Yours faithfully,
John Neilson.
Landsborough Esquire.
...
The head of the Barcoo River was discovered by Sir Thomas Mitchell who
named it the Victoria River. He described it as probably having its
outlet at Carpentaria. Kennedy was sent to trace it, but unfortunately he
had a dry season to contend with; so much so that some distance below the
junction of the Thomson he found its channel perfectly dry and had to
return. He followed it however sufficiently far to enable him to make
tolerably sure that it was the head of Cooper's Creek. Gregory
afterwards, by following it down, on his route to South Australia
ascertained this to be the case. Another river, previously discovered by
Captain Wickham, in Northern Australia, had been called by him the
Victoria: because of this, and from Kennedy having learned the native
name of Mitchell's Victoria to be the Barcoo, it is now generally known
by that designation.
...
Tintinalagy, Darling River, July 22 1862.
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st
ultimo handed to me on the 14th instant at Mount Murchison by Mr. Verdon.
You will no doubt have received my last letter informing you that, as I
was led to suppose that the grass was better at Mount Murchison than at
Menindie, I remained there for instructions from you.
As I had come to the conclusion that, as Mr. Howitt was in South
Australia, it would be unnecessary for me to take any steps to inform him
of my return from the Gulf of Carpentaria in accordance with the
instructions I received from you, we are here on our way to Melbourne.
Having lost some of our horses we have been delayed here for a few days,
and may be delayed longer as the camel is away. The camel I should have
mentioned earlier we brought with us from Bunnawanah.
This has been a bad season for coming down the river, so much so that one
of the oldest settlers says he never saw the grass so scarce as it now
is. We have however, I hope, got over the worst part of the river as the
country is getting green from the rain that has fallen recently.
On our way to Euston I hope to dispose of the horses and material of the
expedition. From Euston I intend sending Gleeson and a man I have hired
with the camel to Melbourne. To pay their expenses I will advance Gleeson
a sufficient sum. To Gleeson's assistant I have promised the usual wages
from the date of our arrival at Euston. To drive the camel I will
probably give them two riding-horses and a packhorse. With them I will
send an Expedition horse and the foal that was dropped near the Gulf of
Carpentaria, which I dare say the Royal Society will sell me to take to
Queensland as a relic of my expedition. I hope you will excuse my
engaging an assistant for Gleeson, as Mr. Bourne and the three
aborigines, who have been a long time engaged in this expedition, are
anxious to get to Melbourne to return to Queensland. When we reach Euston
we intend taking the coach.
From the paper I learn there is an impression abroad that I did not come
by a likely route for finding Burke's party, and that it appeared by my
letter that I had been commissioned to open up a route for stock to the
Gulf.
With regard to the latter I received the command of my party from the
Colonial Secretary of Queensland, and he certainly gave me no
instructions respecting the route I was to take, but for which he
referred me to your instructions. In these it was contemplated that I
should return by sea. Had it been contemplated that I was to have come
back overland my instructions would have been, I dare say, to have come
back by Mount Stuart. From having travelled in the end of last year about
halfway to Mount Stuart from the Albert River depot, I consider that if I
had waited a few weeks when I reached the 138th meridian I would have had
the advantage of the wet season, and might have proceeded by that route,
or at all events gone south from that meridian provided I had sufficient
equipment for that purpose.
My opinion was, as may be seen in my correspondence with Captain Norman,
that Burke and Wills had gone from their depot by Bowen Downs towards
Carpentaria. I therefore came overland that way, and as I did not learn
anything of their party from the blacks when I reached there I proceeded
to the settled country.
For my part I must say that I think, with the information we had then, we
took the most probable route for finding Burke's party. In all our
expeditions we followed the watercourses and went over more ground than I
thought it should have been possible to do with our small and shipwrecked
equipment.
I never imagined that Burke and Wills would have been able to walk
straight from Cooper's Creek across what I thought was in a great measure
a desert to Carpentaria. It should also be remembered that when I wrote
my letter to you on my arrival at the Darling River we had learned all
about the fate of Burke's party, and the time was past for saying much
about our want of success with respect to them.