Accompanied by Mr. S. Trigg, I proceeded up the river about 180 miles, at
which point it ceased to run; we then ascended a hill in the vicinity of
600 or 700 feet elevation above the plain, which I have since found to
be, beyond a doubt, Mount Murchison of Austin; unfortunately I was unable
to procure a copy of his map or journal, and was thus prevented from
laying out my route to the greatest advantage by pushing more to the
northward and going over more new ground. As it is, the only information
I have been able to gain, beyond completing the plan of the river, is
that the principal fall of rain had been eastward of the 116th degree of
longitude, and that the tract of country between the great South Bend and
Mount Murchison, which proved barely capable of supporting Mr. Austin's
small party of horses in November, 1854, is now yielding a pasture nearly
equal to the average of the Champion Bay district, and in some parts most
luxuriant, the grass having scarcely arrived at maturity was perfectly
green; this remarkable change in the character of the country is, I am
inclined to think, not entirely confined to this year in particular, but
that from meteorological causes this district has not unfrequently the
benefit of tropical rains falling during the months of January and
February, although not always in sufficient quantity to cause the river
to flow as low as the settled districts.
It has already been observed by many persons that during the summer
months the prevailing sea breezes divide the northerly currents of vapour
about 100 miles inland from the west coast, preventing the rain from
falling throughout the same parallel of latitude.
As near the eastern limits of my route the Murchison throws off two
branches nearly equal in magnitude to the main stream, I am induced to
imagine that its extreme source does not lie more than sixty or seventy
miles beyond that point, and had it not been that I did not feel
justified in abstracting so large a portion of time from the regular
surveys of this district, there is no doubt but that I could with every
facility have completed the exploration of the country as far as the
Gascoyne in two or three weeks.
On comparing the tracing of the Murchison, which I now enclose, with Mr.
Austin's route, it will be observed that there is a difference of
seventeen miles in latitude, and something more in longitude throughout
the eastern portion, a discrepancy which I am at a loss to account for,
as my dead-reckoning to both the outward and inward track agree well with
my cross-bearings; my latitudes were, however, taken only with a pocket
sextant with a treacle horizon, and might therefore not be implicitly
relied on. I have, however, preferred plotting my route exactly as booked
in the field, leaving the existing error to be cleared up at some future
period.
...
From Mr. Trigg, who arrived on Wednesday by the Preston from Champion
Bay, we have gathered the following additional particulars:--
The outward route was on the south bank of the river Murchison; the first
sixty miles was but indifferent, but there were many spots of grass,
sufficient to maintain travelling herds or flocks; afterwards the soil on
the banks of the river improved and were continuously grassy, the general
width being about half a mile. About latitude 26 degrees 50 minutes,
longitude 116 degrees east, two large branches, almost if not quite equal
to the main stream, join the Murchison from the eastward. About Mr.
Austin's Mount Welcome the grass was found very luxuriant--from two to
three feet high, and between there and Mount Murchison the country is
described by Mr. Trigg to be very beautiful, and the soil superior to any
he had previously seen in the colony, and equal to the best land in
Victoria. Mount Murchison itself is an immense mass of quartz with
granite round the base; this differs from Mr. Austin's description, but
that gentleman does not appear to have ascended the hill. From the summit
three high lands were observable, one an isolated peak fifty miles east,
the others to the north and north-east apparently more distant; so far as
could be seen, the country to the east and north-east appeared scrubby
and indifferent. The return was on the north side of the Murchison; and
here a large extent of good grassy land was found, not on the bank, but a
mile and a half from the river, and reaching four or five miles in width
to the base of some hills, and reaching westward to the large northerly
bend of the river in longitude 115 degrees 30 minutes about forty miles
from the Geraldine Mine; the good land in all cases was very flat, the
soil a red loam, which when dry was very open; the whole country is
singularly infested with white ants, of which every tree living or dead
appeared to have its colony. Mr. Trigg regards the country around Mount
Murchison as auriferous.
...
The striking difference there is between this account of the country on
the Murchison and that given by Mr. Austin may be accounted for in
several ways: first, Mr. Austin does not appear to have crossed, but
skirted the country intervening between Mount Welcome and Mount
Murchison, but he describes the land about the latter as improving, and
found water; while it was the feed and water at Mount Welcome which, in
all probability, saved his party from perishing. The land on the north
side, spoken of so favourably by Mr. Trigg, was not seen by Mr. Austin,
and also his party was so exhausted that it was out of his power to
diverge from a direct line in order to examine the nature of the country
on either side; whereas Messrs. Gregory and Trigg made such an
examination whenever any favourable appearance presented itself, and thus
determined the quantity of valuable land for a distance of six or seven
miles on each side of the river, and have thus been the means of
conferring on the Colony one of the greatest benefits it has received
since the northern district was first opened by Mr. A. Gregory.
***