in 1916 and Dick
knew and worked for him prior to his, Dick's, enlistment for the first war.

Apparently Jardine was ruthless in dealing with the blacks, or with any
whites who crossed his path. He eventually became a magistrate, policing the
northern part of the Cape in person and with vigor. It seems probable that
a person did not necessarily have to be a law-breaker to incur Jardine* s
wrath, and the wrath was usually followed by a rifle shot. An act which dis¬
pleased him was sufficient and it was advisable for the actor to leave the
country rapidly.

I decided not to make the trip and instead put in another morning’s
hunting. The things I particularly wanted again eluded me but I did get
some new things, things I had not previously taken in this locality, that is.
Rain came on fairly heavily right after lunch so I have decided not to do much
save to have a swim, or rather salt bath, a little latei; and after finishing
this, shall do my labelling, fill in the catalogue and so on. The others will
probably not be back until shortly before supper. Tomorrow we shall start off
as early as convenient for Lockerbie and put in a day or so refitting, packing
and so on.

George and Van have not found this camp very profitable, so far as num¬
bers are concerned but, oddly enough, have found great variety. Their total
results have been perhaps twenty specimens, but sixteen or seventeen different
species are represented. Only in two or three cases have they taken more than
one specimen of the species. For myself, I have done pretty well, I think,
both in bugs and reptiles, but having no knowledge of what I have taken, I

cannot be sure of my success. I do know,, that I am ggihg to much more than
fill the containers the Herpetology ana Entomology Bepxw. gave me.

71.

Friday, 14 May 1943. This entry is written back at Lockerbie. We left Newcas¬
tle Bay about 9.45 A.M. after the usual flurry of pack¬
ing which goes with the establishment and breaking up of every camp, has a
journey without incident through the scrub abd forest and had no rain.

About four mioles from Lockerbie we found and picked up a carpet snake
which was sunning itself in the middle of the trail ; I have just measured it,
nine feet, three inches. Last night Willie Somerset came to me with a brown
snake, found just outside the boys’ tentj altogether Newcastle Bay was quite
a good collecting camp, so far as reptiles go, but the two large butterflies
which so successfully avoided me there, were in profusion all through our
journey, of course, thumbing their noses in a lep^idopterian sort of way.

Mrs. Holland gave us a very pleasant lunch after we had unloaded the
truck and it did not take long to get camp reorganized againj we had left
several of the tents standing and were able to stack our gear and baggage to
somewhat better advantage than it was when we first set up the Lockerbie camp.

It felt good to be away from the sand and salt and to take a bath in fresh
water. I put the carpet in a snake nag and drowned him, later using the water
to soak our dirty clothing in. Tomorrow will be a refitting, oiling, launder¬
ing sort of day and at the moment our next move has not yet been decided on.

There is no particular reason why Lockerbie should have a rather homelike
atmosphere - I think I have tried to describe it elsewhere and it is nothing
more than a bush camp, but nevertheless, perhaps because we were returning to
a known place, rathen than going to an unknown one, we are all relaxed and at
ease h&re. Soon we shall move over to Dick’s house to hear the 9 P.M. news
and then shall turn in, I think. I suppose we all feel here that vigilance
is not so necessary, as we have been here before and know what we are likely
to meet, and that accounts for our let-down.

Saturday, 15 May 1948. This morning I went over to the telegraph station

again and have some more or less definite news to set
down here. The Alagna is die to leave Thursday Island, southbound, on the 27th
or 28th and a barge (former landing craft) will be arranged for to call for us
at R.I.P. on the 25th or 26th. We shall have a day in Thursday Island to arrange
trans-shipment of gear from our barge to Alagna end should have time to get a
hair-cut and a glass If beer as well.

Today has been and tomorrow will be spent in packing the collections made
so far for shipment to Cairns and on Tuesday we shall move to Sanameia Lagoon,
just north of the Jardine River and about in the middle of the Peninsula. We
shall return from there on Saturday, close things up at Lockerbie and establish
ourselves at Bed Island Point until we leave. From R.I.P. we shall cover the
Jacky-Jacky airport, or what is left of it, and make a visit to Cowall Creek
to sign the indentures covering the boys working for us, all of whom wish to
make the whole trip.

Van went off this afternoon to the Area of Tom Holland's saw-mill and
may stay there during the Sanameia period if his results are good.

Mail came in last night and I know that the letters Bill Wallace mailed
after the Lochiel, on April 20th, reached New York before the end of that month.
Good going, I think. Last night there was a police broadcast saying that Lo¬
chiel was overdue and feared lost with all hands, but this morning she arrived
in Portland Roads. She had been sheltering from the gales we felt in Newcastle
Bay, most likely. lalata, too, has appeared from the blue of Cairns and reached
Thursday Island this morning.

72

Sunday, 16 May 1948 •

Today has been one of those days so completely event¬
less that it is hardly worth while making any entry here
save as a memo of the date. I have said that before but we use a Corn Exchange
Bank calendar and it is always possible that the thing could be mislaid or
something. If I write in this daily, as I have up to the present, I shall al¬
ways know the date, even though I may not know the time. In that department
also we have improved and recently a very fine Westclox alarm arrived over
from T.I.

We have been doing some desultory packing today and shall really work on
it tomorrow. The next day we leave Lockerbie, probably for ever, as we are
shifting everything down to Red Island Point. Jack Cupid called on us this ax
afternoon with his wife and I was able to send a letter to B-P, T.I., which
makes my phone call of next Saturday unnecessary. Consequently, when we a tart
for Sanameia we shall take the bulk of our equipment with us. Van will remain
at the saw-mill and when Dick calls to fet him Friday, they will bring out to
R.I.P. whatever we are not able to carry day after tomorrow.

Reports on Sanameia vary but the consensus is that we shall have a rather
dismal camp there, on account of the surroundings. It is or will be on the euge
of a lagoon which may turn out to be simply a large swamp; Len thinks it will be
a good place for him and it may be for reptiles but George does not expect much
of it. We shall pitch camp there on Tuesday, Dick will arrive for us on Friday
evening and we teturn on Saturday so, whatever it may be like, we shall not have
very much of it.

Monday, 17 May 1948.

I had hoped that today would be devoted solely to packinf
and that^ it could be accomplished in relative comfort but
last night George went hunting and came back with a carpet snake measuring nine
feet one inch, which had to be skinned. No sooner had I finished that than
Ginger Dick came marching in with another, six inches longer than the first one.
They are easy enough to do, far less difficult than the big lizards, but between
them they took up some valuable hours of the morning.

Now everything has been packed, with the exception of our or two odds and
ends which will be in use tomorrow morning, the bulk of the camp has been struck
and we wre ready to go. We shall leave very early tomorrow morning, taking with
us collecting and camp gear for Sanameia and Dick will bring Van and tne balance
of the equipment on Friday to R.I.P. , coming on from there to pick us up.

So the next entry, tomorrow, will be written from the vicinity of the La¬
goon and I shall try to be explicit and somewhat more interesting than I am

tonight.

Tuesday, 19 May 1948. Sanameia would have been just as dismal as I had expected

it to be, had we made camp there, but we did not.

We were up before the sun this morning, breakfasted with Ginger Dick as
our guest and set to work dismantling camp. It did not take a great lengt o
time to complete that and get away, after bidding Mrs. Holland goodbye and sign¬
ing her autograph book. We drove almost to Red Island Point but turned south,
moving toward Jacky-Jacky, or Higginsfield Airport. That during its time must
have been a vevv comfortable camp, though lonely; compared with tne grim and
embattled greyness of Aldershot, for example, its lush peenery anaveg station
looked very enticing. It was odd to see the usual military signs still hanging
and read and translate the Australian Army abbreviations.

After passing through Jacky-Jacky we turned onto the telegraph line ana the

definitely changed for the worse. The deep/ rich foliage was replaced by scrub¬
by fipen forest, laced with leafless vines. Now and then we would reach a bar¬
ren open fen, grown over with weeds and tussocks of grass and so boggy that we
had to skirt far away from such areas. Misery Creek and Skull Creek, both aptly
named, were passed and finally, on the west, we saw Sanameia Lagoon.

It was obvious at first sight that it was impossible as a camping ground.
About the only thing it had was water and to reach that one would have to
break through a deep fringe of reeds and rushes. There were no trees within
some miles so tent poles would not be procurable. There was no bird life to
be seen and no sign of animal life. We ourselves supplied the only life in
the whole landscape.

The Jardine River was about two miles further south, so we continued to
the telegraph crossing there; the river is crocodile infested and was running
with a swift current; the punt kept there was in mid-river, caught in a mess
of tangles logs and branches which had swept down the stream. Obviously we
could not cross the Jardine so finally we decided on a spot on a rise of
ground with swamp east and west of us, about midway between the river and
Sanameia. Our camp's official name is Telegraph Crossing, Jardine River.

The camp is comfortably placed, a few yards from the water of the swamp.
George and I have our tents set up with the entrances facing each other and
Separated by the length of our work fly, which we share. Len has his tent
and fly, Joe sleeps in the dining fly and the two boys, Willie Somerset and
Roy, whose last name turns out to be Stephen, not Sampson, share a tent to¬
gether.

We all managed to get a little collecting done in the late afternoon and
in the evening George and I went out *ith lights, travelling in opposite di¬
rections along the telegraph line.

Dick will arrive on Friday night and take us back to Red Island Point,
where Van will be awaiting us, I have to ppy the three boys and get them off
to Cowall Creek Mission to make their goodbyes to the respective families,
and then, probably on Monday or Tuesday, we shall leave the Tip of the Penin¬
sula and start south to Portland Roads.

Wednesday, 19 May 1948. It has been somewhat a disappointment so far as col¬
lecting goes; in the mammal and reptile world, at
least. George and Roy Stephen put out somewhere in the neighborhood of a
hundred traps last night and drew a total blank. My insects are good, as are
Len's plant/ collections but reptiles simply are not here. Frogs do not even
croak in the swamp, snakes will not be here unless there is something for
them to eat, rats, for example, and although it is supposed to be full of
death adders, not a one did I see. I turned rocks and tree stumps, scratched
among dead leaves, did everything the book says, and nothing happened.

The Jardine, that river fabulously full of crocodiles, did not produce
a single one when I went there in the late morning, and although, as I said,
it is running with a swift current, and bars stretch in places almost the
full width of the river. I need not add that although no crocs were in evi¬
dence, it still is not a place that I would choose as a swimming hole.

In non-scientific spheres, the mail plane, north-bound, passed over us
this morning and another, south-bound, went over this afternoon. Jack Cupid

is due down here tomorrow for his final inspection of the line before going
on two months leave, and Dick is to come the next evening. The weather has

been overcast and showery all day, and in general there were no high-lights.

Thursday, 20 May 1948. Much of « repetition of yesterday; still no rats for

George, though he got a wallaby with one well-frown
pouch young last night, and no snakes for me. Two visits to the river result¬
ed in no signs of crocodiles so the reptile department is not doing so well
unless Van and Moreton are rolling them in at the saw-mill.

The birds arouhd here are plentiful and very beautifully colored for the
most part. A drad old emu was roused when we drove in two days ago and en¬
deavored to elude us by running parallel, the stupid creature. After gallop¬
ing for about two hundred yards, it found out that it could get away by run¬
ning at right angles to us and did so.

The insect department is triving and I have taken some very lovely things
today. It seems rather a shame to do so, though their life would be short any¬
way and they may give some pleasure to people who examine and look at them at
the Museum.

It is about 8.30 P.M., and there has been no sign of Jack CupidjJ; possi¬
bly he will arrive tomorrow with Dick but if he intends to cross the Jardine,

I want to see how he does it. We shall pull out of here early on Saturday
morning and whatever time remains will be spent at Red Island Point.

Mosquitoes have been rather bad and most of them are anopheles but there
is no reason for thinking that ther are carrying anything. There is nothing
and nobody from whom then can carry it, fortunately. I suppose the nearest
human habitation is Red Island, twenty miles away to the north. To the south
probably there is nobody living for about twice that distance and the same
thing applies to east and west. The abbos have moved with great docility into
the settlements and missions, though there could of course be one or two strays
around somewhere. They avoid contact with people though and have neither the
curiosity nor the belligerence of the South American Indian, for instance. Of
our boys, Moreton is an old man and would probably creep away and live on rats
and bandicoots, if he had to. Possibly he does, just as a memory of old times.
The other boys are considerably yonger, have been brought up under the pro¬
tection of white men and, while their natural abilities in the way of finding
game and following trail still are active, their desire for primitive living
never existed at all, probably. Both of them are timid - Willie has done
government work during the war and is more self-reliant than Roy. The latter
is a soft-spoken, lazy lad but I think has adopted us and possibly may be pep¬
ped up a bit. Both, as well as Moreton, want to make the full trip and will
do so, provided they return from their visit home over the week-end.

Now I have to go out for a while and see if I can catch any spiders. That
is about all there is for me in the evening. I am disappointed that the famous
death-adder has not put in an appearance at all - this should be his sort of
country.

Friday, 21 May 1948.
and insects.

So far as collecting goes, this was much the same as the
last two days. No animals or reptiles, plenty of plants

Dick arrived here shortly after 5 P.M., bringing with him a friend,
Bomholt, from Murwillumbah. Bomholt has served in the South African War and
is of course somewhat older than the rest of us. He is not in any way lacking
in enthusiasm though and, having brought his rifle, was driven down to the Jar¬
dine River for a possible shot at a c rocodile. None appeared, fortunately,
because if he had seen and taken one, I think I would cheerfully have strangled
him. I have sat on the banks of the river for hours looking for one, even
jU3t a small one.

75.

Bernholt arrived quite unexpectedly and I understood Dick to say that he
brought a wife, son and two daughters, who have been parked at Ted island. Van
and Moreton also are there and there should be quite a little party. A ship
has come over from Thursday Island and is said to be returnigg on Monday. It
may turn out that we take that over since there is no mail from Mills of B-P,
T.I., and we have no idea when the craft he has engaged may call for us. He
cannot be entirely blamed for that silence, however, since I was supposed to
call him tomorrow XBxnigx morning but of course cannot do so from here.

There is no particular point in starting any letters since I can mail
them myself in a few days. I am hoping there may he some mail waiting us when

we get to R.I.P. tomorrow, and in any event I shall then, I hope, have more

definite information about our future movements.

Saturday, 22 May 1948. Last night Dick and Mr. Baraholt decided to sleep up
on on the ridge a/ little north of camp, in order to

avoid mosquitoes but complained of them as much as we did when they came in to
breakfast this morning. I think we got out just in time.

Relativity is an odd thing - now, camped in an old army hmt at Red Island
Point, which in itself consists of one white man* s house, two half-castes and
several abandoned army huts, we feel that we are in a metropolis. Cairns would
be positively numbing in its rush of traffic and constant hurry and scurry.

Joe immediately took his fish lines on our arrival and produced a very plea-
saat meal of fish for supper. George and Van have gone out jack-lighting, Len

is taking a shower somewhere, which I must do soon, and I am writing this.

There was mail awaiting us from New York but nothing to tell when we
shall leave here or whether the Alagna is running on time. A rumor comes
that a barge will be over on Tuesday and in that case we sha^.1 take it, whether
or not it has been sent over by our T.I. agent. Evidently writing is an art
not much practiced by the Islanders.

On our way back I got another carpet snake, only eight feet five of him
this time, and Van brought me a turtle and a frog so "repiles and amphibians"
goes over the two hundred mark now. The snake has been skinned, just before
supper, and tomorrow the work of final packing for the things not ready to be
packed when we left Lockerbie for the Jardine River must be undertaken. What
we do with them then remains to be seen - our means of packing are so scanty
that the containers could not possibly stand the rigors of a journey to
Cairns but we have nothing else in which to pack. Possibly B-P in T.I. may be
able to do something about it, but in view of their xs&tKzetenx reluctance to
writing letters, I am afraid they may prove something of a broken reed. We
shall get by somehow though.

I think tomorrow, after the chores have been done, I shall start some let¬
ters for New York. I shall mail them myself, I expect, as we think Alagna will
leave T.I. before the end of the week.

Sunday, 23 May 1948. I omitted to say that the boys were paid off yesterday

afternoon and went off to Cowall Creek to bid their
goodbyes to their folks. Judging by the chattering and laughter that went
on before their departure, they were satisfied with their pay and with the to¬
bacco they bought from me before they left. They are paid L2-10-0 weekly, of
which L2-0-0 goes to the Protector in trust for them and they get the 10/10
as pocket money. From that is deducted the value of the tobacco they have
drawn and before going on furlough, as it were, I allowed them to buy what ad¬
ditional tobacco they wanted to take home with them. It is the usual method
here and the system of trade goods, with these boys, is not in effect, I’m
glad to say, as that is a lengthy operation.

In the afternoon Moreton returned from the reservation with two spears
that I had asked him to bring, for my own collection. I paid him 10/0 and
he promptly converted that into tobacco. He says they are all ready to re¬
port tomorrow for the long trip south.

The peril of these waters and the inadvisability of indulging in pro¬
miscuous swimming was illustrated this morning by the shooting of two sharks,
each between eight and nine feet in length. They were in shallow water, not
more than waist deep and within ten feet of land. I think perhaps one of the
worst things about this sort of region is that one is prone to become over¬
confident and to take chances, simply because one has not seen some of the
things that definitely are here. I still watch my step very carefully,
wherever I go.

Monday 24 May 1948. Today has been marked by two things for mej violent pack¬
ing and th4 attack of some sort of indisposition. One of
those things that make the joints ache and in general render one totally use¬
less. It hit me, whatever it was, after the bulk of my packing was done, so
there is no great harm done.

There is no news of our barge but the consensus is that it will come to¬
morrow; if not, there is a good chance that we shall miss the Alagna though we
have no definite word about her. My opinion of Thursday Island and its busi¬
ness men gets lower and lower, though I feel that we should have made the call
that we said we would.

The boys arrived back from Cowall Creek this afternoon and Moreton offered
me another spear for a plug of tobacco. Tobacco is getting low with us so
there was no dice until we reach Portland loads and receive our new supplies,
after which Van may take the spear, though we have urged Moreton to go out
and kill some game with it.

It is barely 8 P.M. but I think I shall turn in. I cannot see the keys
very well and there is hardly a joint in me that works without a creak. In
New York I should think immediately of flu but here one thinks of fever and I
dread the thought. Perhaps it is the result of the stiff dose of atebrine I
took yesterday, I hope so.

Tuesday, 25 May 1948. There cannot be much more happening today except the

possible arrival of the barge, which has not yet put
in an appearance, though three pearling luggers have arrived and given Red
Island Point the appearance of a busy port.

Packing was just about concluded by lunch time and the whole Holland
family came from Lockerbie to bid us goodbye but the likelihood is that
the b-rge will not arrive until tomorrow, get us over to T.I., perhaps by noon,
and we shall leave that place on the Alagna the following day. It does not
allow much time htere and I have a great number of things to find and purchase,
if possible, but from what I have heard of the place, there is nothing of
interest particularly to raise any desire for a protracted stay.

The purchases to be made mainly consist of containers of various sorts,
and the bug and snake departments sent me out grievously under-equipped, if
I have been doing the correct things with the specimens taken. There is a
lot of mailing to be done and letters to be written, which is one of the rea¬
sons for getting this day's entry made early. I need the typewriter for busi¬
ness purposes.

■vhich pSiSPiiftya sst&sSy? as1 whs* f*’*r

m as a fiddle again.

Yiednesday, 2$ May 1948* This morning we did not hasten to repack the things

we had unpacked last night and had our first spell
of loafing this morning, first since disembarking from the Marine Phoenix in
February. We did not enjoy the rest particularly as we are all so eager to
get to Portland Roads and to get the job finished. We had just about given
up hope for this day when, around 3*30 P.M. the barge hove into sight around
the tip of Red Island.

It was an ordinary L.C.I., Landing Craft, Infantry, and was a relic of
the war, of course, but an ideal thing for her job of carrying bulky cargoaround is
between the islands. Her captain was a black, her engineer while and her crew
black, all of him. The skipper announced that he had come over to get us and
after loading some lumber, would take our stuff aboard but did not quite know
when. It turned out to be 2 A.M. when we began loading our gear on board, so
really the journey belongs in tomorrow's entry.

The day was gusty and blustery with sharp rain squalls very frequently,
a good day for loafing. We had no visitors except Dick's son, Stan, who
catches bush beef, butchers them and ships them to Thursday Island for the
meat market there. Bess, an old black dog belonging to Stan, has adopted us
and is a constant visitor, scratching a hole for herself in the sand where
she lies and watches us lazily.

Thursday, 27 May 194 8. In pitch blackness and heavy rain we left Red Island

Point, our gear loaded and snugly under a tarpaulin
but with hardly any place for ourselves to lay our heads. The loading was
accomplished with a surprising efficiency, after other such events, in spite
of the darkness, and Bess ambled out from her hole in the sand to the head of
the Jetty to see us go.

By daylight, and under good climatic conditions, the trip would have been
rather pleasant, threading between the many islands which here dot the Torres
Straits, but as it happened we could barely make out the loom of them through
the cloud and scud, though the moon is barely past the full . Our sleeping was
sketchy, Joe getting half of the black crew's bunk, Len a chair, George a desk
in the wheel house and Van and I stayed up for the rest of the night, I getting
an occasional snooze on a hatch cover. We were all glad when daylight finally
came and we could at least see what we were doing.

Thursday is at the head of a channel composed of the sides of Horn
Island and Prince of Wales Island, the water was that lovely tropical metallic
blue and the sun shone in short bursts. We tied up to the wharf at T.I. before
8 A.M., went ashore and had turtle steak for breakfast.

Alagna was in port and also Cora and Yalata, both of them ships which had
at one time seemed to be likely to transport us from Cairns, just at the end of
the strike. There was no sign of Lochiel. Alagna brought mail for us and we
were glad to have it but it also brought the news that the shipment of supplies
ordered and arranged for before we left Cairns, which were to be delivered to
Portland Roads by that ship, had not been sent. There can be no excuse except
that possibly Burke's would not let Alagna stop at P.R. We have to thresh out
that matter, as it is extremely serious.

And now for Thursday Island. No beautiful, dreamy tropical isle, this:
frangipani does not scent the airj the men are not clad in cool starched white
linen and do not wear sun helmets; }.eis are not to be seen on the women, nor
does one observe the sarongs of the movies. It is a stark dump. The men are
dirty and frowsty, their clothes old khaki, and most of them are plain sots -
not just pleasant drunks but sots.

• •

78.

The women that I have seen so far simply are very ordinary, rather low
class creatures, tending toward thin khaki jodhpurs and cotton singlets as
their form of clothing. Nowhere, so far, in the South Seas, have I seen a
single woman of allurement nor a man of mystery. No broken hoblemen ire ex¬
iled Oxford dons live in these seas, the shadows of Tondeleo have vanished
completely. It is a disappointment and I think somebody should give Somerset
Maugham a severe scolding.

After breakfast our further acquaintance with the hotel started. Assum¬
ing my room to be typical, I shall try to describe it. It has an electric
light bulb hanging from the rather high ceiling but has no running water. In¬
stead there is an enamel basin, rather shallow, and a jug, also a glass in
which I found the soap nestling. It has two bureaus but no table nor chair;
its bed has sheets and mosquito net but the sheets are dirty. No pictures, I
am glad to say, hang on the bare wooden walls. It has two doors, one opening
in from the hall and the other opening out onto a verandah, common to all the
bedrooms. The verandah has a hole in it and a stariway down leads past a
mango tree to a tin hut which is the bath-room and another, smaller, the hut
which is the john. Scattered coconut palms are waving their fronds in a fair¬
ly strong breeze, and are planted sparsely up the hill behind the hotel.

Following breakfast we called on the local Burns, Philp man and found
that he has got his whole family in the business. There are three of them,
brothers; judging by the appearance their wh sky consumption would be not less
than a gallon per man per day. False- sounding excuses were made for the non¬
reply to our many letters, our mail was handed over to us and the business of
trans-shipping cargo from the barge to Alagna, one of my jobs, was commenced.

At the moment all the stuff for Portland Roads is on the ship, the things we
need for our personal use while ashore are with us in our rooms, and three
crates of collected specimens are waiting for shipment down to B-P, Cairns,
so that has been done. Jetty Joe drew all his pay under the pretext of having
bills to pay and for their own sakes, I hope his creditors get to know about
it pretty soon as it is liquifying rapidly.

We have just finished the mid-day meal, not notable for anything parti¬
cular in the way of food but enlivened by one of the waitresses consigning
the other, in a loud voice which echoed over the diners’ heads, to a certain
place which I shall not set down here. It was not hell, not even bloody hell,
but quite another place which I have not heard refereed to since I left the
artillery. Most of the guests took it in their stride but Van jumped as if
somebody had st/uck a knife in him - the waitress who did the shouting was
sitting at our table, next to him.

Now I have to see the B-P "merchandise manager" who is not a member of
the family and consequently has odds of three to one against him all the time;
he was to try and obtain some special things for me.

It has been a tiring night and half dav; dingy as my sheets are and doubt¬
ful though the bed content may be, I think I shall sleep soundly tonight.

Friday, 28 May 1948. Our evening last night turned out much better than might

have been expected from first impressions of the town.

We were invited to the pleasant home of Hr. and M^s. C^d^ow, it being Mr. C's
birthday, and Len’s also. There were several of the Torres Straits pilots there,
cheery souls, mainly Scots, and all men who had sailed as masters for manv years
in these seas before becoming pilots. They are something of a unique group,
sixteen in all, whose combined knowledge of the East Indian and Island waters
could not be found In anv set of volumes, ^iectricitv is turned off jet t in
the town at midnight and we just beat it.

• #

79.

It is n ow shortlv aft*’* noon and the day has been bright so far, the first
of such events for about two weeks. There is a strong wind blowing and the
fleet of pearling luggers anchored in the harbor bobs around like so manv corks.

Van is suffering from some kind of eye infection and has been treated at
the hospital. George has been skinning some hats taken yesterday, I cuaght up
with my mail and visited Burns, Philp and Len came in with the information that
we may leave this afternoon, the captain of the Alagna states. However, this
is much more of a land of Manana than South America amd I still feel that it
will not be until tomorrow morning.

I am infuriated with Burns Philp in general. Not only were the local
man* s excuses for not writing flimsy and indifferent but now I find that the
Cairns B-P have failed to make our shipment of supplies as ordered. They were
to have come up by the Alagna, whose captain said he had no freight for Port¬
land Roads at all and did not even stop there. Vernon, of the Brisbane Museum,
who is to join us for a few weeks during the P.R. period, also was to have come
up by the Alagna but did not do so.

Drinking in the hotel started right after breakfast and a few minutes ago
a total stranger came in to my room and said that probably we would never meet
again. I agreed with him, said it was xism nice that we had met at^ all. He
agreed with me and left, murmuring about ships that pass in the night.

Saturday, 29 May 1948. Before telling of the opulent comfort and splendor in

which I am writing at present, I had better bring yes¬
terday to a proper close.

After completing the above entry, we all went up a hill at the north-west
end of the island, named Green Hill,. On the summit there was an old fortress,
constructed many years ago and revived for use during the 14-18 war. The old
gund still mounted there date back much longer than that but I could find no
date on them. The cause of their visit there was that the galleries, passages
and slots and slits through which ammunition used to be passed have become a
community home for thousands of bats. George and Van wanteci some as speci¬
mens and I wanted to look the old plawe over.

The bats were there and for the first time we found that local opinion
did not lie, so far as their numbers go. The flapping of their wings caused
a continuous loud hum and draught of cold air. The galleries were really long
tunnels with low roofs, only about seven feet high; the bats gathered in large
clusters, the underneath ones clinging to inequalities in the roof and the rest
haiging on to the other bats. George and Van simply picked them off in hand-
fulls, p-xaroimng them and letting ±kna pilose which they did not want.

In the evening we were invited to the home of Dr. and Mrs. Barnes and
there found the Torres Straits pilots gathered again, with Mr. and Mrs. Cad-
zow, who had been our hosts the previous night. Again we had a very pleasant
time and ended up with a meal containing all the sweet cakes and such things
that we shall not now see again until three months at least have passed.

Again we got back just before the lights went out and a little later I
was aroused by somebody bumping and clawing his way around my room. A mutter
was me the only answer to my challenge so I hopped out of bed to find another
drunk (the first was the man who said we should never meet again; who had mis¬
taken the open door of my room for the passage which runs from the back to the
front verandah. He had stumbled over my box, completely lost his bearings and
was trying to find his way out again. I directed him to the passageway, we
agreed that there was a mighty heavy sea running, and so back to bed.

80

• •

the Federal Hotel promptly at 8.30, our breakfast being more or less thrown
at us, as had all the other meals, to all diners, since the two waitresses
both are also employed in the B-P store and have to rush there after serving
meals, got our gear stowed on board and sailed pretty well on the dot of
9 A.M. George and Van managed to get to the hospital for a final examination
of Van's eye, which is improving, and we looked over the ship. She is 700 tons,
no Queen Mary, of course, vut something that completely eclipses the Lochiel,

She has passenger cabins for four people, two two-berth rooms, of which one is
ours. The rest of us will sleep on the comfortable settees in the dining
saloon. She has one, with a steward who wears a white coat, polishes the sil¬
ver and glass-ware, and says please and thank you. We are all delighted with
the ship, both on account of her superiority over our past accommodations and
also the superiority over those to come. We shall enjoy them to the tull.

It is now 2 P.M., we passed the Tip of Cape York after sailing around the
eastern side of Horn Island, not up the Norman by Pass, between Horn and Prince
of Wales Islands, the way the L.C.I. brought us in, have travelled down past
Somerset and seen in the distance Newcastle Bay, where we made our camp after
leaving Lockerbie. Now we are crossing Jacky Jacky Inlet, the mouth of the
Escape River is due south of us and we are heading in a SSE direction. A good
and copious lunch has been consumed, which included such unheard of delicacies
as crackers and cheese, iced water and table napkins.

Capt. Dan Cleary is master of the ship and expects to disembark us at
Portland Roads after breakfast tomorrow.

Moreton, Willie and Roy are not certain that they like this part of the
journey but they cannot do much about it now. I gave Moreton a part packet
of cigarettes so he became more resigned.

I think before closing this part of the entry, and thereby, this part of
the expedition, I can put in a little more about Dr. Barnes and also the
Federal Hotel. Barnes is a very young man, not uet out of his middle twenties,

I should judge. He is the only doctor on T.I. and runs a small hospital there
which, with the private practice $e naturally must have, keeps him very busy.

He was one of that small group of Australian troops who were cut off by the
Japs on Timor but held out until the end of the war or when Timor was relieved.

I have read how they managed to construct a radio and send word back as to
their continued existence. Barnes did not complete his medical coarse until
after he had left the army.

The Federal Hotel is run and owned, I believe, by Kevin Kelleher, who
does not like work very much and sent to Brisbane for his mother to come up
and take charge. She is of Jewish extraction and the story is that the hotel
is going downhill. How that can be done is hard to understand - one would
say that it definitely is in a valley now. Mrs. Kelleher has had nine chil¬
dren, three of whom, including Kevin, went into the police force, but Kevin
got out and somehow acquired the hotel. A waitress was sent for from Cairns
but she received a better offer from another hotel in T.I. and after one look
at the Federal, accepted the other. Consequently the B-P girls, who live there,
are given free rent in return for their household services.

George and Len have turned in for a while and Van and I are writing but
I find myself yawning mastly. I think I shall lie down on the settee for a
while and get a bit of a rest. We shall be about level with Pudding Pan Hill
by dusk, well on our southward way, and tomorrow is another day of setting
up camp, to say nothing of getting our stuff off the Alagna. Being out of
reading matter, since all my who-dun-its are in one of the boxes in the cargo,

I am reading this journal to see what strikes me as a possibility for short
story material. So far I have not found much.

81

Sunday, 30 May 1948. toe were passing across Temple Bay this morning at 6 A.M.

when 1 roused. The little Alagna had travelled as gent¬
ly and steadily as anybody could possibly ask and we had all slept well. A
breakfast of bacon and eggs, the first dish of eggs we have had for longer
than I care to think, set us up in fine condition, eventually we crossed Tem¬
ple and Weymouth Bays and saw Restoration Island, off the shore from Portland
Roads. We pulled in and tied up at the dock in very good condition, considering
its lack of use, and our stuff was put ashore, with ourselves, by nine.

Fisher, who is to act as agent for us in this area, was not at the dock
but a number of hard case miners, including Jack Gordon, whom we met at Cairns,
were in the jetty shack recovering from a party which had developed as a result
of the JVandana's call there yesterday. We had passed Wandana about nine
o'clock yesterday evening.

Len and George went off looking for Fisher while Van and I joined in the
miners party which started again on our arrival. Finally Fisher was found and
our stuff was shifted from the pier to the place selected as our camp, an aban¬
doned army hut. We shall be comfortable here but I believe we are to move
within a few days for some other place, depending on the results achieved by
the hunters. They will begin to show tomorrow.

The blacks we brought down do not like it very much ana think they will
be attacked by the local natives. They have asked for weapons but of course
cannot be given any because they would almost certainly provoke a conflict in
that case. The boys were very relieved to find they did not have to go out
hunting tonight.

Fisher and his wife I shall write about tomorrow; they invited us over to
their place for a drink before supper and we shall go over later to listen to
the news but I would rather wait a little longer before setting down any parti¬
cular impressions.

The shipment from B-P and Vernon, the lad from the Queensland Museum, were
both here but I have not been able to check the things sent in yet. The state¬
ment I asked for has not been received, which annoys me because 1 want to get
our accounts settled and find out how we stand.

Monday, 31 May, 1948. The morning and most of the afternoon were spent, by me

st least, in checking the consignment of equipment and
supplies which was waiting for us here, with the very sparse documents in my
possession. As far as I can tell, tje tjomgs received are the things ordered,
with some omissions, but I have no invoice from Cairns so cannot tell what we
actually have been charged with.

Between supplies and equipment, which we had left at Cairns for ship¬
ment to us here, we have a huge quantity of baggage and its handling is some¬
thing of a problem. Perhaps the best way of handling it is to send forward
the stuff we do not expect to use in this and the following couple of camps.
If we send it to Coen, we shall catch up with it again in four or five weeks,
we shall be able to take advantage of any baggage train or lorry going from
the port in that direction, and we shall cut down the great mass oi stuff
that would otherwise have to accompany us to our subsidiary camps.

Wo 7-ere at Fisher's, as I said yesterday, for drinks and to listen to the
• nflwc but I am writing this now in order to clear the typewriter so
™tT=Tg«1etl^ about Jo.', insurance and one or two other

lings so shall not touch on them just now.

«** results tor

pecimens for me; my collection gro s,
id do not leave my chair.

82.

Later. While I wag unpacking and checking the supplies, there was another
reorganization which, in this case, meant that everybody selected what they
needed from the equipment shipped up from Cairns and dumped the rest on top
of my bed or my box or somethi.'Jii that was mine. I an supposed to pack this
residue and have already been told how much more we ordered than was needed —
but all the other chaps made up the lists, not me.

The weather is much like that at Newcastle Bay — a fairly clear morning,
the early part of it, followed by clouds, heavy gusts of wind and squalls of
rain. I tMnV collecting is not too good but have been so tied to the store
job that I have had little opportunity even to know what the others have done,
let alone do anything myself.

This is our second night here at Portland Roads and I have managed to
listen to the 9 o'clock news each night. Most of it is concerned with a gen¬
eral referendum recently taken here to determine whether federal control of
prices is to be maintained here in Australia or not. The majority was fairly
crushing in favor of not. It is so odd that hardly any country that I know
anything about has any faith whatever in the government it has elected for
itself. It is a profound thought, one that I can well go to bed on.

Tuesday, 1 June 1943. Mrs. Fisher and one of the abbo women went out yester¬
day and Mrs. F. told me that Ada, the colored woman,
wanted to know how long those government men, meaning us, would be staying^

She wanted also to know if we would be going up Black Mountain, a resort of
"quinken". Mrs. F. asked if Ada would go but she said "No. Big wind him come.
Blow off all black woman's clothes." Evidently after modesty has been ravish¬
ed by the wind, the quinken come in and do the rest. Her father is one of
those abbos who have caught the quinken, the little hairy raen,^ alive. He, and
all the other abbos who have ever caught a quinken, is dead, though.

It is still a little before supper time, about 5*30 > but as I am going
out with a light this evening and want to get back in time to listen to the
nine o'clock news at Fisher's, I think I shall get this written up now.

This morning I still had not finished with the repacking but decid¬

ed to go out for an hour or so before I started on tnat work. Climbed by a
roundabout means to an abandoned radar station on a hill behind camp, from
which I could properly get my bearings for the first time since our arrival
at Portland Roads. There is a variety of country and that on the hill is the
worst iHnri of all. Long rank grass, waist high, prevents one's seeing one's
feet at all, and conceals the loose stones which slide under one's steps and
causes severe spills. That hill and its radar station (all these little ports
along the east coast had small garrisons during the war and are dotted with
axmy huts, some occupied by abbos and the rest completely decayed) are to the
south of us. To the east, of course, is the ocean, and north,in which direction
I went this afternoon, the concave shore of Weymouth Bay sweeps in and is gringed
by mangrove swamps. Westward the dirt road to Iron Range, our next camp, runs
through what seems to be forest country, as fas as I could see this morning, the
road showing like a red band where it comes into view over the ridges.

I have a snake, several lizards and a turtle in the way of reptiles and
of course lots of varied bugs but none of these coastwise areas seem to be
narticularlv good either for me or for the mammal men. I think we shallnotre-
Ki hSf met past the end of the week, and I think also that the furtner in¬
land we get, the better the hunting will be. And by the time we finish with
the Iron Range camp, we can consider the trip as being somewhere about hall
finished. From Iron Range I think we shall go further inland, to Goen, taen
gradually south to Annie River, if we decide to come out that way.

33.

Wednesday, 2 June 194 8. As today has been without any special event, I think

I shall try to tell something about the Fisher family
They are our hosts or agents, as the case may be, in this area, and Fisher him¬
self is the nearest to a Somerset Maugham character I have come across yet.

Fisher is the postmaster of Portland Roads post office, which was opened
on the first of May this year. The office serves a nomad population of about
twenty persons, scattered over an area of some hundreds of square miles. At
Iron Range, our next camp, there are three people living and the remaining
seventeen appear from the bush at various times. All of them are miners and
prospectors.

He, Fisher, probably is an Englishman and served in the first war in the
Royal Flying Corps, a very swagger outfit which preceded the Royal Air Force.
In addition to the postmaster job, he conducts a small store but rarely has
anything in it for sale. Ever since we have been here, one or more of us has
gone over to his place to listen to the 9 P.M. news and he always turns out a
bottle of port, a comfortable and virilized habit.

Mrs. Fisher was a widow when Fisher met and married her. She had one son,
Barrie, then, and since her second marriage there have been two more children,
girls. She is a solid woman, redphaired, and usually wears a cartridge belt
and carries a cut-down .410 shot gun. They have both been very nice to us but
it is amusing to hear their conversation. Doug lias a very quiet, cultured voice,
and Mrs. Usually starts her statement with HChrist". She is said to have in¬
herited several gold mines, none of them being in operation, from her father,
and she and Doug seem very happy together.

Portland Roads, as with all the places, large or small along this coast,
had a small garrison during the war, and the place is littered with abandoned
army huts. We have taken over one of the less dilapidated ones and, even with
its leaks, it is more commodious than anything we could contrive with canvas
and Joe has a stove on which to cook his meals. The Fishers live in another
similar hut.

The weekly plane, which provides the sole means for receiving and sending
mail, travels northbound to Thursday Island on Wednesdays and southbound, back
to Cairns, tomorrow. We received very little mail this evening, mine being
limited to one letter from the Bank of New South Wales, but we have been in¬
formed by the postmaster that a bag of mail went on to T.I. by mistake, and
will reach us tomorrow. I am sending mail out for us all tonight, which Doug
takes to Iron Range early tomorrow. We are all hoping to have some more inter¬
esting mail tomorrow when the errant bag returns, than we had today.

Thursday, 3 June 1948. Again the day has been much the same as any other except

that George and Len went up to Iron Range to spy out
the land. We shall move on Saturday or Sunday and shall have headquarters there
for about three weeks, making subsidiary camps as we did at Lockerbie. George
pronounces the area as promising. One of bur sub. stations will be on the lower
Claudie River and another probably north of Iron Range .

further

From there we move/inland to the northern slope of Mt. Tozer and after that,
the time unspecified at present, we shall move still further west in the general
direction of Coen, perhaps making a short camp at Wenlock mines which are at the
headwaters of the .Wenlock or Batavia River, not at the mouth as I originally
thought.

I have not said anything about the part which was going on on the jetty
when we arrived. Wandana had stopped there northbound -^e day before and it is
the custom of the miners to gather there on Wandana day and have a party. Wan-

dana leaves enough in the way of liquid supplies to keep the party going for
a considerable time and it was in full swing when we arrived the next morning.
There were perhaps seven men there, from all over this part of the Peninsula,
Jack Gordon, mentioned elsewhere in this, Ted Densley, Ralph Dodson and others
w$iose names I forget. George and Len went off with the baggage, first load,
and I was invited to join the party, which I did, to become the immediate prey
of Ted Densley. Ted is a little old man probably in his middle sixties or
later, who has gone completely native, married an abbo woman, etc., although
he has had very profitable gold holdings and still has. He admits he is sec¬
ond only to Jack Gordon in bushcraft, but assured me he never forgot he was a
gentleman.

Through some accident in the second war, he lost the thumb of his right
hand and walked eight days to a doctor, an American army syrgeon from Massa¬
chusetts named Garlick. He said that Dr. Garlick asked him to return to A. i-
ca with him but Ted could not leave his own country.

His wife is the sister of an abbo man named Peter who refuses to live on a
mission and cannot be held there. The story goes that some wealthy people were
visiting Portland Roads with an eye to investing in some mining property. Tea
was introduced to the lady and gentleman and later Peter, and the Australian
abbo is very black and ugly to look at indeed, was also presented with the re¬
mark "Ted Densley' s brother-in-law, you know." The prospective investors left
with a very low idea of the people of Cape York.

Friday, 4 February 1948. This is another of those entries made mainly in or¬
der to record the date. Traps came in this morning
and most of the day has been spent in preparation for our move to Iron Range
tomorrow. I think I have said that that will be about the biggest camp of the
entire trip, and will serve as headquarters for us probably for two months.

Mr. and Mrs. Connell, who own and operate a mine up there, came to Port¬
land Roads today. They are having a holiday after being in Iron Range for
three years. They are two-thirds of the whole population and Mrs. Connell, a
sprightly old gat in her late fifties, I should imagine, has been the only
woman in the territory for the bulk of the three years, until Mrs. Fisher came
back with Doug. Now Mrs. Fisher will be the only woman in the several hundred
square miles, for a short time. The Connels are taking the Wandana down to
Cairns and coming back on her next trip. They have offered us the use of their
house, another army hut, during their absence.

There is no post office at Iron Range but something known as a "free bag"
is made up there. As far as I can gather, the pilot of the plane hangs a mail
bag up on a tree somewhere and people who have stamps to put on their letters
do so and drop them in the bag, which is taken down to Cairns on the southbound
run. One gets stamps from Doug Fisher, twenty miles away from Iron Range, Dut
if none can be procured, a note to the postmaster at Cairns end the enclosure
if five pence halfpenny or whatever it is, does the trick.

Saturday 5 June 1943. This day of movement to Iron Range started, for me, with

a trip down to the jetty. The Wandana, southbound, was
due early in the morning and we had some stuff to ship down to Ciarns. The
ship arrived over the horizon just as I reached the jetty, to which I had walked
with Mr. and Mrs. Connel. I saw Capt. Paulson (or Poison;, consigned our boxes
of specimens to his tender care, and was hailed by Jack Cupid, the Cape York
lineman, and his wife. They were southbound for their first vacation in three
years, like Mr. and Mrs. Connell.

A number of the miners were in the shack at the end of the jetty, includ¬
ing Jack Gordon, though Ted Densley had gone home. A sack of bottles for Jack

was turned over to him and Bert Connell sent a bottle of Scotch ashore so the
party" probably is still going on at this minute.

I had a nip of White Horse and returned to camp to finish off my packing,

Doug returning with me, and we proceeded to load up all our stuff. There were
two trucks, one running well ana the other not so well. Doug was driving the
not-so-well one with Len, Van, Vernon, Willie Somerset and me as passengers.

Doug’ s step-son, Barrie, a very nice lad, drove the other with George, Moreton
and Roy on board. Y/e broke down and Len, Van and Willie joined the other
truck, promising to return with food and means of towing us later. That was the
psychological thing - the not-so-good truck sprang into life and we reached
Iron Range before they had finished unloading.

Our quarters at this camp, our main and longest base for the whole trip,
are good and again we inherit the things the army did four or five years ago.

Our hut is not quite so commodious as at Portland Roads but the roof has no
leaks, which is on the asset side. Water is plentiful and rains frequent, re¬
placing almost immediately what we consume from the tanks. If they fail, the
Claudie River and its creeks are ilmost at our door.

By the time we were settled in it was 4 P.M. George and Van set a small
line of traps, Vernon shot a few birds and that about closed the day for us.

About two miles east of us is Gordon(s original claim, which started the Iron
Range gold rush, and in the same vicinity is one of Mrs. Fisher’s mines, the
Scarlet Pimpernel. It is a singularly ill-chosen name - if I remember my
Orczy correctly, the tag went, "That damned illusive Pimpernel."

I shall not go out tonight, but tomorrow, after I learn my directions a
bit better, I can give more of an impression of the country around.

Sunday, 6 June 1943. tip to now, when there has been nothing much to say about

our affairs I have manufactured things but I seem to
have run completely dry. I said yesterday t&at I would give impressions of the
country but I do not have any. It is just like any other part of the country.

I feel very tired tonight, which may have something to do with my lack
of inspiration, and shall not try to force any words onto this paper.

Monday, 7 June 1948. Today, being a repetition of yesterday, rates no more of

a description, except that I made my way up to one of the
gold mines and peered down the shaft. The mine, owned by a man named Sharp, who
is away sick, consists simply of the shaft and nothing more except a tin shack
with roof but no sides, and another similar shack containing an anvil, which
must have been his workshop. The ore, after being dug, has to be hauled by
windlass to the surface, carted somehow to Portland Roads and shipped elsewhere
for crushing, the complete operation leaving little profit for the miner, sfter
herculean efforts.

Jack Gordon, without whom 1 the miners would be completely silent, for
he is featured in every conversation, is reputed to have dug and produced over
a hundred thousand pouhds-worth of fine gold, but he imported crushing machine¬
ry, employed about thirty miners and in general put almost everything he made
back into the mine, which then fizzled out. He probably cleared about ten
thousand pounds.

A few days ago we found out that mail sent per Stan Holland on May 16th at Red
Island was not delivered in Iron Range until last Thursday, June 3rd. I do not
know if he forgot or neglected aby other packets of mail but in any event those
letters addressed to the D.S. will be very much delayed. It is very annoying be-

0

86.

cause that was the first mail we sent out after the Newcastle Bay camp and
there was a fairly long delay between letters anyway, since we could not send
anything out while we were at Newcastle Bay. By ay boolc, I find that I
more mail out on the woth but of course cannot tell just how many lots of let¬
ters Stan held up. At least we should not have that trouble here and I -^ect
incoming mail on Wednesday and shall sand some out on Thursday.

Tuesday, 8 June 1943. Again just another day of collecting and they are all

mighty fatiguing, involving a lot of walking and climb¬
ing for about eight hours during the day and another two or three after dark.

Van and George now go out together and Vernon and young Barrie Fisher do like¬
wise, at night, that is. My work is done alone but I do not go deep into the
scrub after dark. The things I am after lie close to the ground and my noisy
approach would alark them whereas the things the others are after are, in the
main, arboreal.

I meant to say something about this locality but so far have not done so.

Our trip from Portland Roads was somewhere around eighteen miles, in a direct¬
ion about west-south-west. We crossed first Packer's Creek, then Chili Creek
and finally Dirty Water Creek, none of thish s% on the map. The ground rose
after the last named and we crossed a range, nameless, I think, of sandstone, from
the summit of which the ocean was visible to our east. To reach the range we
passed through fQ^rly profuse forest and on top of it a very sparse forest.

Travelling down the west side of the ridge we entered deep scrub again
which extends as far as we can see, although the next ridge. Iron Range itself,
is many times higher than that to our east.

In no place is the altitude very high: the ridge we crossed probably was
not more than four hundred feet, Iron Range is perhaps six to eight jindred
and Mount Tozer, the high point in the district, which comes later in out jour¬
ney, is seventeen hundred feet. We are in between two branches of the Claudie
River, the Claudie itself and the North Claudie. Borh are mere streams of not
much more than twenty feet in width but somewhere south of us they join and at
its mouth, about eight or nine miles away, it becomes something of a river. It
is in that part of its length that the crocodiles gather? up here it is too nar¬
row for them to manouver, though the water is muddy and stagnant and I would
think several times before going swiimming.

We have not been here a week yet and our plans call for about three weeks
in this camp. le have two more scheduled, one nearer the mouth of the Claudie
and the other on the slopes of Mount Tozerm but the duration in each of the
camps depends of course on the results obtained in each of them. Mammals are not
doing any too well and Len is not getting very good results in his botanical
searches so it may be that we shall stay less than the allotted three weeks.

We have received the transportation bill from Doug Fisher with what looks
like a L2 error in his favor but I shall pay it without argument. I learn from
the miners that he has a reputation for overcharging, when he can get away with
it, and he is far from popular with the other inhabitants. His statement list3
him as D. St. F-R Fisher and I was informed that he claims^ kinship with the
Marquis of Bute which would probably be a surprise to the Marquis. He did not
seem to think it necessary to impress me with his background of high degree
but apparently does so when he thinks he can make an impression or obtain some
credence. It all reacts against Barrie and must cause him considerable em-
barassment. Barrie himself, Doug's step-son, is a very fine sort of lad and
if given a chance would go far, I think. He is wuiet, polite, well-mannered
and of course has a good stock of bush lore. The Queensland or Australian
Museums would be lucky to get such a boy but of course he has little chance of
reaching them.

w W 87

Wednesday, 9 June 1943. There has been a little change in weather and occasional¬
ly we get through the whole day w thout any rain whatever.
Not so today, a heavy shower came up about 8 A.M. but fortunately I bad not then
gone out, having some little thing to do.

The morning turned out to be a tough one, however. I went about half a mile
along the road west and than turned into the scrub up the side of an unnamed hill
nearby. After crashing through for perhaps half a mile, and crashing through scrub
takes time and energy, I came upon a clear broad track, leading still further up
the hill. Following it, I found a mine shaft right at the very topj I knew the
mine was somewhere about but did not expect to find it right at the apex. I. is
in operation but the miners were down the shaft and I did not disturb them but
walked on and down another side of the mountain. My collecting was poor, consisting
mainly of scorpions and centipedes but I caught a glimpse of some of those huge
blue butterflies, which fly at tree-top height. At present I have hit on no means xk
whatever for collecting them,
probably

This will/turn out to be mainly about mines and miners - at the foot of the
hill I passed another, abandoned, mine which is on the list for exploration before
long as it is a refuge for countless bats which interest Van and George, and has
some huge spiders, about six inches in span, which is my department. It has three
adits, two of which have caved inj the third, cut in virgin rock, is still holding
up and should do so for many years yet.

The miners are all much of the same stamp. Practically all of them are at
least middle-aged and most are the "old and bold", "ruthless and toothless", the
veterans of the 1914-18 war. Being one also, I got along splendidly with them.

They are a grizzled gang, never have done anything except look for gold, have
never found it in enough quantity to keep them much more than barely alive, their
clothes, the few that they have, are ragged and patched, they all could do with
a shave and none of them would even consider any other job than theirs. Always
"tomorrow" they feay strike it rich and make enough to live in luxury for the rest
of their lives. They have nothing but contempt for the young man of today who
prefers to live in luxury in the cities, with a solid roof over his head and good
food to eat, instead of taking his pick and shovel in his hand and battling with
nature for a strike. Just at the moment my sympathies are entirely with the.
young man; my pet weakness, ice, is upon me again, and my craving for the clink
of it in my evening tot of rum and tepid water, a joy to the ears, eyes and
palate, is great.

Mail came in this afternoon and all hands are busy in getting outgoing let¬
ters ready for tomorrow, when the southbound plane leaves the airport. I must
finish this and do the same though I spent the afternoon writing letters. The
B-P statement, the first since our departure from Cairns, came in at last and
tomorrow for me will be a day of accounting.

Thursday, 10 June 1948. Perhaps the most exciting news of yesterday passed

quite un— noted here, the arrival from Coen of fresh
meat for us by air. I had ordered it from Portland Roads, its cost was sixpence
per lb, olus sixpence per lb air freight, a total of just about 16 cents per lb
at present exchange rates.

The steak we had for breakfast was a bit on the tough side, but Joe prepared
a rib roast for lunch which was really delicious. It would have been so at any
time but after our constant diet of canned stuff, except for the occasional bullock
shot at Lockerbie by Ginger Dick, it has been a sort of csn-to-mouth existence.

We received about thirty pounds of beef and have placed a standing weekly order lor
that approximate quantity.

Barrie called for our mail at 7.15 this morning, so that has gone.

My day, until about 4 was spent getting out accounts straightened

out. After that I took a walk down to one of the branches of the Claudie,
not collecting particularly, but mainly for exercise. Then I returned to
camp. A shower, a 3have (a semi-weekly operation these days), the disburse¬
ment of about £.260-0-0 and a cut of our fine beef for dinner put me in a very
civilized mood. It seemed rather a shame to go jack-lighting in the evening,
get soaking wet and bring in no specimens, but that happened and removed the
fine veneer that I had put on.

I have now started the wheels turning toward our return home, in that I
have instructed B-P to do something about it, and have given them several al¬
ternatives if they are unable to get us on some ship of the Pioneer Line,
whose agents they are. I was informed by the Fisher family at P.R. that five
0.S. ships have refused to put in at Brisbane on account of the recent strike,
which is why I suggested the alternatives, though anything which emanates
from the Fisher menage can be labelled as unreliable.

Now it is time to turn in and since I slept poorly last night, I £ feel
that I can do full justice to my cot tonight.

Friday, 11 June 1948. Rarely do I have any difficulty in writing the daily

entries here, but it must be rather boring at times to
whoever may read it as it simply is a repetition, day by day, of almost the
same sort of events. Its main purpose anyway is to keep me in the habit of
using some kind of more or less respectable English, and in that respect it is
helpful to me, I suppose, but probably nobody else cares what sort of English
I use.

My thought that I would sleep well last night was confirmed - I think I
was in a coma - and I woke refreshed and feeling particularly well. The morn¬
ing was nothing much save that it brought the first death adder, a stumpy
1 snake against which boots form a complete protection. Its venom is
powerful but its fangs are very short j its worst work is done on the many
people who travel in this country in bare feet.

In the afternoon George, Van and I went out to one of the tunnels of
Jack Gordon* s abandoned mine} George and Van wanted some of the thousands of
bats which inhabit it and had tole me of immense spiders. The tunnel was
several hundred feet long bub the virgin rock I had been told about is so soft
that one could cut it with a knife. The bats were there but some spider-eating
animal had been in recently and eaten up all my prey except one. He was a
thing with a span of about six inches, colored black and brown} now he reposes
comfortably in pickle.

After supper, which is on now, I shall have to set a light trap for in¬
sects in the scrub} it is a funnel-like thing of canvas, white, and screwed
into its thin end there fits a cyanide bottle. The contraption is suspended
from a lantern, insects come to the light, fall into the fullel and slide
down into the cyanide. It is a gruesome idea but I am going to have supper
now} if the gruesome things of a trip influenced one® s eating we would soon
starve.

Barrie, Doug Fisher* s step-son, had a remarkably unpleasant experience
this evening when he went with George and Van to collect some more bats from
the mine adit. To aid in the picture, I had better describe the mine a bit
more. As I have said, two of the entrances have caved in and one can enter
only by the third. That is a tunnel about seven feet high and five in width,
utterly dark, of course, and one hears the swishing of the bats sings
almost immediately, so numerous are they.

89.

That tunnel rune directly into the side of the mountain for a distance of
perhaps two hundred feet and terminates at a hole or shaft about twenty feet
deep, at the bottom of which another tunnel continues into the earth. The bot¬
tom of that shaft is reached only by a slimy piece of pipe, down and up which
one swarms.

In the afternoon we had netted the entrance to the tunnel and had gone in
as far as the hole, turning out, as I said earlier, thousands of bats of two
species, but mainly of one. It was decided to go again in the evening to see
if more of the second species could be obtained but I had my own night work to
do and did not take part.

Barrie went down the inner hole the found it partly blocked in places by
falls from the roof. He was wearing his headlight but of course none of us
dare take or use guns inside, lest we cause further falls. He had crawled
through a nearly blocked place and was straightening up again when he saw the
head and about four feet of a black snake gazing at him. Having nothing to de¬
fend himself with, he crawled back through the narrow part of the passage as
fast as he could go and in doing so knocked his headlight against the tunnel
root and disconnected it from the battery, leaving himself in pitch blackness,
possibly with the snake crawling after him. He rushed on but got off the main
corridor somehow and crashed against the wall of a small, shallow chamber that
had been carved in one side of the tunnel. Then he howled for somebody to flash xse
their lights and of course was further shocked at being told the lights were on
as he could not see them on account of being in the chamber. Finally he scram¬
bled back to the bottom of the hole, scaled the pipe and was hauled out quiver¬
ing by Van and George.

Some time soon we shall have to go down again and get the snake but I al¬
ways carry two lights in case of the failure of one of them, and shall be re¬
lieved of that part anyway. Poor Barrie, though - any one of the three inci¬
dents, the snake, the loss of light and his getting into the small chamber would
have been plenty but to get them all at once was quite a tough experience.

Saturday, 12 June 1948. This morning was spent largely in preparing the next

order of supplies; after this I think there will be

only one more.

In the afternoon George, Van and I went to the mine again. George and
Van to collect more bats and I to see if I could pick up the snake that had
scared Barrie last night. I went on ahead to construct a ladder to help us
at the point where the hole leads to the lower level and inside we all worked
together. We climbed down the ladder and found the lower passage only extended
about fifty feet and there had been several falls of the roof, as Barrie had
described, causing the passage to become so small that standing upright was
impossible and at times we had to crawl through the accumulated droppings. At
the end, or as far as we could go, a heavy fall of the roof blocked the passage
up completely. It had once been shored up with timbers, which were half buried
in later earth and debris which had come down. Near the roof there was a small
hole leading through to the re3t of the passage and the snake must have taken
refuge in there as we could see no trace of it in that part of the passage tnat
could be travelled.

Being foiled on my snake hunt, I joined in with the bat hunters and tney
brought back a large collection. They are the same species as those taken
yesterday, though they did get some more of the rare ones, and I do not quite
see why they want so many of the same kind.

The only untoward event in the afternoon occurred during the process of

ladder-building. I had made myself frightfully hot by chopping down trees for
the sides of it, but it was completed, the rungs were attached and Genrge and
Van had arrived. I had stripped down to trousers and was cutting a stick with
which to deal with the snake when I backed into a tree in which black ants were
nesting. They were all over me in a minute and one crawled into ray ear and,
after tramping all over my ear drum with his big feet, decided to bite it. Van
poked around with a twig and presumably squashed the ant but the bite throbbed
for quite a while inside my head, completely destroying the merry illusion I
had had of us three marching into the mine like Snow-White's dwarfs, carrying
our somewhat crude ladder and singing "It's off to work we go."

Now it is evening, George and Van are working on the bats they captured,

I have set my light trap in the bush, brought it back again and have finished
this day's entry in the journal. The great snake hunt, fruitless but not with¬
out excitement, is over. Gordon's mine is a thing of the past.

Sunday, 13 June 1943. George and Len went off this morning with some of the

road construction men who have a camp some miles west
of here. I am not quite sure where they went to or what they did there. I
spent most of the morning changing a tire on one of the bikes.

The afternoon and evening were just about the usual thing. I consider it
a great mistake to continue seven days and seven evenings at the same thing
and I believe there should be one day anyway devoted to any kind of different
form of routine. Of course our time is limited but I still think better results
and harder work would be obtained if one day was given over to rest or whatever
form of relaxation one desired. What would happen, in all probability, is that
each man would continue to work but would not feel under any compulsion. The
others do not feel any compulsion anyway but they are unable to understand the
feelings of anybody who has no particular interest in science and its subjects.

That sounds rather like heresy but it is not meant to be. I have seen men
on many sorts of jobs and have handled them and a break once a week never did
anybody any harm or slowed the job down. On the contrary, they worked so much
better after a rest that the lost time was more than made up. However, I am
not in charge and one can only do as one is told.

Monday, 14 June 1948. This was a fairly long morning and I covered about seven

miles, I estimate, collecting several things that I have
not previously had and ending up, I believe, at the Fisher mine, the abandoned
Scarlet Pimpernel. The weather was dreary in the extreme, a heavy drizzle of
rain going on most of the time.

I was pleased with the things I had garnered but arrived back tired, wet
and with sore feet. I had a heavy heart too because it came upon me how tough
it is to be a gold miner. Nothing of any value ever came from the Scarlet
Pimpernel, which is just a straight shaft, simply a hole in the ground , to
show for goodness knows how many hours of heart-breaking work.

T&e ground there is different from the neighborhood of Gordon's mine; the
soil is much more yellow and sandy, the iron stone is there of course but not
in sufficient quantity to give the earth the reddish tinge it has )iere.

I did not attempt to go down the Scarlet Pimpernel - there was nothing
there and I could see to the bottom of it. I was very glad to get my teeth into
lunch when I got back to camp though. It was extra fine, fresh tonpe, tinned
tomatoes, Joe's best hot rolls and tea. I felt I had fully earned it.

91.

Tuesday, 15 June 1948. It is late afternoon and as I have nothing particular

to do until supper time, I shall write some notes for
today. They will have little to do with work because, although I have travel¬
led several miles during the day, my results have been small and on the poor
side.

This afternoon I took one of the bikes and rode a couple of miles toward
the W^nlock gold fields, meeting a truck bearing some of the miners on their
way to Portland Roads, from whence they are going to Cairns for a holiday since
one of them made a good strike and took out 100 ounces during the past week.

That was probably a gross figure but was good enough to justify the holi¬
day. They are all interested in the expedition and one cannot talk for five
minutes with any of these men before the subject turns to the taipan: probably
I have already said something about it but I think I shall devote today's entry
to that famous snake.

First of all, there is no doubting the existence of the taipan and it has
been given the status of a genus, Oxyuramus. There is no doubting, either, it's
unpleasant characteristics. But every miner has a different description and has
a different adventure to relate, nine tenths of which are most likely untrue.
Gordon, the supreme bushman, says he has only seen three in all the years he has
spent in the bush. Originally it was known as the Giant Brown snakeuntil a man
named McClelland came along and it received the name of McClelland' s Brown max
snake. Today I was told that Mrs. Fisher, of Portland Roads, gave it the name
it now bears. It is known in some places as the two-minute snake, in others,
the five-minute snake. It is acknowledged that in its venomous properties, it
ranks with the king cobra and the bushmaster. It grows to ten feet.

But to hear the miners tell it, everywhere one looks, there is a taipan,
and it is always twelve feet long, never less, apparently emerging from its
egg fully gax grown. Charles Barrett, a better novelist than naturalist appar¬
ently, says it travels with its head held about three feet from the ground, a
thing which I think would be impossible for a snake. All the miners' tales
occurred to a friend of theirs, never to themselves.

The thing I got at Lockerbie, which Ginger Dick assured me was the local
taipan, was barely six feet long: George got another snake, also about six
feet in length, which answers some of the description in the books, but is en¬
tirely different from the Lockerbie one. In general, we have come to believe
that it is next thing to a myth and certainly is so rare that it is unlikely
we shall ever see one.

Another story, since we are on the subject of snakes, came to Van a few
days ago, also from one of the miners. It was said that if a stick is held
firmly across a death adder's back and suddenly released, the snake will jump
"fully ten feet in the air". For an eighteen inch snake, that is quite a
jump.

Tomorrow is incoming— mail day and als© is the day for the preparation of
outgoing mail. I should like to finish off this page but cannot think of any
more snake stories except that Jetty Joe says he saw in one day at the Lcwer
Claudia, where we shall be going for a few days before long, three pythons,
none of them less than nineteen feet in length. I did not ask him how he
ascertained the total footage, but shall search assiduously when we reach that
area. I think if I put it to Moreton on the basis of one cigarette for every
foot ever ten, that might bring results also. In the matter of Joe,^ it would
not have surprised me a bit if he had seen some at T.I., judging by xiis shape
when he boarded the Alagna.

He is rendering "Songs of Araby" in the cook-housenow which means I had
better get ready for supper.

Wednesday, 16 June 1948. As is to be expected, this being the arrival day at

Iron Range Airport for the T. I. -bound plane, mail
has been the biggest thing. Next only to its arrival is the job of getting
the outgoing stuff ready, but it is all done now.

Other events of the day pale into insignificance but this evening we took
the biggest snake of the trip, so far. Back on snakes again, somehow. It was
just a carpet snake but its length was 10 feet 10 inches and its weight over
six pounds. The surprising part of these creatures is their lack of weight.

I think my mind is not on journal entiies this evening and I wall cut
this off now. Much is much preferable.

Thursday, 17 June 1948. A somewhat amusing thing happened at Thursday I. . iu-d,

amusing provided we are able to obtain a proper ad¬
justment. Mills, the B-P man there, was instructed to insure our cargo for
the trip down to Portland Roads for one thousand pounds. B-P handle their own
insurance, in fact there is an insurance company somewhere amongst their sub¬
sidiaries, and all North Queensland insurance is placed through Dupain, in
Cairns. Mills said he would wire Bupain so we left it at that.

In the mail yesterday there was a letter from Dupain quoting M 11s1 tele¬
gram but it asked coverage of one hundred thousand pounds. Mills must have
been on a bat with his two brothers, but I am now waiting for some kind of set¬
tlement since the premium for that amount must run to a considerable sum. Had
I known we had that much coverage, I could very profitably have scuttled the
ship.

Today has been very much run-of-the-mill for me, with no particular high
lights. George and Van were delighted with a porcupine taken by one of the
blacks, as it was on their list of "musts" and so far had not been obtained.

Though there was no high light, there was one sad and dim one. Our fresh
meat arrived from Coen yesterday and we had good steaks for breakfast with the
promise of a rib roast for lunch. The roast was tainted though and impossible
to eat. That was a dim light indeed.

Friday, 18 June 1948. Len and I climbed Mount Shea this morning, a small hill

which shows on none of the maps. It was in no way a
severe climb, being only 600 feet, but the angle was steep and the side of the
hill composed of a slippery clay over an equally slippery ironstone. Neither
of us found enough up there in the way of specimens really to justifythe climb,
even though it was not severe. My cat£h was limited to a few bugs of varying
degree and no fewer than six scorpions^ taken within a quarter of an hour. I
think I should not like to sleep on the side of Mount Shea.

No definite decision has yet been reached in the matter of a move from
here but probably the end of next week may be about right. It is ratner likely
that we shall not make a camn at the Lower Claudie. which is open, flat and mud¬
dy country with poor fauna and not much in the way of flora. It might be a
likely place for my sea-going crocs but that will not be enough inducement for
the establishment of a camp there. I can get along without the crocs, so far
as that goes, as we are reasonably sure to get something around Coen, which
comes later on. and Annie Ri^er. if we go out that way.

The days slin by verv ouicklv, now that we are nast t>e half-way mark.
Weather is noor cloudy and showerv but it is winter here. Our dailv tenner**-
tures would average somewhere around 85 to 88 decrees but the v'"c: pr~

nights one cool end pood for s1 eeT'ir,g

4

*

X

93. &X

Saturday, 19 June 1948. Late yesterday afternoon one of the blacks brought

in a cassowary and we had cassowary steaks and liver
for supper. The liver was just about like any other liver but the steaks
were completely flavorless and impenetrable. This evening we had the meat
again, Joe being on his mettle, braised, this time. It was still without any
teste but was biteable.

It seems like that at the end of next week we shall move on to Mount
Tozer. I think much of our equipment will be left here and picked up later
as the Tozer camp will be tough and to carry a lot of un-needed equipment up
there would be unwise. Van and I may go to the Lower Claudie for a day or so
during the coming week before the Tozer camp but the sub-camp we planned
there is out.

Tozer may last two weeks, depending on results of course, and afterthat
comes Brown's Creek, the locality of which I am not sure about myself. Brown's
is on the road to Coen, I think, and would in all probability be a short camp,
though a few days at Wenlock is more or less on the bill. Following Brownls
we move in to Coen and expect to spend perhaps three weeks in that vicinity
and after that move down to Cooktown by means not yet decided upon.

Once the halfway mark has been passed things always move quickly and we
are at that stage now. Soon everything will pile in all together, passages
home will have to be arranged and packing at Cairns started. Most likely
those things will commence during our stay at Cooktown and somebody may have
to go down to Cairns and get things started and in hand. Very likely that
somebody will be I but I want to make the Mount Finnegan climb first. There
once was an idea of running a xagax± camp in the sand-dunes along the coast
north of Cooktownj the poor results at Newcastle Bay may have ruled that out
if it is done, after Finnegan, I shall not parti culerly mind missing it if I
am the advance party to go to Cairns,

Dunday, 20 June 1948. Last night was exceedingly cold, the temperature going

down to about 55 degrees, while we are conditioned to
above 80. I wore socks, trousers, sport shirt and rain-coat, and had one
blanket over and one under me but woke with a cold nose.

In the morning, Len and I, taking Willie Somerset, went with Ned P-jaweli,
who is surveying a road which is to be constructed and completed, back toward
Portland Roads for a. distance of about seven miles to collect and. examine
that area. We took lunch with us, returning to camp somewhere around four
in the evening, after a fairly successful day. I got nothing in the reptile
line save a couple of lizards but did take many insects about which I *now
nithing .

After supper we :had something of a forum, planning out our future move¬
ments and time-table. Van and I are going down to the Lower Claudie on Tues¬
day morning and I shall return Wednesday evening to look after the mail and
anything that the plane may bring in. Van will stay over Wednesday night, ±ri
order to get two trapping nights in. George, with Barrie Fisher, is going to
spend tomorrow night in the neighborhood of the Fisher mine, which I visited
last night, and will get in one trapping night there. These are preliminary
camps to our final departure from this headquarters, which will take place on
the 28th, but we shall leave quite a lot of stuff here for safe-keeping,
rather than take it with us on our mountain climbing jaunts. I had some thing
of a tiff with Len over the receipt of our next order of supplies, which has
no place here at all.

1 •

94.

■»

i

Our movements during the next few weeks finally have arrived at the point
where they can be set down in some form of time-table. They will vary, of
course, according to the presence or absence of specimens in the several areas
but as near as we can determine at present, ther are as follows:

Leave Iron Range and arrive Mount Tozer
Work Mount Tozer until

Leave Mount Tozer and arrive Brown's Creek
Work Brown’s Creek until
Return to Iron Range

Remain at Iron Range for final packing until

June 28th
July 11th
" 12th
" 18th xxx
« 19th
H 21st

xxx Broy/n’s Creek is a tributary of the Pascoe River, west of Mount Tozer.
The Pascoe River opens into Weymoutn Bay about ten miles northwest of
Portland Roads.

Leave Iron Range and arrive Wenlock
Work Wenlock until

Leave Wenlock for Coen via Archer River
Arrive Coen

July 22nd
" 26th
" 27th
" 28th

After our arrival at Coen we become vague again because the year will
have so advanced by then that such things as our return passage may have a
bearing on the length of our camps. Roughly it has been suggested that we
spend four weeks around Coen, allow a week for the trip to Cooktown and six
weeks for the Cooktown area and the journey down to Cairns, which of course
brings things to an end and turns the Cape fork expedition into a thing of
history.

It is good to have everything so settled at last that one can set it down
on paper with some hope of being more or less accurate. The thing to do now
for all concerned is to join in prayer that there will be no such deify in
Cairns on our return as there was on our arrival at that salubrious spot.

Monday, 21 June 1948. My morning was spent mainly in packing for our short

stay at the Airport and also in preparing things to be
shipped out at the end of this week to Cairns.

Just before lunch Barrie Fisher, on whom we are relying to get us to the
Airport, came in to say that his truck has broken down and a tire, inner and
outer, was badly ripped. It makes our trip a little doubtful but he will be
in later to report whether or not we can male it.

In the afternoon I finished up some letters and correspondence with BP
as there may be little time after the arrival of the mail on Wednesday. I
plan to return to camp with the mail but there will be only Wednesday night
in which to attend to anything that must be done and ready for the southbound
plane on Thursday morning.

Before starting the trip down to Coen, via Wenlock and the Archer River,
it is proposed to cut everything down to the bone; clothing, supplies, ammuni¬
tion, everything that is not practically essential, is to be shipped from rort—
land Roads down to Cairns though I think some of it should be diverted to Cook*
town, where we shall be able to see it well, when we arrive there. There is a
certain amount of stuff now in Cairns which was to be shipped up to Cooktown;
that will not be necessary and the costs of the shipping will be saved if we.
have enough surplus to send there from our present supplies. At. the moment it
looks as though we may run a few dollars over our budget, which is a pity. It
has been occasioned by our extra long stay at Cairns and accumulated. hotel bills
not our fault but a pity none the less. I had so hoped to be unaer it.

r

« • ’• »

Tuesday, 22 June 1949. George and Barrie arrived in this morning from the

district of the Pimpernel mine without a single speci¬
men, after a rather uncomfortable night. They had forgotten to take their tea
and sugar, which didn’t matter, as it turned out, as there was no water. For¬
tunately they were only out the one night.

During the previous evening Van and I had prepared our gear for our visit
to the Airport and started off as soon as Barrie had been restored with hot
tea and a good breakfast.

The Airport lies approximately seven miles south by west from our head¬
quarters and originally was used by the R.A.A.F. and U.S.A.F. during the war.

It consists of three strips, each over a mile long, but only two of them were
completed. It is hewn out from a mixture of scrub and open forest and at one
time several hundreds of men were sheltered in the huts which still stand in
spite of the ravages of white ants. The frames do, anyway. But instead of
the hundreds of men, there now is one, Leo Ferris, an elderly man, veteran of
both world wars, whose only contact with the world is on Wednesdays and Thurs¬
days, when the Thursday Island plane goes by. His nearest neighbors normally
are the three people who live at our camp, two of whom are away, the workers
on the road, about five miles away who are going out at the end of the month
anyway, and then the Fishers at Fortl&nd Roads, twenty- two miles away and the
miners at VTenlock, forty miles away perhaps.

Leo turned out to be a very gracious host and started xs by walking us a
mile to a ford of the Claudie where was a crocodile hole, minus occupant. Van
set some traps around the stream, while Leo and I crossed the ford and rummaged
around in the scrub on the other side. Bugs and crawling things were prolific
and plentiful and I made a good collection within a few hours. We returned a-
cross the river, were joined by Can end returned to Leo’s house where he has a
kerosene operated refrigetator but says his stomach will not permit him to take
cold things or ice water. In the afternoon Van finished his trap-line and I pre¬
pared the things I had taken during the morning, and we later wandered around the
strip, examining the bits of scrub on its edges j I noticed a number of old,
crashed army planes.

The evening, from about 3 to 10, Van and I went out with lights but got
no results at all except a few tree lizards, checkoes. The occupants of the
croc pool were still absent or deeply submerged and the only thing we could
see in the fairly still and rather murky waters of the Claudie were the eyes
of some kind of fish. They shone a ruby-red in the light of our headlights
and moved eerily along under the water.

With all modesty, Leo seemed delighted to have some company and has been
talking almost incessantly since we arrived. It would not matter who was
with him, of course, and so many of these men who lead solitary lives, have
just enough society to make them kiss it and want more - they have not quite
reached the state of complete busbness, when silence has become so ingrained
that they cannot talk to visitors.

It seems that I can compare many of these men with varuous movie people,
about the best way to describe them to others. Pop-eye the Sailor would be a
caricature of Jetty Joej Leo reminds me of James Gleason, though I don’t know
which would be the caricature.

The plane is due about 4 P.M. this afternoon and I have to collect our
mail and return to headquarters in order to get our out-going stuff ready;

Van will stay another night and return to camp on Thursday. Then we have to
pack specimens ready for shipment to Cairns at the end of the week.

Wednesday, 23 June 1943. The main purpose of my trip to the airport and the

Lower Claudie River, to get a crocodile, failed com¬
pletely, with not even a view of nor a shot at one of them. Leo and I went
around together this morning, ending up at a place where, a few months ago, a
man was nearly taken by one of them and would have been bur for his dog.

The bank of the river is high at that spot and the river itself divides,
forming an island much lower than the bank itself. The man was seen by onlook¬
ers from the high bank, gathering bait on the shore of the island end standing
about thigh deep in the water. The dog was lying on the sand of the island
bank. The onlookers, about two hundred yards away from him, could see the croco
dile swim up the river and pass the man who had not seen it. Then they saw
the reptile turn in the water and make directly for the man. Finally they
saw the dog, evidently sensing his master's danger, rise from the place where
he was lying and leap into the river, landing directly on the back of the
creature. One snap of the huge jaws and the dog was gone but the man was
warned in time to scramble back to the shore.

On some of the sand banks in the river at that part we hoped to see one
of them but nothing appeared, Neither was general collecting particularly
good for me though Van' s improved.

Last night, after Van and I returned from jacking, Leo was still up and
produced a bottle of claret from his refrigerator, together with wome sweet
biscuits. It was a very nice going- to-bed snack though Leo's digestion, which
abhors iced water but likes iced claret, is convenient if nothing more.

The big event of the day was the arrival of the plane with the mail and
the stewardess, probably a very ordinary looking girl on Fifth Avenue, seemed
quite a goddess in that bare waste. "Look" said Van "a white woman". "Xes"
said "and wearing shoes". We gaped for a while and I could not fail to
notice that nothing would persuade her to get out of the plane. Possibly
the careass of an eleven foot carpet snake, killed some days before by Leo,
decapitated this day for the Museum by me, and a perfectly harmless skeleton,
deterred her somewhat. Possibly it was just Leo, Van and me.

We sorted the mail and then Barrie took me back to camp in his truck,
leaving Van to get another night of trapping in. Since my arrival back, and
it seems as though I have been away for a long time, I have been hard at work
on mail and the payment of bills, etc. There seems always something to be
done in the way of business but of course particularly so on mail day. I don't
yet know what arranbements can be made about in and out mail during the Tozer
and Brown's Creek camps but doubtless something will be fixed up.

Thursday, 24 June 1948. It has been decided that we move to Tozer Gap on Sun¬
day instead of Monday, a day forward, so this day
and tomorrow are being and will be spent in packing specimens for shipment
down to Cairns. From the pilot of the plane we learned that the Wandana is
a week late but so long as we get our stuff down to the jetty we have nothing
more to worry about.

George and Len have selected tentatively a camp site for the main Tozer
camp, just off the wagon trail to Wenlock, but are not decided. From there we
shall have to manhandle our stuff up to the mountain camp, one or two of them
as the case may be. It is a pity but I have to stop our supply of fresh meat
since there will be mo way of getting it from the airport to us and in this
temperature it will quickly become tainted. I think in the matter of mail, I
shall write what I can before we leave here and ask Barrie to get it to the
plane somehow.

Friday, 25 June 1948. Again not very much to report except the packing and

shipment of specimens, Tomorrow probably will be de¬
voted mainly to preparation for the Tozer and Brown's Creek camps, for which
we shall have to take our supplies for a three week period. We do not have
food enough on hand for that period so some means of getting additional sup¬
plies from Portland Roads will have to be devised. The Wandana is due at P.H.
about a week from tomorrow but of course by then we shall have gone from here.

My lamp, when I do not take it out and hang it in the scrub with the bug
trap, usually hangs over my head and naturally I constantly bump said head
against it forcibly. Van has a pair of scales hanging over his and this even¬
ing I heard the clatter of them and chuckled, thinking he had banged his head
against them. It was a bit more 3erious as he had a pair of hooks pendant from
the scales, from which he hangs some of his animals to skin them. One of the
hooks went right through the lohe of his ear and had to be dragged out forcibly

A report of a carpet snake in a tree not far away came in the afternoon
from one of the abbos. Vernon and I went out to take it as Don wanted a live
one for the Brisbane Museum but the snake had departed when we arrived there.

Deo Ferris arrived ■ over in the evening for a chat and a final good-bye
before our departure.

Saturday, 26 June 1948. In closing up camp here in readiness for the Tozer

and Brown's camps, we actually are marking the finish
of our work at Iron Range, although a lot of things will be left and we shall
return in about three weeks. We are allowing three days for the duration of
our return to this camp but that will not be spent In collecting so much as in
fixing up whatever we have taken at Tozer and Brown's and in cutting down and
packing all the gear, and there will be a great deal of it, that is not making
the trip to Coen and Cooktown with us. Therefore, both Portland Radds and Iron
Range are things of the past.

I cannot yet describe Tozer Camp, not having seen it, but I can describe
its surroundings. It is about seven miles west of this camp and the road, a
dirt one leading ultimately to Wenlock, lies in the valley between gradually
rising ground until, at the site selected for the camp, we find ourselves in
a. deep cleft between Mount Tozer, south of us, and another mountain known as
South Pap to the north of us* Following the compass around, north lies South
Pap and north of it another similar mountain called North Pap. Northwest
lies country unexplored with hills and ranges not named, due west runs the
road which finally carries U3 to Brown's Creek and then turns south and goes on
to Wenlock. Southwest again is unknown country; south lies Mount Tozer, the
most northerly part, as well as the highest, of the Tozer Range; the east can
be considered as country which we have covered as it consists of the road from
Iron Range, the area of the airport and the country north of this camp.

It has rained most of today and the laundry I did this morning has been
distributed abound our living zboti quarters and Joe's kitchen, in the hope
that it will be dry enough to roll up with my blankets tomorrow morning. It
is to be hoped that we have a decent day tomorrow, at lestt until we get camp
erected. 1’here is nothing more disgusting than having to erect tents in
heavy rain over soaking wet and muddy ground.

There is a possibility that we shall have left Tozer and moved to Brown' s
Creek by July 8th, my birthday, but I have packed my treasured half-bottle
of brandy and a package of cigarettes (Tareyton) and shall have my celebration,
come what may. It has struck me though that I have selected a rather odd
place to become fifty at.

Sunday, 27 June 1943. If mountains have souls, a thing which I very much

doubt, I think that of Mount Tozer would writhe at
the sound of an Underwood Portable, vintage 1925, making these noises in the
shadow of her stately bulk, but one has to give way to progress.

Barrie did not show up at all this morning and evidently had some trouble
with his truck. I am sorry because I know he could have used the money for
the job. However Leo Ferris came over from the airport to bid us goodbye and
volunteered to bring us up here. The road was not at all bad to anybody who
has been driven around the tip of the Cape by Ginger Dick Holland but L^o is
far from being a good 'driver and there; was just enough difficulty in the teip
to make him stall every now and then, usually at the tap of a steep grade so
that the truck would begin to roll backward for a few feet before Leo managed
to get the motor going again.

Two trips were needed to transport us and on the first all hands went
except myself and Don Vernon. As far as I know their trip was without inci¬
dent except that they stirred up a brown snake at the place we have camped
and did not get him. Howwver he has probably moved from these parts by now.

Don and I followed about three hours later, Leo coming back for us, and
our trip also requires no particular comment save that we were several times
almost shaken from our perches on top of the baggage when Leo happened to get
off the track for a while.

About half way between Iron Range camp and our present one we saw a snake
lying in the road. I put my snake stick into action for the first time but it
failed to hold him and finally I had to put my foot on his neck, then grab him
and deposit him in a bag. Needless to say it was not a venomous ons but it
is new to my collection and is noteworthy for having a coal black neck and
head, there being an abrupt change, not a shading, from the light colored under
part to the black. It is slightly over six feet in length.

Our camp is large and photogenic, situated at the foot of a mountain sub¬
sidiary to Tozer but just as rocky and sheer. Our elevation is about 400 feet
and we are in open forest. Our encampment consists of eight tents and we are
on a slight ridge between two gullies in which streams flow. The mountain,
rising perhaps a thousand feet above us, lies a scant half mile to our west
and behind it lies Tozer itself, five hundred feet higher but invisable to us
as we are so close to the smaller one.

Our mode of assault has not yet been settled; it has been suggested that
we scale the lower mountain first and take observations fcom there but I think
myself that we can cut our way to a saddle lying south of the small mountain
and reach Tozer summit that way. If we do tackle the small one, we simply will
have the other and bigger job to do anyway and will have used up two days in
ascending the smaller pinnacle. We / ahall see.

Monday, 28 June 1948. Most of the day was spent in putting the finishing

touches on the camp and we now have a comfortable,
highly photogenic outfit. Bictures, I am sure, will be taken, and I -crust
we shall have as great success as our camp is commendable.

I managed to get out for,' a couple of hours late in the morning and fol¬
lowed along the Wenlock trail /i had passed around the north of of Mount To«oi .
The rock face is more in evidence there, jutting up from the brush and forest
at the foot of the cliff, but compared, for example, with Roraima, it is just
about negligible. Tozer* s cliff is about 3 00 feet, Roraima* s was 1,500 feet.

The afternoon brought my greatest tour de force, when I undertook the
construction of the camp latrine. Willie and Roy did the labor, according to
my specifications, and we constructed a roof from fan-palm leaves, according
to my plans also. Then, thinking that actually they knew much more about the
use of palm leaves at tatch and walls, I told them to make the walls. Appa¬
rently their knowledge is no better or greater than mine, and their ingenu¬
ity somewhat less because the finished affair looks something like an enormous
scrub-hen' s nest from the outside and isiiinside one is assailed with fronds
of fan palm from every conceivable direction.

After the construction of that hygienic monstrosity I went out to do a
little hunting before supper and was caught in what is called a scud by those
who were not in it. Actually, from my point of view, it was a could-burst, and
is s£ill going on as I write. All evening hunting is off, of course, so we
shall have to console ourselves with who-dun-its. Len refused to consider any¬
thing of lower degree than the Atlantic Monthly, but I am having a wonderful
time with something called "Death at the Door", having recently finished "S
the Loose Ladies", which is entertaining George. Van is perusing "The L_os
of the Jane Vosper".

The mountain subsidiary to Mount Tozer, spoken of yesterday, has now received
as a name. Joe specializes in a thing which he calls puf f taloneys, a sort of
doughhut, when he does not have time to bake bread, and we has them last
night and at all meals today. The pinnacle has been named "Pufftaloney P &k".

Van climbed several hundred feet up Pufftaloney Peak fhis afternoon and
George started cutting the trail up to Tozer, reaching 800 feet. Tomorrow
he will take Roy and hopes to finish the trail.

Tueaday, 29 June 1948. This day everybody except myself took a crack at some

part of Mount Tozer. George took Roy and continued f.
cutting the trail he started yesterday. Len and Willie tackled Mount Pulfta-
loney from one side while Van and Don Vernon worked from another. Moreton
was not invited, nor was Joe, and I decided I would go in the opposite direc¬
tion entirely. My efforts were rewarded with the largest snake we have had
up to date, twelve feet four inches.

Ever since Joe's original description of it, back when the expedition was
still formative, the Claudie River has had a strong fascination for me and on
learning that it drained this area as well as the last two we have been in, and
flowed only about half a mile west of us, I wanted to examine it again. A wura-
ingly I went down the gully from which we draw our water and finally struck the
river. It was wide there, as wide as it is at the airport but being some hun¬
dreds of feet higher there is no fear of crocodiles. There was a gorge perhaps
a hundred ?ards wide, clear of vegetation and composed of sandstone, I would
say. The river ran down the center of the gorge and narrowed so much that it
could be crossed in many places white dry-shod $ at least it broke into many dif
ferent channels as it ran down the gorge. Thinking to see it at its best I
climbed the highest pinnacle of rock I could see ad on a ledge a few feet below
me saw the snake. It was sluggish, being in process of chaingin its skin, but
the position was such that I had to be sure of killing it and therefore used
No. 9 shot, damaging the skin more than I intended. However I could not climb
down and wrestle with it with any hope of winning and if it had been only
woulded it would have vanished into one of the many cracks and crannies in the
rock. As it was my shot blew it off the ledgeand I had to climb down about
thirty feet to retrieve it.

Then came the job of transporting it back to camp. It weighed fifteen
pounds and felt like fifteen hundred by the time I got back. I had the gear
necessary to my two jobs, gun, haversack filled with assorted bug bottles and

100

snake bags, and butterfly net. I coiled the snake and lashed £ into its coils
finally slinging it by a strong over my back. At first the twitching and wrig¬
gling of the snake felt unpleasant bcrt later it bagan to get itslef entangled
with the vines and trees. At last, the snake looped around a branch, my gun
and haversack twisted in with some vine and the spikes of lawyer cane gripped
the butterfly net and my trousers. I simply unloaded the whole lot except the
trousers and cursed them all thoroughly. That seemed to bring some sense of
order into them and I reached camp at last, pretty sick of snakes.

Moreton informed me very volubly that it was a man snake and there must be
a woman snake, with a wider head, somewhere near, but I decided to have lunch
before doing any cherchez la femme stuff.

The mountain climbers arrived back very weary but in good spirits and it
is decided that we shall do the summit camp in relays, there being no water on
top, or within reach, at all. The final plans for these camps are not yet
made and I still have time to and get the woman snake before moving to more
lofty things.

Wednesday, 30 June 1948. Two trips over to the Claudie Gorge today, morning and

afternoon, failed completely to disclose any woman snake
but did disclose the beauties of the gorge to me more fully. I am fond of scramb¬
ling around on rocks and I had my fill there.

George arrived back from Tozer summit about 3 this afternoon and has found
a spring up there, which answere our water problem. Len is going up tomorrow
with his boy and some supplies and Van and Don will up the following day. I plan
two nights and three days, including my travelling up and down for the duration
of my trip but do not know just when I shall make the climb nor whom I shall
take with me as I have to stand by for a trip out to Portland Roads to get our
stuff off the Wandana and up to the Iron Range base. A considerable portion
will have to be transported up here as we are short of several things and still
have at least two and a half weeks to go before returning to Iron Range to make
preparations for our shipment of stuff our and our own move to Wenlock, the
Archer River and Coen.

The means of my reaching Portland Roads also are very uncertain j we expect that
a truck will be coming throufh from Wenlock and will carry me there and back as
there is sure to be something on the ship for the men at Wenlock. The Wandana
was due in Cairns today and it is a two day trip to P.R. so we hope the truck
will pass through tomorrow. However it means that I must stay close to camp
•until the thing does arrive.

I shall be able to pick up at our base the mail which came in this afternoon
and shall also be able to take mail out for transmission by the plane a week
from tomorrow. We shall be able, I hope, to get mail our from Brown's Creek, when
we get there, in the same way but the Wenlock men receive their mail overland from
Coen once every two weeks and do not toouble about meeting the plane.

While at Portland Roads or at our base I hope to be able to make final ar¬
rangements for our travel to Brown's and our return so shall have things pretty
well in habd, but it is quite impossible to say when I shall have my turn on the
summit. We have decided that there will be no single-men camps, not that I would
care very much to stay up there for three days alone, but I do not know who will
be my companion there.

Weather continues to be spotty though the mornings are usually bright
and clear. In the afternoon and night we are subject to short heavy storms of
rain and the wind blows with considerable force and gusto. It is a good camp
though and we are as comfortable as can be expected.

4) <-oi.

Thursday, 1 July 1943. The big news of this day was the bringing up of mail

by Ned Pinwell of the Main Roads. I received among
other items e letter nailed in New York on June 21st which strikes me little
short of marvellous and is a great credit to the various air mail services
involved. Only half a mile away is what may be called completely unexplored
country, end yet it is only nine days from New York.

The Wenlock truck, on which I expect to go down to Portland Soads, has
not yet arrived and Ned says that Wandana will not be in until Sunday. Thao
keeps me more or less tied to camp, waiting for the truck. Mail from B-P did
not include packing slips covering the Wandana shipment so I have to go pre¬
pared to open many cases in order to get the items I need, of which there are
quite a number.

It seems that I shall not be able to get my three days on the mountain
until next week and most likely shall spend my birthday up there.

There is a lot of correspondence to be attended to so I shall have to
make this entry short and close up now.

Friday, 2 July 1948. Fortunately there was no truck today since I uecided I

had been waiting around enough and started up the mount¬
ain this morning. Van and Don had gone but I thought I might as well find out
what it was like before my turn came. V and D had packs averaging about fifty
pounds each and I am very sure they felt considerably more before they had gone
very long. I carried a ninety pound pack from Doullens to Arras, plus an extra
fifty rounds of ammunition and went into action that night. I know about packs,
having carried them for nine years. Doullens to Arras is thirty-five kilos.

George made a very good job of trail-clearing and the climb itself is not
difficult but very tiringj I turned back at the 1,100 foot mark, having other
things to do, whether or not the truck arraive, and I was pretty fagged when I
reached that point. It starts easily and comfortably but one gets into thick
forest quite quickly $ rocks have to be scrajnbled over and vines cling to one's
feet and ankles, making the down trip almost as bad as the upward one since if
you trip going down you fall a lot further than if you trip going up.

From the 1,100 foot mark, at which there is a jutting pinnacle of rock,
there is a marvellous view. The whole of Lloyd’s Bay is visible, down to the
mouth of the Lockhart River and up to the old beacon at Portland Roads. C , v.s
and gusts of rain obscured things somewhat but when the cloud broke, things were
just that much more lovely. I waited up there for the space of two cigarettes
and then started the downward journey, through brush so high that in some places
I was passing through a channel of greenery. Everybody had had lunch by the time
I reached camp, wringing wet, and I took the afternoon fairly easily.

It is unfortunate that Van and Don have such bad weather for their first
solo camp, away from us older (and wiser) lads, but now it is raining quite
hard. I went jack-lighting and the rain-drops, both on my light and on the
forest and the trail, made it impossible to tell what was what. I returned
and Joe came in to the tent for a chat and to borrow a book. The expression on
his face when he picked up "Reptiles of the Pacific World" , thinking* it was a
who-aun-it, was rare. All his cheek muscles wriggled at once.

Tomorrow the truck really may arrive . I have a lot of things to do and e
lot of stuff to bring up. B-P, with their usual efficiency, have failed to send
any packing slips so I kay have to open every case in order to find the things
I want. In fact, they have not even told me that out stuff is on the Wandana
but I must go and find out. There is a wonderful opportunity for some enter¬
prising journalist to say "Archbold party starving in jungle".

Saturday, 3 July 1948. Quite a lot of traffic flowed past the ceunp this morn¬
ing; first of all, somewhere about 10 A.M. a truck
bearing Hector MacDonald, known as the tightest-pocket Scot in the Wenlock
gold field, end his wife, with another miner. Sack LeBon, reached us. Iks.

Kac was going out by the Wandana and the other two were seeing her off and
planned to replenish their liquid supplies from the Wandana bar. I did not go
in with them as another truck, run by one of the Fisher brothers of Wenlock,
who are doing our transportation down to Coen, was on the road behind them.

The McDonald truck refused to start and we finally had to push it some dis¬
tance until the engine began to fire. It disappeared slowly from sightand
for an hour afterwards we could hear it in the distance as it struggled up and
down the gullies and across the streams which corrugate the Wenlock road.

About noon Norman Fisher's truck arrived, driven by Norman and containing
two other miners, two wives and four children, one of them a nursing baby.

They stopped and had lunch with us, took me and my bits of baggage aboard, and
we reached Portland Roads without any unusual mishaps. First of all we went
to Doug Fisher's place and arranged to camp there for the night. The Wenlock
party had the hut we occupied when we were there and I bunked in another hut
with Barrie. I took a trip down to the jetty and learned that the Wandana
was not due until tomorrow so settled down very comfortably as a guest of Mr .
and Mrs. Doug. Fisher, and had a very pleasant evening. Doug, as I have stated
here before, is unpopular, but speaking for myself, I have always found him
very pleasant and cordial. We spent the evening over three bottles of port,
yarning and listening to the radio, and he has insisted that I take two more
bottles away to celebrate my birthday on Thursday,

Sunday, 4 July 1948. The Glorious Fourth in this year of Grace has been cele¬
brated by a variety of experiences, good and bad, and a
gathering which the expedition never reckoned on having. The Wandana got in
early, about 7 A.M. and I was soon informed of the bad news that awaited me;
it had been raining slightly at Cairns two days previously and the wharf ies
refused to load any cargo. Of our whole order the only thing on the ship
was a crate of cabbage.

Being, or rather feeling, somewhat put on my mettle, I went on board and
interviewed the captain, Pollson, whom I had met before. After I had explained
the position, he sent for the chief steward and I was able to get a side of
bacon, a ham, several tins of jam, nine pounds of dried apples (which B-P nas
repef/tedly told me were unprocurable) and quite a bit more stuff, indluding,
to my surprise, a dozen cakes of Cashmere Bouquet soap. I found that the
steward had misread ray list, on which soup appeared, but I was able to trade
the soap with Mrs. Fisher for the equivalent value in tins of soup. Also
I was able to purchase other things we were in need of, butter, fresh fruit,
and several extras, from the Fisher store so ended up with a very adequate
supply of groceries, and returned to Doug's house. Among the passengers on the
Wandana was Bedosky, head of Samuel Allen' s of Cairns, mentioned early in this
journal, and Captain and Mrs. Bissett, retired captain of the Queen Mary, whom
I knew when he commanded the Aquitania long before the war. Unfortunately I
did not know that until after the Wandana &ad left.

The Wenlock people were in far worse straits than I, having made a journey
totalling 150 miles under very difficult conditions, and also receiving nothing
in the way of cargo. As a last resort and in the hope of taking something
edible home with them, they spent the whole morning fishing from the jetty
and on the reef, but had no luck there either. They also bought a little from
Doug's store, and we started back about 3 P. M., they hoping to get through
to Wenlock before dark. We started out in a howling rain storm, the four
children, one man, two women and myself in the back of the truck, crouching

under a leaking tarpaulin in the back of the truck while Norman Fisher
and the other men, with the baby, sat in front. The truck had no windshield so
we were all thoroughly wetter with a complete impartiality. The first and only
breakdwon occurred about half way between Portland Roads and Iron Range and de¬
layed us for about half an hour. The rain stopped soon after however and after

passing Iron Range we were fortunate enough to get a good-sized pig. Darkness

came down just as we reached our Tozer camp and of course it was impossible
for them to go any further.

We had ample space for them under our canvas and with the pig, which we
shared with them, there was plenty of food. The children thought it was great
fun, the bab$ gurgled, the women took it very well and everybody spent a happy
night.

It was very odd for all of us though, who have hardly seen a woman of any
kind, to see them all, with the children, sitting at our table, and we were
very glad to be able to be of assistance to them. We should reach Wenlock about

the 22nd and it is good to make friends in advance.

Monday, 5 July 1948. Breakfast this morning was somewhat different from our

usual austere routine} first of all we had broiled prok
chops from the pig we got yesterday evening and secondly there was a considera¬
ble amount of childish prattling going on. The baby and its father was on
"Uncle Joe's" bed, Joe having his bunk rigged in the dining tent, one of the
other children refused to eat her bread and jam, just as children do anywhere,
and was dealt with as summarily as other youngsters do who act up.

Finally they were loaded up and of course the truck was th»DOUghly wetted
with last night's rain and the engine would not work. Pushing was necessary
as has been the case with every truck that has stopped at our camp, and at last
the Wenlock people went sailing off into the blue.

Rain and low clouds existed all through the day} in the mroning I worked
on things that had accumulated while I was awray but in the afternoon went
over to the river and worked up stream from th$ gorge, arriving about half a
mile up the river at another place where there was a large rock expanse and a
smell fall. The rain started just after I left camp and continued first of 111
as a. heavy downpour and then as a drizzle and light mist. I thought it might
be quicker on ,y way back to cut my way through the scrub instead of retracing
my way and did so, deluging myself with rain from the bushes and trees. T_c
weather has been disgusting ever since we reached this camp and it seems to me
that the last really clear, hot day was on the Alagna before we reached Port¬
land Roads. Van and Don had a. miserable time on the summit of Tozer, mist
closing their visibility down to about twenty yards. Len and I go up tomorrow,
and shall spend one night there. If things are promising in my department, I -
shall very likely go up with George again later in the week.

Supper tonight was ah excellent meal, including many of the delicacies
that I had been able to scrounge, and of course starting with roast pork.

While I was away I was able to complete .pretty well all the^ arrangements
for our departure from this pamp, our return to Iron Range for the final pack¬
ing, transportation to Brown's Creek and to Wenlock on our final journej to
Coen, and also the transportation and shipment of the goods we are sending out
to Cairns. That sounds like quite a feat and of course it still remains to be
seen whether all the arrangements actually will work, when the time comes.

One of the Wenlock men is going out by plane from the airport on Thursday
and passes our camp on Wednesday. I am able to get mail out through him and
shall turn to it now.

0.

>

104

Tuesday , 6 July 1948. The day broke somewhat foggy but Len and I decided to

make our climb. Len, with Willie, got away earlier
than I as I had a good catch of bugs last night and had to fix them up. A:

I had to wait until Joe*s bread baking was over so that I could take a loaf up
with me. My total load ran somewhere about 60 pounds and I was pretty well
sunk when I reached the camp at 1,300 feet.

Len and Willie had made some tea and left it by the fire, which was out,
but the tea was still warm. I had some and made my share of the camp as com¬
fortable qs possible.

It is rather difficult to describe this 1,300 foot camp geographically;
from 400 foot camp we travel between west and south west, first through forest
then through scrub and finally through a high-growing kExtfc sort of heath up to
a crest at something like 1,350 feet. We crossed the crest, finding the tra¬
velling somewhat easier in the scrub on the other side than in the heath on the
ridge, and travelled south to where another crest joins the one we had crossed.
Camp was approximately there, there being a ±t little bit of level ground
about fifteen by twelve feet. The ridge we had crossed dips down and finally
reaches Pufftalooney Peak, the other ridge leads untimately to Mount Tozer,
some eight hundred feet higher than Pufftalooney.

The camp was a very Simple one, consisting only of a fly, under which
two piles of fern fronds provided the beds. Our meals were as simple as the
camp; tea, bread and bully beef being about all we had been able to carry up,

Len and Willie being away somewhere whep I arrived, though I could hear
them f chopping trees in the distance, I did some collecting along the trail
that George had cut some time ago and Van and Don had improved during their
stay up there. Diverging a little, I cut through to the main crest here and
there, but the collecting was disappointing. Van and Don had come down with
exactly nothing after their three days and two nights there, so I did not
anticipate very much.

Over supper Len and I decided to make the real ascent the next morning
hoping the weather would be gaah as good as it was all day today. Then I
took my kerosene pressure lamp, which had been one of the things making the
bulk of my load, and hung it with the funnel trap in the bush. Len set a few
mammal traps and we turned in on our fern beds after I examined my light trap
and found victims to be very scarce. Willie slept outside, also on fern
leaves, which are far less idyllic than they sound, and Len and I parked our
weary carcasees under the fly.

The Australian use of the words "scrub" and "forest" is somewhat confus¬
ing to us. Scrub is thick, viney forest, usually permeated with that abomina¬
tion, lawyer cane. Forest is open grass land with comparatively few trees
and not at all thick in its vegetation. We would call it savanna forest.

Wednesday, 7 July 1943. The morning dawned misty though there had been no

rain during the night. We had slept well though
Len found some of the leaf steins pretty hard, and Willie had got up at inter¬
vals and built up the fire. We breakfasted, again on tea, bully and bread,
and set out for Tozer summit.

Dense mist closed down on us almost immediately and heavy rain started
so that before we had gone a hundred yards from camp, we were soaked. T_e^
trail, along the side of the other crest, at a steep angle, was slippery with
greasy mud, and ran through scrub and viney forest for some distance. L_ver

105.

we left the scrub country and got into a sort of heath, the vegetation so
high that our trail was a sort of tunnel of green, with vines hanging down in
loops about throat high. Wince we had to watch our footing so carefully,
gun or face was always being caught in these loops.

This sort of travel lasted for an hour, with the rain pouring down and a
cold wind blowing. Then we reached a pandanus swamp and after that had another
hour of stiff climbing over either bare rocks or else the same rocks under a
knee-deep growth of vegetation. I had ay full collecting gear, reptile and
•insect, including gun, and Len had his gun and photographic gear, with Willie
struggling along behind under a load of plant presses and papers. We reached
the summit, at 1,734 feet, about two hours after leaving camp.

During the war Mount Tozer, being the highest peak for many miles around
(though 1,784 feet is not very high) had been surveyed by the Army and a cairn
of stones built on its apex and a high pole mounted thereon. There has never
been any collecting done on it. Len got some new plants and I did fairly well
in my line, the prize being a series of five lizards, the first zoological
specimens ever taken at that point.

Mist was heavy almost all the time we were at the summit, though occa¬
sional, and very rare, breaks enabled us to see surrounding mountains and the
winding Wenlock wagon read far below ufc. We were saturated with moisture, of
course, and the wind blew a continuous cold gale. We spent about an hour and
a half there and then decided to allow fifteen minutes more, just in case there
should be a good break in the cloud which would permit photography. There was
none, so we started down.

Just above tbe pandanus swamp, George and Roy, coming up to x end this
and tomorrow nights, met us, returning with us to 1,300 feet camp, for a meal.
In addition to fare such as ours, they had a tin of syrup, the Sybarites.

From 1300 foot camp it took us only an hour to returh to the Camp at
400. feet on the kenlock road, our main camp here. It had taken double that
time yesterday to make the climb upl

Nov.-, filled with one of Joe's best suppers, I am closing this, with a
thought for George and Roy, up there in the little tent fly. I have not spent
my fiftieth birthday, which will be tomorrow, on Tozer, but as I sit and write
this, I am quite confident that my lefs will not let me forget the fact that
I was there the day before.

Thursday, 8 July 1948. The day was fairly clear, by far the clearest day any

of us have had while on the summit of Tozer, so per¬
haps George and Roy did fairly well up there. Personally I doubt if they will
have any results worthy of the name and it is my belief that the area is too
wet to sustain such ..except- insect life.

George end I had hoped to speak together by Morse in the dVeining but just
at du3k rain and mist cane down, making it impossible. However I shall gc up
in the morning anyway: if we receive a, sxgKafodbt smoke signal before 9 A.M. it
means that George wants to stay longer and rations will have to be sent up. Ix
there is no signal, it means the camp is being closed and the Tozer job is
done. In either egvent I shall go up.

This was my fiftieth birthday and I was pretty busy working up the things

I took during my spell up above. One of the Main Roads men came up with the

mail that the plane had brought in yesterday and there was some New York mail

and a package containing four bottles of Nescafe, sent from the Museum. I*,

the evening I opened the half bottle of brandy I had brought from New York and

0 106.

Joe contrived an apple pie from the dried apples I had scro ngea from the
V.andana last Sunday. He had garnished it with a flag cut from the label or.
a jam tin and written "Happy Returns" in flour but misjudged his lettering
and the S of returns fell off. However it was a very fine birthday party
and I venture to say that not many people reach their half century on the
spurs of Mount Toaer. It was a pity that George could not be with us but I
saved a nip of brandy for him xhx&hxhg when he comes dom tomorrow - he will
need it, birthday or not.

Friday, 9 July 1948* This morning Willie Somerset and I went up again to the

1,300 foot camp to help George and Roy with the closing
of that hospitable place. Van and Don, during their stay up there, had put up
signs reading "Hotel Tozer", "Drive slowly" and such things. As on the Marine
Phoenix we make our own fun, feeble though it may be, as we go along here.

Willie and I me.de the trip up in good time and the camp was quickly de¬
molished and the return journey completed. We were back in the main camp at
400 feet before lunch time. George and Roy were hurgry and suffering a bit
from leech bites, of which I had a couple on Wednesday. My leeches are now
in alcohol as specimens and I trust they form a new species.

I spent the afternoon getting mail ready for next week’s plane since we
shall start packing tomorrow, leave here on Monday and probably have no other
chance of getting mail out except by the truck returning to Iron Range after
depositing us at Brown's Creek.

Owing to the happy existence of the international date line and the fact
that I saved a little of my brandy for George, my birthday is still going on
in a rather weak sort of way, though it was very far from being rowdy at any
time. Actually I can hardly recall such a quiet fiftieth anniversary for
anybody.

Last night and today were a little drier and the trail was not quite so
greasy as it usually has been. We really are in bad need of a complete drying
out as everything is damp and mildewed, even the covers of our journals and cata¬
logues, and almost all the envelopes I have with me have sealed themselves up
tightly. In the stationery box at Iron Range there are plenty, with a bag of
drying compound in the box, so we shall not be short. Brown's will be away from
the mountains too, and we should be able to get ourselves somewhat less moist.

Saturday, 10 July 1948. For a change, this morning dawned bright and sunny,

waking me from a sleep which had been rather troubled
because my bed had been invaded by myriads of tiny black ants. I think I got
them at Portland Roads last Sunday and they have been multiplying ever/ since.
They have no bite but tickle excruciatingly.

In the morning I went over to the Claudie River Gorge, had a bath and
washed my shirt there. Our water supply in camp, although adequate for cook¬
ing and that sort of thing, is too scanty and its puddles too small and full
of vegetation to allow a decent job of laundering to be done. My shirt and I
dried out nicely in the hot sun and before going over there I had put out all
my bedding and hope to sleep tonight untroubled.

Packing is starting and the main part of it, including the taking-up of
traps, will be finished tomorrow. We hope that our supplies on the Leisha,
which should have been on the Wandana, will be in this evening, and that the
Main Roads truck will be here early on Monday.

u § > -

u-w .vm. ip ' i - - - x; Tr7. — ^

Sunday, ].l July 1943. This has to be written by daylight during the late after¬
noon as the new supply of stores has not come up from
Portland Roads yetj actually we have no knowledge that it has reached P.R. other
than Capt. Paulson’s promise to me last Sunday. We have to prepare for the
worst though and as there are only two gallons of kerosene left, barely enough
to fill the lamps for the plant-drying ovens for the period at Brown’s Creek,
such tilings as journals must be written by daylight or not at all.

Other tilings are short, many of them: butter, jam, the little luxuries
such es dried fruit and rolled oats, if they can even here be called luxuries.

Sum ana cigarettes are our completely and several other things are very low.

There is really nothing to worry about as we have plenty of flour, tobacco,
cigarette papers and tea and can get fresh pork for the hunting of it, but a lit¬
tle thing like a jer of marmalade means a lot under these conditions. The feel¬
ings of the people who live in this jbart of the country, who are utterly at the
mercy of the wharf ies and such people, must be unprintable, as this sort of thing
apparently happens all too often.

The day has been bright abd dry and devoted mainly to packing in readiness
for tomorrow’s move to Brown’s. Brown’s Creek is Pascoe w iter , flowing into that
river some miles northwest of the place where we shall be camping; the Pascoe in
turn empties into Weymouth Bay some distance north of Portland Roads. It will be
dry country and should offer a different flora and fauna, and it is hoped, a more
abundant one, than this locality.

The dry weather has been a boon for me in that my bed abd blankets, as a
result of yesterday’s exposure to the sun, is now clear of ants and I can sleep
without the patter of tiny feet on my ribs.

Monday, 12 July 1948. It develops on information from the Main Roads man who

drove us up to Bro?ml s Creek, that the Leisha has not
yet reached Portland Roads, nor has there been any word of her arrival. That
accounts for the non-arrival of our stores, and there is not much chance of
them reaching us up here. When received I imagine they will be dumped at Iron
Range as we shall be returning there a week from today.

Our chief difficulty, the shortage of kerosene, has been solved by the
promise of our driver to come up again tomorrow and bring some of the Main
Roads store with him which we shall return from our own stocks when received.

It is mighty good of them, particularly as none of these trips are being
charged for.

We are in totally different country now, the mountains being quite out of
sight, concealed by low foothills which lie between Brown’s and Mount Tozer.

This country is easy to get about in, being open forest, with small patches only
of viny scrub. About a milq_ or a little more back on the Tozer road there is
another creek. Yam Creek, xast said to be very good country for my activities, which
I must get to as soon as possible. Brown’s Creek is a nive little stream, about
five or six yards across and at the camp, running over a pebbly bed. A little way
down stream there is a sandy bank which I have adopted as a bathing place. There
are fish about eight or nine inches in length so perhaps we can vary a diet which ixbdrka:
is likely to be somewhat monotonous for a while.

The erection of camp has from frequent pax practice, become a fairly me¬
chanical operation and we are all comfortably settled in. George, Van and the
boys are out setting traps and I am finishing this page as I have to get film and letters
ready to go out tomorrow by the Main Roads man. I can do better in the way of
description tomorrow after I have been around a little.

S r

108.

Tuesday, 13 July 1948. Yam Creek proved a complete nust, so far as reptiles are

concerned, when I went over there this morning. It, is
nearly two miles back along the trail to Iron Range, the intervening country
being arid, sandy and somewhat dismal. Creeks in this port of the peninsula
are rare and consequently established camping spots for the journeyer.

I climbed up the hill on the further side of the creek, turning boulders
and stirring up dead leaves and underbrush until I was so tired I could not have
turned a pebble, but no death adders showed themselves and only one scorpion,
which is something of a record.

The trail to Ralph Dodson* s tin mine turns off the main Wenlock Road at
Yam; Ralph's place is some miles along that barely visible trail and there he
lives all alone, occasionally visiting Portland Roads to send some ore out and
making an annual trip to Cairns.

We had visitors for lunch today, two lads passing along the road to TLu-
lock. They gave us the news, which came over their radio last night, that the
Lochiil had an explosion on board and was beached on the Barrier Reef. Eight
men were taken off her by the Wandana, which probably would be her whole comple¬
ment. There were no details other than the above but undoubtedly we shall learn
more t bout it somewhere along the line. The Lochiel and her crew seem like old
friends to us and we are all interested in learning what happened. Surmises
vary from sheer barratry to an explosion in Terry's galley.

These two boys also told us that the Leisha still had not reached Port¬
land Roads and it seems very likely that our short commons will continue until
we return to Iron Range next Monday.

Last night I was out jacking and came back with scores of spiders of all
degree. The mammal boys did not do any too well end spiders seem the most
plentiful of anything around here. This afternoon I went along the main trail to
Wenlock and branched off into a deep gully about a mile and a half further on.

The soft ground in it gave plenty of sign of many animals, pig, native cat and
other things but not much in my line. Between Yam this morning and four miles or
so this afternoon I shall not go out this evening for spiders or anything else.

Wednesday, 14 July 1948. This was just another run-of-the-mill sort of

day, cloudy, some rain, a little sun, relieved
for me by turning but to be rather a good one from the point of view of collect¬
ing, I went along in the morning to the gully referred# to in yesterday’s entry
and at a point where it is perhaps fifteen feet deep, I noticed a hole in the
sloping bank. Thinking it might be of interest to the mammal men, I climbed up,
to hear, when I scrambled nearly to the top, a strange hissing sound. It turned
out to be a goanna hole and its occupant was standing at the top of the bank
warning me to go no fuither. I didn't; instead I slid down, knowing that a goanna
can bite as large a chunk as a police dog, and shot the thing. It was four feet,
three inches in length and the first sand goanna I had taken, being slightly dif¬
ferent from those taken at Lockerbie. It could be compared either with a very
large lizard or a small crocodile.

The gully also afforded a good variety of butterflies and altogether is
the best collecting ground for me that I have found in this area.

Skinning a goanna is a man's sized job and took all the forenoon, after
which I was sadly in need of a bath. It was raining fairly heavily but I had a
pleasant bath and did a laundry, during which I heard the plane fly over, north¬
bound. Don't know when we shall get our mail.

109.

We had no visitors today and nobody passed along the trail, in conse¬
quence we have no knowledge of the Leisha, our food or anything else. There is a
chance that if the ship should come in, somebody will bring up our cargo and in
that case he or they will be almost certain to stop at Iron Range and pick up
our mail also, but it is a very unlikely tiling. Our time here is short, however,
and we shall move back to Iron Range on Monday morning, anyway. The, e week from
tomorrow, we start the long ^ journey south to Coen though we may be a little
longer en route than we first planned. It is proposed to make camp of two or
three days each at the Pascoe end the Archer River crossings. Those would not
make much difference to our journey as we should simply cut down the length of
time at Coen, if necessary.

The trip from Iron Range to Coen is somewhere about a hundred and sixty
miles and that from Coen to Laura, if we go out that way instead of Annir River,
is slightly less. At Cooktown we shall probably have to spend a day or so re¬
fitting before we start the final series of camps.

Thursday, 15 July 1948. I was aroused at intervals last night by the rain drops

landing like the explosions of hand grenades on the can¬
vas of my tent, tight as a drumhead from the rain that had fallen during the day.
The coffee, Nescaf em which I had received on my birthday was doubly welcome at
breakfast, both for its flavor and as a restorative. The weather is actually
cold, during the night.

Rain fell intermittently all djiring the day and collecting is still wuite
poor. Nothing particularly eventful happened at all and consequently there is not
much to write about here. There is a gale roaring above our heads as I write and
the conditions on top of Tozer, for example, or down at Portland Roads, would be
pretty severe. I can only hope that Leisha had not had the sad ending of Locheel
and that our stores will have reached Iron Range by the time we do, on Monday.

Friday, 16 July 1948. George was very elated this morning to find in one of his

traps a specimen of Mesembryomys . a very rare sort of thing
which does much to make up for the rather poor collecting which has been the rule
at thj.s camp. Mesembryomys is a large thing, about two feet long including tail,
and is a sort of squirrel grey. The hair is rather coarse and the tail ends with
a white plume for the last couple of inches.

The poor collecting h^s been due largely to the habit of drovers and others
passing along the trail of burning up the country. The idea is to get rid of
the old, tall grass so that new shoots can come in, on which the cettle can feed.
Of course it kills off the natural fauna and does not; help mammal collectors.

The burning, we have been informed, extends as far south as Coen; it will not mat¬
ter very greatly as between here and Coen we shall be collecting onxj at the
Archer River and Wenlock, the Pascoe River camp having been cancelled.

An odd thing about this country is a direct result of the burning and con¬
sequent maintenance of a low level of vegetation, in height} the ant— nillo of
course are uninjured and from a distance they stick up above the low flora and
look much like a ragged and little used graveyard.

My own morning gave me good collecting in the way of bugs, my gully, which
I have mentioned before, proving to be a very fine collecting ground. In the
afternoon I stripped down to shorts and, with Roy, went fishing. We had only
slightly better luck than we had on the Claudie, getting five small fish, but
it was fun and we shall do the same again tomorrow, taking Van along as well.

The river varies in depth but I do not think there is any fear of crocs this

far upstretm. We are of course very wary and do not get into any deep holes.

In about eight weeks from now we shall serioudly be considering our re¬
turn journey. I hope that when I get hold of last Wednesday's mail there may
be some information which will enable us to make some definite arrangement and
if there is not, we shall have another mail the day before we start from Iron
Range. There has of course been no news of our shipment of goods, nor anybody
to give us the newsj matches are now running short and the original plan of leav¬
ing Van here with one or two of the blacks to continue hunting while the rest of
us return to Iron Range to attnad to the packing and shipping may have to be
abandoned because we sha.ll not have enough rations to leave with him.

George and Van have gone out tonight to hunt along my gully; I was out
last night and think I shall stay in camp this evening. A thing I have to consi¬
der carefully now is containers for the things I collect. I have to ration my¬
self on some of the equipment and cannot go out and fill up vials and so on with
the same thing over and over again. My nescafe bottles are a good and handy size
and two of them are nowT doing duty as spider containers.

We have only two more collecting days at Brown' s Creek, before our return
to Iron Range but the method of our return is still a matter of conjecture. I*,
may be Charlie Taylor, who inherited Joe's job on the jetty or the Main Roads may
crack through again. It madke a difference as we shall have to pay Charlie but
not the Main Roads lads.

Saturday, 17 July 1948 . I was a little previous in my entry last night; no soon¬
er had I finished than te heard the noise of a rruck
coming down the trail. It turned out to be two of the Wenlock miners on their
way in to Portland Roads. Word had been received of the arrival on Thursday of
the Leisha and they were going in to get their supplies.

It is good news for us as well, of course, provided our supplies are on
board. We have two orders in :ith B-P, one for shipment to P.R., which should
have been on the Wandana when I went in two weeks ago, and the other for delivery
at Annie River Landing. Leisha called at Annie River and we are offering prayers
that she did not land both cargoes there.

Instead of staying here, it has been decided that Van, and loreton will go
on to Wenlock tomorrow when the men return; our scheduled stay there is only for
three days and it will give a little more collecting time there. Brown's is just
about finished ss far as mammal men are concerned.

The Wenlock boys will also bring. In our mail tomorrow, as well as news
about our cargo, so in the morning I shall most likely finish my collecting for
this .area and devote the afternoon to pecking and attending to whatever there
may be in the mail. We move back on Monday, get things shipped out for Cairns
and Cooktown and then start out for Wenlock oursleves. We have been informed
that there are to be three or four parties shortly after we get there, birthdays
and so oh, and shall be in time for a rousing social season apparently. Wenlock
has a population of twelve men and six women (I don't know how many children but
have seen four so far); the men are all engaged in gold raining ana I think one
of their parties might be something to write about. I shall try anyway as I have
an Idea we shall be invited.

Had an enjoyable time with my fishing this afternoon and got a better catch
than yesterday but had to fall back on the unfair method of shooting a heavy rifle
into the river, stunning the fish. In that way I took about fourteen of them.

As soon as I finish this, I am going out for a short time in order to
finish the spider collection fromBrown1 s. I find myself wishing I kner a little
more about quality and quantity required to make up a good collection for a field
trip of this duration. At a rough estimate, I must have some thousands of spiders
since every time I go out X get about fifty of themj of reptiles so. far I have
well over three hundred and butterflies, moths and such small fry must be well up
in the thousands. Centipedes and scorpions ana 3uch things will be pretty close
to h thousand, so I think I am doing well so far as wuer.tity is concerned. As
for quality, I shall learn about than when I get back, I suppose.

Van has asked that I make a note of my appearance when doing my fishingand
since I have commented fairly freely on other people it is only fair that I ..nould
do So about myself. My costume consists of a pair of pale blue shorts and a sheath
knife though I am not quite sure what the latter is for. Certainly I would not at¬
tempt to stab a crocodile. But what seemed to be of greatest interest to the on¬
lookers was when I ±ix tried bending over and getting my head under water in order
to see where the stunned .fish were lying. The pale blue shorts remained above
water though I was bent to such an extent that my head and feet 'were near one
another. Fortunately nobody had thought to bring a camera along.

Sunday, 18 July 1948. I was out this morning when the Genlock boys returned from
grewtcform Portland Roads but they remained to have lunch with us

and brought the mail, very welcome. Van and lore ton went off with them when
they drove on, ana we also had the news that our transport to T.'anlock from Iron
Range will be a day later than expected. All in all, it is a very good thing that
Van and More ton have gone on.

There does seem to be some mix-up in cargoes though untill get to Iron
Rnage and check, I cannot say what. ?«e know the Leisha did come in and dud leave
cargo for us but apparently some of the Annie River cargo has been set ashore at
Portland Roads, he may have more than we expect but that is better than less.

Rain has settled in again this evening and most likely we shall rip into
bad weather when we get back on the other side of the range j usually it is worse
on the east than the vest side and this, on the west, has been far from good.

Monday, 19 July 1943, It was the Main Roads truck that finally came up to get us

this afternoon, which means more money, saved, I dm happy to
say. Jim Moon, whom, for some reason unknown to me, we have been calling George
ever since we met him, arrived about one o'clock and we were back at Iron Range
about 3.30. The only things worthy of note were the facts that it was a find day
and that there 7/as a snake on the trail which I missed as I was day— dreciiaing or
dozing and did not come to quickly enough to get _t» ily shot hit it and lifted
it off the ground but did not stop it going into the scrub at about a mile a
minute.

The population of Iron Range is intact no?/, Mr. and Mrs. Connell having
returned from Cairns about t. 0 weeks ago. Bert Connell cut all our hair, to
celebrate. My last haircut was on that strange throne at Thursday Island where
the black b rber sat on a little shoe box beside me and reached up to do the
trimming.

Our stores were here and in order save for one or two things which have been
omitted and a little party ensued after we had made ourselves comfortable again.

112.

» i

#

Tuesday, 20 July 1948. This day was spent packing specimens and the job of

packing other things will continue through tomorrow and
the next day, I think. The specimens, mine, that is, fill two fiarsized cases
and provided they make that Journey in safety, should be welcomed by the depart¬
ment heads, I feel.

As a result there is not very much to write about. in this entry, nor will
there be until we get on the move again, but the mail plane is due in tomorrow
and we can be sure of getting what mail there may be for us late in the after¬
noon, I managed to get my hair cut by Bert Connell, one-third of the population
of Iron Rnge, and consequently feel rather lighter in the head than I have for
some time, but th. t is about the sum of this day’s news.

Wednesday , 21 July 1948. Ahis has been a day of disappointment since the mail

plane did not arrive. ,T8e put in a very busy time on
our packing, confident that mail would dome in and we could have a pleasant
evening answering or reading it, but something happened and, simply no plane.

No word about it either.

We. shall move out of here considerably lighter; I have prepared a ship¬
ment of seventeen boxes and cases for Cairns and twelve for Cooktown, which cuts
odr baggage considerably. Orir the other hand, there will be a shipment of supplies
when we reach Coen but as we shall stay in that area a few weeks, that too will be
depleted by the time our next mo e occurs.

Supper this evening was enlivened by a discussion of ART. Don Vernon has
studied painting and, for the sake of argument, is an artist. None of the rest
of us know very much about it but all of us has his opinion. We started on
Epstein, Jima, Night and Day, and so on, Don defending and everybody else attack¬
ing. Don did a remarkable job and before long we all found that we really meant
the same thing but expressed ourselves differently. That meant George, Len and
Joe; I did not take much part, being completely out of my depth on that subject.
When they got into poetry, blank verse and the moderns, I could do a little bet¬
ter but they shifted back to painting again.

Reverting to the plane again, Doug Fisher, his wife, Barrie and the two
younger children all came up here to get the mail and say goodbye to us. The
concensus is that another plane will come up tomorrow, finish the trip to T.I.,
turn around and come back the same day, in order to catch up with the schedule
again,, so the Fisher family did not say goodbye and will turn up again tomorrow

A message came through from Hughie Fisher of Wenlock, no relation to
Doug, who is to convey us down to Coen. Hughie expects to be with us either
late tomorrow night or early on Friday and we shall pull out of here on Friday
definitely, unless Hughie breaks down somewhere.

Roy Stephen, now promoted to a gun-boy, and bedecked with a pair of my old
trousers, is very cock-a-hoop and brought in a porcupine for George this afternoon.
Both parties are rather pleased and that about ends the gossip for this day.

The Fishers told us that the D.S. is demanding an army of nine million
and that the situation in and around Berlin is constantly getting worse. We
are wondering whether we shall have time to finish the expedition before things
begin to pop. Leo Ferris came over in the evening and said that most likely a
plane will come up about 9 A.M. tomorrow with^ the mail but nobody has heard
anything about what was wrong.

113.

Thursday, 22 July 1948. The Fisher (Doug) family arrived over fairly early

this morning and shortly afterwards the northbound
plane passed overhead. We learned that there had been some minor breakdown
at Townsville, enough to hold them there over night, and another plane had
left Brisbane early this morning* taken over the mail and passengers and con¬
tinued the run. She had to get to Thursday Island, make a quick turn-around
and get back today, which left little time for answering the mail that had
come inr \ .

Nothing of interest earns in from Burns, Philp ' nd I am left in the air
oh a great many subjects* A letter did come, however, saying that the Pioneer
Star, O.S. Lines, would leave either Brisbane or Sydney eastbound ajbout "mid-
October" and did we want passage^ on her. I wrote back immediately, the only
letter I was able to get away in .reply to the .‘mail, making reservations on

the ship for us all. She will dock at New York but I do not know the date or

the ports she will call at, en route.

Tonight two men from the Main Roads Camp came up to bid us good-bye and
somehow Joe has managed to get himself foully drunk again. It is becoming

rather too much of a habit again and I am afraid he may be getting himself

into trouble unless he pulls himself together. There is also the question of
whether he can pull himself together.

A large quantity of cases and boxes went out by Doug. Fisher, a total
of twenty-nine, as I said last night, I think, which leaves us pretty well
cut down in our gear. We should be able to make the Coen and Cooktown trips
in comparative ease.

Dp to the time of writing, our transport for tomorrow, Hughie Fisher of
Wenlock, has not yet arrived. He said either tonight or early tomorrow morn¬
ing, and there is nothing to worry about yet.

Friday, 23 July 1948. Our Wenlock-Coen transportation has failed us and now

4 P.M. there is little chance of him arriving and less
of our getting away tonight, even if he did. We can only hope that he gets
here in time for an early start tomorrow, but there is now not much chance of
getting to Coen before the end of the month.

Although we want to do, and no doubt shall do, some collecting in Wenlock,
we were anxious to get to Coen and out of it again to the nearby scrub as fast
as we can. The Coen Races start on the 5th of August, ana are famous in their
way, in that horses from all the rancehs and stations on the Peninsula arrive,
hundreds of whites and blacks come in and there is a state of jollification
that lasts for a week. Normally there is a population of about twenty-five in
Coen but all the visitors would certainly want to call on us and pay their
respects and there would be a week completely lost, to say nothing of the .in¬
roads on our rations. We shall still try to get out to the scrub before the
big time starts and we have severs! localities which can be considered as in
the Coen area, which we must work. Since we now know definitely, more or less,
our sailing date, we can calculate our time and have agreed that everything
must be finished by October 1st, including the Cooktown and Mount Finnegan
work ; ... '

Joe was in bad shape this morning, neither feet nor brain being able to
work properly. It may not all be due to drink and his health may not be too
good. There is no doubt that the quality of the food is falling off but he
cannot be blamed for that since many of our necessities are missing, partly^
due to errors in B-P’s shipments and partly because the stuff is at Coen wait¬
ing for us. 7,'e shall see wnat happens.

Saturday, 24 July 1943. Our transportation, in the form of Norman Fisher of

Weniock, taking the place of his brother, Hughie,
whose truck had broken do?m, arrived sometime after 11 P.M. last night. In
order to make the Wenlock trip in one day, we got up somewhere about 4*30 A.’.’,
this morning, loaded up, had breakfast and left Iron Range before 6. The popu¬
lation had not fully waked when we left and, in fact, there is something of a
rift developed recently. Bert Connell hit Malcolm Holmes in the jaw because
Malcolm let his dogs get into Bert' s part of the hut and was a bloody nuisance
anyway. Malcolm retreated with speed and Mrs. Connell screamed. That was a
couple of days ago and outwardly things are quiet now.

The road as far as Brown's Creek is old stuff for us now and from Brown1 «
on, until, we reached, the Pe.scpe, it was much, the same. The Pascoe, where we
stopped for a mouthful of food and a drink of tea, was a pleasant stream about
fifty feet wide, bouldery and something of the order of the Mossman River,
without the swift current.

The trail and the country get more and more arid, sandy soil and sparse
trees with few leaves on them predominating. There were no outward events
during the trip and we reached wenlock, known as "the town", about 3 P.M. to
learn from ^an that a grand party had been planned for the evening and the
previous week had been spent in cooking and baking. By the time we had had
an excellent meal with another branch of the Fisher family, and set up work
rooms and sleeping space, the former in what once was a sort of stable and the
latter in a former blacksmith's forge with roof but no sides, it was time for
the party.

Everybody was dressed in their best, two of the men going to the extreme
of wearing ties, which quickly came off. Drinks of i*um and fruit juices were
served, pleasant concoctions, there was dancing for those who wished to dance
and music was provided by a radio and a victrola, the former being interrupted
frequently by people who wanted to find out how the England-Australia cricket
match was going on. The food spread out was delicious and, as George remarked,
brought home to us the things that we have given up and the other things which
we have become accustomed to. Joe gave his professional approval but seemed
rather upset that they should spoin good rum by adding fruit juice to it.

We were all pretty tired ahd gradually sifted away into our smithy and
the party ended somewhere about 11.30.

This whole area, once, and even now, being operated fairly profitably,
is run by the Fisher family (not related to the Portland Roads Fishers) ,

Three mines, the Casket, the Spotted Dog and the Black Cat, are all producing
gold-bearing ore in fair quantity. Old Fisher, the patriarch, has four sons,
^11 of whom are married except Norman, and have children of their own so in
time a clan will be built up, possessing considerable wealth and numbers. In
a few decades there may be a large population and in a greater time it is
quite likely that they will wield considerable influence in North Queensland.
The party was to celebrate our arrival and Norman Fisher's birthdayj Norman,
the one who is not contributing to the population, has been married but his
wife left him and is now living with Lennie Somers, another miner who has a
place on Scrubby Creek, near Portland Roads.

In general, on a superficial estimate, the country, sandy and with its
scanty vegetation even now in flames, will not offer gooa collecting possi¬
bilities. I think we shall move on to Coen as soon as Hughie gets his truck
in shape to carry us but tomorrow we shall all, in our particular activities,
investigate further.

115

Sunday, 25 July 1943. Tfhen we woke thic morning, all hands felt that a few

more hours could have easily been used, however, it
has been just another day for us, except for an invitation to another house
for afternoon : tea, consisting of tea, scones & butter, five kinds of cake
and two kinds of pie.

The morning I spent in fixing up the few things that bad come to my
light trap last night and a general survey of the country from the top of one
of the mine derricks. From every point of view it is poor. Not only has game
of all sorts been scared away by the activity of the mines, each with a tall
derrick and steam engines operating all over the place, but in addition to
that the whole district for miles around in every direction has been burned
and still is burning. I went to a semi-circular hill to the east of us, climb¬
ed it and travelled along its crest to the other end. In every direction I
could see the smoke of fares fires in the distance and on the hill itself,
very recently fired, logs were still smouldering and smoking.

Tomorrow Don Vernon and I ere crossing the Bata vie River and visiting a
lagoon on the south side in the hope of getting some fresh-water crocodiles.

So far, with the exception of one at Red Island Point, there hove been no
crocs in our lives at all. It might be a good idea to keep tilings that way
but one has to look, if only to find out what places to avoid.

When we shall leave here is a moot point and depends on when Hughie
Fisher con get his truck into movable shape. In general we are anxious to
get along into Coen and out again before the crowds begin to gather for the
races. I had a. letter today from Walter Rose, postmaster of Coen, telling
me they would be honored to have us there, which was nice of Walter but vtould
not help us to get our work done.

Monday, 26 July 1948. An uneventful day, so far as I am concerned, I went

over to the lagoon, Don returning after having shot a
bird; it consisted actually of three lagoons and nothing in any one of them.

I circled them' all and the only tranks I could see in the mud were those of
pigs.

In the afternoon I started out intending to winder up and down the Batavia
River bed but was buttonholed en route by one of the miners named Scotty Mac¬
Donald. During the party a couple of nights ago we had exchanged reminiscences
together and I' learned that he had for a. while worked in the ship-building
firm of Cammel-Lfird in Birkenhead, at about the time I enlisted in the Cheshire
Regiment in the first war. Later he had visited New York and today he showed
me one of hir most priced mementos - a the&tre ticket stub for E, F. Keith* s
Orpheum Theatre in Brooklyn, dated May 21, 1917. Anyway Scotty decided to take
nie over where there were some trap— door spiders. We found the place and found
also four of the trap doors end tunnels but no spiders. The area had been
burnt over since he was there last.

I took my heavy rifle out this morning in my crocodile hunt and ended up
by bringing back one of the smallest mice I have ever seen. It w as hiding un¬
der s sue i;oou I was turning while ..looking for reptiles, anc. is a most valuable
.addition, to the collection, being the first of its kind ’we have taken and the
first of its kind known north of a place some hundreds ox miles south of here.

I die. not shoot it, of course, it 'being hardly' bigger than the shell of ray
.303. I caught it with the butterfly net.

Tuesday, 27 July 1943. The morning was not very productive; I cut across to

the Batavia River, got into its channel, mainly
dry sand how, with a shallow stream . bout twenty xeet ’fide, and travelled

nottA for1', perhaps a mile aAd f half. At one point; a red kangaroo-, sat -on the
sand and looked -at me from a distance1 of \about. aixt/ yards. I did apt fire,
first .because the range was doubtful for ‘a shotgun, which I was carrying and,
secondly, because George has said that he does not want any more of them. We
gazed at each other for fully a minute and the sun behind the roo shone through
his ears, sticking up from his head, making huem look transparent and hazy.

Finally he loped heavily away.;

Most of the afternoon was taken up with a visit through the workings of
the Black Cat Mine, entered by standing in : bucket ana being dropped down an
eighty foot shaft. The tunnels and passages are extensive and the heat terri¬
fic. The sine got into bad condition during the war as all the Fisher boys
were in the army; on their return they found it flooded and even now the passages
in the lower levels are choked with water and unworkable until pumped. They
have pumps but they are not powerful enough to do all the work required to
clear those parts of the mine that are being (worked and clear the lower levels
also. It is a grim, back-breaking job that they have set themselves and one
can only wish them luck.

The truck that is to take us to Coen is still our of order and so far I
have no word of our next move, nor where we shill camp in the Coen area. It
is essential that we get out of the piece because, with Race "desk on, there
would be little chance of getting any work done on account of constant visi¬
tors. .

V'. ’ .

Wednesday, 23 July 1948. It was not until this afternoon that Hug hie got his

truck in such shape that he could say definitely
that we could get away tomorrow morning. Accordingly, after a morning spent
wahaering fruitlessly over the burned countryside, have begun to load up this
afternoon.

During my wanderings I had found / little but some aboriginal sketches on
the rocks. They represented a man, a crocodile, a dingo and many turtles,
done in red ochre on the Inside of sandstone rock overhangs. They were in a
place named Tunnel .Gully, because, probably, of the channel's and tunnels
formed by the rockfalls.

Fairly late in the afternoon we manhandled the trailer up to camp and
began to load up. At the moment only the trailer is here but we hope that the
truck Itself will somehow materialise.

Everybody except George, Joe and I were invited out somewhere for din¬
ner and went untinu teiyj we three stayed in camp and eventually the others
filtered back and entered our party. N ov, we have broken up and I, am doing
this by inferior light but in a few minutes we go to a farewell party.

We hope to pull out about S A.M. tomorrow morning and should reach the
Archer River crossing bu mid-afternoon, where we shall spend two nights. The
"terrible" Archer, it has been called by people who have crossed it before, on
account of its width mainly, I think. Even now it is about four hundred yards
wide and in the wet season must be a couple of miles. Its crossing I shall
write about later when I know more about it. Then too I shall be able to
write about the hunting on its banks, and the day after I do that I can say
something about Coen, something of a metropolis, with forty people.

Thursday, 29 July 1948. The farewell party turned out to be rather a sing¬
song than anything else, owing to an unfortunate
shortage of the things required to make it anything else, but it was very
nice and Joe rendered "Dangerous Dan McGrew" with such an expression of com-

• # 117

bined pathos and ferocity that everybody wondered how he got that way at a
comparatively dry party. To me the most interesting tiling was the presence
in Joe Fisher's house of a piano and I wondered at what I 'know 'must have
been the heart-breaking toil required to get such an instrument to Wenlocki
It is appreciated there greatly, and these evenings of music are quite re-
quent things.

It was not until after midday that we finally hade our Genlock friends
goodbye, with the assurance on their p^.rts that they would see us at the Coen
Races, which I now capitalize, the Races being the next biggest thing to
Christmas in this part of the Peninsula.

Our road to the Archer River was the same as all other roads, just the
two parallel cart wheel tracks, though it was not as rough as some trails we
have followed. Hughie was very careful with his driving and it 'was dusk
when : re reached the Archer and too dark, by the time our beds were rigged, to
see much of the river itself. That will have to wait until tomorrow. In
view of the shortness of our stay here, probably not more than two or three
nights, we shall not erect tents since we have at l^ast, it seems, passed out
of the wet districts.

Friday, 30 July 1948. Undoubtedly in the wet season the Terrible Archer

lives up to its formidable name. It is composed of
several separate channels, running througn rocky gorges in spots, the is¬
lands between the channels being topped with trees. Now, however, t ere is
only one of the channels carrying any water at all, the others are sandy
highways, giving easy access up and down stream, the rocky gorges seem to
be hugh boulders worn bu time and water into graceful shapes. It is one of
the prettiest rivers It has ever been my fortune to camp on.

Our first crocodile came in last night and I, the collector of crocs,
did not get it. Van did. It is hot more than eighteen inches long and he
shot it, probably thinking it was a rat as he got its eyes in his headlight,
but none the less it is a Johnson River crocodile, the first in our collect¬
ion, and, I think, the first the Museum has. Spurred by that I spent the
whole morning roaming along the river bank looking for something a trifle
larger and made mysefl so tired that I had to strip and have a bath to cool
off. The water was crystal clear and not thigh deep but even with that bait
nothing appeared. In the afternoon I went out with Hughie who said he knew
a lagoon where there were sure to be some. We walked miles and then he seem¬
ed a bit doubtful as to just where the lagoon was? ultimately we came to a
muddy pool, where there was absolutely nothing. Y,e put up a large pig but
did not trouble about him; he was too old for food and the mammal men don't
seem to want to skin pigs.

It is not yet supper time but I have an opportunity to get this writ¬
ten which I am taking. This evening I have to go out hunting so must close
up and get ready.

Saturday, 31 July 1948. After dark last night I went down to the river and

at one point got a pair of crocodile eyes gleaming
redly and wickedly in the glare of my headlight. They were far out in the
river so I did not shoot, thinking that I might have a better opportunity
when I go out tonight. The eyes, like little crimson pinheads, were so
close together that the beast could have been no larger than the one that
Van got the previous night .

It has been decided that we move on to Coen tomorrow and I nope that
we sh^il be able to consider ourselves settled there sufficiently to make a
proper camp. I have spent fare more time sitting and just holding tae j -

ious things on my table ;against the wind then I would have in erecting three

or four tents. Also I have mail to get out and am anxious to get back to ray

regular routine. ^ ;

Obr first caftip ^ite will be at, a plac^ called ..The'-, Bend -(of, the Coen
River), two or three miles ftorth of Coeh, and another will b^ set up some¬
where south of Coen. Our main objective, however is to get over the

wraith Range into the Rocky Scrub, a large, un-named area on the map in which
Breakfast and Dinner Creeks, Rocky River and Scrubby Creek all have their
sources. That will probably be either a psck-hbrse job or else we sha.ll
have to tackle it as we did Tflouiit Tozer, a few at a time, and each party add¬
ing to and improving the trail and the camp. There is no road of any sort,
nor any trail, leading into the Rocky Scrub.

The camp south of Coen has not yet been decided upt it could be either
Ebagoola or L&lla Rookh or somewhere around either of them. In the matter
of time, since tomorrow we start' on our next-tp-last month, it will probably
work out at a week at The Bend, two weeks in some, part of the Rocky Scrub and
the fourth week at whiqever camp south of Coen we may decide upon.

The postman went through this camp yesterday, Jim McDowell; he travels
once every two weeks in a circle from Coen taking in Mapoon and ',,'enlock,
which shows on the map either as Plutoville or Lower Camp. A place now called
Top Camp shows on the map as Choc-a-block. There is no sir strip so the V, un¬
lock people only get mail once a fortnight.

Sunday, 1 August 1943. My search last evening for the elusive crocodile was

quite without result. I picked a large boulder on
the river bank from which I had a clear view for fifty yards both up and down
the river, and perched myself there for what seemed hours, flashing ray head¬
light in both directions at intervals. There was not t ripple in the water andjsymiux
eventually, feeling cold, I came back to camp.

We packed and left the Archer about 10 (sic) this morning and travel¬

led right through to Coen, where we arrived somewhere about 5 P.M., without a
stop. The trip was extremely tiring and the country much the same as the pre¬
vious half of the trip. Simply sparse forest, burned to a crisp by the sun and
by travellers wherever there was any vegetation. Dust rose in clouds all the
way, caking our faces and parching our throats. I think everybody was far too
spiritless to worry whether or not we stopped and had food - the main object
was to get the trip over. That was done without mishap, however.

Our quarters, on a bend of the Coen River, itself a tributary of the
Archer, consist of a very comfortable hut made of the :dsx ubiquitous corrugated
iron. I have a notion that without corrugated iron, the British Empire would
never have come into existence. The house is divided into four rooms, there
is a wired-in enclosure for a garden, unplanted, and the river is about twenty
yards away.

After a much-needed wash and meal, all hands, including the blacks who
got an advance of pay of ten shillings each, went in to Coen. It was dark
and a description of the whole place must wait until tomorrow, but we managed
to find the Exchange Hotel, which has a big sign on top of it reading "Drink
at Herb. Thompson’s" and did so. There were not many people there but a
bookie has come up for the races '-and was entertaining in the bar* Old Herb
is our agent in this district and made us welcome, Joe of course knew every¬
body. and we found that our cargo had come in and been broached by somebody
in the hotel. Back to camp and to bed, pending investigation tomorrow.

.« • • *

119

*

Monday, 2 August 1943. One of the big moments of yesterday I entirely for¬

got to write about. Too tired, I guess. -Just after

we had unloaded at this camp, while the blacks were scouting around looking
for timber, firewood, and sp on, they ran into. a couple of other ' bbos. I

was spreading ’ ay bed. when I ;i heard Moreton’ yell something about a snake, a

blaok snake. T- king my gun, I ran op the rise to where he was, with two of
the strange boys and all all three began to dance around wildly, each point¬
ing in a different direction and_, yelling about the black snake. Taking a

iort of average of the three gesturing arms, I found a brown shake, 6ne of the

Coast?! brown’s, arid promptly1 dispatched it.

-

This morning most of us went into Goen to get acquainted and to make
our plans for the next camp as v.e except to stay here only about a week. Tue
piece is odd but somehow pleasing, Of course there ere. no streets and only
about ten houses but each stands in its bare, clean patch of earth and each
has its vegetable garden, watered with Coen River via ter pumped up by wind
pumps. In these gardens they grow green vegetables mostly, lettuce, tomatoes,
cabbages and so on and a quantity of each was sent out to us this afternoon
by Mrs. Arbuthnot, one of the oldest inhabitants .

Crowds are beginning to g; tner, largely a bbos, and one old gentleman
was resplendent in a brass gorget on vrhich was inscribed the fact that he
was King Tommy, of some tribe which I forget. There are still one or two
■ hereditary tribal kings left and each has his gorget as a badge of office,
vdiich in due course passes down to his won.

Our plans seem. to have changed slightly in that it is likely to be so
hard to penetrate into the. Rocky Scrub that til the time we have allotted for
Coen will be required to do it. Consequently there will probably 1>e no camp
at Ebagoolq or Lalla Rookh except perhaps a night or so, on our way down to
Cooktown. Another piece of news was that a boat is leaving Annie River to¬
morrow and there sill not be another for five or six weeks so Laura becomes
our only route to Cooktown.

A great mass of office detail and letters t: be answered have accumulated

I have done a considerable amount tonight but must spend a. lot of tomorrow
on them as well.

Tuesday, 3 August 1948. Practically all the morning was taken up in catching

up with office work, and as another mail is due in
tomorrow, I probably have not yet really caught up. In the afternoon I was
able to get away and take a walk up the Coen River for about a mile but got
few bugs and no reptiles except a small, unwise lizard.

This evening I went out jacking again, having done so last night, and
feel that tomorrow I can put on mail and office work again in the evenirig if
necessary. Len and George have gone in to Coen to try for more information on
the Rocky Scrub but I decided that I would not go. Joe hap. gone also, having
emptied his bottle this afternoon, he has been drunk as a. gdht for two days
but constantly informs me that it he is nothing else, he is a reliable man.

The three boys also have gone in to town, having asked for L3 each and
receiving L2. I explained to them that they would need money in Cooktown and
also when the races start and they seemed pleased with their L2.

A difference here from Iron Range is that we are unable to answer letters

c — *•

120.

Yednesday, 4 August 1948. It is odd how one's ideas change. Here we sre in a

dry, hot climate where nothing can possibly live,
and 1 find myself wishing for rain which I cursed so thoroughly a few days ago

because it drowned everything. Here. I cannot find even a scorpion or a centipede
and since the brown snake I shot the other day when we arrived and a tree sneke
which Len found the next day, there is nothing in the reptile line either.

Coen, I understand, is going full blast. George and Len were in this after¬
noon and returned with the mail, but there was cbsolutely no word of any sort
fr . n Burns Philp though they hive been holding me up on several matters for weeks
now. ^hey have proved themselves to be thoroughly broken reeds.

In the matter of our next camp, there is still some question as to how we
shall penetrate into the Rocky Scrub, It is no simple matter and much of the ter¬
rain is impassible even to pack animals. The difficulty in this part of the world
is to find anybody who really knows what he is talking about. Many of the bush men
and miners have made statements aboht things to be found in tkixxIaHxIily certain
localities and when taken out cannot even find the localities, much less the
tilings they said were in them. They call themselves, proudly, bush men, yet do
not know the bush they talk about. I T,'ould take an Indian any time in preference
to the half-white.

After letters, and, finally, a telegram to the Protector of Islanders, per¬
mission came through today for our boys to obtain clothing at Coen, The method
was crude - first the letter of authority had to be shown from the individual
boy’s Mission, then his hand was grasped by a policeman (there are three in Coen),
his thumb inked and applied to a receipt. After that he was thrown some clothing,
regardless of size. Moreton came back with a pair of jodhpurs, of all things.

Joe is silly drunk again this evening} there is little we can do, in point
of fact. It would be hard to replace him and a new cook would probably be no
great improvement. Once we can get away from places where there are grog sel¬
lers he will be all right again, but if it is obtainable, he will find means of
getting it. The money is his, and we cannot hold up his pay, earned as it has
been. It seems to me that it would almost be better to let him go and somehow
do the cooking ourselves, but I cm sure it would fall to my lot. At the moment
he is sitting outside my window, swigging from his bottle and talking to hi, self.

It is too late now to go out and do any hunting, so T shall turn in soon.
Hunting here is poor anyway but it fills in the time.

Thursday, 5 August 1948. This morning I spent in unpacking and checking the

shipment which cane in to Annie River. As far es I can
see, we are short only a half bag of pot toes, which may be in Thompson’s store
somewhere .

Joe was slightly better this morning but is talking to himself again now.

He is something of a problem but is all right when we get away from the grog
shops. That we shall be doing in a few days, for a few weeks, so things may
come through all right, but I am so heartily sich of the hopeless inefficiency I
see all around me, disguising itself, end even getting itsefl some sort of praise,
under the name of the "bushman’s way".

I seem to be in some sort of a mood tonight. It would, be better, I think,
if I ..rite no more and just spend the rest of the evening with some sort of book.

Friday, 6 August 1948. '.Ye had a little sort of meeting this morning and came

up with another time-table of sorts. It is proposed
that we finish and move out of the Coen area on August 26th, but travel slowly®

our road to Laura. Annie River is right out of the picture, so it will work out,

after leaving here, that we spend the night of the 26th at Ebagoola, the night
of the 27th at Musgrave, the night of the 23th on the Harm River, where the main
trail is crossed by it, and reach Lsura for the night of the 29th. Our effort
at the Rocky Scrub will be of two weeks duration, since v.e cannot leave here
until Monday, the 9th, and have to be back by the evening of the 24th in order
to have time enough to get ready for the trip to Laura.

The Scrub trip, while still indefinite in details, will mean by truck to
the Peach River (Peach Creek) where we shall set up a sub-base, the bulk of our
stuff being left here at the Bend. Preliminary trail cutting and pack animals
will be the method of getting into the Scrub and we shall not all be in at the

same time; some collecting will be done along Peach Creek as well as in the

Scrub itself.

After our morning conference, most of us ‘went in to the Race Meeting and
I must confess that I found myself heartily bored. Horse-racing contains no
thrill of any sort for me and the people who attended all looked rather bored.
Influenza seems to have come in with the influx of out-back visitors and there
was a general air of listlessness oVer the whole assembly. The local member of
Parliament, who flew in yesterday in the hospital plane and whose presence was
highly .touted, failed to put' in an appearance, and the staff of the hospital
plane itself was doing much better business,, vd-tb the locals than in attesting
accidents bn the Course. .

There really was nothing sufficiently spectacular to write about, perhaps
because I do not care much, for racing, . but to me one of the surprising things of
this country is the effect of the American movies. Almost everybody, white or
black, who is even remotely connected .with ca ttle dr horses wears a ten-gallon
hat though originally the Australian bash headgear consisted Of a wide-brimmed,
flat crowned thing.

A telegram came in from Burns Philp, stating that out reservations on the
Pioneer Star had been made -but port and date of sailing are still unknown.

Otherwise the day has been without event.

Saturday, 7 August 1943. The mist and drizzle of r in which was with us yester¬
day, though I did not mention it, had gone this morning,
and e furious ind has taken its place, blowing dust all over everything. George
and Van have gone off to some cave somewhere in order to collect some bats, if
they can; Len has gone to Coen to make arrangements for our move, which will pro¬
bably take place on Monday; I have started my packing for the Scrub but still have
some supplies to check in and 3ome specimens to wrap and put away. Another brown
snake and a few other things, including our first frilled lizard, came mi yesterday

The festivities at Coen will continue over the week-end,, it seems and our
departure is correspondingly uncertain. A visitor from Laura, about hom a tele¬
phone call to Cairns was made yesterday since she was complaining of illness and
severe headaches, dies during the night. She was supposed to nave been taken to
the Cairns Hospital by the ambulance plane last night but the plane did not go.
Presumably the* member of Parliament was not ready, so the .woman died. Politicians
seem to be much the same, the world over.

Having finished this page I must now write and make our Cooktown reservations,
another mile stone.

Sunday, -.8 August 1943. Again a day of packing - it is impossible on this

sort of job to put out roots anywhere, even if one
wanted to. V.e were favored with .a visits from one of the police constables
this morning, who told us there had been a theft of sixteen 44 gallon drums
of gas from the airport during the, races and that old Joe Fisher of uenlock
waS under suspicion. Knowing him, it does not seem possible but I suppose
we shall never hear the end of that story and really there is no place here
for it. Shortly after the constable had left, young Joe Fisher and a lot
of the V.’enlock folks came out to bid us goodbye. Kith them were 3one Cook-
town people who had flown up for the ftaces, whom we shall meet again in
three weeks or so.

It is perhaps time for us to move out as there is talk among the blacks
fo devil-devils wandering around after 'dark, with one big bright eye, our
head lamps. I think these boys would run from, rather than (Spear, a devil-
devil, should one approach them, but you never can tell.

The program of work for the Rocky Scrub nas been made out and is attach¬
ed. It carries right through to our arrival at Cooktown. Until we get back
from the Scrub we shall be completely out of touch and no mail will reach us;

I am going in to Coen tonight to take some which will go south by the plane
next Thursday but of course we shall not be able to get anything on the plane
the following week. There should be quite a pile of stuff awaiting us on our
return.

Monday, 9 August 1948. V.hat a day, what a day, and of course our fine new

schedule is knocked as high as a kite. Since I _uaii
be writing no letters for best part of a couple of weeks, I can give myself
a little more leeway in 'this and can be a little more expansive perhaps than
I have heretofore.

Our little world turned upside down last night but we did not know it
then. Len and I went in in the evening to make sure that everything was set.

The report was that five pack horses, three riding horses and a boy would
leave first thing in the morning, a guide hod been arranged for with the police
(all these things being done by our agent. Herb Thompson) who would come out
in the truck before 9 A.M., we would load up, leave by 9 and reach the Peach
River in one day. It would all be at tended, what had not already , said, uerb,
so Len and I returned . to • camp lively and rejoicing. Then came tne first por¬
tent - we learned that Joe had gone to Coen to ’say goodbye to people.

We turned in with some misgivings and on getting up this morning tnere.
was no sign of Joe. However, expecting the truck and guide, and hoping against
.hope that -Joe would, return under his own steam, we completed our packing c.nd
got everything ready. By the way, the guide was a boy mo bad been tnrough to
the Peach about ten years ago and was supposed to know a track th ft was rumor¬
ed to exist. By iO. A.M. there was no sign of- anything so Len started in to
„ Goeh. By 11.30 there was no Sign of anything, including Len, so we. had lunch.

By 1.30 P.M. there' was no sign of anything at all '.so I started, out for the
place. I had gone about a mile along the trail when I heard h e souou
truck in the distance. I stopped and , sure enough it contained the lad who was
to drive ut, the guide, Joe in a drunken stupor and Len. Herb Thompson had
done nothin^ whatever -so Len arranged for the guide; Joe was found in one of
the bedrooms in Herb' s "hotel" with -a bottle of whiskey empty beside him and
had been thrown bodily into tne truck without even waking. To complete the
ensemble, at that moment the horse-boy cam -wandering along. He had been xi out
to camp but decided he. would go back to Coen "to buy something for his wife .

He was shanghaied and dumped into the truck beside Joe, we all reached the Bend,
loaded up and started.

• •

The trail led back along the road to the Archer River for about five
miles and was in good condition. It was during that .'part, of the journey
that I found the driver had brought hit girl friend along with him. Si.e is
English, from Oxfordshire, and what she is doing around these parts is none
of my business. I think we can let her drop; she leaves for Thursday Is¬
land on Wednesday and doubtless will find another driver there.

After the five miles was over, we turned from the trail and started
across country, The road the boy followed was the remains of a single horse
trail; every nun 'red yards or so, we would all have to dismount to pull away
logs that had fallen, fill in gullies that had developed ana so on. was

by this time in a mumbling sort of corns, .so we knew he was still living but
did not care very much. He took a fearful beating — with every lurch of the
truck either, he was banged against something or something fell on him. 1 ....
a four gallon drum of jerosene fall on him and his shoes cane off.

By the time darkness came on we were still some miles away from water
ana that vsrried in the truck was not sufficient for our party which numbered
our own group of nine, the driver and his gul, and the guide. The horse-boy
had left us to round up his: horses. We continued, cutting our way in the
light- in of the truck headlights, stumbling, cursing, falling over each other,
smacking each other with axes, fortunately not hard enough to draw any blbod,
and eventually, about 3.30, by the light of the stars and a new moon, found
our way to a thin stream of water, the south branch of the Peach, which shows
on some maps as Falls Greek, on others as Horne Creek and yet on others simply
as a dotted line. There we made camp, shook Joe into a state of consciousness
sufficient for him to boil some tea, and then went into* a coma ourselves.

Before closing, I must record that we did learn the end of the theft of
gasoline from the airport and that it was old Joe Fisher who dun it. T«.e gaso¬
line however did not belong to. the air lines and was the proper by of Joe
Kepbel, an old friend of Joe Fisher. Joe Keppel had bought and imported it
quite formally end properly. On being interrogated and informed that it was. not
the aii lines property, Joe .Fisher /admitted immediately that he had stolen i t.
"Joe Keppel, he’s a-friend of mine for years. I wouldn’t thieve a shilling fro
I’ll return it at once," Vfhich he did. Cs se dismissed.

from Jim

Tuesday, 10 August 1943. This has been -something of a replica of yesterday,

' . - -■ minus the unknown quantities and with the hard work
redoubled. To bring it to date quickly, >e reached and now are camped on Peach
River or Creek, as the case may be. ke all walked the total distance because
at no time would' anybody haVe been able to just sit on the truck without being
instantly shot by. his pates.

The final episode was a job of raadmaking, far from the first but definite¬
ly the worst. There was a gully about twenty feet or more, in depth, but the road
on the opposite bank Madly existed. Smoothing the rov.d; down to the bed of the
i gully was" easy, , nd getting the truck there was correspondingly so, but the job
of getting it up on the sx.th« other, Side a's quite a different story. It ended
;ith out cutting t diagonal road up, the opposite side, hacking and scooping the
earth away from the inside and piling it on the outside of the channel we creat¬
ed. And, with that> we got here and are now camped on the banks of the Peach.

Who was here last is uncertain - Dr» Logan Jack wrote of his visit here in '89,
and doubtless some others have been here since then. There is e story of a crush¬
ing battery being moved over here across the top of the divide, to work tne one
produced by miners in this vicinity. The battery site is a little downstream
from Us, But certainly it is many years since anybody was here. A propos, Dpn
wondered if the presence of a battery meant that the artillery had been in.

George and Len tomorrow are baking e couple of horses and will try to get
across the Bivide into the Rocky Scrub. And tfcat brings me to the horses. The

124.

boy arrived very shortly after we Camped. He had made excellent time but
his horses looked jaded ahd he had driven them h rd. But he had lost at
least one en route - and we are trying to find out the facts. He, like crows
and most abbos, cannot count beyond three, and states that he started with
five, lost one and, arrived with three. He describes in detail the horse he
lost, but we cannot find out yet if he started with four and lost one, the
one he described, or started with five and lost two. The solid remaining
fact is that he came into camp only with three.

I have other things in my notes to write about but want to get out with
my light and also to turn in at a decent hour, decent here meaning about 9
P.M. .1 shall stop therefore and do more, tomorrow. I shall not be going uo
to the Scrub bn; the 'date shown, on the time table. '

Wednesday, 11 August 194-3. George . nd len returned this evening about 5 P.-i

with the opinion that while it will be a tough
sort of trip, we shall be able somehow to get in to the Scrub. Feorfe, Don

and one boy, Willie, will form the advance i party going up tomorrow and Van
'will be left down here to keep the mammal collecting going during the treil-
cutting period. I don't knbv; ' when my turn comes but; if there is an attempt
to follow the old schedule, I shall be next up. The trick is that the horses
can go only every other day as the trip cj nhot be made to the Scrub and back
in one day. I shall 'write more on the Scrub and its approach after I have
arrived there.

Looking at my note-book I find that I have touched on most of the things
I had listed for entry here. I have intended to write about the Coen people
bdt find that I am not familiar enough with, them to do much but tell their
ncaieu and occupations. Thebe' 'is Waiter Rose, representative of the press who
is responsible for the fantastic things that have been printed in connection
with the expedition. He is elderly ' and 'seems rather quiet on first acquaint¬
ance, but there is a shrill, . hysterical quality about his laugh which might
explain Lome of his press contributions. There is Herb Thompson, our "gent,
who has been mentioned. Herb is Seventy- two, has been in New Guinea and C<ype
York all his life, has stock valued at somewhere about a hundred thousand
pounds and. drinks gin; his years are -telling on him a bit .and his memory is
not what it used to be. Mrs. Armbrust is an important vwiaan in the community,
having been the first child, white, to be born in Coen. She, r widow now,
and probably around sixty, is a competitor of Herb's aid the place is split
ubtm factions, about twenty persons to a faction. The blacks are fairly
numerous and are given rough treatment} their pay, for instance, is considera¬
bly less that our own boys receive. Most of them have their masters surname,
Armbrus-t, Thompson, etc., and any first name anybody cares to apply to them.

Most are known as Moonlight, Sunlight or something else concerned with the
luminosity of the planets.

I think all hands slept soundly la,st night but I woke once or twice,
roused by the clangor of the gorse bells. We have, including riding and pack
animals, eight of them, I think, and perhaps three are belled; they sound rather
like the p4dle.r&' wagons, as I recall them years ago.

During our journey of yesterday the load on the wagon slipped; I asked
that it be relashed but it was not. As a result a box containing two lamps,
one of them mine, was thrown out. The lamp did not break but something in its
internal works was damaged. It went dim last night and is going so now. I
shall have to stop this now, and try to fix the lamp by daylight.

Thursday, 12 August 1943. Before starting on what passes for current events

these days, I had better clean up the odds end ends
in my note-book. There is not much. Van -wishes me to record that the dog, a

'possum dog, which very materially assisted in the Last night's hunting be¬
fore our departure from the Bend, is named Teddy, and he is the grandson of
e Best of Breed at the Brisbane Dog Trials* His owner is old Joe Fisher, who
took part in the hunt which probably would he ve been the foundation of his
alibi in the nutter of the sixteen 44 gallon drums of petrol, had he not dis¬
covered that they belonged to old Joe Keppel.

About the only other thing in the note-book is a memo concerning Leri1 s,
vetch. He lost it when r/e stopped the night at Falls Creek (Horne Creek) ana
I found it buried in the duet on the trail-. He lost it again last night some¬
where along the trail he and- George rode to the Scrub and I am afraid this
tine it will stay lost.

George i;staitnd, up to the *$erub. again this morning to make camp, and stay
there. He took with him, Don Vernon, the youngest of us and consequently the
most energetic^ ■ nd Willie,' the best '.xe-nun. Tilth the horse-boy and three
loaded pack animals, the procession was quite imposing. They expect to reach
the camp spot, its exact location still undecided, about 4 P.M. this afternoon
and the horse-boy, with all the animals, will start back, carping for the night
at. a place c- lied Camp-Oven Docket, where there is water and grass for the
horses. He will get in tomorrow so e time, ‘the- horses will be rested for the
res t of the day ; net; tomorrow night, and I think Von ; nd I go- up next, probably
with Moreton.

Len, Roy end I went out shortly after George's party started till? morning
to cut a trail which will eliminate a deep bend and about an hour's travel.
During one of our rent spells Roy told me of his .war experiences, such as they
were. I believe he guarded Thursday Island, for some reason, but was one of
several of the Cawal Creek boys who were formed into the T.S.L.I. Roy said he
did not know what it meant but it is Torres Straits Light Infantry. The T.S.L.I
was clad in shorts and its members wanted long trousers, he informed me, pet¬
ting his skinny calves proudly. "Me, I got some meat, but them other boy Skin¬
ny too much. Them boy put on boots and shorts and feet stick out too, too
much." Which means that even the Cowal Creekers became aware of the size of
their feet and the thin-ness of their legs, once they were in uniform.

Our camp here is about twenty or thirty yards from the edge of the Peach
River, in green, cool open forest, but I am very- surprised at the scarceness
Of specimens of all kinds. My theory about no snakes if there are no rats
seems to be born out again. There are no rats and so far I have seen only one
snake, which I failed to get. It was sitting right beside me on the river
bank but I did not see it until it slid into the water and swam away. It was
quite a harmless one, and Willie also brought me one, harmless too, which he
found in a treej I comment on this particularly as this is the pi ice Xhere
the first specimen of the almost fabulous taipan was said to have been taken.
George and Van have had little luck in their efforts though I saw a big wallaroo
the first day I wnet out over the hot land over which we passed to get here.
About the only things I can find are spiders j there are lots of them, and
quite different from those I have from other places. These in the main are big
reddish things and their eyes gleam so vividly in my head-light beam that they
are easy to pick up. I have become expert in the use of long forceps for that
and many other purposes.

Friday, 13 August 1943. In spite of the ominous date, nothing has gone wrong

so far, and it is past noon. I have to write this up
now as I have to get ay stuff packed. reedy to move up to the scrub first
thing tomorrow morning. Van and Roy cone with me.

The only thing of moment was ..the arriy.-l about 10 A*i' . of e couple of

126.

Thompson’s blacks with some extra horses to make up for the one that got away
and for the one we were short anyway. The horse furniture is not complete,
however, and we now have three surcingles between fi/ve pack animals.

At the time of writing the horse-boy has not cone back from his trip up
with George and Don yesterday. Y?hen he arrives, there should be some kinf of
note to tell of their travels and final camp bit it should not have anything
to do with our move particularly and our stay up there will be about 'a week/
in duration. Beds probably will have to be constructed from leaves, as we
did at Tozer and no doubt even my skimpy little camp cot will feel palatial
when I get back.

It does not particularly bother me but tomorrow will be the first time I
have bean on a horse for twenty years or more. I expect to feel considerably
more bothered about this time tomorrow.

I had better close up now and get my stuff weighed; the loads for the
horses are slung half on each side and have to balance each other.

Saturday, 14 August 1943. Between the short cut that Len, Hoy and I cut and

the trail which George and. Willie cleared, we made
the trip up to the Scrub in just five hours; we had expected that we might be
compelled to camp overnight along the trail and it was a pleasant surprise to
do everything so quickly.

All the horses .ere quiet and probably had not recovered or recuperated
from their efforts of yesterday. I had a young animal with a constitutional
dislike for going down hill. Our road was full of steep gullies and my steed
•would stop and turn to look appealingly at me. Van’s horse was even £ its fun¬
nier - it i.ould not get mine out of its sight at all. On a couple of occasi¬
ons Van lost his hat which was snatched off by the prongs of low lawyer cane
and I had to halt before his horse would stop ana let him retrieve the hat.

George and D0n were somewhat surprised to see us so soon but they had
rigged a good camp, only about twenty yards from a rapid little river. There
is considerable doubt about all this part of the country in nomenclature but
a prospector named Lakeland is said to have been here about forty years ago
and named the creek after his daughter, Claudia; not far away is another
called after his son, Leo, so we describe the camp as Upper Nesbit River,
Claudia Creek. It is in thick' scrub and the camp site has been cut in the
forest. George's collection so far, one night, has been good, and we shell
all have to be busy as about a week is our limit for here. I shall write
concerning :.iy own results tomorrow.

The horse-boy went, back, this afternoon and should easily get to camp by
nightfall. Len may come up tomorro but in my opinion it would be well to
rest the horses for a u- y. Foreton seems to have a touch of ’flu and may not
come up at ell. By the way, he refers to the horse-boy as "the old man", a
title pf great respect. Moreton himself iMan "old man" but tils; che : seems
to be ils 'tribal senior.

Sunday, 15 August 1943* The above "old man" failed to get his convoy safely

back to the Peach. His horses, or one of them,
bumped into a. hornet; nest, and one of the horses galloped away, shedding its
load, empty saddle bags, as it went . Hornets seem very abundant about here
and, having gone this far without a twinge, I ran into two of then within
the past week. One was during our road-making trip out to the Peach and the
other when we were cutting the short cut out to here. On the second I took
revenge, putting a load of shot through it from s safe distance and thereby
removing the occupants from this vale of tears.

Somewhat to our surprise, since we thought the horses would be given a
day to rest, Len arrived up this afternoon with the foregoing report about
the missing horse, which had not been recovered up to his time of departure.
I'oreton had been brought along on a spare horse and had the job of tracking
and bringing back the horse that had bolted.

As for the fabulous Rocky Scrub, it lives up to its reputation by being
a complete fable. I think I could find just as many things for ay two or
three departments ; on Times Square as I can here. I have been up and down the
trail, up and down the river, end my complete bag so far is about five frogs
for the reptile department and five butterflies for the bug department. I _
no scientist but I am a remarkably fed-up layman, so far as the Scrub goes.
George and Don are doing well with rats and such things and according to my
adeas, where there are rats there also are' snakes. Now I am beginning to be¬
lieve that my theory was e mistaken one. The stream is nice and near camp
rushes over a fall about four feet high into a small and deep pool. There is
nothing in the pool, no fish, no turtles, no nothing, but it is a pleasant
spot to sit and is one of the few to which the sun penetrates. I have sat
there for the space of one cigarette and enjoyed it thoroughly. But to re¬
turn to science, I shall have another try tomorrow and, if the day is not more
productive shall consider returning to the Peach with the pack trr in the.t
brings the rations up on Tuesday.

Monday, 16 August 1948. My - comparison of j this- place with Tim$s Square tM

not a happy one; there are biways some sorts of
specimens that e worth watchah'g, but ' not here. About six very small microbes
came to -my light last night and I walked about a mile along the trail in the
dark and caught only one spider in my head-lamp beam, '•'•his morning I was out
for two hours and five minutes and never had need to fire a shot, wave the
butterfly net or even pick anything up with the forceps. In the afternoon I
took my laundry down to the river at the little fall, washed it and my old
body and caught two dragonflies.

I shall not be able to go out iomorrov; as I find that, Don has requi¬
sitioned the transport. He is as fed. up with the place as I am but happened
to be in ccmp yesterday when Len arrived and arranged for a horse.

As far as anybody can guess, the season is wrong for my departments and,
presumably, will get worse, I suppose. Now I at any rate am paying for the
delay in Cairns at the beginning. Of course I know very little about it but
my companions tell me that some rain would bring out all manner of flying and
crawling things. Even leaches do not seem to exist here though we passed
through a belt of country on our way up where the; bounded. I got through
unscathed but George and Don both got them and they even bored a way through
Willie's thick, hi chocolate-colDeed hide.

Our time is now becoming short. We must leave Coen on the 26th, ter.
days from now, and in between must get back to the Peach River and close up
camp there. After leaving Coen we must be in Laura by the 30th to catch the
weekly train on the 31st, for Cooktovrn, end ve must leave Cooktown by the 3oth
of September in order to pack our stuff at C: irns and catch the boat. Am the
ourside there are only six collecting weeks left and while I cannot ikr truth¬
fully say tty soul is in ny collecting, I do like to do well whatever job I
may be on. So I 3hall try to get into some place where there is something to
be collected as soon as possible.

Tuesday, 17 August 1943. In some respects it perhaps is a good thing that

there is little -doing in any of ny cep rtnents
since I have now had the cooking foisted bn me. I am . surprised only by
the feet that the job has not reached me' £s before now. Joe of -course is beck

«

128.

at the base of the Perch River, where Don has joined him today. I an remaining
here until the ccmp closes, presumably because I -m such a good cook.

has not been found

chased by hornets

I am writing this by daylight es George and Len want to go out ind set a
net with which to catch.- bats. That means they want an early supper and I had
better watch them or else they will eat tomorrow's breakfast as well.

Wednesday, 18 August 1948. Today was another bust from the point of view of

my collecting. I am to remain here until the 21st
or 22nd and there is no reason to expect that things will improve within that
space of time so I begin to feel that, excepting £» the four weeks at Cooktowr,
my organised collecting is about done. Of course there is the journey south
from C-oen and unexpected tilings and specimens sometimes appear; those I shall
mention if they are -orth it but I think, for the present I can drop that sub¬
ject and turn to things of more general nature.

This afternoon I went to the waterfall and later Roy joined me, first of
all, I think, to enlist my help in the matter of their return home. ^ The idee
was conveyed, after suitable expressions of appreciation of the good things
that have come to them, that they would prefer to return overland rather than
by ship from Cooktown to Thursday Island. They want to buy horses and ride,
which, since horses cost about the equivalent of $3.00, is not out of the way.
As far as I can see, we must pay their return trip anyway and we might save
money by buying them horses rather than steamer tickets, They Roy went on
with his war experiences, as follows, "I be in big ship going New Guinea.

Plane him bomb too much. Beeg, beeg bomb, like that rock,- fall this side, ralJ
that side. I c'ry.": Then he got into, family, relationships, which 'are -hard to
decipher at times' as they all claim to be.rel ted and it is not rare *-.or a gm
to point to another, younger than herself, and ss.y "That gin my mother. Koy
spoke of his brother-in-law and explained "Him marry my aunt's daughter. Him
my brother-in-law."

I have just finished splitting the rations we have in camp with George
for his Camp-Oven Pocket; we do not babe too much on hand but at the outside
there is only four days to go before we all meet at the Peech base, .shall
be glad when we get back to Coen as there will be an . ccumulc cion cn two .
planes mail and another one arriving the day after we get there. I am hoping
that some of our missing bills will by now have been sent to us and I shall
be able to make up a complete list of expenditures to date.

It has been cold here although the elevation is only 1,500 feet; when
-e ror,e thi* morning the thermometer read 58 and the water of the Et^e-_y- 'J
cold that one does not bathe just for pleasure. Down at Peach Gamp both water
and temperature are more comfortable.

Tuesday, 19 August, 1948. This has been another unproductive day and was

occupied mainly in getting George and Van ready
for their departure to pastures new, where they hope to find more and better
thing 3. I hope they will though they nave done very well here.

It as a couple of degrees warmer this morning. Then we rose, being 40,
but it is such an abrupt change form the lov-l-nds that I ah- 11 be glad on
that score also when we return to Peach Camp and to Coen. Len and I leave
here on the 22nd, since the missing packhorse came ambling into the camp
down below, but one is now laid up with saddle sores and only four came today
to remove the mammalogists.

Now they have been gone some hours ana I have to get supper ready for
Len,- Willie and myself. I have been doing fairly well, instructing the boys
in how to prepare stews for the midday meal and to render palatable what is
left of the stew for the evening meal. If only I could b ke bread, we would
not need Joe at all.

Friday, 20 August 1948. The day yielded me about ten •dragonflies find not very

much else - so much for the day.

I have bean thinking about the three blacks ana their wish to return
overland. I mentioned it to Len but he thinks we are committed to the Pro¬
tector at Thursday Island to return them % sea* It seems to. me though that
their idea is a good one and instead of having their pass: ge money simply
gone, for them to arrive in possession of a horse could do noticing but good
for all concerned;. It might be worth -while to write to the ^Protector.

**■ r v-. ;i 4 *•.%■ ' V-. ■% i-

’ V. i_ -■ f 1 ^ '* . ^ ...

On the subject of abbos, it seems to me that they are- not getting a
very square deal - of course they never have anywhere. But. here ‘it seems par¬
ticularly bad though the ultimate idea, that they cannot save anything them¬
selves and that their eai’nings, placed in the Protector's hands will eneble
them to live in their usual manner after they -are unable to work, is good.

The crux is of course the Protector himself and his interest, if any, in his
charges. Some of them quite plainly have no interest whatever and I should
guess that the Thursday Island man is one.

They offer a difficult problem but in war times are treated as are the
whites, so far as military service is concerned, and it seems to me wrong
to take them in times of trouble and when these times are over just to tell
them to go back to their hovels and treat me as a God again. So far as that
is concerned, I suppose not apply only to abbos; from the press we are led
to believe that some of the middle-European countries, or populations, I
should say, are in no better condition.

Len seems a bit under the weather today; tvice he has left what he was
doing and lay down on his bed fob a spell. I hope there is nothing wrong
as it will not be possible to get him out of here until the horses, arrive on
the day after tomorrow. Now I must fill my lamp and start considering what
part of our larder will be consumed tonight. It is a scanty, sketchy one, I
sm sorry to say. In fact I seem to be dwelling on it subconsciously - I was
wondering while v.rashing ny socks in the stream this afternoon which I would
take, wei'e I offered my choice between sea-food and steak.

Saturday, 21 August 1948. Len turned in last night shortly after I had fin¬
ished the above entry. He had been quite violently
ill and it may be that he has Somehow picked up a touch of the flu' which was
rife in Coen. He complained of having had a bad night when we roused this
morning end imsaedietely was ill again but after spending the greater prt of

the day lying dorm he seems c bit better now and has been able to eat and re¬
tain r little food, tomorrow morning vdll be pretty hectic, closing this
C2np and getting the horses loaded and everything back to the Perch so -I hope
the recovery is permanent.

I think I have, not given c very clear picture of this camp at all. he are
about three hours ride from the edge of the scrub, the western sude, that if?.*
and therefore deep in the forest. During our passage of tn-.: forest ve passed
the top of the dividing range and started dofln the eastern fall. Our car.p is
in a little clear glade but the forest wall is thick in every direction. A
lot of it is small stuff but here and there huge trees rear themselves up. The
little stream, rushing around and over the boulders in its bed, is only about
twenty yards downhill from camp and we have cut and worn a trail dora to the
washing place. Narrow trails nave also been cut in various directions as we
have gone about our business but they will be gone in a few weeks after we
have. The only really clear place, so far as forest is concerned, is the
stream bed which forms a narrow cleft in the dense vegetation. Along the
stream there are lots of the largest trees, many of them rotted at the roots
end le-ming upon one another, sometimes .panning the stream: itself as the
roots have given away and the trunk has fallen until brought up against an
equally large tree on the opposite side of the river.

Birds are fairly plentiful, to judge by their calls, though hard to see
but only in a few places', occasionally in our camp clearing but mainly.' on the
occasional rock outcrops along the river bed, where the sun can beat down,
do the butterflies, dragon-flies and a few other insects appear. They are
indeed few. Reptiles, snakes: particularly, seem non-existent save for e very
tiny lizard and the goannasj if they had not been taken in the traps and
brought in in that way, I should have doubted their existence also. In mam¬
mals only small things have been taken though a fairly good harvest of them;
of , course I do not yet know how George and Van are . doing in the new camp at
Camp-Oven Pocket, but we shall pass them on our way out tomorrow and I shall
hear then .

Sunday, 22 August 1948. This is being written back at the Peach Camp, there

we arrived somewhat tired. Len had another bad night
and evidently has a touch of flu’. He is off his feed but seems, to' be im¬
proving fairly veil and should be .quite fit by the time we leave.

The journey down was without event and I had the horse I had before,
still with its reluctance to go down steep gullies. It stopped and turned its
head questioningly every time we came to one end then, finally realising
that it might just as well do it without aany further bother, went dovh like
a whirlwind and pi'actically bounced up the other side.

he reached Camp-Oven Pocket about 4 P.W. end stopped for a few minutes for
a talk and a cup of tea with George and Van. I do not think they are getting
great quantities but ...re making some records, furthest north this thin was ever
found and so on. They presented me with a large black python, I think it is;
Roy found it under a rock and stunned it vlth a stone and I rim not sure whether
it is dead or alive. I - m not going to find, out tonight either ; but whall just
leave it in its sack until I can. see • 11 §bout it in the morning.

•* •

Joe .uid Dor. gave as 6. hearty , elcomV and it .as good to eat somebody
else':: cooking for a change. I r ally am not in Joe's class at all - he can

c a ..'te’ffod ;fi’uit whereas L did, not have enough, cooking
utensils, nor' the fruitj to. do that’; he also makes u-: confection he calls ^rice-
custard . much requires- flee ahd: dried hilk, neither of ;.mch I- had.. Y.'ell, .we
didn’t sv rve anyway.

Mondi r, 23 August 1948. As expected George and Van arrived in camp shortly

after 1 P.M. end as I expected a scene of great ac-
Tney had brought in a number of

tivity ensued, marred only by one thing
specimens and, like wise men, did not unpack then. The rest of us were very
busy end everything was well in ta h nu but for the one tiling. The truck
did not arrive.

That leaves us in something of an impasse which cannot be simplified un¬
til tomorrow. In all probability the truck will arrive some time in the
morning arid every tiling .111 go well. They did not undertake to be here to¬
night. But, on the other hand, in order to get us b ck louorror, tney should ^
have been uere tonight. Possibly they ,111 cone rol '.ing in after I have closed
this entry. But old Herb Thompson a doits that his memory is failing and we
know that nobody wants to drive out nere and get us, I shall simply have to
leave the whole thing in abeyance until tomorrow.

And, v.ith that subject removed from the agenda, what do I wrote about
laving no idee, probably the beau thing to do would be . to go tombed
but it is b rely 8 P.l. yet. I have done nearly m nour of night '.or. mng
but have got -hut I want and do not want to open up fresh, containers nor, so
that is out* X have packed all I csn until the morning so tnere is notning
in that line.

Sver. since his horse was bitten and stung by hornets, the; horse-boy has
been burning the long grass which covers tne scopes of the divining range.

They were smoking when we came in last night and Len toj-d hum no a to ao it.

So v hen he took hit nags out. to. get George this morning, what did he do'. He
set fire to what remained of the grass.

I have a book; I think I shall read it.

Tuesday, 24 August 1943. The paragraph with rhich yesterday* s entry was_

opened would apply just as well today except that
the day was spent not in packing but in waiting, and in .waiting fruitlessly.

No truck has yet arrived and! a full day has been lost thereby, be allowed a
spare day on the journey down to Laura and this is it. Ve shell still require
one clear "day at Coen to ad our.' packing end get tilings ready to be shipped
out from there, but ve iiave been liberal in our time cild<.ance for the .jour¬
ney and there is mother day available, tnere, should we used it-. But it. will
be token at the cost of collecting.

nit in with the horse— boy this morning and wus given a note to
vfnope job it '.as to it ve the truck here either last niuht or
To be an the safe side, sen and I will • _k in to peon - ir-
a distance of bout fourteen miles, from there re can tele-
1 only fin I o it ..alt lias gone wrong but also, e trust, be " b.
rfc shall start about dawn so that we can travel before the hen
; in; for myself I would much rather be doing something, even
in miles, than just sit hers, but ny hope of getting work done
dy to go out by Thursday* s plme has gone t.-glii oering.

the ’unpleasantness of our position, the sky has clouded over
L little rain, the first - since arriving at Coen. Of course
md shelters were dis .untied this morning, and only one lamp,
ible. though I don't too ; why the itusps em't unpack their

■1’ednesdt.y, 25 August 1943* It m f- not u:ybrea~.. • men Len ar.d I rose this

morning to lave breakfast and. get aw; y on our
long walk. Neither teag it fourteen rales, for that -matter.

V/e started from' camp about 6.15: the sun was not through and we. could
discern only rather vaguely at* first the trail' which we had to follow, hut
within a short time it was full daylight and the stumps of the trees cut
down to mike the road oh our inward passage became clear. Vie had. travelled
about ten miles, men we met Herb Thompson's truck coming in; the reason for
the delay was thau Herb's sonfein-lav?, who had 'been imported to work in the
hotel during Race Week, had to be taken out bo Fort Stewart and, had picked
.the day we ’.ere to be called ’for as, the one on which he vouid like to move
out. Blood is flicker than ’.rater so the expedition was held up .voile the
son-in-law was taken out.

Hither than return over the road we had already tracelled, Len and I sent
the truck on its way to Peach Camp and we continued our journey outward. It
n&s 12.15 when ?,e re-.- ciied the telegraph line, a distance •vanch later ;ie
truck speedometer as sixteen miles, , and, from -there we went .on to. the airport,
.another three miles,' making s toted for the nap of nineteen miles,

'Tie saw the plane come in' and by that time our truck also reached- the
airport as. there was a paseenget to be carried in to Coen. As a matter of
fact there werfe three' white ahd two black pa see ng ere so when we pulled but,
after - good be supplied by t ie airport keeper's life, young Th*s. ..ribrust,
oi^r truck had our complete Peach Gimp equipment, our party of nine, five

1, tc to ge t f .photo ot

La l urn— out. r :i' '

George vent in to Coen and ca e back • ith three weeks' ■■••ail and I was

, getting things attended to, before I could

even take tine to read :y persoiia^ ,jaail.. I

Thus ended our Rocky Scrub, visit. It was to- be one of the ms in objec¬
tives of the triplandsthe manual and plant departments did. well in t.ieir col¬
lecting, Iviy collecting whs .’a pain in the heed and my .-return a .worse pain in
the feet.'*

Thursday, 26 August' 1943* This has: been another hectic day as our .Goen com¬
mitments had to be settled, surplus - stores l ispoeed of, packing' to be -done
-and sundry other things . Leo Ferris', '

sent in a snake he load killed j it is .the genuine taipan, as far as I an able
to determine, and I am delighted to have it though it has been- considerably
mashed up, first by Leo -and secondly in transport. It Lad “to be skinned
ho never and th-itj on top- of :y other duties, seemed just too much but it his
been done. Then there are the boys - no sooner do I get settled to a job
than 'they ..come up and want some money and tobacco to go to Coen and have a
c-orroboree. It is all done now though and all I beve.-tp do is get my collect¬
ing' and personal gear packed for the journey south to Laure .

0 got a phone call through to Cooktown ail'd, have arranged for hotel necor-
odat'ions and our being met by a truck to get out stuff into ..arebouse for ex¬
amination and' refitting j I have arranged for our food end gag lies; I have
settled most of bur Coen bills: I have disposes surplus .locks here';. and ^pk
procured what is nice- y fir cor journey. How 'I an going to o p ay packing
and then give myself the pleasure of. reading 'again my personal mail of yes¬
terday, after 'writing r. f 6w letters to local people end “.ritiug to assure
Leo that to .the best of y knov ledge, he really dM. get a trips n this tine.

-It sounds a fairly modest programme out ..ill take uime.

Friday, 27 August 1948. This is being written from-a.plt-.ee named Edigooln,

the first of our one night stands on our way down
to Cooktown, and, for a change, our departure went off quite smoothly.

It was very Coll last night and getting up this morning and moving
about was rather pleasant. I had been up until after 11 last night, as had
the others, so. all the 'packing' fa® well. in hand. Joe went in to Coen and
came back to camp at some small hour singing loudly but at least he did
come back.

Our first cell in Coen aftep Reaving the Bend was on Walter Rose, the
postmaster and local corresp ondent, w i I 'had promised to let him know if
the sp ice Leo Ferris sent in really was z Taiwan. He was pleased to know
it was a d& I expect Leo <vill be featured, in the next issue of the North
Queensland Register. .Then I wnejt to . the ; 7.riubrupt,( house, to settle; pp pur
meet and dth!ar bills ihd, leh sent to the hotel t% do fciife sane with. Herb
Thompson, Everything -was done most da micJbly - Kerb gave Lenka bdttld of l
rum end !’rs.: A. gave me ; sort of tract about the drnbrusts, family of
pioneers. The police £orce. turned but to ' see us off and we • drove away
with sincere goqd^ wishes on. ril sides, including purs.

The road v'&s the usual narrow trail through overhanging treed 'and
Don, who had taken off his shirt, was rather budiy scr atched febotlt the body.
Otherwise there was little to write about nd, „ « •

reached Ebagoola about .4 P.t'. About .fifty years ago gold was found here
and a little Settlement sprang up, only to be abandoned again very soon
after as the reefs .-petered.: out. There is a delapidated stamping mill, a.
tin house and, a well dug bu the gover/iwent during the gold time, but of
course there :<r.e no residents though the place showsi in large priiit on the
maps. 7.'e ie'r-ve again at crack of dawn tomorrow, ar the trie to Musgrave is
-'about forty miles whereas Eb. goola ’was only twenty-six. Tie have cut our
load dorm . .gain. Mid are making fairly good time but cannot dawdle, because
of the dry lost on our return from the Peach

Collecting is supposed to be carried out at each camp -md I went ourt'
in the afternoon and again this evening. The .country is very much on the
order of the J; rdine, up north - sparse ti trees 'growing in n. randy soil,
k.itgt ;eV3fy outward appe-rance of possessing a dot of ■- arthral life, though
it is hard to; find. I got t -m -small li sards for try share, A ore ton osme in
ith a sen laby, ad George id V n, dio have just returned this evening,

po isiEi. ’.A;, gruve codes nest, £bme

time -late tomorrow evening.

Satur g, Ac m. ;t 1918. I h: ve jus t . at m .pies tic u :o those of my colleag¬
ues who are here ..id they don't jnov. the .? never, Leake
Sp.me.vnere in the Bible- there is, a phrase or verse to the effect "Thou shelt
bruise his head and he Shall Bit - I „ sal," Tire question uns shore in the
Bible and,: the reason v-as that I fell off the' truck and 'bruised' my heel.

Other than that it was an ordinary dav and I write from "usjgr; ve, the
bight stand. It was bitter c "

r : xneo t over id woke at some snr .ll hbqr, reached out and pulled s rubber

ground sheet, which : forms ...y bedside rug, over me. Our tents have, been abr-n-
aoned It Coen as our ren ining comas, Shiptbo’s Flat arid Mount Finnegan, “ill
be done in a, timber cutters f camp; arid under tfie sky respectively, ••.uid the only

-light anti bulk is.

greater, tiian our need for them so we are just setting up cots aid lying on
then 'these nights, he have descended today to an altitude of about ,400 feet
so there is reason to think we- shill be , comfortable enough.’

4

/

134.

Here, at Musgrave, is one of the telegraph line stations and there is
just the one house, owned by "Uncle8 Fred Shephard, who has done well and
is about retured on the proceeds of his cattle raising. Incidnetly, it is
always a matter of mild amusement to me that so many of these back-country
people have attained comparative wealthand yet are perfectly satisfied to live
under such very primitive conditions. But, getting back to Husgrave, it is
a change from the rest of the journey, which led through forty miles of the
same, unremitting, dismal, scanty forest, over the same double carttrack
in the sandy soil. There were occasional patches of slightly green grass
on which grazed Uncle Fred's cattle j there were occasional outcroppings of
rock and all the way along there were little holes and trenches dug by
miners making sample holes. There was no water at all during the whole
forty miles, and that is a fair sample of all this part of the middle of the
Peninsula.

Our camp now is at the edge of a large open measow and the forest has
receded from us but I aspect we shall be in it again tomorrow. Beside us is
a stagnant pool smelling strongly of sulphur and that not only is providing
us with our water in this camp but also supplies Uncle Fred and his household.
We have crossed the dividing range, about 1 P.M., and are now on the eastern
3ide of the water shed, but well inland. We shall not see the ocean until we
reach Cooktown, on the 31st.

The Hann River, named after an explorer of the early 1900's, is one of
the many streams and rivers which flow into Princess Charlotte Bay. It has
running water all year and should produce a good drink, if nothing more.

Sunday, 29 August 1948. Another of the same sort of day, one of blistering

heat so great that Van is a bit upset by it, following

a quite cold night.

Our journey was about fifty miles and our lot one of anthills and puffs
of dustj our destination, the Hann River, where I I am writing, was reached
about 1 P.M. after a start and continuous travel at 8 A.M. The forest is
getting more and more sparse and the country drier and drier. We pass through
great fields of anthills, mainly of three varieties - there are the tomb-stone
like magnetic anthills, thin and wide and about four feet high on an average?
they look like the tip of enormous table-knives stuck upright in the ground
and are blue-grey in color. They get their name from the fact that almost in¬
variably their thin top edge runs in a north and south direction. The next
most numerous are huge, cauliflower-like things, made from a light brown clay
or mud, and the third consists of a single sharp spire of spike rising from
the ground to a sharp point from three to five feet high. The double wheel
track threads between these things and as we come to a bare and dusty place it
looks as though we were bursting bags of flmiux flour and tossing it behind us.

The Hann is a narrow stream at present though all these small brooks and
the hundreds of dry stream beds we have crossed, will run with water when
the wet season starts in three or four months. It will be a great pleasure
when we can look again on green grass but I am not quite sure when we shall
do so. Tomorrow we reach Laura, after a sixty or seventy mile run and the
next day the raim-raotor takes us to Cooktown but I am sure there is no
green grass there.

My bruised heel is still quite painful and I shall not do much walking
about today. I have been to a sort of lagoon, or wide pool opening off the
river which I shall look at after dark, but it is only a few hundred yards

135.

Monday, 30 August 1948* Laura, and what a place is Laura. We arrived soon

after 1 P.H. after the sort of drive that has now
become a daily event, not only for the past four days, but ever since we
passed Brown's Creek on our way to Wenlock. Last night was a trifle warmer
and today was correspondingly hotter - so much hotter is it that in spite of
the fact that we have all been living in the open for several monthsand are
leathery and weatherbeaten, we all developed new sunburns on our faces. All
except the blacks, that is, and it was rather amusing to see them slowly
change from their rich ebony shade to a dull white as the dust of the jour¬
ney settled over their features.

We passed the usual number of dry river beds and dry gullies; in fact
we passed no running water of any kind at all, and about 1 P.M. we crossed
the Laura River, a hundred yards of dry, coarse sand. After surmounting the
steep bank of the further side, Laura itself swum into view through the heat
haze. There are four houses, of the uniquitous corrugated iron, surrounding
a really lovely mango tree, under whose shade a solitary drunk was sitting.

One of the four shacks is a pub. But there are the railway lines and we are
now installed in the station, another corrugated iron shack which, with our¬
selves and our baggage, is now filled to overflowing. Soon the people who
live here arrived to call on us; some of them we had met at the Coen Races
and many, knowing our odd desires, brought gifts of specimens they had pick¬
ed up here and there. As a result I was busy from the time we moved in, at
1.15, until well after 8 P.M., fixing specimens and doing up my books. In
a minute or so I am going over to the pub with Joe for a nightcap.

The Hann River was a fly- and mosquito camp; both were vary bad though
here we are clear of the flies. I mode went out in the evening, following
the river to a spot where a twelve foot croc had been reported; of course
there was no sign of it and probably the report is fifteen or sixteen years
old. But I did manage to get a bit of work on my mail - I cannot answer ful¬
ly and have had to abstract the letters and note the things that were of chief
whH«t importance. I hope that somehow I can fit in time tomorrow to get
answers done but in any event we leave here somewhere about 1.30 and travel
along those lines that stretch so seductively toward the civilization of Cook-
town. What the train will be like and what our Cooktown movements are going
to be, I must leave until tomorrow.

Tuesday, 31 August 1948. One thing that I forgot to state yesterday was that

there was a water fwxwbwxw famine in Laura when we
arrived. We had to take the truck out about four miles, borrow a forty gallon
container and fill up there.

Our morning passed without event and at 11.30 the rail— motor arrived. It
looks much like one of the old-time open trolley cars and dragB a closed bag¬
gage van behind it. Our party and baggage filled the train to a great extent
but perhaps a total of twenty passengers got aboard somehow, including three
nurses who had come up with the train just for the ride. The journey from
Laura to Cooktown is about seventy miles and we left at 12.30, to arrive about
4.30. Our agent here, Lewis, met us and our baggage now reposes in his ware¬
house, waiting repacking and replenishing tomorrow.

It was about the middle of April when we put in for a few hours during the
Lochiel journey; at that time I did not see Cooktown by daylight and electricity
lends fictitious values. The place, even after our months in the bush, looks
more like an oversize Laura than anything else I can think of. Smxkxxxx From
Laura rhe country was the same arid sort of land that we have had ever since
leaving the Tozer district and while there is a nice little bar here, Joe is on
the verge of falling down now, the light though electric is so
barely lee what I a£ writing/ Now I shall quit and try to get some mail done.

136.

Wednesday, 1 September 1943. This has been one of my busiest days* checking

of stores, writing of letters, packing of equip¬
ment all had to be done somehow but has. Van has been too sick to do ve ry
much though it seems that an upset stomach is the trouble. Joe has been drunk
«n day, Len had to go and meet Marie, his wife, at 2 P.M. and of course we
hare seen little of them since. Don has been running around about his own
business, the three blacks prudently kept out of sight completely, so that
leaves George and myself.

The laundry we sent out this morning came back in time to be packed but
was far from clean. However, at least it was a job that we could have some¬
body else do, for a change, and was that much of a help.

As a consequence of the abowe, I have not been able to see much of Cook-
town by daylight yet and we shall leave fairly early tomorrow morning. I do
have to walk down to the post office and air freight station so shall be able
to form some impressions then, I hope, but I cannot do much about describing
the place just yet. As for our outward journey, there will not be much time and
we shall probably land here in the afternoon of the 28th and leave that night
for Cairns. There iB a weekly boat but that of the following week would not
give us time to do the jobs that have to be done in Cairns. All in all this
last month promises to be about the most hectic of the lot.

1 don’t q quite know what Marie* s destiny is — Len has spoken of taking
her up to Ship ton' s Flat with us, which might serve to put Joe on his mettle
a bit. Joe was so far gone that he burst into tears on being presented to
Marie, overcome with the pathos of it all. He then had a short sleep and went
back to the bar. But, getting back to Marie, I shall simply have to write on
that subject later also. I found time this morning to have my hair cut, the first
since Thursday Island on May 31stj most of it fell down my neck and I shall now
go and have a shower to get rid of it.

Thursday, 2 September 1943.
and it is.

It is appropriate, sinee this is the last camp
save for subsidiaries, that it should be the best.

We left Cooktown about 11 A. M. in the truck of a lad names Norman Wat]
who lives at a place called Helenvale, about nine miles north of the Flat,
should be understood, with these named places, that there is usually only
house there, and at Helenvale there is only the house of the Watkin's. I
a bush hotel and also bears the name of "The Lion's Den Hotel". Itin
|g|£|en 5!11 ygjjt ^S^t there and really it is a very c

After lunch we moved on up to Shipton's Flat, nestling under the shadow
of Mount Finnegan, which looms high above and looks something of a climb. But
when we got to the Flat we found a small village of abandoned huts, clean, white
large and divided into cubicles so that we have private bedrooms. It is just
about as luxirious as the Commercial Hotel, Cooktown. We moved in with prompt¬
ness and pleasure, Len and Marie having one of the huts, the blacks having
another and the rest of us sharing the largest of the lot. I am not sure when
work was finished ly the lumber people who erected and used to occupy the huts,
but they are in excellent condition.

able certainty that instead of going prospecting to the Escape River or col¬
lecting for the Queensland Museum as he proposes to do, hit stake will go
in the first few bars he reaches after we pay off and he will be on the beacj
again. I have no doubt that he has a bottle somewhere in his swag now and
will not get on an even keel again until that has gone. Being left to his
own devices this evening while preparing supper (the rest of us were busy un¬
packing collecting gear) it was found that he had opened every case of pro¬
visions we had brought with us in a search for some salt. I found it later
in the case which he had opened third, of the dozen or more that we had.

In referring to the Commercial Hotel, Booktown, I remember that I have
not attempted any kind of description of the place or the town. The town
fits somewhere between Laura and Cairns and at one time had a population of
several thousands, most of them being Chinese who had followed one of the
gold rushes. At that time Cooktown was still basking in the fact that Cap¬
tain Cook had tied his ship, the Endeavour, to a tree on the side of the
river, named after the ship, to careen her. The tree is still there and a
monument tells of the tree’s place in history. That all took place before
Cook had claimed Australia for the British Crown, which he did some weeks
after the Cooktown episode, at a place off Cape York tip named Possession
Island. It is an historical fact that Hook did not know he was on a small
island when he planted the flag and claimed possession of the whole conti¬
nent, on which he thought he was. But to get back to Cooktown, it lost its
prominence and most of its population when the miners and stockmen further
north ceased sending their shipments out through Cooktown and instead used
a road which was constructed to a point a lessen distance away. How the
place has sunk to a population of a few hundreds, mostly elderly, and is get¬
ting smaller and smaller every year; at present it has the status about of
a frontier town but is on the down rather than the up grade.

The hotel, the Commercial being one of three, is a barn-like, ramshackle
place and cannot possibly be paying its way; neither can the other two as each
of them must have a certain payroll and rarely do the number of guests exceed
the number of employees. In the case of a visit of such a party as ours, six
whites and three blacks, there is great joy and our departure is deplored.

Len said this morning that he heard the ine in the grocery store, where I had
just placed our order for supplies for the coming three or four weeks, remark
"If only we got an order like this every day, there would be some use in hav¬
ing a store in Cooktown."

It struck me as very odd this morning when riding our on the truck, that
it seemed so normal and natural and the two days in the hotel so strange and
unusual. It is rather shocking that civilization can wear off so quickly and
the bush existence take such strong hold in such a short time. It will be
well, I think, to get back and start to follow manners and customs again for
a while.

Friday, 3 September 1943. It was down to 53 degrees last night and all hands

felt it a bit, particularly the boys; Moretom was
around early asking for "rubbing medicine" which, unfortunately we do not have.

I have spent most of the day in getting books and so on up to date. I
have not done so since June 10th and there was quite a lot of stuff to be
done. It is finished now, however. Len and George went out with two of the
blacks to examine the trail to the top of Finnegan and so far not much col¬
lecting has been done. I think we shall all be able to make a good start
on it tomorrow unless there is trail-cutting to be done.

Len and George, with two of the blacks, made an early start this morn¬
ing and prettu nearly reached the top of Finnegan. George got to 3,500
feet and the mountain is 3,700? The absence of water may cause a slight
change in plans; apparently there is only one place on the mountain side
where there is any water so we may have to make just one subsidiary camp
there, instead of two, as originally planned. There is not likely to be
much difference in the results, for that reason, as the water that there is,
is pretty high up.

The impending break-up of the expedition looms high in everybody's
mind; last night Hoe told me confidentially and alcoholically that we were
fine people and he had learned a lot from us. Today, sobered up a bit, he
asked if we could leave him some traps. A lot of stuff is not worth freight¬
ing back and we can easily fix him up, but it is doubtful if he will ever
do any of the things he speaks of.

S&turday, 4 September 1943. I don't know that I have anything much to write

about today; my heel, injured some time ago by
the fall from the truck between Ebagoula and Musgrave, has prevented my going
out Yery much and until I am able to do so, I cannot tell much about the sur¬
rounding country. That it is not teeming with wild life I can say without
any reservation, in spite of the stories told to us.

The population of Shipton' s Flat, which promising burg is about three
quarters of a mile nearer Cooktown than we are, consists of Jack Roberts, a
bushman, end his wife; Jack told me today that the whole place teems with brown
snakes and death adders, but the best time to get them is midnight. I doubt
very much if there are any snakes about at all; it is very cold every night,
down to about 53 degrees, and the snakes are either hibernating or have moved
somewhere where it is a bit warmer. I have hobbled around the clearing about
our camp, ihe old sawmill, and have garnered a few crawling things but no
snakes at all.

The plans for Finnegan seem to have boiled down to two camps; one will
consist of George and Moreton and will be at the junction of the open forest
and the scrub, end the other, comprising everybody else except Mrs. Brass, Joe
and myself, will be further up the mountain, at the last water. I &ave been
given a sort of roving commission and shall visit both but probably shall re¬
turn here for the night though George, Can and I may put in a period from the
9th until the 11th together on the mountain side somewhere. My heel is badly
bruised underneath with the result that whenever I take a step, I land plumb
on the bruise, so my walking is limited though I am sure a couple more days of
taking it easy will fix me up. There is talk also of leaving here rather be¬
fore the 27th, which ends our collecting, and moving back toward Cooktown, mak¬
ing interim camps as we go; the fault with that is that it involves more trans¬
port and animals than we can easily procure, so we are somewhat uncertain at
present.

With quiet pride, Mrs. Brass announced tonight that she had hit a tree
with “that rifle". Inquiry brought forth the fact that she had hit the trunk
of a tree about twenty yards away with a charge of Number 6 from a 12 gusge
shotgun but we made no comments.

Sunday, 5 September 1948. This morning, injured heel and all, I started up the

Finnegan trail, thinking I would go as far as I could,
collecting as I went, and then return. However at the first turn-off, it looked
more interesting that way and I took it. Soon after taking the right fork I came
to the stream which supplies us with our water ,Parrot Creek, and decided to follow
it back to camp. In doing so, I renewed the foot trouble but it was well worth it.

139

M * • *

The stream, where I met it, was about twenty feet in width, end I followed
it downhill, of course, in order to get back to camp. Soon it passed over a
wide expanse of flat sheer rock and the water is so low that only small runlets
of shallow water completely crossed the expanse of rock. They joined again and
plunged into a gorge about fifty feet deep and as many feet wide. The water ran
as one stream, leaping down tne or twenty feet here, rushing under a natural
stone bridge there, still confined into the gully which condensed the water some¬
times into a narrow rushing flume only a couple of feet wide, end then letting it
expand into deep pools ten or twelve feet across. It was not possible to get
down to the water as the bottom twenty feet of the gorge were sheer, but I scram¬
bled along the top; having travelled three or four hundred yards in that was, we,
the stream and I, came to a place where there was another flat expanse of rock, sixty
or seventy yards across and I was able to get down to the water level again.

Here, as at the top of the gorge, there was not nearly enough water to completely
cover the width of the stream bed but again at the foot it was pent into a small
compass until, gradually the drop lessened, the streak widened and eventually
I came to the place where our canvas wash-basin reposed.

My foot was in bad condition again/f after the scramble along the edge of
the gully and I was glad enough to get back to camp, where I found everybody
at lunch; I had been out much longer than I thought.

Tomorrow morning Len, Van and Don, with two blacks, set out for the top
Finnegan camp and the next day George and ttoreton move to the Scrub camp. I
shall not attempt to reach the top of the mountain and indeed shall be lucky
if I can walk tomorrow but on the 9th I shall join George at the Scrub. By
that time the others will be back from Finnegan and also, I hope, I shall be
in decent walking condition again.

My collecting was fair but confined to the crawling rather than the fly¬
ing things; I got two lizards new to this area, one of which was new to the
collection, and also took three varieties of scorpions and two of centipedes.

One at least of the scorpions is new. At the top entrance of the gorge I saw
at its foot two large lizards climb from the water; I shot one but unfortunately
it fell back into the water. At least, I was saved a difficult climb down to
get it. Snakes are completely absent or in hibernation and flying things,
butterflies, moths and dragonflies are rare enough to be counted on the fingers.

Even the light trap at night fails me and my evening catch consists usually
of half a dozen tiny little microbes.

Tomorrow is Labor Day in the D.S. and three weeks from tomorrow we come
to the end of the expedition.

Monday, 6 September 1948. There was something of a commotion before the Finne¬
gan party got away this morning. There were two
peck animals to be loaded and there was no problem with the first but the
second, a mare, created something of a furor. Everything had been loaded that
had to be and a surcingle was being set around the mare and the load; Len was
tugging at one end when suddenly there was a crack and the leather broke. The
loud snap disturbed the animal which started to buck, quickly the nicely bal¬
anced load was distributed over the landscape, but the horse was quieted and
the operation started again, this time with a broad webbing strap from Len* s
crying (sic) equipment in place of the broken surcingle. Again the load was
balanced and the strap applied, to hold this time. The cavalcade started off
and the mare took a deep breath, upon which the strap parted with another loud
report. Again the load was scattered to the four winds as the mare, thoroughly
frightened by what she had done, started again to buck. It was not until the
third attempt, this time with a new surcingle which Jack Roberts sent his boy

« * ■ * 9

140

back to Shipton’s flat to get, that they finally managed to get away.

I busied myself after that by cutting a trail in to the open rock expanse
over which Parrot Creek runs and spent the rest of the morning soaking my heel
in one of its pools but the rolling of stones under my foot made things unfom-
fortable.

In the evening the horse boy came down with a note from Len saying that a
tree-climbing kangaroo had been shot by Roy; that was one of the main reasons
for coming up to this camp, since that variety is new to the Museum, not only
to our collection. Between that kangaroo and my two taipans I feel that we
have had a successful trip.

Just as we had finished our supper Jack Roberts and his wife came to call,
which about ended the evening. I had hoped to be able to get some business and
other letters written but shall Tcl ve to wait until tomorrow.

Tuesday, 7 September 1948. This day was not marked by anything in particular

and it is not too easy to find anything to say about
it. George caught a small goanna in his traps, the first we have had for the
area; I saw one the first time I went to the waterfall of Parrot Creek and shot
it but it fell into the swiftly moving stream. This morning I went again to
the fall and saw another; it saw my shadow on the water and was into it before
I could have raised my gun.

In the afternoon George and Moreton moved out to establish a camp in some
rain forest only two or three miles away; they had no difficulty this time with
Jack Roberts* pack animals but on arrival Keorge found that he had forgotten
his cameras. I shall probably take them out to him tomorrow morning; I feel
that I can walk that far and as I am going out to the camp for two or three
days I had better see what sort of place it is and what I shall need there.

The mall comes in tomorrow morning by pack from Cooktown so there may be
clerical work to be done in the evening and certainly there will be mail to go
out the following morning; the horses take two days for the trip to Cooktown
so we shall not be able to catch the Thursday plane south. There wre two
planes weekly connecting Cairns and Cooktown however and I think the other
leaves on Monday morning.

The weather seems to be warming up somewhat with the new moon; last night
I could have done without my socks and shall leave them off tonight but the
windbresker is still an essential. The midday heat is blistering but about
3*30 or 4 P.M. there is a most pronounced and noticeable drop in temperature.

Wednesday, 8 September 1948. Again I have little to relate in this and soon

must think of some other subject than the scar¬

city of news.

Australia seems rather to run by moons, new and full, and with the adven1
of the new one, the weather has turned warmer. It is no longer necessary to
wear socks in bed, as I said yesterday, and tonight I may even try leaving the
windbreaker off. Midday today I walked into Shipton* s Flat to get the mail,
only about a mile total, and was dripping when I returned. I think a bath and
a bit of laundering is the program for the afternoon.

Len got in from the Finnegan camp at noon and reported good mammal col¬
lecting there. Of course there has not been a report from George and I doubt
if I shall be able to get up to see him this afternoon; the foot is still not
too comfortable and since I cannot use my heel, all the weight goes on the ball
of the foot which was smashed a long time ago.

141

Thursday, 9 September 1948. So far I hare not hit on a subject which would

both be appropriate to the expedition and also
give me something to write a^out so I have to confine myself to the day’s
small activities.

Van and Don came down from the summit of Finnegan this afternoon and I
went up to George’s camp this morning . Both places produced a good quantity of
mammal specimens but I have decided that I shall not move permanently to
George’s camp although Van and Don will go up on Saturday. It is a bare forty-
five minutes walk from here bo I shall go there for the day and evening, return
after dark, doing my night collecting on my way down, and sleep and have break¬
fast here. That will save the trouble of transporting all my camp and collect¬
ing gear, other than what 1 carry in my haversack anyway, and since we have
only two pack-horses to do the whole job, it seems distinctly a good idea.

With the advent of slightly warmer nights and correspondingly better days,
it is possible that a number of things will emerge from wherever they have been.
All my departments are very inactive but there is just a chance that a new
batch of flying things may grow before long and that the reptiles will come out
from their places of hibernation. They will have to do it with speed as we have
only seventeen days left now before traps are lifted for the last time. George
feels that two or three days more will be all he needs at his camp, on Rossville
Creek, and what happens after that is somewhat indefinite. This evening Len
asked me to join him in a one-day climb to the top of Finnegan; it would mean
about eight hours climbing, either up or down, and three hours collecting at
the top. If my foot recovers enough and no other camp has been opened, I shall
most likely do it, but I am beginning to be really disturbed about the foot.

For the first time since our arrival here, I slept last night without my
windbreakerj as a result I woke shivering somewhere about 5*15, but there really
is a change for the warmer in the weather.

Friday, 10 September 1948. A carpet snake had to be skinned this morning and

I was in no particular hurry to get up to George’s
camp anyway so arrived there just before noon, carrying with me, it later de¬
veloped, our whole supply of bread for both camps; George needed bread anyway
and Joe called to me that the bread was on the table, while I was packing my
gear. Coming into the kitchen a little later I saw several packages and a new
loaf, which which Roy and I between us loaded into our packs and then moved off. I
found out later that the new loaf was just out of the oven and had been put on the
table to cool, while George’s bread was in one of the wrapped parcels.

Roy and I got to the camp, had lunch there and then George and Roy came back
here; it was on George’s return up there that I learned that I had stolen all the
bread.

That camp is in rain foreat and right on the bank of a tributary stream of
Parrot Creek, which supplies the lower camp; it seems fairly promising ground
and I should get some things up there during the period of the camp. I stayed
until a couple of hours after dark and then started back, to find within fifty
feet of the camp a death adder. The other one I got was banded in a sort of

orange and cream effect (that was at Iron Range, where the ground is red) but

this one is banded in grey-black and olive, taking after the colors of the
forest. It showed clearly enough in my headlamp but otherwise would have just

melted into the shadows of the grass. They have a record of about 40-50% mor¬

tality with their bites and I stepped carefully for the rest of the way down to
the base camp.

I am very glad to have the snake and very glad also to clear it out of the
vicinity of George’s camp.

or; xJpUrft
/}; «'!;■ 50;
’fejo air*

iV-iffl 4

o2 .m-

\t€ ,Q\3£wZS&G.

.’Isl'/iX'

.00 Civ

i ucit

m?. 3a S.

o& ifii

rf 4 i

BKkjtne

it% %£o T in-re :< sdl .-nctT

ev

:0j»-4<

3WI

:ife. ;4-

4 ir . ox iX

p<fe?4!tl

: & i .

Me

*j'X5 £}•

>;0& $££$£: £10 u £f& £Urf

(*|teaJ» 35e^lO»>0 <4* q*?

I , ^ne^iioeqs; X:
aV j&ufei&Mbfl. c*-. so a *«}

KC’tl stDiW 'b&tvMts^ or.

f ':'> Y

x*

- ivO oisa; <$$*•', J
tVjjt* -q* awR.’.tf' Suite

XjjUliK :C.:1»t'tC* .It sXdDdlTaiX- toVXJ

: T s .i-.ar

ifb®8Sce'V-.<ii. '15s.

Ihti^p X* tf.-jfw fsswi#- iyfiito tr,.'ac'i<’

X£» bj>3C(9 3

30 1 &J

iUlJ

a#«wd&s£*i

.P,.:£^

r*o:

VMi

>Sagd 'r.I^iiibiioqiio^oo •jais^wSB *0 JoeviMfi oii?

.I v-a.’i't -. ttvi?' :'ariTv 150 it. £ii£w To •'jo<»BRK» x v so/" t».t'.: -f. 'i*’oq v t

■ i-- Ssflfi tt.vfirfiio b Tfeu* hjt ’ssiotsi*' #k-J- evlToArl; "lav '-o';^ .’^a X£fe

X.t i;v aJfXjLO'qs'i arid s Lw ^ubX- voijj .v* Jsblv.IXx *0- dolca

>£ Xasi^- #&# .t.t Ot-.ob'oWsf! i£ i» %$f .flcil^oaxu to seoaiq roil

»- r+ -it .-:- eifb-i 1 *rr* t r's il ff' ^’r:- ,-iC i-,*-r.t JtiKcT&G ItCS Sj.i).i. .Ji'Vi'.S- Y-ChO -

i-xi-T: TjE-xsi ««£ x*) jtii-iwxts lf- Qooqiq "iXsiLiT iro*ii

Hk '• ac . atiictffcE *siccf Tt© ■s'Vt&b -uqoTnntqi.'i “/Xiro -
'iJap'Ji co 2x0 T* f&ieo* '6u‘ ■ XXfi • 90 'a.^ ' 9^? W;v0^'.

E3tX ijiiit’SV’O -. fX'ifJX - .1 • r’J XXiSX 8.rlOqq.-^ 0 <»*; f: .i/Hif t-iOt XY

;sa»- ■; Icoy- si iw&>pfii£K 'Xi YvJ ii-Lv VS >■ :'. 3 - -■ '^: -

•£.' tjixi^tK'XXoO abi!‘to -09*tisj3' &cuj. tf.'i7vfc. 10 qj'.T leiXXXo ' \y3xdcfiXo ^ $TSfc>4
is * ' bsfi'Bijp n tx. 0 jj'srf cjf ivo vb ^3 x v n .ji'j. ■ s*ts'7 c tioi . Tco^ \ic il

ov i Oiio yifeefy Ci^'C' xc "irXXiiO^T bxf cY ^ i ^ ■-■ X c*X "^Xx'^XJX vtio^i

,(Oooii' di-si'£i
iiO'/i'iiX'i’ijrf -:? -

i i vg4& &r t».

2 :*6iif .0HS lot

jj.JlOtai? i- "’^v ^ 1 f. 3i.^S Id* i Tr 2. '■

■ . :■' r..;

'S-f|.q'.'OK i-JUSi borxii.?(e «d . oi? Jq«fi eai.feaB S&q’xz&'-h- >«•*
nXo^.ttdoD oX. iqif r4 l-elboiv'-iSoq 'qifi «J I#* • t

‘ wV.-M ^ 't'f-s.T*!; ^ .'h f - • ■ r*\n f> X f . VJtf rV-^Tiaf) - f;\K\iT ^ '1 D "1 0

• *■-»»# *%»♦• u a. <t "- ' --^v— >- - ■+- \_ •■■ •':,v s, *- • * ■* »

!<. •;•; : fejr ilb Df-iZf&XE fcJ/JCfcC .'7 , ili'Oti lO*.. Od.OilH J.C- *Y

n?ir ;ft£A$£-c. Ei£t i fti./ias

S^X r„ iu 0 dJE * -rd' OX'i -

^©XdoT ; 0X4 fib, 31

*v:Xi"*fi Oe ^arfi^bE -- t-^eiss-
B sioilw ILK . tii1Si®tfXdT
>ii&’;d obT oi ijalli'-.o ©cl f*Wr'

v aoSft'Jfosp- £®Tlgj?"*(
- (£&&$ /OXt<; ftx

f::; «.: ;! fyi;.l{ '.•{>'•

pi'tiJ

?. r-\wtp**}! >?>s':v ^ 0 J.v *j i.-’.' TV ;40fiOO; •££“ ^£;i»T otel gljiuiOw- ;xt.Q6*g

afofi-fc , oJ'oX ■ &t?)b»cX si: neefiyOo X feoij lioiifr Lk;i:^r tTscX
* • fsenr/. .vij,fo Taut s tfoo Tfi# Xw.'X if&bjl To'c 'X'Uoo'i

- ©IXO'if ..

OT »Xbt«r

^'jf/jS- .es^iOaO -<s©fiT ofi-i# . ffbftti'X Jirfa' »qsso ofsl OT Wv 'Ix T

sTa bad . 1 St'J&i btiivisiki i w'jsp.T -OtseKT- <?£>' i-Y-bj# e i

./j^vaid

; xi.ftTu’XiiX |>r,i© ^os^' ofiT bo Tilg'ti- fci*c. d'taoioT .rion £ti si ^®b ^fcf i
gr.f?>t j‘;orft*iy j'S-OBf? Xi ,j,£JlR8fJ i- 'fih%dx> 9fXi UOX—'^uilfc fi©' -{toSlObi '

.'•■■^Aa» ©dT to toXrreq ,o4T'. %aJ.,wi oia/tX. ok a^ftiriX ©fi:oa isg biliods

jX'XjUb.b^XXi’' eiubii' To -slqmo > Ix.+au

:.t f3©r<u?i0' so

" y ^

1. y t; - i» *J

se&&& dXaai* a

Citfi^O -

f5 £& y*. fiStT

'.jj'lEX- 3 •^XvEf

&‘zei}%

-^"0J i'i ^ 1 tJ»

is.,’O0lt

? ixn/* '^^70

doc s)tl 19

;Jf'y m. iyii

fc^ffXJ-O; &J2& ’AM

^Xd— V©*t^ Cii j&6

<b00l'

SH: tv' eX&i*

t>;r OcXa.i«dX

0 ■

i-joAXo bsd vi'b 'aX, flti'b

> .vji^ ^0 Xo 0$

'*0*04161

.7 X .T&bicl

J>Oiuf to 010

£^©*^ 49

juuT .'’Oj.'JJ: r:

■d). ic ^orx,^

9fit

oXtti iJpT Xsrr

: bt’t tjOlo

X apb a&ltb 9

ds-j.4. srTil.#

. ^ J*, , ■ •

iisi» >Csbv Im'e ©&•««? adv ©veil vi oixfe xi&? uia I ••>;

i .v. ?**. r* .. +. a. l— .

Saturday, H September 1948. This morning Van, Don and I started up to George’s

camp with two blacks and two pack animals. Last

night was warm again but the going was easy and we had no trouble of any kind.

The day itself, after we got ihere, was not especially exciting, culminating
with strong wind and some rain; there was not much, just enough to persuade all
the creatures I had expected to pick up on my way back after dark to stay in

their respective lairs. Don got a fair number of birds and George and Van were

planning to go out with jack-lights shortly after I left, but the weather being
what it is, I doubt if they will get much.

They plan now to stay up there until Wednesday, so I shppose I shall go up
daily until then, and the day after they return here, they speak of moving out of
this camp entirely and getting somewhere nearer Cooktown. That place and the
country nearer to it than we are here is the locality where a number of creatures
which we have not yet taken have been found and as our time now is so short, X it
seems reasonable for them to go to where those things are.

For myself, I don’t quite know what I shall do; owing to the season I am
pretty well out of luck in all departments, both here and elsewhere, but else¬
where would at least be a change though I hate to give up these comfortable
quarters. I think I shall wait a day or in so before deciding as they may
change their plans anyway.

Sunday, 12 Deptembar 1948. Again simply a day of routine with nothing very much

to enliven it. The rain last night prevented Van
and George from getting anything with their lights just as effectively as it did
me and that part of the forest seSms to be about collected out now. Moreton and
Roy, with Jack Roberts' boy, Muggie, spent the whole day out today and came back
sompletely empty-handed.

I shall go up there again tomorrow but shall make that the last time; on
Tuesday I shall get at the mail and on Wednesday the camp is going to be broken
up anyway. Also I have decided that I shall not move out with the mammal party
on Thursday; mail goes out that day, supplies will be coming in on Sunday and in
general it seems better that I stay here, particularly as their plans are un¬
certain and it is necessary that I be more or less fixed. Collecting would pro¬
bably be better for me elsewhere and certainly could not be worse, but the other
jobs which fall to my lot seem to make it inadvisable.

Monday, 13 September 1948. This is the first of my trips to the mountain camp

and now I am back, having finished my last little
Red Riding Hood trip, with the big bad death adder after me through the dark
woods. George and the others will come down on Wednesday and on Thursday will
move out of the area. So far as I know, the rest of us will stay here th/ough
there is nothing much to be caught and I myself am still pretty well crippled.

On my return hsre I found that Len had inadvertently left the rum bottle
out and Joe had been at it; Jack Roberts was here also, as he has been every
night wince we arrived but fortunately he does not drink. Marie Bwass, having
first decided to go out last Sunday, changed her mind to tomorrow and now has
picked a week from tomorrow. We, all of us, are due in Cooktown with the job
completed, two weeks from today, so I think it quite possible that she will
decide to wait until then.

Tomorrow I shall have to get into the job of mail and supplies and there
will be incoming mail on Wednesday. I hope the answer to a number of questions
will be in it - where we sail from, the date, the stops the ship will make and
the many other things about which we are uncertain.

g» fc«ifrryyr*iTa»pfcmfcniti?jtoxx»tfanqnraiMBag«x

Thursday, 14 September 1948. The most noteworthy event of the day was a bath and

swim in a pool up at the entrance to Parrot Creek
Gorge, which may give a rough idea of the rapid tempo at which we live. The next
most important is the fact that loe has been drunk all day, and not on our rum;
the only other source seems to be the preserving alcohol, so we shall send it all
out with George when he moves out on Thursday.

I had a fairly restful day today and made no attempt to climb the mountain;

I have an idea that my mountain-climbing days are over anyway. George and Van
come down tomorrow and their last few days have been about as blank as mine, ex¬
cept for the tun-of-the-mill stuff they got in their traps. Their hunting and
jacking has produced nothing whatever the last few evenings.

There are less than two weeks left now; in fact two weeks from tonight we
shall be on our way down to Cairns with everything finished, rather a pleasant
thought, I find. The boys are to be sent back to Thursday Island by plane and
Joe will be left to his own devices in Cooktown. He has grandiose ideas, is
going prospecting to the Escape River, is going to collect for the Queensland
Museum, is going to plant paw-paw trees all over the Cape; though I don't know
why, but it is my guess he will go on the beach at Cooktown though he did ask me
to send his money in to his bank. Of course he draws checks against it as fast
as it gets there so it will be interesting to see what does happen to him but
we shall never know.

A mood is upon me tonight, I think; we have all had enough for the present,

and need to get away from it, including Joe and the blacks. So the fact that

there are only two more weeks is one to be approved.

Wednesday, 15 September 1948. Today was mail day and bucked me up considerably

because it meant a great amount of activity for me,
in the sense of work to do and to accomplish. Also it is the sort of work, on
mail days, which does not entail any damage to or pain in my foot.

Amongst the mail there was a letter from Charles Wilmot, brother of the
wartime British Minister of Supply, whom I met on the Marine Phoenix, informing
me, having launched the Australian tour of Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh and

the Old Vic Company, he had returned to England and was now back in Sydney until

May. Charles told me there was a vacant bed in his apartment in Sydney and I
think I shall take him up on that. I feel the need of civilized amenities.

There also was word from the Protector of Abbos that Roy would be permitted to
take his father. Monkey, from Wnelock back to Cowall Creek. It simply involves
somehow finding a ship which will call at Portland Roads, getting our boys on
that ship instead of the plane for which we had reservations, arranging for trans¬
portation for Monkey from Wenlock to Portland Roads and one or two other things.
Childs play.

This morning I had a heart- to- heart talk with Joe during which he told me he
had been making his own grog and that any cook with a yeast bottle could do it.

This afternoon, apparently finding the yeast bottle too slow, he got at the pre¬
serving alcohol and knocked himself out again. I went over the kitchen stores and
found that we are practically out of everything, a condition^ which I cannot under¬
stand as there is nobody for him to entertain or to whom he might sell the things.
It will be necessary either to get a wild pig or else to purchase and kill a goat
to carry us through until the new order of supplies comes up on the Jubilee Pack
on Sunday. However I managed to scrape enough together to get George and Van,
with their two boys, away tomorrow.

All in all, it has been an active day and I enjoyed it, dragging myself
out of the era of dumps in which I have struggled recently.

144.

•

Thursday, 16 September 1943. Joe’s feelings definitely were hurt last night

over my preparing the supply order without con¬
sulting him but he knows he is very deep in the dog house now and is fortunate
in being allowed to finish the trip. There was a bit of a rush this morning in
getting George and Van, with their boys, away, and at the same time getting the
mail out, the orders and letters written and so on, before 8 A.M.

Joe is about the worst of his kind that I have ever struck; I have heard of
men who drink embalming fluid, metholated spirits and so on but he is the first I
have met. He is a man of good appearance and a considerable cuoture when he is
sober; he has had a good musical education, once upon a time had a passable voice
and, Len thinks, must have appeared on the stage somewhere. Certainly he gives
that impression. But this weakness is too great and he would sell us or anybody
else out for a bottle of grog. He seems to feel some sort of loyalty to us but
it is not great enough to help him very much.

After George and Van had departed I wrapped up those of my specimens which
were ready and then worked out a tabulation which will have to be presented in
order for us to receive our license to ship the things out. In the afternoon I
took ray laundry and myself to my favorite bathing spot and enjoyed myself tho¬
roughly. The operation of bathing is known to the bushmen as bogeying and the
swimming pool As a bogey hole.

With the end of the trip so near and the specimens in my departments so rare,
it is hard to whip up enough enthusiasm to get on with the collecting. One feels
unsettled, somehow, and the things of the future loom up so much more clearly and
heavily - how to get down to Sydney, how to get the freight there in time to catch
the ship, the final settlements with banks, B-P, the other business houses and so
on, the dismissal and shipment back of the boys, Joe's pay-off. They are all immi¬
nent and will take time; I should like somehow to be able to start on them now but
of course cannot do so until our return to Cooktown. George and Van have broken
away and we shall not see them again until Cooktown, with the expedition over; they
will work like mad but must have the feeling at the moment that they are more or less
free-lancing. Don could not get himself to get on with his bird-skinning tonight;

Len said that had it been Saturday he would have taken the afternoon off; I went out
with a light but found nothing but spiders. The end is in the air now.

Friday, 17 September 1948. This morning I got the second specimen of a transparent

winged butterfly; they have been taken nowhere else but
here (by me, I mean) but I very much doubt if it is the thing that Comstock asked
me particularly to look out for. That one feeds on the larva of the green ant,
and for that reason deserves encouragement I think, but while it has been reported
from Cooktown, all the reports are of November and December.

In the afternoon I managed to have my hunting trip take me up to my usual
bathing place and thoroughly enjoyed my swim, though it was cold. It was last
night also and I woke shivering about 4 A.M. this morning.

Other than the above there is little to write about tonight except that,
also this morning, I got a blue and black dragonfly which has eluded me /ever
since we arrived here. This time I found him away from his usual habitat, a
pool; at the pools he has easily dodged me, darting across the water easily and
darting back again after I had painfully worked my way around three quarters
of the pool after him. This morning he was in the bush and I was as much at
home as he was; now he reposes in a neat little glassine envelope.

Marie speaks of going out next Tuesday and Don and I think of going out with
her as far as Helenvale in order to get a new locality. Jack Roberts will take
her as far as Cooktown and could pick us up on his way back, giving us about three
hours to collect there.

Saturday, 18 September 1948. There being so little for me to write about in con¬
nection with my department of the scientific side of
the expedition while in this locality, I have been rather wondering what is to ap¬
pear in the daily entries in this journal. It seems to me that a more clear ex¬
planation of the treatment meted out to the aboriginals might be of interest and
have value to me for reference. Another thing which I must find out about, is the
method used in educating the children of white bush dwellers.

On the latter subject, I have no information now but can get it. In the mat¬
ter of the abbos, I have found out quite a little, though just where to start is
something of a problem. One must understand primarily that the abbo does not, nor
ever did, possess the ferocity and fighting ability of the majority of other peo¬
ples whom we call natives, the North American and South, the Burraan, the Soudanese
and many others. The abbo certainly killed white men but always by stealth and
when the whites were greatly outnumbered. This is apart from such motives as the
abduction of a woman or a personal cause of that sort. The last concerted stand
or attack on white men took place somewhere near where Annie River Landing now is
and its result was the hunting of natives by whites, much as kangaroos are huntedj
a line of men formed, walking slowly across the area and putting up and shooting
the natives like so many rabbits. The revenge exacted by the whites was so fero¬
cious that the natives were glad to be herded together on the Missions and have
showed no desire to escape from that form of living, with its lack of responsi¬
bilities.

The Missions are located on both siees and the tip of the Cape and are under
the charge of local men named Protectors, the whole lot coming under the jurisdict¬
ion of Mr. O'Leary, the Protector of Aboriginals. They are permitted the use of
certain fire-arms, shotguns up to 12 guage, but no rifles; they are issued with
strong wire from which they make their fish spears, but are not allowed to make
the barbed fishing sjbear. When there is work to be done and their services are
required, they are compelled to take the jobs and their pay is standardized at
two pounds, ten shillings weekly, of which they get the ten shillings and the two
pounds are sent direct by the employer to the Protector. The money sent ot him
accumulates and is credited to the roan1 s individual account and according to his
balance on deposit with the Protector, so is he clothed and fed, but even though
he may have no deposit, he is not permitted to starve.

The local Protectors have the power to marry and divorce and, I believe, may
sentence a malefactor to serve time on the penal islands. Be also decides which
native will go on which job, presumably being guided by the amount of an indivi¬
dual' s cash balance, but the total of those balances may have an effect on the
Protector. If he is unscrupulous, large sums may be abstracted and there is no
redress for the natige, but in general the local Protectors seem to be men of
honor and and there rarely is any such charge or basis for it.

The abbos therefore have exchanged theis original life, onf od the most primi¬
tive forms ever to exist in the world, for a regimented Axistence during which they

are always sure of food and a modicum of clothing; they make their own huts or gun-

yahs, either of corrugated iron issued to them or of palm or other natural materials.
They are allowed their corroborees whenever they want them, though of course no
alcohol is allowed. During a corroboree they will sing of past greatnesses or else

make up / monotonous dirges covering their current activities. Our boys a few

nights ago sang a long song to themselves which described how they had travelled a
long way from Cowall Creek, had climbed a mountain, captured a python and put it in
a bag to bring back to camp. On their arrival there will be a series of corroborees
during which they will sing of all their accomplishments and add descriptions of us,
dwelling, I very much fear, on our weaknesses rather than our strength.

Sunday, 19 September 1948. Something of a change came over us today; this morn¬
ing Len announced that after the show was over he had
to get to Brisbane and arrange our clearances of collections and so on and thought
we should get in to Cooktown by Sunday, the 26th, which meant leaving here early
that morning. The Jubilee Pack, Norman Watkin, who brought us up here was due
this afternoon with our supply order and as Len had to go up the mountain, it fell
upon me to make the arrangements.

Norman arrived in due time but told me he had arranged with some of the miners
over at Poverty to do a transport job for them next Sunday; I arranged for out de¬
parture on Saturday, that being the only way we could get Len on the Monday morn¬
ing plane. However Norman brought a letter up from Lewis & Store in Cooktown tell¬
ing us that the Wandana was due northbound in Cooktown on the 24th and that after
her they did not know when the next ship would travel in that direction - certainly
not for weeks. It was the obvious thing for us to arrange for somebody to be there,
as we have to ship Joe up to Portland Road and the three blacks to Thursday Island.
As a result of it all, I have to intercept Norman somewhere on the road between
Poverty and Helenvale some time early and arrange that we all be taken out on
Thursday morning. It means also that by some means I have to get word to George
and Van, who are camped at Black Mountain, about midway between here and Cooktown,
to have Moreton and Roy on hand at Cooktown sometime on Thursday.

Obviously we shall save some money in sending the boys up by ship instead of
by plane and in addition we shall be free of Joe when he gets tight and also we
can arrange for Roy's father. Monkey, to join the ship at Portland Roads. For my¬
self, I am delighted as it will give me a chance to say goodbye to Capt. Paulson of
the Wandana, who helped us so considerably when we were short of food at Tozer and
Iron Range, and it will give us more time to do the packing at Cooktown.

I made some inquiry into the subject of schooling for the bush people but

shall save that for tomorrow's entry, as well as reporting the result of my inter¬
ception of Norman Watkin and my efforts to get a message through to George.

Monday, 2G September 1948. It is still early in the morning but I want to get

this page finished and out of the typewriter in order
to get on with correspondence relative to our final closing of things here and at

Cooktown. I have returned from a walk to the trail to Poverty, which branches off

the Shipton' s Flat trail but learned from a passing cowhand who had come from
there that Norman will not pass until fairly late this afternoon. I left a note
for him, pendant from a branch stuck in the middle of the trail, asking him to call
on us, and shall walk out again to meet him later on.

Now there are reservations to be made on the Wandana for Joe and the boys,
telegrams to be sent to the Protectors at T.I. and Coen, in order to have old
Monkey on hand at Portland Road when the Wandana gets there, letters to be written,
to B-P about holding mail and meeting the Merinda, to Lewis about various accommo¬
dations and so on. Mrs. Brass sill leave us tomorrow and look after the mailing
of things and sending of telegrams when she gets to Cooktown.

In the matter of hush education, I have made some inquiry and find that there
is a government service which supplies text books and other needs to the parents
of bush children, whose job it is to see that their child receives an education
of some wort. At best it cannot consist of more than reading, writing and simple
arithmetic and is dependent, not only on the parents' ability to teach but also on
their own understanding of what they are teaching. Those who can afford to do so
later send their children in to boarding schools but the great majority cannot and
the children end up barely literate.

.4 ■

147

• •

Late this afternoon I went again to where the Jubilee trail branches from
ours and waited there for a long time to intercept Norman Watkin. He did not
show up and it was dusk when I started the homeward trek and fully dafck when I
had at least a mile and a half to go. I walked delicately, as can be imagined,
having no light and Don having taken a taipaa on the trail only yesterday.
Further about Don's taipan, it was only a young snake, not much over three feet
in length, but after he had shot it with dust shot, broken its neck with his gun
butt and then shot it with No. 6, it still turned, bit his gun and plastered it
over with venom.

In view of the failure of our efforts to meet Norman, I shall have to do some¬
thing about it tomorrow. Marie leaves for Cooktown, Len is making another climb of Jock |
Finnegan and Don and I are moving back with Marie as far as a place known as the
Forks. That is only a mile or so from Norman's home, at the Lion's Den Hotel, so
I shall probably go right in that far and get him there, then work back to the
Forks and join Don there. We have alternative means of getting out but we have to get
word to George somehow in order to have Moreton and Roy sent in to Cooktown.

Norman is to shift them to another camp site tomorrow morning, hence the desperate
effort to get in touch with him.

Tuesday, 21 September 1948. Yesterday's efforts being so uncertain, it was nice

that today's went off with a swing and were fully
accomplished. Breakfast was called for 6 A.K. because Len wanted to go up Mount
Finnegan again. Jack Roberts was to call for Mrs. Brass at 7.30 to take her out
to Cooktown and I was to go along to try again to find the elusive Norman Watkin;

Don came along with me as the lesser evil between that and going up Finnegan with
Len. Everything went according to Hoyle but on arrival at Helenvale we learned
that Norman had not yet come in. Don and I had figured on walking back to the
junction of the Annan River and Wallaby Creek and knew Norman could only come
that way. We met him shortly after leaving Helenvale, having sent Jack on to
Cooktown with Mrs. Brass. The cables to the Director of Native Affairs at T.I.
and to the Protector at Coen had to be sent as soon as possible and Mrs. Brass
was the one to do it. On meeting Nonaan the details for evacuation on Thurs¬
day were arranged and word was sant down to George and jf Van. On his return
from Cooktown Jack Roberts brought word from Mrs. B. that the telegrams were
being sent as she wrote, that a reservation for Len was made on Monday's plane
to Cairns, that George and Van were on their way to Cooktown, that approval
from the Queensland Govt, for Don's journey to Brisbane by plane had arrived
and, in fact, everything was lovely.

In the meantime, after meeting Norman, Don and I went back to the junction
of Annan and Wallaby, where Jack was to pick us up on his return journey, and
immediately had a swim. They we boiled our tea and ate our sandwiches and did
dome hunting. I'm afraid out hearts were not in it as they should have been
but I had a better day than any I have had at Shipton's Flat.

When Jack picked us up he brought the news of the approval of Don's flight
back and the latter has been walking around in a sort of trance ever since.

For myself I have become so excessively conscious of the fact that this is the
end and so determined that I shall not be bitten by anything on the last day
that I jump like a kangaroo if the mx long grass even stirs beside me. Last
night's walk definitely had me sweating.

Len arrived back from the mountain about half an hour after our return from
The Forks (the junction), and had had good collecting. We dined and I went out
this evening spidering for the last time. Now I am back, my collecting days are
over and tomorrow I get on with shipping, payrolls, packing and such things as
that. On Thursday at 7 A.M. Norman should call for us and we return to Cooktown.

•«l • •

»

148.

• ft

Wednesday, 22 September 1948. The extreme caution with which I am conducting

my life and movements these last few days rather
amuses me, and everybody who is with me. But I am quite determined that nothing
shall bite me on this, the last bush day^j I feel rather pleased that I have a
lot of inside work to do, packing, disposing of excess things, getting the final
payroll ready and such like.

Collecting has now finished for all hands, and Len and Don have spent the
day in their final preparation of specimens. Joe has started packing up kitchen
gear and food and all my things are already away in the safety of formalin and
naphthaline. Our evening meal was part of a little party adorned by a choco¬
late pudding concocted by Joe from cocoa; it followed the usual rum ration
which was doubled as it was the last night. Everybody was talkative and amica¬
ble and our conversation wandered over many and varied fields, as the second
ration began to take hold. Joe and I vowed eternal friendship and I presented
him with two scalpels and a pair of scissors so that he could take up a scienti¬
fic career.

Jack Roberts joined us during supper and seemed very glum at the prospect
of our departure; it is quite understandable - we are no beauties but our visit
has enlivened things for Jack and his wife and our departure leaves them with
no neighbors within ten miles.

Thursday, 23 September 1948. Norman Watkin called to pick us up about 8.30 this

morning and the active part of the expedition is
now over. As we passed, we were entertained at the Lion's Den Hotel and got in
to Cooktown after ancredibly dusty trip just in time to receive a hearty welcome
and a hearty midday meal.

George and Van are about twenty miles back along the railway line to Laura
but will be in tomorrow. Otherwise everything has worked out very well; the
Wandana northbound will call here either tomorrow or Saturday and we shall ship
Joe and the boys away on her; Len and Don will take Monday's plane, Len to Cairns
and Don to his home in Brisbane; George, Van and I, with the baggage will leave
Cooktown for Cairns on the Merinda on Wednesday early morning and will be at
Cairns about 4 P.M.; a letter from Dupain, of B-P, awaiting me here, informs me
that our reservations at Hides Hotel have been made. Now I can relax for a
couple of days as all there is to be done now is get our equipment listed and
down to the wharf for loading on the Merinda. There is a movie here on Satur—
day, "How Green is my Valley", to which I shall go. I think I saw it about
eight years ago but at least it is a movie.

It was not necessary to send any mail out by the Shipton(s Flat postman
as he will not get to Cooktown until tomorrow; anyway the only was letters can
get out now is by Monday* s plane so I have plenty of time to finish off my
correspondence, and leisure as well.

The afternoon was enlivened by the arrival in towh of three castaways, two
men and a woman, who had started in a 28 foot boat, powered but with no sails,
on a trip round the north end of Cape York to Darwin; their idea was to catch
sharks and sell the skins but their ship would not be large enough to hold more
than a couple or so of them. Anyway, off Port Stewart in Princess Charlotte Bay,
their engine broke down and they landed, intending to walk to Cooktown. They
were not bush people, forgot to take a compass and really should not have been
allowed out after dakr, according to reports. They were picked up on the Laura-
Cooktown rail tracks in a starving condition. Apparently they did not know of
the cattle road from P. Steward to Coen and they certainly did not know what
ninety miles through scrub means. They do now.

149.

• •

Friday, 24 September 1948. Unquestionably the greatest boon which man ever

conferred on himself was the sanitary toilet and
the lavatory system. Every time I wash myself and hurl the dirty water over
the balcony rail into the street I have visions of the black death, the plague
of London, bubonic end a variety of other things. All the hotels and houses bae
the same lack of equipment j geographically Cooktown is a jewel mounted in a most
lovely natural setting. If one leaves the town itself out of the picture and
examines only the surroundings, there could be nothing fairer - the blue of the
ocean and of the Endeavour and Annan rivers is such a deep and lovely blue, the
palms wave with such exquisite grace, the hills and mountains shine red in the
daytime and blue and purple at dusk, with the foliage ever green on them. That
must have been what Captain Cook saw so many years ago, but why nobody has im¬
proved the town itself since his era is a mystery. It could be so lovely,
far more so than many of the wealthy Florida resorts, but it isn’t because of
such things as this paragraph opens with.

There has been no hitch of any sort develop in our plans so far and our
day was one of easy routine, packing and so on; George and Van came in in the
afternoon with some specimens but not the rock wallabies they had hoped to get.
The rest of the party went for the evening to Dr. Kestevan’s place but since
I have not met him, I went to my favorite resort, the Royal Sovereign, where
we were entertained with the crew of the Lochiel last April. A condition ex¬
isted there like it does in our place, the Commercial - no water. Water is
supplied by wind pumps and there has been no wind for two days, with the ob¬
vious result. But after a few rounds of beer, the water shortage ceased to
have much significance. Joe was there also, very far gone in drink but the
landlady, with a great deal of very kindly tact, took him in hand, helped him
along and finally had him dancing in the back room. She, Mrs. Malvina John¬
ston, is a lissome young lady and poor old Joe is a bit creaky in the joints
now, but I have rarely seen anything funnier than their team dancing j Joe's
shirt tails were hanging out, his trousers at the danger point, his tongue
swollen so that every sentence he uttered, and he was uttering most of the
time, caused a fine spray to settle everywhere. But it worked and instead of
getting morose or sick, Joe found himself having the time of his life and had
almost decided to forsake his old love, Portland Roads, and move to Cooktown.

Tomorrow there is a celebration in honor of the mxplorer, Kennedy, who
was speared and died up by Jacky-Jacky, in the north. Kennedy was never in
Cooktown in his life and there is some argument as to why there should be a
monument erected to him herej dark threats have been passed, suggestions that
the Committee examine the monyment carefully before removing its cover, and
such things, but probably that is just talk. Anyway, in addition to that ex¬
citement, the Wandana, which has plied this coast for forty years, makes her
last trip and final call at Cooktown. Sports are to celebrate both events and we
are to sit on the speakers dais, as descendents in spirit from good old Kennedy.
People are coming from the outback country and the Wandana* s passengers and
crew will about double the population. I shall have a chance to pay my respects
to Andy Paulson, her captain, and I understand young Jack Burke, head of the
steamship line, is also to be on board.

Relaxation easing of tension seem to be taking hold quite satisfactorily.

Saturday, 25 September 1948. The arrival of the Wandana and the unveiling of

the Kennedy Memorial were the two main functions.
The latter was done very gingerly and the colors were not taken off the whole
monument, but I should take them in proper order.

George and Van left in good order and will be away until Monday morning
and the remainder of us got on with the routine stuff. The^ ftandana docked

150.

* #

about 2 P.M. and I went aboard to pay my respects to Capt. Paulson. He, I
found, was enjoying the most popular Australian indoor sj3|fot, listening to
the afternoon broadcasts of the races at Sydney. We had a pleasant chat to¬
gether hut 1 could not persuade him to come ashore and watch the unveiling.

Len was the only one invited to the speaker's rostrum, which consisted
of five chairs; the other four were an old lade, the oldest resident on the
Cape and one of the first arrivals, the mayor who looks after the lighthouse,
a member of the Queensland Historical Society and another local man. Some of
the speeches contained some unintended masterpieces auch as "This monument

has been constructed entirely by local workers. It will be all right when

it is polished up a bit." The wind swept sideways across the gap between
speakers and audience and little of the speeches were audible; I know that
St. Paul and Lincoln were featured and at times Kennedy did not show at all,
but after Len had spoken I retired to the Royal Sovereign.

Joe was apparently completely used up after his dancing of the previous
evening and did not circulate very much. I learned that he had been responsible

for quite a bon mot while listening to the music in between his furious activi¬

ties - somebody played a little Beethoven which did not appeal greatly to Joe
but, being in a gracious mood, he remarked "You've got to hand it to Beethoven;
he certainly tried."

My evening was another pleasant one, starting at the Royal Smcxi«K Sove¬
reign and ending at the West floast, the place with the famous freize. I am not
sure who painted the frieze but it too has its place in history, depicting in
pictures the departure of the gold— miners from the cities, waving gooobye to
their wives and families, their search for gold, conflicts with the blacks,
establishment of Coen and other mining centres, the entry of the Church and its
departure with the arrival of the painted ladies and so on. It is an interesting
thing, as so much of the small and distinctly ramshackle town is.

Tomorrow the pieces really do begin to fly off our expeditionary machine
but I shall deal with that when tomorrow comes.

Sunday, 2$ September 1948. The day for me has been one of sad farewells and

incessant walking from the hotel to the wharf to
find out when the Wandana actually would leave. At the time oi the first walk
I introduced Len and Capt. Paulson, who had not previously met and then re¬
turned to the hotel to take a number of local lads from the bush on a perso¬
nally conducted tour of the specimens which were not wrapped. It was Len's
joy but he had been button-holed yesterday and bullied into a promise to go
to Church. He managed to get out of it by invoking the uncertainty of the
Wandana 's departure, but still had to go and make his apologies.

Joe was spruce, trim and erect but with a sob in the voice when it came
to parting; he is a rogue by certain standards but a lovable one by any. I
marched the black contingent down on the second trip to the ship and some of
the passengers who were ashore photographed them standing in front of the
Kennedy Memorial, unveiled yesterday. The passengers seemed unaware of it but
there was a distinct touch of irony in the fact that these boys were direct
descendants, and Moreton probably only one generation, of the men who had
speared Kennedy.

The town seemed strangely empty and the Royal Sovereign was in a decline
after the ship departed. Joe has kept the town on its toes, the arrival of
Wandana and the Memorial unveiling all made yesterday a great day in Cooktown
annalls; I called at the Sovereign for a moment on my way back and, leaving
there the road was completely empty. The only signs of life and movement were
two horses grazing on the grass beside the road.

151.

Monday, 27 September 1948. The remainder of this journal can hardly be con¬
sidered as expeditionary material, I am afraid.

There may be a few observations of interest but in general I suspect that a
series of farewells cannot be of any particular interest to anybody at all.

Dan and Len left this morning and got away from Cooktown promptly, their
plane rising and crossing above the Endeavour River about 7:45; They probably
will have their breakfast in Cairns. George and Van came in during the morn¬
ing and the bulk of the freight has been packed and is ready for shipment, the
small balance remaining being an easy job for tomorrow.

The evening was devoted to another party at the Royal Sovereign, as amus¬
ing as its predecessors have been; but in all those things there is little that
can appeal to anybody else who may read this. I do not want to close it up yet
because there may be subjects that will Jjear repeating later on, but my entries
will probably not be daily items from now on.

Tuesday, 28 September 1948. Everything was set aboard the Merinda before

11 A.M. this morning, I paid our various bills,
hotel, Lewis, passages and freights and so on in the afternoon and with the
accomplishment of that, our business in Cooktown came to an end. However
that is only business and the friendships I have made here I shall cherish
for a long time. I have been aocf accepted open-heartedly and since I like so
many of the people so much, I feel somewhat pround over that. Old Dave
ftsooray Rowbottom, proprietor of the West Coast, made a special visit to his
arch-competitor, the ftoyal Sovereign, this evening, just to say goodbye to me.

The post-master, Tom, did his best rendering of Paddy McGinty* s Goat for me;

Gordon McDonald, a really accomplished pianist, provided his music all through
the evening, and I feel I am leaving real friends.

We went aboard the Merinda during the night as she sails at 5 A.M.
and it seemed better to keep our sleep as much in one piece as possible, but
George and Van got there before I did. Among our fellow passengers are the
survivors of the wreck mentioned a few days back, and some other people with
whom I have become well acquainted. We should have a pleasant trip down and
the wreck survivors have laid in a specially large quantity of buns and hard
boiled eggs, to include our party - we hear food is not too plentiful on the
Merinda. I have become well acquainted with the wreck folks and remember now
that the girl of the party was at Cairns with her mother when we were there
in February; she was then just about double the size she is now; she still
shows the effect of the privations during their overland trip.

My list of things to be done in Cairns has assumed huge proportions and
time is going to be at something of a premium when we get there; it will be
too late tomorrow to do much after our arrival at Cairns.

Wednesday, 29 September 1948. The trip south from Cooktown was quite a delight

and we all enjoyed it and its freedom. I got
on board about 1 A.M., George and Van having boarded the Merinda a while earlier,
and turned in until we were waked at 4.45 by the rest of the passengers com¬
ing on board, including our refugee friends. It was dark, of course, until
long after we had left Cooktown astern of us but we could see the loom of the
mountains to the west of us. It was about 11 A.M. when we came abreast of Mount Sx»s*j
Finnegan, and shortly after that we stopped at the mouth of the Bloomfield
River to take aboard my old friend. Lady Bissett. We stopped also at Cape
Tribulation and took on a load of fruit, but in between those whort calls
most of us dozed, ate hard boiled eggs and read and gossiped. I dug out
maps to get the refugees to show their route and found that I had been mis¬
informed previously and they were nowhere near Po t Stewart. The overland

did. They showed considerable judgment by keeping away from the coast
line, which would have meant constant climbing of mountains, and sticking
to the level ground. Apart from extreme hunger they had not other trouble.

We reached Cairns about 4 P.M., having seen bush fires grow greater
and more numerous the further down we travelled; everything is bone dry
here and the Barron River, whose fall supplies Cairns with electric poeer,
is so low that electricity is to be rationed.

Len met us in with two news items, the first that B-P wants to charge
us fifty guineas agency fee and the other that practically all the evenings
remaining in Ciarns have been filled with invitations. On the latter I shall
back out as I have made friends of my own, to whom I want to say goodbye,
and on the first it simply confirms the fact that B-P has lost all moral and
business sense; to me it is an unheard of thing to charge such a fee to a
scientific expedition, and it implies that ikui their work has been a lot
more efficient than it has.

Hides Hotel has changed ownership but its personnel seems just the same
as it was.

Marie Brass returned from a three day bus trip and Gil Bates and Mrs.
were our guests for dinner; after that Marie brought over five other girls
that she had picked up in her wanderings. I pleaded business to do and
left the party to write this.

Our freight has to be ready for shipment south on the 5th, which does
not allow much time, and I think that I shall travel down by train as the
Wandana will not get to Brisbane until the 11th or 12th, which would not
give me time to get down to Sydney to do the things I want to do there.
Now I shall take a stroll around town and then turn in - the bed looks
mighty enticing.

Friday, 1 October 1948. Work has been at such high pressure and there

have been so many invitations that for the first
time during $he trip I failed to make the usual entry here yesterday. The
reason for that was that we were invited to the Bates* place for a last
drink together and on our return opened one of the bottles of rum left
over and stayed up late.

Our freight sent from Coen via Annie River reached Cairns last night;
we knew it had not arraive in before and were worried about it but I found
it being unladed from a craft bearing the pleasant name of Lady Jocelyn and
took it up to the warehouse. The amount of the collection is surprising;
we had shipped from various points during the trip, of course, and none of
^ realized the quantity of stuff there was altogether. Now it has been
jacked into crates and will be picked up and put aboard the Wandana on
Monday for carriage to Brisbane, where it will be transhipped to the
Pioneer Star. Len and Marie leave on Sunday, George on Monday, Van on Tues¬
day and I on Wednesday. I am going by train. Van on the Wandana and the
others flying. I would like to have made the Wandana trip but it would not
allow me enough time to get to Sydney and do the things I want to do there.

A plane would give me too much time since I plan to stay with Charles Wilmot,
so train is the only thing. I have not yet been on an Australian train
and am led to believe that it si something of an experience.

Tonight we dined with the Stevens’ and °rooks families and I think our
festivities are over. I have been quite friendly with the refugees, who
return to Cooktown on Monday, so shall see them tomorrow.

153

Sunday, 3 October 1948. The daily entry in this journal is now a thing of

the past and I can find other methods of learning
what day it may be. It seems to me that a detailed recital of my packing
and evacuttion from Cooktown would be most heartily boring to all readers and
to me in particular. I shall simply state the final disposal of us all and
say no more about the job. George has been struck off out strength and will
be doing Mxxra Museum work for a couple of weeks before flying back; he
leaves from Sydney about November 1st, I think. Len has gone down to Brisbane,
left this morning and will spend the rest of the time with his people. Van
leaves on Tuesday by the Wandana and will take the freight along with him and
I go by train to Brisbane on Wednesday, catch a train to Sydney an hour or so
after reaching Brisbane, and shall return from Sydney on the 13th. After that
all we have to do is get our tax clearances, load ourselves on board the ship
and wait until we reach Boston or wherever we are going.

It seems that qhite unwittingly I caused something of a sensation a cou¬
ple of days ago. I was deep in packing and had about all my specimens wrapped
and away when Ernie Stevens brought in a large fat snake, of a kind which I
had not previously had and could not identify. There was just space enough
in one of my containers for his 3kin, and as he was about seven feet long and
had already been twenty-four hours dead, he had to be skinned. I was wearing
trousers only and quite unthinkingly I spread out my snake along the sidewalk
and began to remove the skin. Soon Ernie told me that I had an audience and
looking around I saw that all the people walking along had circled around me
to the other side of the street and stood there watching me drag the grey and
brown skin away from the pallid insides. One just does not skin snakes on a
Cairns main street.

Last night I was with our refugee friends again and have developed a
fondness for them; they are busy making all sorts of optomistic plans for
running a cattle station, combined with kangaroo and dingo hunting and mineral
operating on the side. They are also considering taking educational movies
and have mapped an almost impossible future for themselves. The mother of the
girl, Mrs. Puddicomb, has just bought herself a houseboat which is moored in
front of the Strand Hotel. She said she was tired of paying hotel bills rad
but usually finds herself cut off from the houseboat by a stretch of deep
mud when she comes home at night, and goes and takes a room at the Strand any¬
way. The mud really is deep too; there is a story of a man who offered to
carry her out to the boat - he went in waist deep at the first step under
their combined weight and I am not sure if he was ever recovered after he
took the second step. Alex Frodsham, the boy who is engaged to Joan Puddicomb,
(the party having consisted of Joan, Alex and his brother, Peter) managed to
get himself into some trouble by swiping ten gallons of 80 octane gas somewhere.
It was the use of that gasoline that blew the gasket on their boat and
caused all the trouble. Anyway Alex was picked up by a Cairns detective, fimpnr
fingerprinted, had his teeth measured and was charged 30/-. He and the de&
tective are going fishing together this afternoon.

Mr. amdiMrs. Dupain were also in last night and Willie D. went down to
Brisbane by the same plane as Len. Most of our social obligations have been
consummated now, we get the freight to the dock tomorrow, pay the bills on
Tuesday, and that is that.

Monday, October 4» 1948. That isn't that. A telegram came

afternoon saying that the sailing
been changed from the 15th to the 20th, which gives me
to kill somehow - at the moment I don't know where or how

Last night I was taken to a movie and orchestra performance conducted
in aid of '’legacy", an organization formed among ex-servicemen under which
the comfort and existence of the children of those killed is guaranteed.

I consider it an excellent thing and think it might be expanded considera¬
bly with profit to all. The orchestra sounded good to me though the movie
was nothing much, and I was taken by Joan and Alex and Peter, who left for
Cooktown last night and will bring back their boat from where she is stuck
at Point Barrow. They plan to sell her and the proceeds will supply the
capital for their next venture, which comprises taking up many square miles
of land, rounding up all the clean-skins (unbranded cattle) , whose number is
considerable, droving them to the south and selling them. That is to be done
with the aid of an eight-horse wagon, four riding horses, two pig dogs and a
few other things. They plan also to do some prospecting, grow crops, and
other things, some of which I listed yesterday. They are nice kids and make
me feel my age.

I called to see them off on the Merinda and bumped into Fergie, the en¬
gineer, who was coming ashore to say good-bye to me so we both went over to
the Puddicomb houseboat to make my farewells.

The freight got away from the warehouse before noon today, so there should
be no doubt about it getting on board the Wandana, which is due about 7 A.M.
tomorrow and sails about 5 P.M. Everything is in order, I think, the only
uncertain quantity being my own departure, which I shall straighten out to¬
morrow or Wednesday. Now I have to pack the box which Van will take along
on the Wandana for me.

Wednesday, 6 October 1948. This must sooner or later come to a close and as

Van left yesterday on the Wandana and I merely
have to await the receipt of some cabled funds. Hides Hotel, where we really
started the Cape trip, seems a good place.

One or two loose ends were tied off yesterday. Captain Paulson told me
that he had called at Portland Roads on his way down and poor old Joe had
been given such a party by the miners on his return there that he was still
rocking from it. A couple of minutes before van and I left the hotel to
catch the steamer, Terry McLeod, the cook of the Lochiel, turned upj some¬
body had been giving him a party too. He has further complicated his
Canadian-Philippine nationality by taking on a half-caste wife. He has several
boxes of shells which he has collected for Van. Bob Fletcher, the bar-man at
the Royal Sovereign in Cooktown, called to tell me the latest news of that
land of the lotus and of pleasant memories. I had a couple of drinks in the
evening with Jerry Taylor, Atherton Hospital, and Dawn Huddy, librarian of the
Cairns Public Library, both of whom were members of the Cooktown parties} the
spirit of revelry had gone and reminiscence had taken its place, as Bob also
said, in other words. The Merinda is due this afternoon and I shall meet her
in, I think, since I have nothing else to do. Fergie Runcie, her engineer,
will give me a welcome, I feel sure.

Some day I hope to rewrite this journal, placing it in a narrative form,
and when that is done I can record my pleasure at meeting the many, many
people who have aided, welcomed and, I trust, remembered us. To me, at any
rate, there will be memories of friendships made which I am indeed proud to
possess.

•+ - ' 1

mt

Ml#

■i -EJ4

;-m foam** i|®4fi

<! ;‘v ‘ "• ' ' •;> - • :■'•'.■>* T •,<.! T.i?"' ■■■■■ "' ■■ ? ’ Bgk$y •.«;'•?• *?.*•• -* 2*. '.'•'•*& • tT?

, • ' eyi^rx^ ' hi ii £«*&&& 4 siftf udi-Vu*W oi s^wi .2 ■‘S***’;.

I •«»:•.•«•' aiitf d f. ' "nvi^a-ij t® ’f^chafv i -a.J &■:■.: s.t.»

■