Produced by Col Choat
EXPEDITION INTO CENTRAL AUSTRALIA
IN 2 VOLUMES. (both in this one eBook)
STURT, CHARLES (1795-1869)
PRODUCTION NOTES:
1. Notes have been placed in square brackets[] where indicated in
the published text or at the end of the paragraph, as appropriate.
2. Italics in the published text have been capitalised in the eBook,
with the exception of common and scientific names appearing in the
appendices at the end of volume 2, which appear in the eBook as
normal text.
3. Plates and maps have not been included. Plates to both volumess
have been listed in the Table of Contents.
4. Errata have been corrected. Original text has been placed in
the eBook between braces{}.
NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION INTO CENTRAL AUSTRALIA PERFORMED UNDER THE
AUTHORITY OF HER MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT, DURING THE YEARS 1844, 5, AND 6,
TOGETHER WITH A NOTICE OF THE PROVINCE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN 1847.
IN 2 VOLUMES.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE EARL GREY, ETC. ETC. ETC.
MY LORD,
Although the services recorded in the following pages, which your Lordship
permits me to dedicate to you, have not resulted in the discovery of any
country immediately available for the purposes of colonization, I would
yet venture to hope that they have not been fruitlessly undertaken, but
that, as on the occasion of my voyage down the Murray River, they will be
the precursors of future advantage to my country and to the Australian
colonies.
Under present disappointment it must be as gratifying to those who
participated in my labours, as it is to myself to know that they are not
the less appreciated by your Lordship, because they were expended in a
desert.
I can only assure your Lordship, that it has been my desire to give a
faithful description of the country that has been explored, and of the
difficulties attending the task; nor can I refuse myself the anticipation
that the perusal of these volumes will excite your Lordship's interest
and sympathy. I have the honour to be,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's
Most obedient humble servant,
CHARLES STURT.
London, November 21,1848.
NOTICE.
It might have been expected that many specimens, both of Botany and
Ornithology, would have been collected during such an Expedition as that
which the present narrative describes, but the contrary happened to be
the case.
I am proud in having to record the name of my esteemed friend, Mr. Brown,
the companion of Flinders, and the learned author of the "Prodromus Novae
Hollandiae," to whose kindness I am indebted for the Botanical Remarks
in the Appendix.
To my warm-hearted friend, Mr. Gould, whose splendid works are before the
Public, and whose ardent pursuits in furtherance of his ambition, I have
personally witnessed, I owe the more perfect form in which my
ornithological notice appears.
I have likewise to acknowledge, with very sincere feelings, the assistance
I have received from Mr. Arrowsmith, in the construction of my Map,
to whose anxious desire to ensure correctness and professional talent I am
very greatly indebted.
I hope the gentlemen whose names I have mentioned will accept my best
thanks for the assistance they have afforded me in my humble labours. It
is not the least of the gratifications enjoyed by those who are employed
on services similar to which I have been engaged, to be brought more
immediately in connection with such men.
London, November 21, 1848.
CONTENTS
VOLUME I.
CHAPTER I CHARACTER OF THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT--OF ITS RIVERS--
PECULIARITY OF THE DARLING--SUDDEN FLOODS TO WHICH IT IS
SUBJECT--CHARACTER OF THE MURRAY--ITS PERIODICAL RISE--BOUNTY
OF PROVIDENCE--GEOLOGICAL POSITION OF THE TWO RIVERS--
OBSERVATIONS--RESULTS--SIR THOMAS MITCHELL'S JOURNEY TO THE
DARLING--ITS JUNCTION WITH THE MURRAY--ANECDOTE OF
MR. SHANNON--CAPTAIN GREY'S EXPEDITION--CAPTAIN STURT'S
JOURNEY--MR. EYRE'S SECOND EXPEDITION--VOYAGE OF THE
BEAGLE--MR. OXLEY'S OPINIONS--STATE OF THE INTERIOR IN 1828--
CHARACTER OF ITS PLAINS AND RIVERS--JUNCTION OF THE
DARLING--FOSSIL BED OF THE MURRAY--FORMER STATE OF THE
CONTINENT--THEORY OF THE INTERIOR.
CHAPTER II PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE--ARRIVAL AT MOORUNDI--NATIVE
GUIDES--NAMES OF THE PARTY--SIR JOHN BARROW'S MINUTE--REPORTS
OF LAIDLEY'S PONDS--CLIMATE OF THE MURRAY--PROGRESS UP THE
RIVER--ARRIVAL AT LAKE BONNEY--GRASSY PLAINS--CAMBOLI'S
HOME--TRAGICAL EVENTS IN THAT NEIGHBOURHOOD--PULCANTI--
ARRIVAL AT THE RUFUS--VISIT TO THE NATIVE FAMILIES--RETURN
OF MR. EYRE TO MOORUNDI--DEPARTURE OF MR. BROWNE TO
THE EASTWARD.
CHAPTER III MR. BROWNE'S RETURN--HIS ACCOUNT OF THE COUNTRY--CHANGE OF
SCENE--CONTINUED RAIN--TOONDA JOINS THE PARTY--STORY OF THE
MASSACRE--LEAVE LAKE VICTORIA--ACCIDENT TO FLOOD--TURN
NORTHWARDS--CROSS TO THE DARLING--MEET NATIVES--TOONDA'S
HAUGHTY MANNER--NADBUCK'S CUNNING--ABUNDANCE OF FEED--SUDDEN
FLOODS--BAD COUNTRY--ARRIVAL AT WILLIORARA--CONSEQUENT
DISAPPOINTMENT--PERPLEXITY--MR. POOLE GOES TO THE RANGES--
MR. BROWNE'S RETURN--FOOD OF THE NATIVES--POSITION OF
WILLIORARA.
CHAPTER IV TOONDA'S TRIBE--DISPOSITION OF THE NATIVES--ARRIVAL OF
CAMBOLI--HIS ENERGY OF CHARACTER--MR. POOLE'S RETURN--LEAVE
THE DARLING--REMARKS ON THAT RIVER--CAWNDILLA--THE OLD
BOOCOLO--LEAVE THE CAMP FOR THE HILLS--REACH A CREEK--WELLS--
TOPAR'S MISCONDUCT--ASCEND THE RANGES--RETURN HOMEWARDS--
EAVE CAWNDILLA WITH A PARTY--REACH PARNARI--MOVE TO THE
HILLS--JOURNEY TO N. WEST--HEAVY RAINS--RETURN TO CAMP--
MR. POOLE LEAVES--LEAVE THE RANGES--DESCENT TO THE PLAINS--
MR. POOLE'S RETURN--HIS REPORT--FLOOD'S CREEK--AQUATIC
BIRDS--RANGES DIMINISH IN HEIGHT.
CHAPTER V NATIVE WOMEN--SUDDEN SQUALL--JOURNEY TO THE EASTWARD--VIEW
FROM MOUNT LYELL--INCREASED TEMPERATURE--MR. POOLE'S RETURN--
HIS REPORT--LEAVE FLOOD'S CREEK--ENTANGLED IN THE PINE
FOREST--DRIVE THE CATTLE TO WATER--EXTRICATE THE PARTY--STATE
OF THE MEN--MR. POOLE AND MR. BROWNE LEAVE THE CAMP--PROCEED
NORTHWARDS--CAPT. STURT LEAVES FOR THE NORTH--RAPID
DISAPPEARANCE OF WATER--MUDDY CREEK--GEOLOGICAL FORMATION--
GYPSUM--PUSH ON TO THE RANGES--RETURN TO THE CREEK--AGAIN
ASCEND THE RANGES--FIND WATER BEYOND THEM--PROCEED TO THE
W.N.W.--RETURN TO THE RANGES--ANTS AND FLIES--TURN TO THE
EASTWARD--NO WATER--RETURN TO THE CAMP--MR. POOLE FINDS
WATER--MACK'S ADVENTURE WITH THE NATIVES--MOVE THE CAMP.
CHAPTER VI THE DEPOT--FURTHER PROGRESS CHECKED--CHARACTER OF THE
RANGES--JOURNEY TO THE NORTH-EAST--RETURN--JOURNEY TO THE
WEST--RETURN--AGAIN PROCEED TO THE NORTH--INTERVIEW WITH
NATIVES--ARRIVE AT THE FARTHEST WATER--THE PARTY SEPARATES--
PROGRESS NORTHWARDS--CONTINUE TO ADVANCE--SUFFERINGS OF THE
HORSE--CROSS THE 28TH PARALLEL--REJOIN MR. STUART--JOURNEY TO
THE WESTWARD--CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY--FIND TWO PONDS OF
WATER--THE GRASSY PARK--RETURN TO THE RANG--EXCESSIVE HEAT--
A SINGULAR GEOLOGICAL FEATURE--REGAIN THE DEPOT.
CHAPTER VII MIGRATION OF THE BIRDS--JOURNEY TO THE EASTWARD--FLOODED
PLAINS--NATIVE FAMILY--PROCEED SOUTH, BUT FIND NO WATER--
AGAIN TURN EASTWARD--STERILE COUNTRY--SALT LAGOON--DISTANT
HILLS TO THE EAST--RETURN TO THE CAMP--INTENSE HEAT--OFFICERS
ATTACKED BY SCURVY--JOURNEY TO THE WEST--NO WATER--FORCED TO
RETURN--ILLNESS OF MR. POOLE--VISITED BY A NATIVE--SECOND
JOURNEY TO THE EASTWARD--STORY OF THE NATIVE--KITES AND
CROWS--ERECT A PYRAMID ON MOUNT POOLE--PREPARATIONS FOR A
MOVE--INDICATIONS OF RAIN--INTENSE ANXIETY--HEAVY RAIN--
MR. POOLE LEAVES WITH THE HOME RETURNING PARTY--BREAK UP THE
DEPOT--MR. POOLE'S SUDDEN DEATH--HIS FUNERAL--PROGRESS
WESTWARD--THE JERBOA--ESTABLISHMENT OF SECOND DEPOT--NATIVE
GLUTTONY--DISTANT MOUNTAINS SEEN--REACH LAKE TORRENS--
EXAMINATION OF THE COUNTRY N.W. OF IT--RETURN TO THE DEPOT--
VISITED BY NATIVES--PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE AGAIN INTO THE
NORTHWEST INTERIOR.
CHAPTER VIII LEAVE THE DEPOT FOR THE NORTH-WEST--SCARCITY OF WATER--FOSSIL
LIMESTONE--ARRIVE AT THE FIRST CREEK--EXTENSIVE PLAINS--
SUCCESSION OF CREEKS--FLOODED CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY--POND
WITH FISH--STERILE COUNTRY--GRASSY PLAINS--INTREPID NATIVE--
COUNTRY APPARENTLY IMPROVES--DISAPPOINTMENTS--WATER FOUND--
APPEARANCE OF THE STONY DESERT--NIGHT THEREON--THE EARTHY
PLAIN--HILLS RAISED BY REFRACTION--RECOMMENCEMENT OF THE SAND
RIDGES--THEIR UNDEVIATING REGULARITY--CONJECTURES AS TO THE
DESERT--RELATIVE POSITION OF LAKE TORRENS--CONCLUDING
REMARKS.
CHAPTER IX FLOOD'S QUICK SIGHT--FOREST FULL OF BIRDS--NATIVE WELL--
BIRDS COLLECT TO DRINK--DANGEROUS PLAIN--FLOOD'S HORSE
LOST--SCARCITY OF WATER--TURN NORTHWARD--DISCOVER A LARGE
CREEK--BRIGHT PROSPECTS--SUDDEN DISAPPOINTMENT--SALT LAGOON--
SCARCITY OF WATER--SALT WATER CREEK--CHARACTER OF THE
INTERIOR--FORCED TO TURN BACK--RISK OF ADVANCING--THE
FURTHEST NORTH--RETURN TO AND EXAMINATION OF THE CREEK--
PROCEED TO THE WESTWARD--DREADFUL COUNTRY--JOURNEY TO THE
NORTH--AGAIN FORCED TO RETURN--NATIVES--STATION ON THE
CREEK--CONCLUDING REMARKS.
PLATES TO VOLUME I.
Chaining over the Sandhills
Sketch of the Route
Sunset on the Murray
Colonel Gawler's Camp on the Murray
Ana-branch of the Darling
Mus Conditor
Parnari
Lower put of the Rocky Glen
Geological formation of the Ranges
Put of the Northern Range
General appearance of the Northern Ranges at their termination
Native Village
The Depot Glen
Milvus Affinis
Water Hole
Red Hill, or Mount Poole
Mr. Poole's Grave
Lake Torrens
Pond with Fish
Native Well
* * * * *
Mr. Arrowsmith, has prepared a large Map of Captain Sturt's routes into
the centre of Australia, from the original protractions and other official
documents, now in his hands.
On this Map are delineated the whole of the details resulting from his
numerous route,--the dates marking his daily progress--the description
of the country--its dip-the depressed Stony Desert, which is probably the
great northern prolongation of the Torrens Basin of Mr. Eyre,--&c. &c. &c.
This Map in two sheets may be had in a cover, price 7 shillings.
VOLUME II.
CHAPTER I REFLECTIONS ON OUR DIFFICULTIES--COMMENCE THE RETREAT--EYRE'S
CREEK--PASS THE NATIVE WELL--RECROSS THE STONY DESERT--FIND
ANOTHER WELL WITHOUT WATER--NATIVES--SUCCESSFUL FISHING--
VALUE OF SHEEP--DECIDE ON A RETREAT--PROPOSE THAT MR. BROWNE
SHOULD LEAVE--HIS REFUSAL TO DESERT THE PARTY--MR. BROWNE'S
DECISION--PREPARE TO LEAVE THE CAMP--REMARKS ON THE CLIMATE--
AGAIN LEAVE THE DEPOT--SINGULAR EXPLOSION--DISCOVER A LARGE
CREEK--PROCEED TO THE NORTH--RECURRENCE OF SAND RIDGES--SALT
WATER LAKE--AGAIN STRIKE THE STONY DESERT--ATTEMPT TO
CROSS IT.
CHAPTER II THE HORSES--ASCEND THE HILLS--IRRESOLUTION AND RETREAT--
HORSES REDUCED TO GREAT WANT--UNEXPECTED RELIEF--TRY THE
DESERT TO THE N.E.--FIND WATER IN OUR LAST WELL--REACH THE
CREEK--PROCEED TO THE EASTWARD--PLAGUE OF FLIES AND ANTS--
SURPRISE AN OLD MAN--SEA-GULLS AND PELICANS--FISH--POOL OF
BRINE--MEET NATIVES--TURN TO THE N.E.--COOPER'S CREEK TRIBE,
THEIR KINDNESS AND APPEARANCE--ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE PLAINS--
TURN BACK--PROCEED TO THE NORTHWARD--EFFECTS OF REFRACTION--
FIND NATIVES AT OUR OLD CAMP AND THE STORES UNTOUCHED--
COOPER'S CREEK, ITS GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
CHAPTER III CONTINUED DROUGHT--TERRIFIC EFFECT OF HOT WIND--THERMOMETER
BURSTS--DEATH OF POOR BAWLEY--FIND THE STOCKADE DESERTED--
LEAVE FORT GREY FOR THE DEPOT--DIFFERENCE OF SEASONS--
MIGRATION OF BIRDS--HOT WINDS--EMBARRASSING POSITION--
MR. BROWNE STARTS FOR FLOOD'S CREEK--THREE BULLOCKS SHOT--
COMMENCEMENT OF THE RETREAT--ARRIVAL AT FLOOD'S CREEK--STATE
OF VEGETATION--EFFECTS OF SCURVY--ARRIVE AT ROCKY GLEN--
COMPARISON OF NATIVE TRIBES--HALT AT CARNAPAGA--ARRIVAL AT
CAWNDILLA--REMOVAL TO THE DARLING--LEAVE THE DARLING--STATE
OF THE RIVER--OPPRESSIVE HEAT--VISITED BY NADBUCK--ARRIVAL
AT MOORUNDI.
CHAPTER IV REMARKS ON THE SEASON--DRY STATE OF THE ATMOSPHERE--
THERMOMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS--WINDS IN THE INTERIOR--DIRECTION
OF THE RANGES--GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS--NON-EXISTENCE OF ANY
CENTRAL CHAIN--PROBABLE COURSE OF THE STONY DESERT--WHETHER
CONNECTED WITH LAKE TORRENS--OPINIONS OF CAPTAIN FLINDERS--
NO INFORMATION DERIVED FROM THE NATIVES--THE NATIVES--THEIR
PERSONAL APPEARANCE--DISPROPORTION BETWEEN THE SEXES--THE
WOMEN--CUSTOMS OF THE NATIVES--THEIR HABITATIONS--FOOD--
LANGUAGE--CONCLUSION.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE SEA COAST AND INTERIOR OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA;
WITH OBSERVATIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH ITS INTERESTS.
CHAPTER I DUTIES OF AN EXPLORER--GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF SOUTH
AUSTRALIA--DESCRIPTION OF ITS COAST LINE--SEA MOUTH OF THE
MURRAY--ENTERED BY MR. PULLEN--RISK OF THE ATTEMPT--
BEACHING--ROSETTA HARBOUR--VICTOR HARBOUR--NEPEAN BAY--
KANGAROO ISLAND--KINGSCOTE--CAPT. LEE'S INSTRUCTIONS FOR
PORT ADELAIDE--PORT ADELAIDE--REMOVAL TO THE NORTH ARM--
HARBOUR MASTER'S REPORT--YORKE'S PENINSULA--PORT LINCOLN--
CAPT. LEE'S INSTRUCTIONS--BOSTON ISLAND--BOSTON BAY--
COFFIN'S BAY--MR. CAMERON SENT ALONG THE COAST--HIS REPORT--
POSITION OF PORT ADELAIDE.
CHAPTER II PLAINS OF ADELAIDE--BRIDGES OVER THE TORRENS--SITE OF
ADELAIDE--GOVERNMENT HOUSE BUILDINGS AND CHURCHES--SCHOOLS--
POLICE--ROADS--THE GAWLER--BAROSSA RANGE--THE MURRAY BELT--
MOORUNDI--NATIVES ON THE MURRAY--DISTANT STOCK STATIONS--
MOUNT GAMBIER DISTRICT--ITS RICHNESS--ASCENT TO MOUNT LOFTY--
MOUNT BARKER DISTRICT--SCENE IN HINDMARSH VALLEY--PROPORTION
OF SOIL IN THE PROVINCE--PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL--
PORT LINCOLN--CLIMATE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA--RANGE OF THE
THERMOMETER--SALUBRITY.
CHAPTER III SEASONS--CAUSE WHY SOUTH AUSTRALIA HAS FINE GRAIN--EXTENT OF
CULTIVATION--AMOUNT OF STOCK--THE BURRA-BURRA MINE--ITS
MAGNITUDE--ABUNDANCE OF MINERALS--ABSENCE OF COAL--SMELTING
ORE--IMMENSE PROFITS OF THE BURRA-BURRA--EFFECT OF THE MINES
ON THE LABOUR MARKET--RELUCTANCE OF THE LOWER ORDERS TO
EMIGRATE--DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CANADA AND AUSTRALIA--THE
AUSTRALIAN COLONIES--STATE OF SOCIETY--THE MIDDLE CLASSES--
THE SQUATTERS--THE GERMANS--THE NATIVES--AUTHOR'S INTERVIEWS
WITH THEM--INSTANCES OF JUST FEELING--THEIR BAD QUALITIES--
PERSONAL APPEARANCE--YOUNG SETTLERS ON THE MURRAY--
CONCLUSION.
MR. KENNEDY'S SURVEY OF THE RIVER VICTORIA
APPENDIX
ANIMALS
BIRDS
NO. I. LIST OF SPECIMENS, AND THE NAMES OF THE VARIOUS ROCKS,
COLLECTED DURING THE EXPEDITION
NO. II. LOCALITIES OF THE DIFFERENT GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS,
COLLECTED BY THE CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION
BOTANICAL APPENDIX, BY R. BROWN, ESQ., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.L.S, &C.
PLATES TO VOLUME II.
View from Stanley's Range
Native Grave
Cooper's Creek
Geophaps plumifera
Strzelecki's Creek
Mr. Eyre's House at Moorundi
Piesse's Knob
King William Street, Adelaide
Port Adelaide
Mount Bryan
Murray River
Cinclosoma Cinnamoneus
ERRATA
Errata have been corrected. Original text has been placed in
the eBook between braces{}.
* * * * * * *
VOLUME I
PREFACE.
The prominent part I have taken in the furtherance of Geographical
Discovery on the Australian continent, and the attention, it will
naturally be supposed, I have paid to the subject generally, will lead
the reader perhaps to expect that I should, at the commencement of a work
such as this, put him in possession of all the facts, with which I myself
am acquainted, as to the character of those portions of it, which had
been explored, before I commenced my recent labours. This may reasonably
be expected from me by my readers, not only to enable them to follow me
into the heartless desert from which, it may still be said, I have so
lately returned, with that distinctness which can alone secure interest
to my narrative; but, also, to judge whether the conclusions at which I
arrived, and upon which I acted, were such as past experience ought to
have led me to adopt.
It has struck me forcibly that such information would undoubtedly be
desirable, not only to render my own details clearer, but to explain my
views, since I should exceedingly regret that any imputation of rashness
or inconsistency were laid to my charge; or if it was thought, I had
volunteered hazardous and important undertakings, for the love of
adventure alone.
The field of Ambition, professionally speaking, is closed upon the
soldier during the period of his service in New South Wales. Had it been
otherwise, however, no more honourable a one could have been open to me,
when I landed on its shores in 1826, than the field of Discovery. I
sought and entered upon it, not without a feeling of ambition I am ready
to admit, for that feeling should ever pervade the breast of a soldier,
but also with an earnest desire to promote the public good, and certainly
without the hope of any other reward than the credit due to successful
enterprise. I pretend not to science, but I am a lover of it; and to my
own exertions, during past years of military repose, I owe the little
knowledge I possess of those branches of it, which have since been so
useful to me.
It will not be deemed presumptuous in me, I trust, to express a belief
that the majority of my readers will find much to interest them in the
perusal of this work; which I publish for several reasons--firstly, in
the hope, that a knowledge of the extremities to which I was driven, and
of the unusual expedients to which I was obliged to resort, in order to
save myself and my companions from perishing, may benefit those who shall
hereafter follow my example; secondly, that as I published an account of
my former services, my failing to do so in the present instance might be
taken as evidence that I lacked the moral firmness which enables men to
meet both success and defeat with equal self-possession; and thirdly,
because, I think the public has a right to demand information from those,
who, like myself, have been employed in the advancement of geographical
knowledge. I propose, therefore, to devote my preliminary chapter to a
short review of previous Expeditions of Discovery on the Australian
continent, and so to lay down its internal features, that my friends
shall not lose their way.
I propose, also, to give an account of the state of South Australia when
I left it in May last, for, as the expedition whose proceedings form the
subject matter of these volumes, departed from and returned to that
Province, such an account appears to me a fitting sequel to my narrative.
TRAVELS IN AUSTRALIA
CHAPTER I.
CHARACTER OF THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT--OF ITS RIVERS--PECULIARITY OF THE
DARLING--SUDDEN FLOODS TO WHICH IT IS SUBJECT--CHARACTER OF THE MURRAY
--ITS PERIODICAL RISE--BOUNTY OF PROVIDENCE--GEOLOGICAL POSITION OF THE
TWO RIVERS--OBSERVATIONS--RESULTS--SIR THOMAS MITCHELL'S JOURNEY TO THE
DARLING--ITS JUNCTION WITH THE MURRAY--ANECDOTE OF MR. SHANNON--CAPTAIN
GREY'S EXPEDITION--CAPTAIN STURT'S JOURNEY--MR. EYRE'S SECOND
EXPEDITION--VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE--MR. OXLEY'S OPINIONS--STATE OF THE
INTERIOR IN 1828--CHARACTER OF ITS PLAINS AND RIVERS--JUNCTION OF THE
DARLING--FOSSIL BED OF THE MURRAY--FORMER STATE OF THE CONTINENT--THEORY
OF THE INTERIOR.
The Australian continent is not distinguished, as are many other
continents of equal and even of less extent, by any prominent
geographical feature. Its mountains seldom exceed four thousand feet in
elevation, nor do any of its rivers, whether falling internally or
externally, not even the Murray, bear any proportion to the size of the
continent itself. There is no reason, however, why rivers of greater
magnitude, than any which have hitherto been discovered in it, should not
emanate from mountains of such limited altitude, as the known mountains
of that immense and sea-girt territory. But, it appears to me, it is not
in the height and character of its hilly regions, that we are to look for
the causes why so few living streams issue from them. The true cause, I
apprehend, lies in its climate, in its seldom experiencing other than
partial rains, and in its being subject to severe and long continued
droughts. Its streams descend rapidly into a country of uniform equality
of surface, and into a region of intense heat, and are subject, even at a
great distance from their sources, to sudden and terrific floods, which
subside, as the cause which gave rise to them ceases to operate; the
consequence is, that their springs become gradually weaker and weaker,
all back impulse is lost, and whilst the rivers still continue to support
a feeble current in the hills, they cease to flow in their lower
branches, assume the character of a chain of ponds, in a few short weeks
their deepest pools are exhausted by the joint effects of evaporation and
absorption, and the traveller may run down their beds for miles, without
finding a drop of water with which to slake his thirst.
In illustration of the above, I would observe that during the progress of
the recent expedition up the banks of the Darling, and at a distance of
more than 300 miles from its sources, that river rose from a state of
complete exhaustion, until in four days it overflowed its banks. It was
converted in a single night, from an almost dry channel, into a foaming
and impetuous stream, rolling along its irresistible and turbid waters,
to add to those of the Murray.
There can be no doubt, but, that this sudden rise in the river, was
caused by heavy rains on the mountains, in which its tributaries are to
be found, for the Darling does not receive any accession to its waters
below their respective junctions, of sufficient magnitude to account for
such an occurrence. [Note 1. below]
[Note 1. The principal tributaries of the Darling, are the Kindur, the
Keraula, the Namoy, and the Gwydir. They are beautiful mountain streams,
and rise in the hilly country, behind Moreton Bay, in lat. 27 degrees,
and in longitude 152 degrees E.]
When, on the return of the expedition homewards the following year, some
two months later in the season than that of which I have just been
speaking, Oct. 1844, there had been no recurrence of the flood of the
previous year, but the Darling was at a still lower ebb than before, and
every lagoon, and creek in its vicinity had long been exhausted and
waterless. [Note 2. below] Now, it is evident, as far as I can judge, that
if the rains of Australia were as regular as in other countries, its
rivers would also be more regular in their flow, and would not present the
anomaly they now do, of being in a state of rapid motion at one time,
and motionless at another.
[Note 2. It may be necessary to warn my readers that a creek in
the Australian colonies, is not always an arm of the sea. The same term
is used to designate a watercourse, whether large or small, in which the
winter torrents may or may not have left a chain of ponds. Such a
watercourse could hardly be called a river, since it only flows during
heavy rains, after which it entirely depends on the character of the soil,
through which it runs, whether any water remains in it or not.]
A lagoon is a shallow lake, it generally constitutes the back water of
some river, and is speedily dried up. In Australia, there is no surface
water, properly so called, of a permanent description.]
But, although I am making these general observations on the rivers, and
to a certain extent of climate of Australia, I would not be understood to
mean more than that its seasons are uncertain, and that its summers are
of comparatively long duration.
In reference to its rivers also, the Murray is an exception to the other
known rivers of this extensive continent. The basins of that fine stream
are in the deepest recesses of the Australian Alps--which rise to an
elevation of 7000 feet above the sea. The heads of its immediate
tributaries, extend from the 36th to the 32nd parallel of latitude, and
over two degrees of longitude, that is to say, from the 146 degrees to
the 148 degrees meridian, but, independently of these, it receives the
whole westerly drainage of the interior, from the Darling downwards.
Supplied by the melting snows from the remote and cloud-capped chain in
which its tributaries rise, the Murray supports a rapid current to the
sea. Taking its windings into account, its length cannot be less than
from 1300 to 1500 miles. Thus, then, this noble stream preserves its
character throughout its whole line. Uninfluenced by the sudden floods to
which the other rivers of which we have been speaking are subject, its
rise and fall are equally gradual. Instead of stopping short in its
course as they do, its never-failing fountains have given it strength to
cleave a channel through the desert interior, and so it happened, that,
instead of finding it terminate in a stagnant marsh, or gradually
exhausting itself over extensive plains as the more northern streams do,
I was successfully borne on its broad and transparent waters, during the
progress of a former expedition, to the centre of the land in which I
have since erected my dwelling.
As I have had occasion to remark, the rise and fall of the Murray are
both gradual. It receives the first addition to its waters from the
eastward, in the month of July, and rises at the rate of an inch a day
until December, in which month it attains a height of about seventeen
feet above its lowest or winter level. As it rises it fills in succession
all its lateral creeks and lagoons, and it ultimately lays many of its
flats under water.
The natives look to this periodical overflow of their river, with as much
anxiety as did ever or now do the Egyptians, to the overflowing of the
Nile. To both they are the bountiful dispensation of a beneficent
Creator, for as the sacred stream rewards the husbandman with a double
harvest, so does the Murray replenish the exhausted reservoirs of the
poor children of the desert, with numberless fish, and resuscitates
myriads of crayfish that had laid dormant underground; without which
supply of food, and the flocks of wild fowl that at the same time cover
the creeks and lagoons, it is more than probable, the first navigators of
the Murray would not have heard a human voice along its banks; but so it
is, that in the wide field of nature, we see the hand of an over-ruling
Providence, evidences of care and protection from some unseen quarter,
which strike the mind with overwhelming conviction, that whether in the
palace or in the cottage, in the garden, or in the desert, there is an
eye upon us. Not to myself do I accord any credit in that I returned from
my wanderings to my home. Assuredly, if it had not been for other
guidance than the exercise of my own prudence, I should have perished:
and I feel satisfied the reader of these humble pages, will think as I do
when he shall have perused them.
An inspection of the accompanying chart, will shew that the course of the
Murray, as far as the 138 degrees meridian is to the W.N.W., but that, at
that point, it turns suddenly to the south, and discharges itself into
Lake Victoria, which again communicates with the ocean, in the bight of
Encounter Bay. This outlet is called the "Sea mouth of the Murray," and
immediately to the eastward of it, is the Sand Hill, now called Barker's
Knoll--under which the excellent and amiable officer after whom it is
named fell by the hands of the natives, in the cause of geographical
research.
Running parallel with its course from the southerly bend, or great N.W.
angle of the Murray, there is a line of hills, terminating southwards, at
Cape Jarvis; but, extending northwards beyond the head of Spencer's Gulf.
These hills contain the mineral wealth of South Australia, and
immediately to the westward of them is the fair city of Adelaide.
On gaining the level interior, the Murray passes through a desert country
to the 140 degrees meridian, when it enters the great fossil formation,
of which I shall have to speak hereafter. In lat. 34 degrees, and in
long. 142 degrees, the Darling forms a junction with it; consequently, as
that river rises in latitude 27 degrees, and in long. 152 degrees, its
direct course will be about S.W. There is a distance of nine degrees of
latitude, therefore, between their respective sources, and, as the
Darling forms a considerable angle with the Murray at this junction, it
necessarily follows, as I have had occasion to remark, that the two
rivers must receive all the drainage from the eastward, falling into that
angle. If I have been sufficiently clear in explaining the geographical
position and character of these two rivers, which in truth almost make an
island of the S.E. angle of the Australian continent, it will only remain
for me to add in this place, that neither the Murray nor the Darling
receive any tributary stream from the westward or northward, and at the
time at which I commenced my last enterprise, the Darling was the
boundary of inland discovery, if I except the journey of my gallant
friend Eyre, to Lake Torrens, and the discovery by him of the country
round Mount Serle. Sir Thomas Mitchell had traced the Darling, from the
point at which I had been obliged from the want of good water to abandon
it, in 1828, to lat. 32 degrees 26 minutes, and had marked down some
hills to the westward of it. Still I do not think that I detract from his
merit, and I am sure I do not wish to do so, when I say that his having
so marked them can hardly be said to have given us any certain knowledge
of the Cis-Darling interior.
More than sixteen years had elapsed from the period when I undertook the
exploration of the Murray River, to that at which I commenced my
preparations for an attempt to penetrate Central Australia. Desolate,
however, as the country for the most part had been, through which I
passed, my voyage down that river had been the forerunner of events I
could neither have anticipated or foreseen. I returned indeed to Sydney,
disheartened and dissatisfied at the result of my investigations. To all
who were employed in that laborious undertaking, it had proved one of the
severest trial and of the greatest privation; to myself individually it
had been one of ceaseless anxiety. We had not, as it seemed, made any
discovery to gild our enterprise, had found no approximate country likely
to be of present or remote advantage to the Government by which we had
been sent forth; the noble river on whose buoyant waters we were hurried
along, seemed to have been misplaced, through such an extent of desert
did it pass, as if it was destined thus never to be of service to
civilized man, and for a short time the honour of a successful
undertaking, as far as human exertion could ensure it, was all that
remained to us after its fatigues and its dangers had terminated, as the
reader will conclude from the tenour of the above passage; for, although
at the termination of the Murray, we came upon a country, the aspect of
which indicated more than usual richness and fertility, we were unable,
from exhausted strength, to examine it as we could have wished, and thus
the fruits of our labours appeared to have been taken from us, just as we
were about to gather them. But if, amidst difficulties and
disappointments of no common description, I was led to doubt the wisdom
of Providence, I was wrong. The course of events has abundantly shewn how
presumptuous it is in man to question the arrangements of that Allwise
Power whose operations and purposes are equally hidden from us, for in
six short years from the time when I crossed the Lake Victoria, and
landed on its shores, that country formed another link in the chain of
settlements round the Australian continent, and in its occupation was
found to realize the most sanguine expectations I had formed of it. Its
rich and lovely valleys, which in a state of nature were seldom trodden
by the foot of the savage, became the happy retreats of an industrious
peasantry; its plains were studded over with cottages and corn-fields;
the very river which had appeared to me to have been so misplaced, was
made the high road to connect the eastern and southern shores of a mighty
continent; the superfluous stock of an old colony was poured down its
banks into the new settlement to save it from the trials and vicissitudes
to which colonies, less favourably situated, have been exposed; and
England, throughout her wide domains, possessed not, for its extent, a
fairer or a more promising dependency than the province of South
Australia. Such, there can be no doubt, have been the results of an
expedition from which human foresight could have anticipated no practical
good.
During my progress down the Murray River I had passed the junction of a
very considerable stream with it [Note 3. The Darling], in lat. 34 degrees
8 minutes and long. 142 degrees. Circumstances, however, prevented my
examining it to any distance above its point of union with the main river.
Yet, coming as it did, direct from the north, and similar as it was to the
Darling in its upper branches, neither had I, nor any of the men then with
me, and who had accompanied me when I discovered the Darling in 1828, the
slightest doubt as to its identity. Still, the fact might reasonably be
disputed by others, more especially as there was abundant space for the
formation of another river, between the point where I first struck the
Darling and this junction.
It was at all events a matter of curious speculation to the world at
large, and was a point well worthy of further investigation. Such
evidently was the opinion of her Majesty's Government at the time, for in
accordance with it, in the year 1835, Sir Thomas Mitchell, the
Surveyor-General of the colony of New South Wales, was directed to lead
an expedition into the interior, to solve the question, by tracing the
further course of the Darling. This officer left Sydney in May, 1835, and
pushing to the N.W. gradually descended to the low country on which the
Macquarie river all but terminates its short course. In due time he
gained the Bogan river (the New Year's Creek of my first expedition, and
so called by my friend, Mr. Hamilton Hume, who accompanied me as my
assistant, because he crossed it on that day), and tracing it downwards
to the N. W., Sir Thomas Mitchell ultimately gained the banks of the
Darling, where I had before been upon it, in latitude 30 degrees. He then
traced it downwards to the W.S.W {S.S.W. in published text} to latitude
32 degrees 26 seconds. At this point he determined to abandon all further
pursuit of the river, and he accordingly returned to Sydney, in
consequence, as he informs us, of his having ascertained that just below
his camp a small stream joined the Darling from the westward. The
Surveyor-General had noticed distant hills also to the west; and it is
therefore to be presumed that he here gave up every hope of the Darling
changing its course for the interior, and of proving that I was wrong
and that he was right. The consequence, however, was, that he left the
matter as much in doubt as before, and gained but little additional
knowledge of the country to the westward of the river.
In the course of the following year Sir Thomas Mitchell was again sent
into the interior to complete the survey of the Darling. On this
occasion, instead of proceeding to the point at which he had abandoned
it, the Surveyor-General followed the course of the Lachlan downwards,
and crossing from that river to the Murrumbidgee, from it gained the
banks of the Murray. In due time he came to the disputed junction, which
he tells us he recognised from its resemblance to a drawing of it in my
first work. As I have since been on the spot, I am sorry to say that it
is not at all like the place, because it obliges me to reject the only
praise Sir Thomas Mitchell ever gave me; but I mention the circumstance
because it gives me the opportunity to relate an anecdote, connected with
the drawing, in which my worthy and amiable friend, Mr. Shannon, a
clergyman of Edinburgh, and a very popular preacher there, but who is now
no more, took a chief part. I had lost the original drawing of the
junction of the Murray, and having very imperfect vision at the time I
was publishing, I was unable to sketch another. It so happened that Mr.
Shannon, who sketched exceedingly well with the pen, came to pay me a
visit, when I asked him to try and repair my loss, by drawing the
junction of the Darling with the Murray from my description. This he did,
and this is the view Sir Thomas Mitchell so much approved. I take no
credit to myself for faithfulness of description, for the features of the
scene are so broad, that I could not but view them on my memory; but I
give great credit to my poor friend, who delineated the spot, so as that
it was so easily recognised. It only shews how exceedingly useful such
things are in books, for if Sir Thomas Mitchell had not so recognised the
view, he might have doubted whether that was really the junction of the
Darling or not, for he had well nigh fallen into the mistake of thinking
that he had discovered another river, when he came upon the Darling the
year before, and had as much difficulty in finding a marked tree of Mr.
Hume's upon its banks, as if it had been a needle in a bundle of straw.
Fortunately, however, the Surveyor-General was enabled to satisfy himself
as to this locality, and he accordingly left the Murray, and traced the
junction upwards to the north for more than eight miles, when he was
suddenly illuminated. A ray of light fell upon him, and he became
convinced, as I had been, of the identity of this stream with the
Darling, and suddenly turning his back upon it, left the question as much
in the dark as before. Neither did he therefore on this occasion, throw
any light on the nature and character of the distantinterior.
In the year 1837 the Royal Geographical Society, assisted by Her
Majesty's Government, despatched an expedition under the command of
Lieuts. afterwards Captains Grey and Lushington--the former of whom has
since been Governor of South Australia, and is at the present moment
Governor in Chief of New Zealand--to penetrate into the interior of the
Australian continent from some point on the north-west or west coast; but
those gentlemen were unable to effect such object. The difficulties of
the country were very great, and their means of transport extremely
limited; and in consequence of successive untoward events they were
ultimately obliged to abandon the enterprise, without any satisfactory
result. But I should be doing injustice to those officers, more
particularly to Captain Grey, if I did not state that he shewed a degree
of enthusiasm and courage that deserve the highest praise.
As, however, both Sir Thomas Mitchell and Capt. Grey [Note 4. Journals of
Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, during the
years 1837-8-9, by Captain George Grey.] have published accounts of their
respective expeditions, it may not be necessary for me to notice them,
beyond that which may be required to connect my narrative and to keep
unbroken the chain of geographical research upon the continent.
In the year 1838, I myself determined on leading a party overland from
New South Wales to South Australia, along the banks of the Murray; a
journey that had already been successfully performed by several of my
friends, and among the rest by Mr. Eyre. They had, however, avoided the
upper branches of the Murray, and particularly the Hume, by which name
the Murray itself is known above the junction of the Murrumbidgee with
it. Wishing therefore to combine geographical research with my private
undertaking, I commenced my journey at the ford where the road crosses
the Hume to Port Phillip, and in so doing connected the whole of the
waters of the south-east angle of the Australian continent.
In this instance, however, as in those to which I have already alluded,
no progress was made in advancing our knowledge of the more central parts
of the continent.
In the year 1839 Mr. Eyre, now Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand, fitted
out an expedition, and under the influence of the most praiseworthy
ambition, tried to penetrate into the interior from Mount Arden; but,
having descended into the basin of Lake Torrens, he was baffled at every
point. Turning, therefore, from that inhospitable region, he went to Port
Lincoln, from whence he proceeded along the line of the south coast to
Fowler's Bay, the western limit of the province of South Australia.
He then determined on one of those bold movements, which characterise all
his enterprises, and leaving the coast, struck away to the N.E. for Mount
Arden along the Gawler Range; but the view from the summit of that rugged
line of hills, threw darkness only on the view he obtained of the distant
interior, and he returned to Adelaide without having penetrated further
north than 29 degrees 30 minutes, notwithstanding the unconquerable
perseverance and energy he had displayed.
In the following year, the colonists of South Australia, with the
assistance of the local government, raised funds to equip another
expedition to penetrate to the centre of the continent, the command of
which was entrusted to the same dauntless officer. On the morning on
which he was to take his departure, from the fair city of Adelaide,
Colonel Gawler, the Governor, gave a breakfast, to which he invited most
of the public officers and a number of the colonists, that they might
have the opportunity of thus collectively bidding adieu to one who had
already exerted himself so much for the public good.
Few, who were present at that breakfast will ever forget it, and few who
were there present, will refuse to Colonel Gawler the mead of praise due
to him, for the display on that occasion of the most liberal and generous
feelings. It was an occasion on which the best and noblest sympathies of
the heart were roused into play, and a scene during which many a bright
eye was dim through tears.
Some young ladies of the colony, amongst whom were Miss Hindmarsh and
Miss Lepson, the one the daughter of the first Governor of the province,
the other of the Harbour-master, had worked a silken union to present to
Mr. Eyre, to be unfurled by him in the centre of the continent, if
Providence should so far prosper his undertaking, and it fell to my lot,
at the head of that fair company, to deliver it to him.
When that ceremony was ended, prayers were read by the Colonial Chaplain,
after which Mr. Eyre mounted his horse, and escorted by a number of his
friends, himself commenced a journey of almost unparalleled difficulty
and privation [Note 5. Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central
Australia, and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound, in the years
1840 and 41, by E. J. Eyre, Esq.]--a journey, which, although not
successful in its primary objects, yet established the startling fact,
that there is not a single watercourse to be found on the South coast of
Australia, from Port Lincoln to King George's Sound, a distance of more
than 1500 miles. To what point then, let me ask, does the drainage of the
interior set? It is a question of deep interest to all--a question bearing
strongly on my recent investigations, and one that, in connection with
established facts, will, I think, enable the reader to draw a reasonable
conclusion, as to the probable character of the country, which is hid from
our view by the adamantine wall which encircles the great Australian
bight.
On this long and remarkable journey, Mr. Eyre again found it impossible
to penetrate to the north, but steadily advancing to the westward, he
ultimately reached the confines of Western Australia, with one native
boy, and one horse only. Neither, however, did this tremendous
undertaking throw any light on the distant interior, and thus it almost
appeared that its recesses were never to be entered by civilized man.
From this time neither the government of South Australia, or that of New
South Wales, made any further effort to push geographical inquiry, and
all interest in it appeared to have past away.
It remains for me to observe, however, that, whilst these attempts were
being made to prosecute inland discovery, Her Majesty's naval service was
actively employed upon the coast. Captain Wickham, in command of the
Beagle, was carrying on a minute survey of the intertropical shores of
the continent, which led to the discovery of two considerable rivers, the
Victoria and the Albert, the one situated in lat. 14 degrees 26 minutes
S. and long. 129 {139 in published text} degrees 22 minutes E., the other
in lat. 17 degrees 35 minutes and long. 139 degrees 54 minutes;
but in tracing these up to lat. 15 degrees 30 minutes and 17 degrees
58 minutes, and long. 130 degrees 50 minutes and 139 degrees
28 minutes respectively, no elevated mountains were seen, nor
was any opening discovered into the interior. Captain Wickham
having retired, the command of the Beagle devolved on Lieut. now
Captain Stokes, to whose searching eye the whole of the coast was more or
less subjected, and who approached nearer to the centre than any one had
ever done before [Note 6. below], but still no light was thrown on
that hidden region; and the efforts which had been made both on land and
by water, were, strictly speaking, unsuccessful, to push to any conclusive
distance from the settled districts on the one hand, or from the coast
into the interior on the other. Reasoning was lost in conjecture, and men,
even those most interested in it, ceased to talk on the subject.
[Note 6. Discoveries in Australia, and Expeditions into the Interior,
surveyed during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, between the years 1837
and 43, by Captain J. Lort Stokes.]
It may not be of any moment to the public to be made acquainted with the
cause which led me, after a repose of more than fourteen years, to seek
the field of discovery once more. It will be readily admitted, that from
the part, as I have observed in my preface, which I had ever taken in the
progress of Geographical Discovery on the Australian continent, I must
have been deeply interested in its further developement.
I had adopted an impression, that this immense tract of land had formerly
been an archipelago of islands, and that the apparently boundless plains
into which I had descended on my former expeditions, were, or rather had
been, the sea-beds of the channels, which at that time separated one
island from the other; it was impossible, indeed, to traverse them as I
had done, and not feel convinced that they had at one period or the other
been covered by the waters of the sea. It naturally struck me, that if I
was correct in this conjecture, the difficulty or facility with which the
interior might be penetrated, would entirely depend on the breadth and
extent of these once submarine plains, which in such case would now
separate the available parts of the continent from each another, as when
covered with water they formerly separated the islands. This hypothesis,
if I may so call it, was based on observations which, however erroneous
they may appear to be, were made with an earnest desire on my part to
throw some light on the apparently anomalous structure of the Australian
interior. No one could have watched the changes of the country through
which he passed, with more attention than did I--not only from a natural
curiosity, but from an anxious desire to acquit myself to the
satisfaction of the Government by which I was employed.
When Mr. Oxley, the first Surveyor-General of New South Wales, a man of
acknowledged ability and merit, pushed his investigations into the
interior of that country, by tracing down the rivers Lachlan and
Macquarie, he was checked in his progress westward by marshes of great
extent, beyond which he could not see any land. He was therefore led to
infer that the interior, to a certain extent, was occupied by a shoal
sea, of which the marshes were the borders, and into which the rivers he
had been tracing discharged themselves.
My friend, Mr. Allan Cunningham, who was for several years resident in
New South Wales, and who made frequent journeys into the interior of the
continent as botanist to his late Majesty King George IV. and who also
accompanied Captain P. P. King, during his survey of its intertropical
regions, if he did not accompany Mr. Oxley also on one of his
expeditions, strongly advocated the hypothesis of that last-mentioned
officer; but as Mr. Cunningham kept on high ground on his subsequent
excursions, he could not on such occasions form a correct opinion as to
the nature of the country below him. His impressions were however much
influenced by the observations made by Captain King in Cambridge Gulf,
the water of which was so much discoloured, as to lead that intelligent
and careful officer to conclude, that it might prove to be the outlet of
the waters of the interior, and hence a strong opinion obtained, that the
dip of the continent was in the direction of that great inlet, or to the
W. N. W. I therefore commenced my investigations, under an impression
that I should be led to that point, in tracing down any river I might
discover, and that sooner or later I should be stopped by a large body of
inland waters. I descended rapidly from the Blue Mountains, into a level
and depressed interior, so level indeed, that an altitude of the sun,
taken on the horizon, on several occasions, approximated very nearly to
the truth. The circumference of that horizon was unbroken, save where an
isolated hill rose above it, and looked like an island in the ocean.
When I reached the point at which Mr. Oxley had been checked, I found the
Macquarie, not "running bank high," as he describes it, but almost dry;
and although ten years had passed since his visit to this distant spot,
the grass had not yet grown over the foot-path, leading from his camp to
the river; nor had a horse-shoe that was found by one of the men lost its
polish. In this locality there are two hills, to which Mr. Oxley gave the
names of Mount Harris and Mount Foster, distant from each other about
five miles, on a bearing of 45 degrees to the west of south. Of these two
hills Mount Foster is the highest and the nearest, and as the Macquarie
runs between them to the westward, it must also be closer than Mount
Harris to the marshes. I therefore naturally looked for any discovery
that was to be made from Mount Foster, and I according ascended that hill
just as the sun was setting. I looked in vain however for the region of
reeds and of water, which Mr. Oxley had seen to the westward; so
different in character were the seasons, and the state of the country at
the different periods in which the Surveyor-General and I visited it.
From the highest point I could gain I watched the sun descend; but I
looked in vain for the glittering of a sea beneath him, nor did the sky
assume that glare from reflected light which would have accompanied his
setting behind a mass of waters. I could discover nothing to intercept me
in my course. I saw, it is true, a depressed and dark region in the line
of the direction in which I was about to go. The terrestrial line met the
horizon with a sharp and even edge, but I saw nothing to stay my
progress, or to damp my hopes. As I had observed the country from Mount
Foster, so I found it to be when I advanced into it. I experienced little
difficulty therefore in passing the marshes of the Macquarie, and in
pursuing my course to the N. W. traversed plains of great extent, until
at length I gained the banks of the Darling, in lat. 30 degrees. S. and
in long. 146 degrees. E. This river, instead of flowing to the N. W. led
me to the S. W.; but I was ultimately obliged to abandon it in
consequence of the saltness of its waters. I could not, however, fail to
observe that the plains over which I had wandered were wholly deficient
in timber of any magnitude or apparently of any age, excepting the trees
which grew along the line of the rivers; that the soil of the plains was
sandy, and the productions almost exclusively salsolaceous. Their extreme
depression, indeed their general level, since they were not more than 250
or 300 feet above the level of the sea, together with their general
aspect, instinctively, as it were, led the mind to the conviction that
they had, at a comparatively recent period, been covered by the ocean. On
my return to the Blue Mountains, and on a closer examination of the
streams falling from them into the interior, I observed that at a certain
point, and that too nearly on the same meridian, they lost their
character as rivers, and soon after gaining the level interior,
terminated in marshes of greater or less extent; and I further remarked
that at certain points, and that too where the channels of the rivers
seemed to change, certain trees, as the swamp oak, casuarina, and others
ceased, or were sparingly to be found on the lower country--a fact that
may not be of any great importance in itself, but which it is still as
well to record. The field, however, over which I wandered on this
occasion was too limited to enable me to draw any conclusions applicable
to so large a tract of land as the Australian continent. On this, my
first expedition, I struck the Darling River twice, 1st, as I have stated
in latitude 30 degrees S. and in long. 146 degrees; and seconndly, in
lat. 30 degrees 10 minutes 0 seconds S., and in long. 147 degrees
30 minutes E. From neither of these points was any elevation visible to
the westward of that river, but plains similar to those by which I had
approached it continued beyond the range of vision or telescope from the
highest trees we could ascend; beyond the Darling, therefore, all was
conjecture.
At the close of the year 1829, I was again sent into the interior to
trace its streams and to ascertain the further course of the Darling. I
proceeded on this occasion to the south of Sydney, and intersecting the
Murrumbidgee, a river at that time but little known, but which Mr. Hume
had crossed, in lat. 35 degrees 10 minutes, and long. 147 degrees 28
minutes 30 seconds E., on his journey to the south coast, at a very early
period of discovery, and which thereabouts is a clear, rapid and
beautiful stream. I traced it downwards to the west to lat. 34 degrees 44
minutes, and to long. 143 degrees 5 minutes 0 seconds E. or thereabouts,
having taken to my boats a few miles above the junction of the Lachlan
with it, in lat. 34 degrees 25 minutes 0 seconds and in long. 144 degrees
3 minutes E.; having at that point left all high lands 200 miles behind
me, and being then in a low and depressed country, precisely similar to
that over which I had crossed the previous year. As on the first
expedition, so on the present one, I descended rapidly into a country of
general equality of surface; reeds grew in extensive patches along the
line of the river, but beyond them sandy plains extended, covered with
salsolae of various kinds. From the Murrumbidgee, I passed into the
Murray, the largest known river in Australia, unless one of greater
magnitude has recently been discovered by Sir Thomas Mitchell to the
north.
In lat. 34 degrees and in long. 142 degrees, I arrived, (as I have
already had occasion to inform my readers), at the junction of a very
considerable stream with the Murray. At this point, being then 200 miles
distant from the south coast in a direct line, I was less than 100 feet
above the level of the sea; circumstances prevented my examining this new
river however for many miles above its junction with the main stream, but
coming, as I have elsewhere remarked, direct from the north, and
possessing, as it did, all the character and appearance of the Upper
Darling, I had no doubt as to its identity; in which case no stronger
fact could have been adduced to prove the southerly fall or dip of the
interior as far as it had been explored. Proceeding down the Murray, I
reached at length the commencement of the great fossil formation, through
which that river flows. This immense bed rose gradually before me as I
pushed to the westward, until it gained an elevation of from 2 to 250
feet, but on my turning southward, it presented an horizontal and
undulating surface, until at the point at which the river enters the Lake
Victoria, it suddenly dipped and ceased. The lower part of this formation
was entirely composed of Serritullae, but every description of shell with
the bones and teeth of sharks and other animals, have subsequently been
found in the upper parts of the bed, the summit of which is in many
places covered with oyster shells so little changed by time, as to appear
as if they had only just been thrown in a heap on the ground they occupy.
The general appearance of the country through which I had passed, and the
numerous deposits of fine sand upon the face of it, like sea dunes, still
more convinced me, that, when the events which had produced such a change
in the physical structure of the continent took place, a current of some
description or other must have swept over the interior from the
northward; and that this current had deposited the great fossil bed where
it now rests; for I cannot conceive that such a mass and mixture of
animal remains could have been heaped together in any other way. From the
outline of this bed, it struck me that some natural obstacle or other had
checked the detritus, brought down by the current, as sand and gravel are
checked and accumulated against a log or other impediment athwart a
stream, presenting a gradual ascent on the side next the current and a
sudden fall on the other. Such, in truth, is the apparent form of the
great fossil bed of the Murray. This idea, which struck me as I journeyed
down the river, was strengthened, when at a lower part of it I observed a
ridge of coarse red granite, running across the channel of the river, and
disappearing under the fossil formation on either side of it. It appeared
to me to be probable that this ridge of granite might rise higher in
other places, and that stretching across the current as it did, that is
to say from west to east, the great accumulation of fossil and other
remains had been gradually deposited against it, forming a gradual ascent
on the northern side of the ridge, and a precipitous fall upon the other.
I have already observed that at a particular point the rivers of the
interior, which I had traced on my first expedition, appeared to lose
their character as such, and that they soon afterwards ceased in some
extensive marsh, the evaporation and absorption over such extensive
surfaces being greater than the supply of water they received. This point
is about 250 or 300 feet above the level of the sea, and if we draw a
line eastward, from the summit of the fossil formation, and prolong it to
the western base of the Blue Mountains, we shall find that it will pass
over the marshes of the several rivers falling into the interior, and
will strike these rivers where their channels appear to fail, as if that
had been the former sea-level.
The impressions I have on this interesting subject are clear enough in my
own mind, but they are difficult to explain, and I fear I have but ill
expressed myself so as to be understood by my readers. I only wish
however to record my own ideas, and if I am in error in any particular, I
shall thank any one of the many who are better versed in these matters
than myself to correct me.
I have stated in a former part of this chapter, that I undertook a
journey to South Australia in 1838. I advert to the circumstance again
because it is connected with the present inquiry. After I had turned the
north-west angle of the Murray, and had proceeded southwards to latitude
34 degrees 26 minutes (Moorundi), where Mr. Eyre has built a residence, I
turned from the river to the westward, along the summit of the fossil
formation, which, at the distance of a few miles, was succeeded by
sandstone, and this rock again, as we gained the hills, by a fine slate,
and this again, as we crossed the Mount Barker and Mount Lofty ranges, by
a succession of igneous rocks, of a character and form such as could not
but betray to a less experienced geologist even than myself the abundant
mineral veins they contained. On descending to the plains of Adelaide I
again crossed sandstone, and to my surprise discovered that the city of
Adelaide stood on the same kind of fossil formation I had left behind me
on the banks of the Murray, and it was on the discovery of this fact that
the probability of the Australian continent having once been an
archipelago of islands first occurred to me.
A more intimate acquaintance with the opinions of Flinders, as to the
probable character of the interior of the continent, from the character
and appearance of the coast along the Great Australian Bight; the
information I have collected as to the extent of the fossil bed, and my
own past experience, have led me to the following general conclusions.
That the continent of Australia has been subjected to great changes from
subigneous agency, and that it has been bodily raised, if I may so
express myself, to its present level above the sea; that, as far as we
can judge, the north and N.E. portions of the continent are higher than
the southern or S.W. parts of it, and that there has consequently been a
current or rush of waters, from the one point to the other--that this
current was divided in its progress into two branches, by hills, or some
other intervening obstacle, and that one branch of it, following the line
of the Darling, discharged itself into the sea, through the opening
between the western shores of Encounter Bay and Cape Bernouilli; that the
other, taking a more westerly direction, escaped through the Great
Australian Bight. From what I could judge, the desert I traversed is
about the breadth of that remarkable line of coast, and I am inclined to
think that it (the desert) retains its breadth the whole way, as it comes
gradually round to the south, thus forming a double curve, from the Gulf
of Carpentaria, on the N.E. angle of the continent, to the Great Bight on
its south-west coast; but my readers will, as they advance into my
narrative, see the grounds upon which I have rested these ideas. If such
an hypothesis is correct, it necessarily follows, that the north and
north-west coasts of the Continent were once separated from the south and
east coasts by water; and as I have stated my impression that the current
from the north, passed through vast openings, both to the eastward and
westward of the province of South Australia, it as necessarily follows,
that that province must also have been an island. I hope it will be
understood that I started with the supposition that the continent of
Australia was formerly an archipelago of islands, but that some
convulsion, by which the central land has been raised, has caused the
changes I have suggested. It was still a matter of conjecture what the
real character of Central Australia really was, for its depths had been
but superficially explored before my recent attempt. My own opinion, when
I commenced my last expedition, inclined me to the belief, and perhaps
this opinion was fostered by the hope that such would prove to be the
case, as well as by the reports of the distant natives, which invariably
went to confirm it, that the interior was occupied by a sea of greater or
less extent, and very probably by large tracts of desert country.
With such a conviction I commenced my recent labours, although I was not
prepared for the extent of desert I encountered--with such a conviction I
returned to the abodes of civilized man. I am still of opinion that there
is more than one sea in the interior of the Australian continent, but
such may not be the case. All I can say is, Would that I had discovered
such a feature, for I could then have done more upon its waters tenfold,
than I was enabled to accomplish in the gloomy and burning deserts over
which I wandered during more than thirteen months. My readers, however,
will judge for themselves as to the probable correctness of my views, and
also as to the probable character of the yet unexplored interior, from
the data the following pages will supply. I have recorded my own
impressions with great diffidence, claiming no more credit than may
attach to an earnest desire to make myself useful, and to further
geographical research. My desire is faithfully to record my own feelings
and impulses under peculiar embarrassments, and as faithfully to describe
the country over which I wandered.
My career as an explorer has probably terminated for ever, and only in
the cause of humanity, had any untoward event called for my exertions,
would I again have left my home. I wish not to hide from my readers the
disappointment, if such a word can express the feeling, with which I
turned my back upon the centre of Australia, after having so nearly
gained it; but that was an achievement I was not permitted to accomplish.