[Illustration. Sir Thomas Mitchell.]
7.1. INTRODUCTORY.
Mitchell, whose name both as explorer and Surveyor-General looms large in
our history, was born at Craigend, Stirlingshire, in 1792. He was the son
of John Mitchell of Grangemouth, and his mother was a daughter of
Alexander Milne of Carron Works. When he was but sixteen, young Mitchell
joined the army of the Peninsula as a volunteer. Three years later he
received a commission in the 95th Regiment or Rifle Brigade. He was
employed on the Quartermaster General's staff at military sketching; and
he was present in the field at Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, the
Pyrenees, and St. Sebastian. After the close of the war he went to Spain
and Portugal to survey the battlefields. He received promotion to a
Lieutenancy in 1813. He served in the 2nd, 54th, and 97th Regiments of
foot, and was promoted to be Captain in 1822, and Major in 1826. His
appointment as Surveyor-General of New South Wales, as successor to John
Oxley, took place in 1827, when he at once assumed office, and started
energetically to lay out and construct roads, then the urgent need of the
new colony.
His strong personality, and the energy and thoroughness he displayed in
all his undertakings, combined with his many gifts as draughtsman,
surveyor and organizer, proved to be of peculiar service to the colony at
that period of its existence. There was a vast unknown country
surrounding the settled parts, awaiting both discovery and development,
and Mitchell's inclinations and talents being strongly directed towards
geographical discovery, the office of Surveyor-General that he held for
so long was the most appropriate and advantageous appointment that could
have been given him in the interests of the colony.
At the same time, Major Mitchell had faults which have always detracted
from the estimation in which he would otherwise be held for his undoubted
capabilities. His domineering temper led him into acts of injustice, and
often made it impossible for him to allow the judgments of others to
influence his opinions. In his view, no other explorer but himself ever
achieved anything worthy of commendation or propounded any credible
theory regarding the interior of Australia. He always referred
slightingly to Sturt, Cunningham, and Leichhardt, and his perversity on
the subject of the junction of the Darling and the Murray drew even from
the gentle Sturt a richly-deserved and unanswerable retort. On his second
expedition, which was supposed to establish the identity of the Darling
with the junction seen by Sturt, Mitchell excused himself from further
exploration of the lower Darling as he expressed himself satisfied that
Sturt's supposition was justified. But later, when on his expedition to
what is now the State of Victoria, he again fell into a doubting mood,
and he was not finally convinced until he had re-visited the junction.
This constant doubting at last roused Sturt, who speaking in 1848 of
Mitchell's work, said: "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."
Sturt's original sketch of the junction had been lost, and Sturt, who was
nearly blind at the time of publication, obtained the assistance of a
friend, who drew it from his verbal description.
7.2. THE UPPER DARLING.
Rumours of a mysterious river called the Kindur, which was said, on no
better authority than a runaway convict's, to pursue a north-west course
through Australia, now began to be noised about. This convict, whose name
was Clarke, but who was generally known as the Barber, said that he had
taken to the bush in the neighbourhood of the Liverpool Plains, and had
followed down a river which the natives called the Gnamoi. He crossed it
and came next to the Kindur. This he followed down for four hundred miles
before he came upon the junction of the two. The union of the two formed
a broad navigable river, which he still followed, although he had lost
his reckoning, and did not know whether he had travelled five hundred or
five thousand miles. One thing, however, he was convinced of, and that
was that he had never travelled south of west. He asserted that he had a
good view of the sea, from the mouth of this most desirable river, and
had seen a large island from which, so the natives reported, there came
copper-coloured men in large canoes to take away scented wood. The Kindur
ran through immense plains, and past a burning mountain. As no one had
invited him to stay in this delectable country, he had returned.
The story, which bore every evidence of having been invented to save his
back, received a certain amount of credence, and Sir Patrick Lindesay,
then Acting-Governor, gave the Surveyor-General instructions to
investigate the truth of it. It was in this way that Mitchell's first
expedition originated.
On the 21st of November, 1831, Mitchell left Liverpool Plains and reached
the Namoi on the 16th December. He crossed it and penetrated some
distance into a range which he named the Nundawar Range. He then turned
back to the Namoi, and set up some canvas boats which he had brought to
assist him in following the river down. The boats were of no use for the
purpose, one of them getting snagged immediately, and it was clear that
it would be easier to follow the river on land. As the range was not easy
of ascent, he worked his way round the end of it and came on to the lower
course of Cunningham's Gwydir, which he followed down for eighty miles.
At this point he turned north and suddenly came to the largest river he
had yet seen. Mitchell, ever on the alert to bestow native names on
geographical features -- a most praiseworthy trait in his character, and
through the absence of which in most other explorers, Australian
nomenclature lacks distinction and often euphony -- enquired of the name
from the natives, and found it to be called the Karaula. Was this, or was
this not the nebulous Kindur? The answer could be supplied only by
tracing its course; but its general direction and the discovery and
recognition of its junction with the Gwydir showed that the Karaula was
but the upper flow of Sturt's Darling. Much disappointed, for Mitchell
was intent upon the discovery of a new river system having a northerly
outflow, he prepared to make a bold push into the interior. Before he
started, Finch, his assistant-surveyor arrived hurriedly on the scene
with a tale of death. Finch had been bringing up supplies, and during his
temporary absence his camp had been attacked by the natives, the cattle
dispersed, the supplies carried off, and two of the teamsters murdered.
All ideas of further penetration into the new country had to be
abandoned. Mitchell was compelled to hasten back, bury the bodies of the
victims, and after an ineffective quest for the murderers, return to the
settled districts.
The journey, however, had not been without good results. Knowledge of the
Darling had been considerably extended, and it was now shown to be the
stream receiving the outflow of the rivers whose higher courses
Cunningham had discovered. The beginning of the great river system of the
Darling may be said to have been thus placed among proven data. Mitchell
himself afterwards showed himself an untiring and zealous worker in
solving the identity of the many ramifications of this system.
7.3. THE PASSAGE OF THE DARLING.
His next journey was undertaken to confirm the fact of the union of the
Darling and the Murray. Sturt himself was fully convinced that he had
seen the junction of the two rivers when on his long boat voyage; but he
had not converted every one, and Mitchell, with a large party was
despatched to settle the question and make a systematic survey. Early in
March, 1833, the expedition left Parramatta to proceed by easy stages to
the head of the Bogan River, which had been partly traversed the year
before by surveyor Dixon. It was during this expedition that Richard
Cunningham, brother of Allan, was murdered by the natives. He had not
been long in Australia, and had been appointed botanist to the
expedition. On the morning of April 17th, he lost sight of the party,
whilst pursuing some scientific quest, and as the main body were then
pushing hurriedly over a dry stage to the Bogan River, he was not
immediately missed. Not having any bush experience, he lost himself, and
was never seen again. A long and painful search followed, but owing to
some mischance, Cunningham's tracks were lost on the third day, and it
was not until the 23rd of the month that they were again found. Larmer,
the assistant-surveyor, and three men were sent to follow them up until
they found the lost man. Three days later they returned, having come
across only the horse he had ridden, dead, with the saddle and bridle
still on. Mitchell personally conducted the further search. Cunningham's
tracks were again picked up, and his wandering and erratic footsteps
traced to the Bogan, where some blacks stated that they had seen the
white man's tracks in the bed of the river, and that he had gone west
with the Myalls, or wild blacks.*
*[Footnote.] Lieutenant Zouch, of the Mounted Police, subsequently found
the site of his death, and recovered a few bones, a Manilla hat, and
portions of a coat. The account afterwards given by the natives was to
the effect that the white man came to them and they gave him food, and he
camped with them: but that during the night he repeatedly got up, and
this roused their fears and suspicions, so that they determined to
destroy him. One struck him on the back of the head with a nulla-nulla,
when the others rushed in and finished the deadly work.
[Illustration. A Chief of the Bogan River Tribe. Photo by the Reverend
J.M. Curran.]
As is often the case with men lost in the bush, the unfortunate botanist,
by wandering on confusing and contradictory courses, had rendered the
work of the search party more tedious and difficult, thus sealing his own
fate. A rude stone memorial has since been erected on the spot, and a
tablet put up in the St. Andrew's Scots Church, Sydney. The death of
Cunningham, who was a young and ardent man with the promise of a
brilliant future caused Mitchell much distress of mind. He did all he
could to find his lost comrade, and jeopardised the success of the
expedition by the long delay of fourteen days.
He resumed his journey by easy stages down the Bogan, and on the 25th of
May came to the Darling. This river was at once recognised by all who had
been with him on his former trip as identical with the Karaula as
Mitchell had supposed; but he found the country in a different condition
from that presented by it when Sturt and Hume first discovered the river
at nearly the same place. The water was now fresh and sweet to drink, and
the flats and banks luxuriant with grass and herbage.
After choosing a site for a camp, where the town of Bourke now stands,
Mitchell erected a stockade of logs, which he named Fort Bourke, after
the Governor. The country on either side of the Darling was now alive
with natives, and though a sort of armed truce was kept up, it was at the
cost of constant care and watchfulness, and the tactful submission to
numerous annoyances, including much petty pilfering. The boats proved to
be of no service, and after Mitchell with a small party had made a short
excursion down the river to the farthest limit of Sturt and Hume in 1829,
where he saw the tree then marked by Hume, H.H., he had the camp
dismantled, and started with the whole party to follow the river down to
its junction with the Murray.
By the 11th of July, one month after leaving Fort Bourke, they had traced
the river for three hundred miles through a country of level monotony
unbroken by any tributary rivers or creeks of the least importance.
Mitchell was now certain from the steadfast direction the river
maintained, and the short distance that now intervened between the lowest
point they had reached and Sturt's junction, that Sturt had really been
correct in his surmise, and that he had witnessed the meeting of the
rivers on that memorable occasion. He therefore decided that to keep on
was but needlessly endangering the lives of his men. He was constantly
kept in a state of anxiety for the safety of any member of the party
whose duty compelled him to separate from the main body, for the natives,
who had become doubly bold through familiarity, were now persistently
encroaching and rapidly assuming a defiant manner.
On the very day that Mitchell had made up his mind to retreat, the long
threatened rupture took place. Mitchell refers to the blacks of this
region as the most unfavourable specimens of aborigine that he had yet
seen, barbarously and implacably hostile, and shamelessly dishonest. On
the morning of July 11th, two of the men were engaged at the river, and
five of the bullock-drivers were collecting their cattle. One of the
natives, nick-named King Peter by the men, tried to snatch a kettle from
the hand of the man who was carrying it, and on this action being
resented, he struck the man with a nulla-nulla, stretching him senseless.
His companion shot King Peter in the groin, and his majesty tumbled into
the river and swam across. The swarm of natives who were constantly
loitering around the camp gathered together and advanced in an armed
crowd, threatening the men, who fired two shots in self-defence, one of
which accidentally wounded a woman. Alarmed by the shots, three men from
the camp came to the assistance of their mates, and one native was shot
just when he was about to spear a man. The blacks now drew back a little,
and the men seized the opportunity to warn the bullock-drivers, whom they
found occupied in lifting a bullock that had fallen into a bog. Their
arrival probably saved their lives, as the bullock drivers were unarmed.
No further attack took place, but the strictest watch had to be kept
until the party was ready to begin the return journey or to beat a
retreat as the natives regarded it. They reached Fort Bourke without
further molestation, the aborigines being content with having driven away
the whites, who retraced their steps from Fort Bourke to Bathurst.
The geographical knowledge gained on this journey consisted mainly in the
confirmation of tentative theories -- the identity of the Karaula with
the Darling, and the uninterrupted course of the latter river southwards,
as Major Mitchell himself had to confess, into the Murray. Furthermore it
seemed now satisfactorily settled that all the inland rivers as yet
discovered found the same common embouchure. Mitchell's experience too
proved that the pastoral country through which the Darling ran was by no
means unfit for habitation, nor was the river a salt one; true some of
his men had noticed that the water was brackish in places, but this
brackishness, it was seen, had a purely local origin.
Mitchell was a keen observer of the habits and customs of the aborigines.
He was remarkably quick at detecting tribal differences and distinctions,
and his records of his intercourse with them -- which occupies so much of
his journals -- were most interesting then, when little had been written
on the subject; and are even more valuable now, as a first-hand account
by an intelligent man and a practised observer of the appearance of the
natives at the time of earliest contact with the white man.
7.4. AUSTRALIA FELIX.
One would have thought that the fact of the union of the Darling and the
Murray was now sufficiently well-established; but the official mind
deemed otherwise. When the Surveyor-General's next expedition started in
March, 1836, he was informed that the survey of the Darling was to be
completed without any delay; that, having returned to the point where his
last journey had come to an end, he was to trace the river right into the
Murray -- see the waters of the two mingle in fact -- then to cross over
the Murray and follow up the southern bank, recrossing, and regaining the
settled districts at Yass Plains. Although the primary object of the
expedition was the verification of previous discoveries, the programme
was largely departed from, and this particular journey of Mitchell's led
to the opening up and speedy settlement of what is now the State of
Victoria.
A drought, long-continued and severe, was in full force when Mitchell
commenced his preparations for departure; consequently bullocks and
horses in suitable condition were hard to obtain. But as the Government
spared no expense, the necessary animals were at last available. Though
upon reaching Bathurst Mitchell was informed that the Lachlan River was
dry, he started on his third exploring expedition in the best of spirits.
His mind overflowed with old memories and associations, and he wrote in
his journal that this was the anniversary of the day "when he marched
down the glacis of St. Elvas to the tune of St. Patrick's Day in the
Morning, as the sun rose over the beleaguered towers of Badajoz." He had
heard that the aborigines of the lower Murray had been informed of his
approach, and that they had assured the other tribes that they were
gathering murry coolah -- very angry -- to meet him, but this to one of
the Major's temper, lent but an added zest to the journey; for there were
old scores to settle on both sides. It was the 17th of March, 1836,
before he got free of the cattle stations and found himself at the point
where Oxley had finally left the river. He noticed that throughout this
route, in spite of the dry weather, the cattle were all in good
condition; and he found Oxley's swamps and marshes transmuted into grassy
flats. In fact, so changed was the face of the land, that even the
landmarks of that explorer could scarcely be recognised.
Again his mind began to be troubled with doubts as to whether he had not
acknowledged the veracity of Sturt's judgment too hastily, for we find in
his journal that he again wavered, after professing that the identity
admitted of little doubt. Now, on the Lachlan, he reverted to his old
idea that the Darling drained a separate and independent basin of its
own. He wrote:--
"I considered it necessary to ascertain, if possible, and before the
heavy part of our equipage moved further forward, whether the Lachlan
actually joined the Murrumbidgee near the point where Mr. Oxley saw its
waters covering the face of the country, or whether it pursued a course
so much more to the westward as to have been mistaken for the Darling by
Captain Sturt."
Impelled by this doubt he undertook a long excursion to the westward with
no result but the discomfort of several thirsty nights and an unchanging
outlook across a level expanse of country bounded by an unbroken horizon.
He reached Oxley's furthest on the 5th of May, but did not find that
explorer's marked tree, though he found others marked by Oxley's party
with the date 1817.
On the 12th of May, he halted on the bank of the Murrumbidgee, which in
his opinion surpassed all the other Australian rivers he had yet seen. As
his orders were simply to clear up the last hazy doubts that wrapped the
Murray and Darling junction, and then to visit the southern bank of the
Murray, he did not take his heavy baggage on to the Darling, but formed a
stationary camp on the Murrumbidgee, and thence went on with a small
party. When they came to the Murray, they found their old enemies awatch
for them. It was afterwards ascertained that many of these aborigines had
travelled as far as two hundred miles to assist in chasing back the white
intruders once more from their violated hunting-grounds. But these braves
of the Darling did not yet understand the nature of the man they sought
to intimidate.
At first a nominal peace prevailed, and for two days the blacks followed
the expedition closely, seeking to cut off any stragglers, and rendered
the out-roving work of minding and collecting the cattle and horses one
of considerable risk. Mitchell was soon convinced that a sharp lesson was
necessary to save his men. In the event of losing any of his party, he
would have had to fight his way back with the warriors of what seemed a
thickly-populated district arrayed against him. One morning, therefore,
the party was divided, and half of them sent back to an ambush in the
scrub. The natives were allowed to pass on in close pursuit of the
advance party. The native dogs, however, scented this ambuscade, and,
after their fashion, warned the blacks of the presence of the hidden
whites. As they halted, and began handling and poising their spears, one
of the ambushed men fired without orders, and the others followed his
example. The natives faltered, and those in advance, hearing the firing,
rushed back eager to join in the fray. The conflict was short and
decisive; the over-confident fighting men of the Darling lost seven of
their number and were driven ignominiously back into the Murray scrub and
across that river. Henceforth the explorers were unmolested. These
pugnacious aboriginals were the same that had threatened to bring Sturt's
boat voyage to a tragical conclusion, and soon after Mitchell's
exploration, they waged a determined war against the early overlanders
and their stock.
Mitchell's way to the Darling was now clear, and on the 31st of May he
came upon that river, a short distance above the confluence. Tracing the
stream upwards, he again convinced himself that it was the same river
that he had been on before, and, satisfied of this, he turned and
proceeded right down to the junction itself, and finally disposed of one
of the most interesting problems in Australian exploration.
He naturally felt much anxiety, after his late skirmish, for the safety
of the stationary camp he had left behind, and having lost no time during
his return, he was relieved to find his camp in quiet and safety.
The Surveyor-General first mapped the exact junction of the Murrumbidgee
and Murray, and then transferred the whole of the expedition in boats to
the other side of the Murray. Thus was commenced the investigation of the
unexplored side of the Murray, that above its junction with the
Murrumbidgee, in other words the Hume proper. On the 30th of June the
party camped at Swan Hill, having found the country traversed to exceed
expectations in every way. This pleasing state of affairs continued and
Mitchell journeyed on without check or hindrance. After finding the
Loddon River on the 8th of July, and the Avoca on the 10th, he altered
his preconceived plan to follow the main river up, and, drawn by the
beauty and pastoral advantages of this new territory, he struck off to
the south-west in order to examine it in detail, and trace its
development southwards.
More and more convinced that he had found the garden of Australia -- he
afterwards named this region Australia Felix -- Mitchell kept steadily on
until he came to the Wimmera, that deceptive river which afterwards
nearly lured Eyre to a death of thirst. On the last day of July he
discovered the beautiful Glenelg, and launched his boat on its waters. At
the outset he was stopped by a fall, was compelled to take to the land
once more, and proceeded along the bank, occasionally crossing to examine
the other side. On the 18th the boats were again used, the river being
much broader, and in two days he reached the coast, a little to the east
of Cape Northumberland.
The whole expedition then moved homewards, and reached Portland Bay,
where they found that the Henty family from Van Diemen's Land had been
established on a farm for about two years. From them Mitchell received
some assistance in the way of necessary supplies, and then resumed his
journey for home. On the 19th the party separated; Mitchell pushed ahead,
leaving Stapylton, his second, to rest the tired animals for a while and
then to follow slowly. On his homeward way Mitchell ascended Mount
Macedon, and from the summit saw and identified Port Phillip. His return,
with his glowing report of the splendid country he had discovered --
country fitted for the immediate occupation of the grazier and the farmer
-- at once stimulated its settlement, and as the man whose explorations
were of immediate benefit to the community in general -- Mitchell's name
stands first on the roll of explorers.
7.5. DISCOVERY OF THE BARCOO.
Some years elapsed before Mitchell -- now Sir Thomas -- again took to the
field of active exploration. The settlement of the upper Darling and the
Darling Downs had caused numerous speculations as to the nature of the
unknown territory comprising the northern half of Australia. In 1841,
communications had passed between the Governor and Captain Sturt, and in
December of the same year Eyre, not long returned from his march round
the Great Bight, wrote offering his services, provided that no prior
claim had been advanced by Sturt. Governor Gipps asked for an estimate of
the expenses, but considered Eyre's estimate of five thousand pounds too
high, and nothing further was done. In 1843, Sir Thomas Mitchell
submitted a plan of exploration to the Governor, who consulted the
Legislative Council. The Council approved it and voted one thousand
pounds towards expenses. The Governor referred the matter to Lord
Stanley, whose reply was favourable, but the project still hung fire. In
1844 Eyre again wrote offering to make the journey at a much more
reasonable rate, but his offer was however declined as Mitchell's
proposals held the field. In 1845 the fund was increased to two thousand
pounds, and Sir George Gipps ordered the Surveyor-General to make his
preparations.
Mitchell favoured the search for a practicable road to the Gulf of
Carpentaria, and hoped also that he would at last find his long-sought
northern-flowing river. In a letter which he then received from a
well-known grazier, Walter Bagot, there is mention of an aboriginal
description of a large river running northward to the west of the
Darling. But as natives in their descriptions frequently confuse flowing
to and flowing from, they probably had Cooper's Creek in mind.
During the earlier part of the year, Commissioner Mitchell, the son of
Sir Thomas, who was afterwards drowned during a passage to Newcastle, had
made a flying survey towards the Darling, and the discovery of the
Narran, Balonne, and Culgoa rivers has been attributed to him.
On the 15th of December, 1845, Mitchell started from Buree with a very
large company, including E.B. Kennedy as second in command, and W.
Stephenson as surgeon and collector. He struck the Darling much higher
than Fort Bourke, and it was not until he was across the river that he
passed the outermost cattle-stations, which had sprung rapidly into
existence since his last visit to the neighbourhood. The Narran was then
followed up until the Balonne was reached. This river, in his superlative
style, Mitchell pronounced to be the finest in Australia, with the
exception of the Murray. He then struck and followed the Culgoa upwards
until it divided into two branches; he skirted the main one, which
retained the name of the Balonne. On the 12th of April he came to the
natural bridge of rocks which he called St. George's bridge, and which is
the site of the present town of St. George. Here a temporary camp was
formed; Kennedy was left in charge to bring the main body on more slowly;
Mitchell with a few men went ahead. He followed up the Balonne to the
Maranoa, but as the little he saw of that tributary did not tempt him to
further investigation of it, he kept on his course up the main stream
until he reached the junction of a stream which he named the Cogoon. This
riverlet led him on into a magnificent pastoral district, in the midst of
which stood a solitary hill that he named Mount Abundance. It is in his
description of this region in his journal that we first find an allusion
to the bottle tree.
The party wandered on over a low watershed and came down out on to a
river which, from its direction and position, he surmised to be the
Maranoa, the stream he had not followed. At this new point it was full of
deep reaches of water, and drained a tract of most pleasing land. On its
banks he determined to await Kennedy's arrival.
Kennedy overtook him on the 1st of June, bringing from Sir Thomas's son
Roderick despatches which had reached the party after the leader's
departure. Amongst other items of news in the despatches was the report
of Leichhardt's return, and of the hearty reception that he had been
accorded in Sydney. One piece of random information, a mere floating
newspaper surmise, but enough to arouse Mitchell's suspicious temper,
annoyed him greatly. "We understand," it ran, "the intrepid Dr.
Leichhardt is about to start another expedition to the Gulf, keeping to
the westward of the coast ranges."
As this seemed to indicate an intention of trespassing on Mitchell's
present field of operations, he naturally felt some resentment not likely
to be allayed by such a paragraph as the following: "Australia Felix and
the discoveries of Sir Thomas Mitchell now dwindle into comparative
insignificance."
Again leaving Kennedy, he set out to make a very extended excursion.
Traversing the country from the head of the Maranoa, he discovered the
Warrego River. Keeping north, over the watershed, for a time he fondly
imagined that he had reached northward-flowing waters; but the direction
of the rivers that he found, the Claude and the Nogoa, soon convinced him
of his error, and that he was on rivers of the east coast. Even when he
had reached the Belyando, a river which he named and followed down for a
short distance, he still deluded himself that he had reached inland
waters. Intensely mortified at finding that he was on a tributary of the
Burdekin, and approaching the ground already trodden by Leichhardt, he
returned to the head of the Nogoa, once more subdivided his party, and
formed a stationary camp to await his return from a westward trip.
This time, however, he was blessed with the most splendid success. He
found the Barcoo, a river that seemed to him to promise all he sought
for. The direction of its upper course easily led him to believe that it
was an affluent of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and after tracing it for some
distance he returned to camp. The newly-discovered river he named the
Victoria, thinking it would prove to be the same as that found by Captain
Stokes on his survey expedition. It was on the Barcoo, or Victoria, that
Mitchell first noticed the now famous grass that bears his name. On their
return journey, they followed down the Maranoa, and at the old camp at
St. George's Bridge, they were told by the natives that white men had
visited the place during their long absence. It was a singular and
welcome feature of Mitchell's discoveries that they had always proved to
be adjacent to civilisation, and to be suitable for immediate occupation.
The discovery of the Barcoo was the last feather in the cap of the
Surveyor-General. He was doomed to learn soon that it was not the river
of his dreams, but only the head waters of that central stream discovered
by Sturt, Cooper's Creek; but meanwhile the delusion must have been very
gratifying.
In 1851 Mitchell was sent out to report on the Bathurst goldfields, and
on a subsequent visit to England he took with him the first specimen of
gold and the first diamond found in Australia. He was for a short time
one of the members for the Port Phillip electorate, but resigned, as he
found faithful discharge of the duties to be incompatible with his
office. He patented the boomerang screw propeller, and was the author of
many educational and other works, including a translation of the Lusiad
of Camoens. Although a strict martinet in his official duties, and
subject to a choleric temper, he was strenuous in his devotion to the
advancement of Australia, among whose makers he must always occupy a
proud position. He died on the 5th of October, 1855, at Carthona, his
private residence at Darling Point, Sydney, New South Wales. His wife was
a daughter of Colonel Blount.