retreat. Gray and King were the two men who were with Burke and Wills;
and for equipment they had started with six camels, one horse, and three
months' provisions. Short rations and fatiguing marches now began to
tell, and during the struggle back to the Depot, there seems to have been
an absence of that kindly spirit of comradeship that has so often
distinguished other exploring expeditions fallen on evil days.
Gray became ill, and took some extra flour to make a little gruel with.
For this infringement of rules, Burke personally chastised him. A few
days afterwards, Wills wrote in his diary that they had to halt and send
back for Gray, who was "gammoning" that he could not walk. Nine days
afterwards the unfortunate man died, an act which is not often
successfully "gammoned."
But to bring the miserable story to an end, at last on the evening of the
21st of April, 1861, two months after they had reached the Gulf, they
re-entered the depot camp at Cooper's Creek, where four men had been
instructed to await their return, only to find it deserted and lifeless.
Keenly disappointed, for though they knew they were behind the appointed
time, they had still hoped that some one would have waited for them, they
searched the locality for some sign or message from their friends, and on
a tree saw the word DIG carved. Beneath this message of hope they were
soon busy digging, and before long they unearthed a welcome store of
provisions and a letter, which ran:--
Depot, Cooper's Creek, April 21, 1861.
The depot party of V.E.E.* leaves this camp to-day to return to the
Darling. I intend to go South-East from Camp 60 to get on our old track
at Bulloo. Two of my companions and myself are quite well; the third --
Patton -- has been unable to walk for the last eighteen days as his leg
has been severely hurt when thrown by one of the horses. No person has
been up here from the Darling. We have six camels and twelve horses in
good working condition.
WILLIAM BRAHE.
*[Footnote] Victorian Exploration Expedition.
Unfortunately, this was so worded that when Burke found it the same
night, it gave him the impression that the depot party were all, with one
exception, fairly well; and that, with fresh animals just off a long rest
they would travel long stages on their homeward march. As a matter of
fact, on the evening of the day that Burke returned, they were camped but
fourteen miles away. But this was only the first of a series of singular
and fatal oversights -- that almost seemed pre-ordained by mocking Fate.
Burke consulted his companions as to the feasibility of their overtaking
Brahe, and they both agreed that, in their tired and enfeebled condition,
it was hopeless to attempt it. Burke proposed that instead of returning
up the creek along the old route to Menindie, they should follow the
creek down to Mount Hopeless in South Australia, following the route
taken by A.C. Gregory.* Wills objected to this, and so did King, but
ultimately both gave in, thereby signing their death warrant; for if they
had remained quietly at the depot, they would have been rescued.
*[Footnote.] See Chapter 18.
After resting for five days, and finding their strength much restored by
the food, they started for Mount Hopeless, ill-omened name. Before they
left, Burke placed in the cache a paper, stating that they had returned,
and then carefully restored the ground to its former condition. The
common and natural thought to mark a tree or to make some other
unmistakable sign of their return, does not seem to have occurred to
either of the leaders. It will be seen further on how this scarcely
credible omission was a main factor in deciding their fate.
As they progressed slowly down the creek, one of the two camels became
bogged, and had to be shot where it lay. The wanderers cut off what meat
there was on the body, and stayed two or three days to dry it in the sun.
The one camel had now to carry what they had, except the bundles that the
men bore, each some twenty-five pounds in weight. They made but little
progress; the creek split up into many channels that ran out into earthy
plains; and at last, when their one beast of burden gave in, they had to
acknowledge defeat, and commenced to return. After shooting the wretched
camel and drying his flesh, the men tried to live like the blacks, on
fish and nardoo, the seeds of a small plant of which the natives make
flour. But the struggle for existence was very hard; they were not expert
hunters, and the natives, who were at first friendly and shared their
food with them, soon out-grew the novelty of their presence, began to
find them an encumbrance, and constantly shifted camp to avoid the burden
of their support.
On the 27th of May, Wills went forward alone to visit the depot and
deposit there the journals and a note stating their condition. He reached
there on the 30th and wrote in his diary that "No traces of anyone,
except blacks have been here since we left."
But while they were absent down the creek, Brahe and Wright had visited
the place, and finding no sign of their return, and the cache apparently
untouched, had ridden away concluding that they had not yet come back.
This was the note that Wills left:--
May 30th, 1861. We have been unable to leave the creek. Both camels are
dead. Burke and King are down on the lower part of the creek. I am about
to return to them, when we shall probably all come up here. We are trying
to live the best way we can, like the blacks, but we find it hard work.
Our clothes are going fast to pieces; send provisions and clothes as soon
as possible.
The depot party having left contrary to instructions has put us into this
fix. I have deposited some of my journals here for fear of accidents.
WILLIAM J. WILLS.
Having done this, and once more carefully concealed all traces of the
cache having been disturbed, Wills rejoined his companions in misfortune.
Some friendly natives fed him on his way back to them.
During the intercourse that of necessity they had with the natives along
Cooper's Creek, they had noticed the extensive use made by them of the
seeds of the nardoo plant; but for a long time they had been unable to
find this plant, nor would the blacks show it to them. At last King
accidentally found it, and by its aid they managed to prolong their
lives. But the seeds had to be gathered, cleaned, pounded and cooked; and
in comparison with all this labour the nourishment afforded by the cakes
was very slight. An occasional crow or hawk was shot, and a little fish
now and then begged from the natives. As they were sinking rapidly, it
was at last decided that Burke and King should go up the creek and
endeavour to find the main camp of the natives and obtain food from them.
Wills, who was now so weak as to be unable to move, was left lying under
some boughs, with an eight days' supply of nardoo and water, the others
trusting that within that period they would have returned to him.
On the 26th of June the two men started, and poor Wills was left to meet
death alone. By the entries in his diary, which he kept written up as
long as his strength remained, he evidently retained consciousness almost
to the last. So exhausted was he that death must have come to him as a
merciful release from the pain of living. His last entries, although
giving evidence of fading faculties, are almost cheerful. He jocularly
alludes to himself as Micawber, waiting for something to turn up. But it
is evident that he had given up hope, and was waiting for death's
approach, calm and resigned, without fear, like a good and gallant man.
Burke and King did not advance far. On the second day Burke had to give
in from sheer weakness; the next morning when his companion looked at him
he saw by the breaking light that his leader was dead.
The last entries in Burke's pocket-book run thus:--
"I hope we shall be done justice to. We have fulfilled our task but have
been aban----. We have not been followed up as we expected, and the depot
party abandoned their post...King has behaved nobly. He has stayed with
me to the last, and placed the pistol in my hand, leaving me lying on the
surface as I wished."
Left to himself, King wandered about in search of the natives, and, not
finding them, the lonely man returned to the spot where they had left
Wills, and found that his troubles too were over. He covered up the
corpse with a little sand, and then left once more in search of the
natives. This time he found them, and, moved by his solitary condition,
they helped him to live until rescued by Howitt's party on September
15th.
[Illustration. Edwin J. Welch, second in command of the Howitt Relief
Expedition, and the first man to find King.]
Meanwhile the absence of any news from Wright, in charge of the main
body, was beginning to create a feeling of uneasiness in Melbourne. A
light party had already been equipped under A.W. Howitt to follow up
Burke's tracks, when suddenly despatches from the Darling arrived from
Wright, telling of the non-arrival of the four men. Howitt's party was
doubled, and he was immediately sent off to Cooper's Creek to commence a
search for the missing men. He had not far to go. On the 13th of
September he arrived at the fateful depot camp on Cooper's Creek, with
Brahe. He immediately commenced to follow, or try to follow, Burke's
outward track, but on Sunday the 15th, while still on Cooper's Creek,
King was found by E.J. Welch, the second in command of the relief party.
Welch's account of the finding of King is as follows:--
"After travelling about three miles, my attention was attracted by a
number of niggers on the opposite bank of the creek, who shouted loudly
as soon as they saw me, and vigorously waved and pointed down the creek.
A feeling of something about to happen excited me somewhat, but I little
expected what the sequel was to be. Moving cautiously on through the
undergrowth which lined the banks of the creek, the blacks kept pace on
the opposite side, their cries increasing in volume and intensity; when
suddenly rounding a bend I was startled to see a large body of them
gathered on a sandy neck in the bed of the creek, between two large
waterholes. Immediately they saw me, they too commenced to howl and wave
their weapons in the air. I at once pulled up, and considered the
propriety of waiting the arrival of the party, for I felt far from
satisfied with regard to their intentions. But here, for the first time,
my favourite horse -- a black cob known in the camp as Piggy, a Murray
Downs bred stock-horse of good repute both for foot and temper --
appeared to think that his work was cut out for him, and the time had
arrived in which to do it. Pawing and snorting at the noise, he suddenly
slewed round and headed down the steep bank, through the undergrowth,
straight for the crowd as he had been wont to do after many a mob of
weaners on his native plains. The blacks drew hurriedly back to the top
of the opposite bank, shouting and gesticulating violently, and leaving
one solitary figure apparently covered with some scarecrow rags and part
of a hat prominently alone in the sand. Before I could pull up I had
passed it, and as I passed it tottered, threw up its hands in the
attitude of prayer and fell on the sand. The heavy sand helped me to
conquer Piggy on the level, and when I turned back, the figure had
partially risen.
"Hastily dismounting, I was soon beside it, excitedly asking: 'Who in the
name of wonder are you?' He answered, 'I am King, sir.' For the moment I
did not grasp the thought that the object of our search was attained, for
King being only one of the undistinguished members of the party, his name
was unfamiliar to me.
"'King,' I repeated. 'Yes,' he said; 'the last man of the exploring
expedition.' 'What! Burke's?' 'Yes,' he said. 'Where is he -- and Wills?'
'Dead, both dead, long ago,' and again he fell to the ground.
"Then I knew who stood before me. Jumping into the saddle and riding up
the bank, I fired two or three revolver shots to attract the attention of
the party, and on their coming up, sent the other black boy to cut
Howitt's track and bring him back to camp. We then put up a tent to
shelter the rescued man, and by degrees we got from him the sad story of
the death of his leader. We got it at intervals only, between the long
rests which his exhausted condition compelled him to take."
As soon as King had recovered enough strength to accompany the party,
they went to the place where Wills had breathed his last; and found his
body in the gunyah as King had described it. There it was buried. On the
21st Burke's body was found up the creek; he too was at first buried
where he died. Howitt, after rewarding the blacks who had cared for King,
started back for Melbourne by easy stages. On his arrival there he was
sent back to disinter the remains of the dead; a task which he and Welch
safely accomplished, bringing the bodies down by way of Adelaide.
Dr. Becker, Stone, Purcell, and Patton were the others whose lives were
sacrificed on this expedition, so marked with disaster. These victims
received no token of public recognition of their fate, although a public
funeral was accorded to Burke and Wills, and a statue has been erected to
their memory in Melbourne.
[Illustration. The Burke and Wills Statue, Melbourne.]
The foolish and unaccountable oversight of Burke and his companions in
not marking a tree, or otherwise leaving some recognisable sign of their
return at the depot, seems to have led Brahe astray completely. He states
his side of the case as follows:--
"Mr. Burke's return being so soon after my departure caused the tracks of
his camels to correspond in the character of age exactly with our own
tracks. The remains of three separate fires led us to suppose that blacks
had been camped there...The ground above the cache was so perfectly
restored to the appearance it presented when I left it, that in the
absence of any fresh sign or mark of any description to be seen near, it
was impossible to suppose that it had been disturbed."
The story of the lost explorers created intense excitement throughout the
other colonies. Queensland, as the colony wherein the explorers were
supposed to have met with disaster, sent out two search parties. The
Victoria, a steam sloop, was sent up to the mouth of the Albert River in
the Gulf of Carpentaria, having on board William Landsborough, with
George Bourne as second in command, and a small and efficient party;
another Queensland expedition, under Fred Walker, left the furthest
station in the Rockhampton district; and from South Australia John
McKinlay started to traverse the continent on much the same line of route
as that taken by the unhappy men.
CHAPTER 15. THE RELIEF EXPEDITIONS AND ATTEMPTS TOWARDS PERTH.
15.1. JOHN MCKINLAY.
John McKinlay was born at Sandbank, on the Clyde, in 1819. He first came
to the colony of New South Wales in 1836, and joined his uncle, a
prosperous grazier, under whose guidance he soon became a good bushman
with an ardent love of bush life. He took up several runs near the South
Australian border, and thenceforth became associated with that province.
In 1861 he was appointed leader of the South Australian relief party and
started from Adelaide on October 26th. On arriving at Blanche Water, he
heard a vague rumour from the blacks that white men and camels had been
seen at a distant inland water; but put little faith in the story. He
traversed Lake Torrens, and, striking north, crossed the lower end of
Cooper's Creek at a point where the main watercourse is lost in a maze of
channels. Here he learned definite and particular details respecting the
rumoured white men, and thinking there might be some groundwork of truth
in the report, he now pressed forward to the locality indicated. Having
formed a depot camp, he went ahead with two white men and a native.
Passing through a belt of country with numerous small shallow lakelets,
they came to a watercourse whereon they found signs of a grave, and they
picked up a battered pint-pot. Next morning, feeling sure that the ground
had been disturbed with a spade, they opened what proved to be a grave,
and in it found the body of a European, the skull marked, so McKinlay
states, with two sabre cuts. He noted down the description of the body,
the locality, and its surroundings; and in view of these particulars, it
has been stated that the body was that of Gray, who died in the
neighbourhood.*
*[Footnote.] See Chapter 14.
Considering the minute and circumstantial accounts that have from time to
time been related by the blacks concerning Leichhardt, one is not
astonished at the legends told to McKinlay. The native with him told him
that the whites had been attacked in their camp, and that the whole of
them had been murdered; the blacks having finished by eating the bodies
of the other men, and burying the journals, saddles, and similar portions
of the equipment beside a lake a short distance away. A further search
revealed another grave -- empty -- and there were other and slighter
indications that white men had visited the neighbourhood, so that
McKinlay was led to place some credence in this story.
Next morning a tribe of blacks appeared; and although they immediately
ran away on perceiving the party, one was captured who corroborated the
statement made by the other native. Both of them bore marks on them like
bullet and shot wounds. The second native said that there was a pistol
concealed near a neighbouring lake. He was sent to fetch it; but returned
the next morning at the head of a host of aboriginals, armed, painted,
and evidently bent on mischief. The leader was obliged to order his men
to fire upon them, and it was only after two or three volleys that they
retired.
McKinlay was now satisfied that he had discovered all there was to find
of the Victorian expedition, and, after burying a letter for the benefit
of any after-comers, he left Lake Massacre, as it was mistakenly named,
and returned to the depot camp. His letter was as follows:--
"S.A.B.R. Expedition,
"October 23rd, 1861.
"To the leader of any expedition seeking tidings of Burke and party.
"Sir, I reached this water on the 19th instant, and by means of a native
guide discovered a European camp, one mile north on west side of flat. At
or near this camp, traces of horses, camels, and whites were found. Hair,
apparently belonging to Mr. Wills, Charles Gray, Mr. Burke, or King, was
picked up from the surface of a grave dug by a spade, and from the skull
of a European buried by the natives. Other less important traces -- such
as a pannikin, oil-can, saddle-stuffing, etc., have been found. Beware of
the natives, on whom we have had to fire. We do not intend to return to
Adelaide, but proceed to west of north. From information, all Burke's
party were killed and eaten.
"JNO. MCKINLAY.
"P.S. All the party in good health.
"If you had any difficulty in reaching this spot, and wish to return to
Adelaide by a more practicable route, you may do so for at least three
months to come by driving west eighteen miles, then south of west,
cutting our dray track within thirty miles. Abundance of water and feed
at easy stages."
McKinlay next sent one of his party -- Hodgkinson -- with men and
pack-horses to Blanche Water, to carry down the news of his discovery,
and to bring back rations for a prolonged exploration. Meanwhile he
remained in camp. From one old native with whom he had a long
conversation, he obtained another version of the alleged massacre, in
which there was apparently some vestige of truth.
The new version was to the effect that the whites, on their return, had
been attacked by the natives, but had repulsed them. One white man had
been killed, and had been buried after the fight, whilst the other whites
went south. The natives had then dug up the body and eaten the flesh. The
old fellow also described minutely the different waters passed by Burke,
and the way in which the men subsisted on the seeds of the nardoo plant,
all of which he must have heard from other natives.
After waiting a month, Hodgkinson returned, bringing the news of the
rescue of King and the fate of Burke and Wills. This explained McKinlay's
discovery as that of Gray's body, the narrative of the fight and massacre
being merely ornamental additions by the natives. After an easterly
excursion, in which he visited the two graves on Cooper's Creek, McKinlay
started definitely north. It is difficult to follow without a map the
Journal containing the record of his travel during the first weeks. Not
only does he give the native name of every small lakelet and waterhole in
full, but he omits to give the bearing of his daily course.
A northerly course was however, in the main pursued, and Mckinlay
describes the country crossed as first-class pastoral land. As it was
then the dry season of the year, immediately preceding the rains, it
proves what an abnormally severe season must have been encountered by
Sturt when that explorer was turned back on his last trip in much the
same latitude. On the 27th of February, the wet season of the tropics set
in; but fortunately the party found a refuge among some stony hills and
sand-ridges, in the neighbourhood of which they were camped, though at
one time they were completely surrounded by water. On March 10th, the
rain had abated sufficiently to allow them to resume their journey; but
the main creek which they still continued to follow up north was so boggy
and swollen that they were forced to keep some distance from its banks.
This river, which McKinlay called the Mueller, is one of the main rivers
of Central Australia, and an important affluent of Lake Eyre, and is now
known as the Diamantina. McKinlay left it at the point where it comes
from the north-west, and following up a tributary, he crossed the
dividing range, there called the McKinlay Range, in about the same
locality as Burke's crossing. He had christened many of the inland
watercourses on his way across, but most of his names have been replaced
by others, it having been difficult subsequently to identify them. In
many cases, the watercourses which he thought to be independent creeks,
are but ana-branches of the Diamantina.
Passing through good travelling country, and finding ample grass and
water, he reached the Leichhardt River flowing into the Gulf of
Carpentaria, on the 6th of May.
As his rations were becoming perilously low, McKinlay was anxious to get
to the mouth of the Albert, it having been understood that Captain
Norman, with the steam-ship Victoria was there to form a depot for the
use of the Queensland search parties. His attempts to reach it however,
were fruitless, as he was continually turned back by mangrove creeks both
broad and deep, and by boggy flats; so that on the 21st of May he started
for the nearest settled district in North Queensland, in the direction of
Port Denison.
He followed much the same route as that taken by A.C. Gregory on his
return from the Victoria River.* Crossing on to the head of the Burdekin,
he followed that river down, trusting to come across some of the flocks
and herds of the advancing settlers. On reaching Mount McConnell, where
the two former explorers had crossed the Burdekin, he continued to follow
the river, and descended the coast range where it forces its way through
a narrow gorge. Here on the Bowen River, he arrived at a temporary
station just formed by Phillip Somer, where he received all the
accustomed hospitality. Since leaving the Gulf, the explorers had
subsisted on little else but horse and camel flesh, and were necessarily
in a weak condition. Had they but camped a day or two when on the upper
course of the Burdekin, they would have been relieved much earlier, for
the pioneer squatters were already there, and the party would have been
spared a rough trip through the Burdekin Gorge. In fact the tracks of the
camels were seen by one pioneer at least, a few hours after the caravan
had passed. E. Cunningham, who had just then formed Burdekin Downs
station, tells with much amusement how McKinlay's tracks puzzled him and
his black boy. The Burdekin pioneers did not of course, expect McKinlay's
advent amongst them, although they knew that he was then somewhere out
west; and such an animal as a camel did not enter into their
calculations. Cunningham said that the only solution of the problem of
the footprints that he could think of was that the tracks were those of a
return party who had been looking for new country, and that their horses,
having lost their shoes and becoming footsore, they had wrapped their
feet in bandages.
*[Footnote.] See Chapter 18.
For his services on this expedition which were of great value in opening
up Central Australia, McKinlay was presented with a gold watch by the
Royal Geographical Society, and was voted 1,000 pounds by the South
Australian Government.
During the early settlement of the Northern Territory, much
dissatisfaction had arisen concerning the site chosen at Escape Cliffs.
McKinlay was sent north by the South Australian Government to select a
more favourable position, and to report generally on the capabilities of
the new territory. He organized an expedition at Escape Cliffs, and left
with the intention of making a long excursion to the eastward. But a very
wet season set in, and he had reached only the East Alligator River when
sudden floods cut him off and hemmed him in. The whole party would have
been destroyed but for the resourcefulness displayed by the leader, who
made coracles of horse-hides stretched on frames of saplings, by which
means they escaped. On his return, McKinlay examined the mouth of the
Daly River, and recommended Anson Bay as a more suitable site, but his
suggestion was not adopted. McKinlay, whose health suffered from the
effect of the hardships incident to his journeys, retired to spend his
days in the congenial atmosphere of pastoral pursuits, and died, in 1874,
at Gawler, South Australia, where a monument is erected to his memory.
15.2. WILLIAM LANDSBOROUGH.
William Landsborough, the son of a Scotch physician, was born in Ayrshire
and educated at Irvine. When he came to Australia, he settled first in
the New England district of New South Wales, and thence removed to
Queensland. In 1856, his interest in discovery and a desire to find new
country led him to undertake much private exploration, principally on the
coastal parts of Queensland, in the district of Broadsound and the Isaacs
River. In 1858 he explored the Comet to its head, and in the following
year the head waters of the Thomson.
An old friend and erstwhile comrade, writing of him, says:
"Landsborough's enterprise was entirely founded on self-reliance. He had
neither Government aid nor capitalists at his back when he achieved his
first success as an explorer. He was the very model of a pioneer --
courageous, hardy, good-humoured, and kindly. He was an excellent
horseman, a most entertaining and, at times, eccentric companion, and he
could starve with greater cheerfulness than any man I ever saw or heard
of. But, excellent fellow though he was, his very independence of
character and success in exploring provoked much ill-will."
Landsborough was recommended for the position of leader by the veteran
A.C. Gregory, and on the 14th of August he left Brisbane in the Firefly,
having on board a party of volunteer assistants who had been stirred by
the widespread sympathy with the missing men to take an active part in
the relief expedition. Unfortunately, those under Landsborough were, with
one exception, unacquainted with bush life. The exception was George
Bourne, the second in command, an old squatter who had seen and suffered
many a long drought, and whose services proved to be of great value.
After some mishap the Firefly, convoyed by the Victoria, reached the
mouth of the Albert River, where the party was safely landed.
After starting from the Albert, Landsborough came unexpectedly upon a
river hitherto unknown. It flowed into the Nicholson, and both Leichhardt
and Gregory had crossed below the confluence. It was a running stream
with much semi-tropical foliage on its banks, running through
well-grassed, level country, and he named it the Gregory. As they neared
the higher reaches of the Gregory, they found the country of a more arid
nature. They ascended the main range, and on the 21st of December,
Landsborough found an inland river flowing south, which he named the
Herbert. The Queensland authorities subsequently re-christened the stream
with the singularly inappropriate name of Georgina. In this river two
fine sheets of water were found, and called Lake Frances and Lake Mary.
An ineffectual attempt was then made to go westward, but lack of water
compelled them to desist.
Landsborough now returned to the depot by way of the Gregory, and, on
arriving there, learnt that Walker had been in and had reported having
seen the tracks of Burke and Wills on the Flinders. Landsborough
thereupon resolved to return by way of the Flinders, instead of going
back by boat. They had very little provisions, but by reducing the number
of the party, they managed to subsist on short allowance. On this second
trip, he followed the Flinders up, and was rewarded by being the first
white man to see the beautiful prairie-like country through which it
flows. He named the remarkable isolated hills visible from the river Fort
Bowen, Mount Brown and Mount Little. From the upper Flinders he struck
south, hoping to come across a newly-formed station, but was
disappointed, though he saw numerous horse-tracks showing that settlement
was near at hand. At last after enduring a long period of
semi-starvation, they reached the Warrego, and at the station of Neilson
and Williams, first learnt the fate of those whom they had been seeking.
Landsborough was next appointed Resident at Burketown, and afterwards
Inspector of Brands for the district of East Moreton. He died in 1886.
15.3. P.E. WARBURTON.
[Illustration. Major Warburton.]
Major Warburton was the fourth son of the Reverend Rowland Warburton of
Arley Hall, Cheshire, where he was born on the 15th of August, 1813. He
was first educated in France. He entered the Royal Navy in 1826, and in
1829 proceeded to Addiscombe College, preparatory to entering the East
India Company's service, in which he served from 1831 to 1853, when he
retired with the rank of Major. In 1853 he arrived at Albany. From there
he went on to Adelaide, and at the end of the same year was appointed
Commissioner of Police, an office which he held until he was placed in
charge of the Imperial Pension Department. On his return from his
exploring expedition he was voted 1,000 pounds for himself, and 500
pounds for his party. He was created a C.M.G. in 1875, was awarded the
Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, and he died in
1889.
In 1873 two prominent South Australian colonists, whose names are
intimately connected with the promotion of exploration in that colony,
Thomas Elder and Walter Hughes, fitted out an expedition which it was
hoped would lead to the rapid advancement of geographical knowledge.
Unfortunately the result was not commensurate with the ambitious nature
of the undertaking. The command was given to Major Warburton, who was
instructed to start from the neighbourhood of Central Mount Stuart, and
to steer a course direct to Perth. In spite of being provided with a long
string of camels, Warburton incurred so much delay in getting through the
sandhills that his camels were knocked up and his provisions nearly all
consumed before he had advanced half-way. This compelled him to bear up
north to the head waters of the Oakover River. Besides the leader, the
party consisted of his son Richard; Lewis, a surveyor; one more white
man; two Afghans; and a native. Lewis, the surveyor, showed himself to be
a most capable man; in fact, but for his energy and forethought, the
expedition would have been swallowed up in the sands of the north-west
desert.
On the 15th of April, 1873, the explorers left Alice Springs and followed
the overland line until they reached a creek called Burt's Creek, whence
they struck to the westward. After a vain search for the rivers Hugh and
Finke, which were popularly supposed to rise to the north of the
McDonnell Ranges, Warburton altered his course to the north-west, meaning
to connect with A.C. Gregory's most southerly point on Sturt's Creek. For
some distance his way led him through available pastoral country, and in
some of the minor ranges beautiful glens were discovered with deep pools
of water in their beds. So frightened were the camels by the rocks that
surrounded them, that they would not approach them to drink. On the 22nd
of May, after travelling for some days in poor sandy country, they came
to a good creek with a full head. The whole flat, on to which the creek
emerged from the hills, was one vast spring. This place, the best camp
they had yet met with, was named Eva Springs. Leaving the main body
resting at these springs, the leader, with two companions, started ahead,
and was successful in finding some native wells that enabled him to break
up his main camp and advance with all the men and material.
On the 5th of June they crossed the boundary-line between the two
colonies, and found themselves on the scrubby, sandy tableland common to
the interior. At some native wells, which were called Waterloo Wells,
they made an enforced sojourn of about a month; in addition they lost
three camels, and one of the Afghans nearly died of scurvy. When they
were at last enabled to leave the Waterloo Wells, they found themselves
plunged into the salt lake country, where the native inhabitants exist on
shallow wells and soakage springs. By their reckoning they were now
within ten miles of Gregory's Sturt's Creek; but though Warburton made
two separate attempts to find the place, he was unable to recognise any
country that at all resembled the description given by Gregory.
Rightfully ascribing this disappointment to an error in his longitude, he
proceeded on a westerly course once more. The tale of each day's journey
now becomes a dreary record of travels across a monotonous barren
country, and an incessant search for native wells, their only means of
sustaining life.
In addition to other causes for delay, the excessive heat caused by
radiation from the surrounding sandhills during the day compelled the
leader to spare his camels as much as possible by travelling at night.
This naturally led to a most unsatisfactory inspection of the country
traversed, and it was impossible to say what clues to water were passed
by unwittingly.
Starvation now commenced to press close upon them; the constant delays
had so reduced their store of provisions that they were almost at the end
of their resources, whilst still surrounded by the endless desert of
sand-ridges and spinifex. Sickness, too, befel them, so that almost the
full brunt of the work of the expedition was placed upon the capable
shoulders of Lewis and the black boy Charley. The time of these two was
taken up in watching the smoke of the fires of the natives, or in looking
for their tracks. During the early morning and in the evening they could
travel a little, but at night the myriad swarms of ants prevented the
tired men from obtaining their natural sleep. If they stopped to rest the
camels, they only prolonged their own starvation; yet without rest the
camels could not carry them ahead in the search for water. On the 9th of
October, the camels strayed away during the night, but luckily came
across a small waterhole, and at this welcome spot the party rested for a
while; indeed with the exception of Lewis and the native, they were all
too weak to do aught else. They slaughtered a camel, and were fortunate
to shoot a few pigeons and galah parrots, the fresh meat restoring a
little of their strength. They had long since despaired of carrying out
the original purpose of the expedition. All that they could hope for was
to struggle on with the last remaining flicker of life to the nearest
settled country. This was the Oakover River, on the north coast, and to
the head of the Oakover, therefore, their worn-out camels were directed.
They could entertain no hope of relief before reaching the Oakover, for
the discoverer of that river, Frank Gregory, a man always reluctant to
acknowledge defeat, had been turned from the southward attempt by this
very desert across which they were painfully toiling. On the evening that
they started for the station, the whole party were about to ride blindly
on into waterless country, where, but for the black boy, they would all
have perished. The boy had left the camp early in the morning, and,
having come across the fresh tracks of some natives, followed them up to
their camp, where he found a well. He hastened back to the party to tell
them of his discovery, only to find that they had gone. Fortunately he
had sharp ears, and hearing the distant receding tinkle of the camel
bell, by dint of energetically pushing on and cooeeing loudly, he managed
to attract their attention, and then led them back to the new source of
relief. Lewis and the black boy were now the eyes and ears of the party,
and but for them the expedition would never have reached the river.
A fresh start was made after a welcome halt at this well. Warburton and
his son could scarcely sit their camels, and followed the weary caravan
almost with apathy. On the 14th of November Charley found another native
well; but its discovery nearly cost him his life. When close to the
native camp, he had gone ahead by himself, as he usually did, so as not
to startle the aboriginals. The blacks received him kindly and gave him
water, but when he cooeed for his companion, they took sudden alarm and
attacked him. They had speared him in the arm and back, and cut his head
open with a club when Lewis came up just in time to rescue him. Evidently
this attack was not premeditated, but caused by the sudden fear aroused
by the sight of the white men and camels. At this well Lewis and one of
the Afghans went ahead to strike the head of the Oakover, for they
thought they must be drawing near the coast, as the nights were growing
cool and dewy, and they had found traces of white iron work in an old
camp. In a week Lewis returned, having reached a tributary of the river;
and on the 5th of December the whole party arrived at the rocky creek
that he had found.
They now proceeded slowly down the Oakover, but came across no sign of
occupation. The indefatigable Lewis had therefore again to go ahead for
help whilst the others waited for him, living on the flesh of the last
camel. He had 170 miles to journey over before he reached the cattle
station belonging to Grant, Harper, and Anderson, where he was
immediately supplied with horses and provisions to take back to the
starving men.
It was on the 29th of December as Warburton was lying in the shade
thinking moodily that the station must have been abandoned, and that
Lewis had surely been compelled to push on to Roebourne, when the black
boy from a tree-top gave a cheerful signal. Starting to their feet, the
astonished men found the pack-horses and the relief party almost in their
camp.
Of the seventeen camels with which they had started, the two that Lewis
had taken on to the station were the only survivors; and all their
equipment had been abandoned piecemeal in the desert.
15.4. WILLIAM CHRISTIE GOSSE.
[Illustration. William Christie Gosse, Deputy Surveyor-General of South
Australia.]
On the 23rd of April, about a week after the departure of Warburton,
William Christie Gosse, Deputy Surveyor-General of South Australia, also
left Alice Springs on an exploring expedition, having been appointed by
the South Australian Government to take charge of the Central and Western
Exploring Expedition. Like Warburton, he was frustrated by dry country in
his endeavour to reach Perth. He had with him both white men and Afghan
camel drivers, and a mixed outfit of horses and camels. He left the
telegraph line and struck westward, soon finding himself in very dry
country, where he lost one horse on a dry stage. He made a depot camp on
a creek which he called the Warburton, and while on an excursion from
this camp he had the singular experience of riding all day through heavy
rain and camping at night without water, the sandy soil having quickly
absorbed the downpour. On his return he found that the creek at the camp
was running, and though repeated attempts had been made by the Afghans to
goad one of the camels over, the animal obstinately refused to cross.
Probably the leader thought that it was fortunate for the progress of the
expedition that they were not likely to meet with many more running
streams. After passing both Warburton's tracks and those of Giles, Gosse
reached the extreme western point of the Macdonnell Ranges, where another
stationary camp was pitched. The leader made a long excursion to the
south-west, and at 84 miles, after passing over sand-ridges and spinifex
country, caught sight of a remarkable hill, that on a nearer approach
proved to be of singular limestone formation.
"When I got clear of the sandhills, and was only two miles distant, and
the hill, for the first time coming fairly in view, what was my
astonishment to find it was one immense rock rising abruptly from the
plain; the holes I had noticed were caused by the water in some places
causing immense caves."
This hill, which Gosse made an ineffectual attempt to ascend, he called
Ayer's Rock. He returned to his depot camp, crossing an arm of Lake
Amadeus as he did so, and moved the main body on to Ayer's Rock. Rain
having set in heavily for some days, he pushed some distance into Western
Australia, but soon reached the limit of the rainfall. After many
attempts to penetrate the sand-hill region which confronted him, the heat
and aridity compelled him to turn back.
His homeward course was by way of the Musgrave Ranges, where he found a
greater extent of pastoral country than had been thought to exist there.
He discovered and christened the Marryat, and followed down the Alberga
to within sixty miles of the Overland Line, when he turned north-eastward
to the Charlotte Waters station.
Although Gosse's exploration did not add any important new features, he
filled in many details in the central map, and was able correctly to lay
down the position of some of the discoveries of Ernest Giles.
William Christie Gosse was the son of Dr. Gosse, and was born in 1842 at
Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. He had come to Australia with his father in
1850, and in 1859 had entered the Government service of South Australia.
He held various positions in the survey department, and, after his return
from the exploring expedition, he was made Deputy Surveyor-General. He
died prematurely on August 12th, 1881.
CHAPTER 16. TRAVERSING THE CENTRE.
[Illustration. Ernest Giles.
Illustration. Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller.]
16.1. ERNEST GILES.
Ernest Giles was born at Bristol, a famous birthplace of adventurous
spirits. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, London, and after leaving
school came out to South Australia to join his parents, who had preceded
him thither. In 1852 he went to the Victorian goldfields, and
subsequently became a clerk, first in the Post Office, Melbourne, and
afterwards in the county court.
Having resigned his clerkship, he pursued a bush life, and in 1872 made
his first effort in the field of exploration. His party was a small one,
the funds being found by contributions from S. Carmichael, one of the
party, Baron von Mueller, Giles himself, and one of his relatives. The
members of the expedition were Giles, Carmichael, and Robinson; 15 horses
and a little dog were included in the equipment. They started from
Chambers Pillar, and it was on this journey that Lake Amadeus and Mount
Olga were discovered, the two most enduring physical features whose
discovery we owe to Giles. The lake is a long narrow salt-pan of
considerable size, but without any important affluents; Mount Olga is a
singular mountain situated about 50 miles from the lake. On this trip
Giles went over much untrodden country, but the smallness of the party at
last convinced him that it was beyond their frugal means to force their
way through the desert country to the settlements of West Australia.
Giles was fortunate on this his first trip in having two able and willing
bushmen for his companions; otherwise he would not have progressed as far
as he did and returned in safety. But most untiring endeavours will not
compensate for the lack of numbers, and Giles was forced to return beaten
from his first attempt.
His second expedition took place about the same time as that undertaken
by Gosse. In consequence of a stirring appeal by Baron von Mueller, he
had now the advantage of both substantial private help and a small sum
from the South Australian Government. The party numbered four: W.H.
Tietkins, who afterwards made an honourable name as an independent
explorer; the unfortunate Alfred Gibson; and a lad named Andrews, in
addition to the leader.
Giles left the settled district at the Alberga, and made several
determined efforts to push through the sandy spinifex desert that had
baffled so many. It was during one of these forlorn hopes that Gibson
died.
Anxious to reach a range which he had sighted in the distance, and where
he hoped to find a change of country, Giles made up his mind to make a
determined effort to reach it, carrying a supply of water with him on
pack-horses. As usual, Tietkins was to accompany him, but as Gibson
complained of having been always previously left in camp, he was allowed
to go instead. The two kept doggedly on, the horses, as they gave in,
being left to find their way back to the main camp. At last, when several
days out, they had but two horses left. Giles sent Gibson back on one,
with instructions to push on for the camp, taking what little water he
wanted out of a keg they had buried on their outward way, leaving the
remainder for his use. He himself intended to make a final effort to
reach the range.
Giles's horse soon gave in after they parted, and he had to start to
return on foot. On his weary way back he saw that one of the abandoned
horses had turned off from the trail, and that Gibson's tracks turned off
too, seemingly following it. When he reached the keg, he found that the
contents were untouched. Fearing greatly that the unfortunate man's fate
was sealed, Giles dragged himself on to the camp. A search was at once
instituted, but it was fruitless. Neither man nor horse was ever seen
again; and the scene of his fate is known as Gibson's Desert.
During his excursions in various directions, Giles discovered and
traversed four different ranges of hills. The party were much worried by
the hostility of the blacks, and, what with the uneasiness caused by
their attacks, the plague of myriads of ants, the loss of Gibson, and the
failure of their own hopes, they were forced to return to Adelaide,
baffled for a time, but not beaten.
We thus see how the arid belt of the middle country had defied three
different explorers -- Warburton, Gosse, and Giles -- one equipped with
camels only, one with camels and horses, and one who had relied on horses
alone.
[Illustration. A Camel Caravan in an Australian Desert.]
In 1875 Giles took the field once more. This time, owing to the
generosity of Sir Thomas Elder, of South Australia, he was well-prepared.
He had a fine caravan of camels, and had his former companion Tietkins
with him, besides a completely-equipped party.
The start was made from Beltana, the next halting-place being Youldeh,
where a depot was formed. From this place they shifted north to a native
well, Oaldabinna. As the water supply here proved but scanty, Giles
started off to the westward to search for a better place, sending
Tietkins to the north on a similar errand accompanied by Young.
Giles pushed his way for 150 miles through scrub and past shallow
lakelets of salt water until he came to a native well or dam, containing
a small supply of water. Beyond this he went another 30 miles, but
finding himself amongst saline swamps and scrub, he then returned to the
depot. Tietkins and his companion were not so successful. At their
furthest point they had come across a large number of natives, who, after
decamping in a terrified manner, returned fully armed and painted for
war. No attempts of the two white men to open friendly communication or
to obtain any information from them had succeeded.
A slight shower of rain having replenished the well they were camped at,
Giles determined to make a bold push to the west, trusting to the powers
of endurance of his camels to carry him on to water.
On reaching the dam that he had formerly visited, he was agreeably
surprised to find that it had been nearly filled by the late rains. As it
now contained plenty of water for their wants, and there was good feed
all around, they rested by it until the supply of water began to show
signs of declining.
On the 16th of September, 1875, he left the Boundary Dam, as he called
it, and commenced to try conclusions with the desert to the westward. For
the first six days of their march the caravan passed through scrubs of
oak, mulga, and sandalwood; next they entered upon vast plains
well-grassed, with salt-bush and other edible shrubs growing upon them.
Crossing these, the camel train again passed through scrub, but not so
dense as before.
When 250 miles had been accomplished, Giles distributed amongst the
camels the water he had carried with him. As they kept on, sand-ridges
began to make their appearance, native smoke was often seen, and they
frequently crossed the tracks of the natives.
On the seventeenth day from the Boundary Dam, Tietkins, who judged by the
appearance of the sandhills that there was water in the neighbourhood,
sent the black boy Tommy on to a ridge lying south of their course. It
was fortunate that he did so, for hidden in a hollow surrounded by
sandhills was a tiny lake which they were passing by unheeded until Tommy
arrested their progress with frantic shouts. Giles gave this place of
succour, which he should have named after his companion, the commonplace
name of Victoria Spring; and here the caravan rested for nine days.
Recruited and in good spirits, they soon found themselves amongst the
distinctive features of the inner slopes of Western Australia -- outcrops
of granite mounds and boulders, salt lakes, and bogs. Their next camp of
relief was at a native well 200 miles from Victoria Spring.
The quietude of their life at this encampment was however rudely broken
by the natives. During their stay they had had friendly intercourse with
the blacks, but no suspicions of treachery had been aroused. The
explorers were just concluding their evening meal when Young saw a mob of
armed and painted natives approaching. He caught sight of them in time to
give the alarm to the others, who stood to their arms. Giles says in his
journal that they were "a perfectly armed and drilled force," though
military discipline was a singular characteristic to find amongst the
blacks of this barren region. A discharge of firearms from the whites
checked their assailants before any spears had been thrown, and probably
prevented the massacre of the whole party.
On leaving this camp the caravan travelled through dense scrub, with
occasional hills and patches of open country intervening. They were
fortunate to find some wells on the way, and on the 4th of November
arrived at an outside sheep-station in the settled districts of Western
Australia, and Giles's long-cherished ambition was at last fulfilled.
The result of this trip was satisfactory to Giles, who thus saw his many
fruitless, though gallant efforts, at last crowned with success; but the
journey had no substantial geographical or economic results. It resembled
Warburton's in having been a hasty flight with camels through an unknown
country, marking only a thin line on the map of Australia. An explorer
with the means at his command, in the shape of camels, of venturing on
long dry stages with impunity, is tempted to sacrifice extended
exploration of the country bordering his route and the deeper and more
valuable knowledge that it brings to rapidity of onward movement. John
Forrest, for example, was able, owing to the many minor excursions he was
forced to make because of the nature of his equipment, to gain infinitely
more knowledge of the geographical details of the country he passed over
than either Warburton or Giles.
Giles now retraced his steps to South Australia, following a line to the
northward of Forrest's track. He went by way of the Murchison, and
crossed over the Gascoyne to the Ashburton, which he followed up to its
head. Then striking to the south of east, he cut his former track of 1873
at the Alfred and Marie Range, the range he had so ardently striven to
reach when the unfortunate man Gibson died. How futile was the vain
attempt that led to Gibson's death he now realised. He finally arrived at
the Peake telegraph station. Few watercourses were crossed; the country
was suffering under extreme drought; and no discoveries of importance
were made.
Giles published a narrative of his explorations entitled Australia Twice
Traversed. He was a gold medallist of the Royal Geographical Society. He
entered the West Australian Government service on the Coolgardie
goldfields, and, on the 13th of November, 1897, died at Coolgardie, West
Australia, where the Western Australian Government erected a monument to
his memory.
16.2. W.H. TIETKINS AND OTHERS.
[Illustration. W.H. Tietkins, 1878.]
W.H. Tietkins was born in London on the 30th of August, 1844, and was
educated at Christ's Hospital. He arrived in Adelaide in September, 1859,
and took to bush life and subsequently survey-work. On the conclusion of
his exploring expeditions with Ernest Giles, he engaged in the survey of
Yorke's Peninsula for the South Australian Government, and then paid a
visit to England. On his return he went to Sydney, and did some survey
work for the New South Wales Government into whose service he permanently
entered. He is now a Lands Inspector on the South Coast.
After his experiences as second with Ernest Giles, Tietkins took charge,
in 1889, of the Central Australian Exploring Expedition. He left Alice
Springs on the overland line on the 14th of March to examine the hitherto
unknown country to the north and west of Lake Amadeus. Late in the month
of May he discovered and named the Kintore Range, to the north-west of
Lake Macdonald, and ascended one of the elevations, Mount Leisler. During
the beginning of the next month he practically completed the circuit of
Lake Macdonald and discovered the Bonython Ranges to the south-east. On
his return journey, Tietkins corrected the somewhat exaggerated notion
entertained as to the extent of Lake Amadeus, as he passed through sixty
miles of country supposed to be contained in its area without seeing a
vestige of this natural feature. In after years he surveyed and correctly
fixed its location.
In 1874, surveyor Lewis, the gallant and tireless spirit whose
indefatigable efforts had pulled the Warburton Expedition out of the fire
took charge of an expedition equipped by Sir Thomas Elder to define the
many affluents of Lake Eyre. Starting from the overland line, Lewis
skirted Lake Eyre to the north, penetrated to Eyre's Creek, traced that
stream and the Diamantina into Lake Eyre, and confirmed the opinion that
the waters of Cooper's Creek as well as the more westerly streams found
their way into that inland sea. J.W. Lewis afterwards died in Broome,
Western Australia.
In 1875 the Queensland Government decided to send out an expedition to
ascertain the amount of pastoral country that existed to the westward of
the Diamantina River. It was placed in charge of W.O. Hodgkinson, who had
occupied a subordinate position in the Burke and Wills expedition. They
started from the upper reaches of the Cloncurry and, crossing the main
dividing range on to the Diamantina, followed that river down to the
southern boundary of Queensland, where it had been named the Everard by
Lewis. This portion was now well-known, and the tracks of the pioneers'
stock were everywhere visible. From the lower Diamantina, the party went
westwards, and, beyond Eyre's Creek, in good pastoral country, came upon
a watercourse which was named the Mulligan. This creek Hodgkinson
followed up to the north; and, not knowing that he had crossed its head
watershed, went on down the Herbert (Georgina) under the impression that
he was still on the Mulligan. He was undeceived when he overtook N.
Buchanan with cattle, who was then engaged in re-stocking the stations on
the Herbert that had been abandoned in the commercial depression of 1872
and 1873. This was the last exploring expedition sent out by the
Queensland authorities, the country within the bounds of that colony
being by that time all known.
But across the western border, the vacant and unknown country of South
Australia attracted many private expeditions to examine it in search of
pastoral holdings. Amongst those from Queensland were two brothers named
Prout, who, with one man, went out to look for new grazing lands, and
never returned. Many months afterwards a search party, under W.J.H.
Carr-Boyd, found some of the horses, and then the remains of one of the
brothers. It was evident from the fragments of a diary recovered, that
they had pushed far into the dry region of South Australia, and had met
their deaths from thirst on the return journey. Probably some of the
waters on which they had relied had unexpectedly failed.
In 1878, Nathaniel Buchanan, a veteran pioneer and overlander of
Queensland, made an excursion from the Queensland border to Tennant's
Creek on the overland telegraph line. Starting from the Ranken, a
tributary of the Georgina, Buchanan struck a westerly course, and
discovering the head of a well-watered creek running through fine open
downs, he followed it down to the westward for some days. The creek
eventually ran out into dry flats, so Buchanan struck westward to the
telegraph line, which he reached after some hardship, a little to the
south of Tennant's Creek. The creek which he discovered, and to which
Favenc afterwards gave the name of Buchanan's Creek, was a most important
discovery, affording a practicable stock route to the great pastoral
district lying between the Queensland border and the overland line.
Frank Scarr, a Queensland surveyor, was the next to invade this strip of
still unknown land. He attempted to steer a course south of Buchanan's,
but was turned back by the dry belt of country. On this excursion he also
found two of the horses of the ill-fated Prout brothers. Scarr then made
further north, and, with the assistance of the creek discovered by
Buchanan, was enabled to reach the line. Owing to the severity of the
drought, however, he was unable to extend his researches any further, and
returned safely to Queensland.
[Illustration. Ernest Favenc.]
In 1878, a project for a railway line on the land-grant principle between
Brisbane and Port Darwin was originated in the former city. The
proprietor of the leading Brisbane newspaper, Gresley Lukin, organized
and equipped a party to explore a suitable line of country, the object
being to ascertain the nature and value of the land in the neighbourhood
of the proposed line, and the geographical features of the unexplored
portion. The leader was Ernest Favenc, who was accompanied by surveyor
Briggs, G. Hedley, and a black boy. They left Cork station on the
Diamantina, and kept a north-west course through the untraversed country
between that river and the Georgina, or Herbert, as it was then called.
They then crossed the border into South Australia, and struck the creek
which Buchanan had found, and to which the name of Buchanan's Creek was
now given. Leaving this creek at the lowest water, the party struck
north, and, after finding two large but shallow lakes, came, in the midst
of most excellent pastoral country, to a fine lagoon which they named the
Corella Lagoon. The trees on the banks of this lagoon, which was about
four miles long, were at the time of the visit white with myriads of
corella parrots; hence the name. Some three hundred natives were
assembled at this lagoon to celebrate their tribal rites; but they showed
a friendly disposition.
From the Corella Lagoon the expedition proceeded north and discovered a
large creek running from east to west. It proved to be one of the
principal creeks of that region, and was named Cresswell Creek; and a
permanent lagoon on it was named the Anthony Lagoon. Cresswell Creek was
followed down until, like its fellow creek the Buchanan, it too was
absorbed in dry, parched flats. The last permanent water on Cresswell
Creek was named the Adder Waterholes, on account of the large number of
death-adders that were killed there. A dry stage of ninety miles now
intervened between the party and the telegraph line, and the first
attempt to cross, on a day of terrible heat, resulted in a return to the
Adder Camp, three horses having succumbed to the heat, thirst, and the
cracked and fissured arid plains. It being the height of the summer
season, and no water within a reasonable distance, it was evidently
useless to sacrifice any more horses. There was nothing to do, therefore,
but to await at the last camp the fall of a kindly thundershower, by
means of which they might bridge the dry gap between them and the line.
The long delay exhausted the supply of rations, but by means of birds --
ducks and pigeons -- horseflesh, and the usual edible bush plants --
blue-bush and pigweed -- the party fared sufficiently well.
During their detention at this camp, many short excursions were made, and
the country traversed was found to be mostly richly grassed downs. Where
flooded country was encroached upon, the dry beds of former lakes were
found, encircled in all cases with a ring of dead trees.
In January, 1879, the thunderstorms set in, and the party reached
Powell's Creek telegraph station in safety.
This expedition opened up a good deal of fine pastoral country, which is
now all stocked and settled.
Western Australia was still busy in the field of exploration. In 1876
Adam Johns and Phillip Saunders started from Roebourne and crossed to the
overland line in South Australia. Ostensibly theirs was a prospecting
expedition; but as the country to the eastward of the Fitzroy River was
then unknown, it was an important exploration event. They were
unsuccessful in finding gold, but on their arrival at the line they
reported having passed through good pastoral country.
There is no doubt that the east and west tracks of the Queensland
explorers, and of Alexander Forrest,* did more to throw open that part of
Australia to settlement than did the north and south journey of Stuart,
more important as that one was from the purely geographical point of
view. Stuart led the way across the centre of the continent, but even
after the telegraph line was constructed on his route, very little was
known of the country to the east and the west.
*[Footnote.] See Chapter 19.
The South Australian Government had several times made slight attempts to
reach the Queensland border, but in 1878, they sent out H.V. Barclay to
make a trigonometrical survey of most of the untraversed country between
the line and the Queensland boundary. Barclay left Alice Springs, of
which station he first fixed the exact geographical position by a series
of telegraphic exchanges with the observatory in Adelaide. Barclay had
much dry country to contend against, but managed to reach a north point
close to Scarr's furthest south. He did not, however, on that occasion,
actually arrive at the Queensland border, but explored the territory on
the South Australian side. During the conduct of the survey he discovered
and named the Jervois Ranges, the spurs of the eastern MacDonnell, and
the following tributaries of Lake Eyre -- the Hale, the Plenty, the
Marshall, and the Arthur Rivers.
In 1883, Favenc, on a private expedition to report on pastoral country,
traced the heads of several of the rivers of the Carpentarian Gulf, and
in the following year left the north Newcastle Waters to examine and
trace the Macarthur River. The river was followed from its source to the
sea, and a large extent of valuable pastoral country and several
permanent springs found in its valley; a large tributary, the Kilgour,
was also discovered and named. These short excursions, and some
exploratory trips made by MacPhee, east of Daly Waters, may be said to
have concluded exploration between the line and the Queensland border.
In 1883, the South Australian Government despatched an expedition in
charge of David Lindsay to complete the survey of Arnhem's Land. Lindsay
left the Katherine station, and proceeded to Blue Mud Bay. On the way the
party had a narrow escape of massacre at the hands of the blacks, who
speared four horses, and made an attempt to surprise the camp of the
whites. Lindsay had trouble with his horses in the stony, broken
tableland that had nearly baffled Leichhardt; and from one misfortune and
another, lost a great number of them. In fact, at one time, so rough was
the country that he anticipated having to abandon his horses and make his
way into the telegraph station on foot. On the whole, however, the
country was favourably reported on, particularly with regard to tropical
agriculture.
Another journey was undertaken about this time by O'Donnell and
Carr-Boyd, who left the Katherine River and pushed across the border into
Western Australia. They succeeded in finding a large amount of pastoral
country; but no important geographical discoveries were made.
In 1884 H. Stockdale, who had had considerable experience in the southern
colonies, and was an old bushman, made an excursion from Cambridge Gulf
to the south through the Kimberley district. Stockdale found well-grassed
country with numerous permanently-watered creeks. When he came to the
creek which he named Buchanan Creek, he formed a depot. On his return
from an expedition to the south with three men, he found that during his
absence the men left in charge of it had been hunting kangaroos with the
horses instead of allowing them to rest. There were other irregularities
as well, and Stockdale found his resources too much reduced, both in
horseflesh and rations, to continue the exploration. They started for the
telegraph line, but on the way the two men who had been misbehaving
requested to be left behind. As they persisted in their wish, there was
nothing left but to accede to it. The two men, with as much rations as
could be spared, arms, and powder and shot, were then left at their own
request on a permanent creek in a country where game could be obtained.
Stockdale himself had to undergo some hardship before reaching the
Overland Line. Although search was made for the two men, they were never
afterwards found.
One little area of country, of no great importance but still untrodden by
man yet remained in Central Australia, as a lure to excite the white
man's curiosity. This unvisited spot was situated north of latitude 26,
and bounded on the west by the Finke River, on the north by the Plenty
and Marshall Rivers and part of the MacDonnell Ranges, and on the west by
the Hay River and the Queensland border. An expedition to exploit it was
equipped by Ronald MacPherson, and assisted by the South Australian
Government with the loan of camels. The leader was Captain V. Barclay, an
old South Australian surveyor, whose name has already been mentioned in
these pages.
Barclay had been born in Lancashire, at Bury, on the 6th of January,
1845. He had entered the Royal Navy in 1860, and had been severely
wounded on board H.M.S. Illustrious by a gun breaking loose when at
target practice. He had emigrated to Tasmania in the seventies, and in
1877 had been appointed by the South Australian Government to explore the
country lying between the line and the Queensland border, a notice of
which occurs in the preceding pages.
The party, lightly equipped to be more effective, was absent from
Oodnadatta from July 24th until December 5th 1904, and in that time
accomplished much useful work in the face of great difficulties. On
account of the great heat, the expedition had to resort to travelling by
night and resting by day. The country was principally high sandy ridges,
some so steep that it was not easy to find crossing-places. They had to
sacrifice a lot of valuable stores, personal effects, and a valuable
collection of native curios, all chiefly on account of the shortness of
water.
By this date the whole of the central portion of Australia was known, and
the greater part of it mapped; while all the permanently-watered country
had been rapidly utilised by the pastoralists.
PART 3. THE WEST.
[Illustration. John Septimus Roe, First Surveyor-General of West
Australia.]
CHAPTER 17. ROE, GREY, AND GREGORY.
17.1. ROE AND THE PIONEERS.
Whilst Sturt and kindred bold spirits had been painfully but surely
piecing together the geographical puzzle of the south-east corner of the
Australian continent, a similar struggle between man and Nature had
commenced in the south-west. Here, Nature kept close her secrets with no
less pertinacity than in the east; but, though the struggle was just as
arduous, the environment was very different. Instead of rearing an
unscalable barrier of gloomy mountains, Nature here showed a level front
of sullen hostility. Nor did she lure the first explorers inland with a
smiling face of welcome once the outworks had been forced, as she had
drawn Evans when he reached the head-waters of the Macquarie and Lachlan.
Beyond the sources of the western coastal streams, she fought silently
for every eastward mile of vantage ground, spreading before the
adventurous intruder the salt lake and the arid desert.
As far back as 1791, George Vancouver, a whilom middy of Cook's,
discovered and named King George's Sound, when in command of H.M.S.
Discovery. He formally took possession of the adjacent country, and
remained there some days, making a careful survey of both the inner and
outer harbours.
On the 9th of December, 1826, Sir Ralph Darling, then Governor of New
South Wales, sent Major Lockyer, of the 57th, with a detachment of the
39th, a regiment intimately associated with the early settlement of
Australia, to form a settlement at King George's Sound, where they landed
on the 25th of December of the same year. This settlement was established
in order to forestall the French, who, according to rumour, intended to
occupy the harbour and adjacent lands.
On the 17th of January, 1827, Captain James Stirling, of H.M.S. Success,
left Sydney, intending to survey those portions of the west coast
unvisited by Lieutenant King, and also to investigate the nature of the
country in the neighbourhood of the Swan River with a view to its
suitability for settlement. Stirling was accompanied by Charles Fraser,
who had considerable experience as adviser upon Australian sites for
settlement. Both Stirling and Fraser reported favourably on the Swan
River; and the latter waxing enthusiastic on its eligibility, it was
decided to found a new colony there.
In 1829, Captain Fremantle of H.M.S. Challenger hoisted the British flag
at the mouth of the Swan River, and thenceforth the whole of the
Australian continent was under British sway. Captain, now
Lieutenant-Governor, Stirling arrived a month later in the transport
Parmelia, and the free colony of Western Australia was launched on its
varied career.
The names first mentioned in the annals of land exploration in Western
Australia are those of Alexander Collie and Lieutenant William Preston,
who together explored the country on the coast between Cockburn Sound and
Geographe Bay. This was in November, 1829, and in the following month Dr.
J.B. Wilson, who came to the Sound with Captain Barker on the abandonment
of Raffles Bay, made an excursion from the Sound and discovered and named
the Denmark River.
In a passage in a letter written by R.M. Davis, of the medical staff, to
Charles Fraser, the botanist, there is a detailed reference to this
trip:--
"Dr. Wilson, who came here with Captain Barker, started in a direction to
Swan Port (Swan River) with a party of men, and in eleven days went over
at least two hundred miles of ground. He says, without fear of
contradiction in future, that there is far greater proportion of good
land in this direction than in any other part of Australia that he had
been in, and also wood of large growth, with innumerable rivers. He
ascended a very high mountain, which he called Mount Lindsay, in honour
of the 39th regiment."
On the 22nd of March, 1830, we first hear of the exploring feats of
Lieutenant Roe, R.N., the Surveyor-General of the new colony. Captain
John Septimus Roe was born in 1797, and entered the navy. He accompanied
Captain P. King to explore the north and north-west coasts of Australia,
in 1818, and was a member of King's expedition in 1821. He was the first
Surveyor-General of Western Australia, and held that position for
forty-two years. He is commonly styled the father of western exploration.
He died at Perth on May 28th, 1878. Mrs. Roe, who accompanied her husband
to Western Australia in 1829, pre-deceased him in 1870.
On the date mentioned in 1830, Roe was in the field exploring in the
vicinity of Cape Naturaliste. Afterwards he was active in the country
between the head-waters of the Kalgan and Hay Rivers. In 1836 he first
tried serious conclusions with the inland country of Western Australia,
when he headed an expedition to explore the tableland that lies to the
north and east of Perth. The country was dreary and depressing, and,
judging from its configuration and natural properties, he was unable to
recommend it as a site for settlement or to depict it as the entrance to
more pleasant lands beyond. He reached Lake Brown, near the western
boundary of the present Yilgarn goldfield; but the only noteworthy
features that he perceived were the salt lakes that are now so well-known
throughout Western Australia. In 1839, Roe distinguished himself by
rescuing Grey's dismembered party. On the 14th of September, 1848, he
started to make an attempt at further discovery to the eastward. He had
with him six men, twelve horses, and three months' provisions. Upon
leaving the outer settlements, they encountered the same depressing
country as before. Having crossed it, they were turned from their course
by scrub of exceeding density, which in turn was succeeded by sandy
desert plains. Foiled for the time being they made for the south coast,
where they recruited their strength at one of the outlying settlements.
On the 18th they started again, and followed up the course of the
Pallinup River. They ascended a branch coming from the north-east, and
for a time revelled in the spectacle of well-grassed and promising
valleys; but they soon again came amongst the scrub and sand plains of
the inland desert. Sighting a granite range to the eastward, they made
towards it, but the outlook from its summit brought nothing but exceeding
disappointment. Fortunately the weather was showery, and the lack of
water did not induce such keen anxiety as the total absence of grass.
Still pushing to the eastward, they found their difficulties increase at
every step. To the perils of travel through dense thickets and over
barren, scorching plains, there was now added the risk of death from
thirst. It was not until after days of extreme privation that they
reached some elevated peaks, where they obtained a little grass and
water.
Their course lay now to the south-east, towards the range sighted by
Eyre, and named the Russell Range, and there commenced a desperate
struggle with the intervening desert.
So weak were the horses and so compact the belts of scrub, that in three
days they had traversed only fifty miles. After being four days and three
nights without water for the horses, they reached a rugged hill which
they named Mount Riley, where they were relieved by a scant supply.
Thence it was but fifty miles to the Russell Range, but the journey
involved a repetition of the worst sufferings they had endured. The scrub
disputed their passage the whole route, being often so dense as to defy
the use of the axe, and many long detours had to be made before they
reached their goal.
Every hope they had entertained of a change for the better was shattered
by an inspection of the country to which they had so laboriously
penetrated. The range, destined to be associated with so many subsequent
important explorations, was a mass of naked rocks, and from the summit
they could see nothing but the interminable scrub thickets, and in the
distance the thin blue line of ocean. Fortunately they found a little
grass and water, which saved the lives of their animals. They had
discovered a coal seam at the mouth of the Murchison River, and now, on
their return journey, they found another at the Fitzgerald River. This
was Roe's longest and most important expedition, and it placed him in the
front rank of Australian explorers.
Amongst the very early explorers who did as good work as the scanty
opportunities permitted, was Ensign R. Dale, of the 63rd Regiment, who
pushed east of the Darling Range. Bannister, Moore, and Bunbury are other
noteworthy names amongst those of the early discoverers.
17.2. SIR GEORGE GREY.
[Illustration. Sir George Grey.]
In 1837 an expedition in charge of Captain George Grey and Lieutenant
Lushington was sent out from England to the Cape of Good Hope. It was
under instructions from Lord Glenelg, and was to procure a small vessel
at the Cape to convey the party and their stores to the most convenient
point in the vicinity of the Prince Regent's River on the coast. Once
landed there, the party was to take such a course as would lead them in
the direction of the great opening behind Dampier's Land, where they were
to make every endeavour to cross to the Swan River.
The schooner Lynher was chartered at the Cape, and on the 3rd of
December, 1837, the party was landed at Hanover Bay, with large
quantities of livestock, stores, seeds, and plants. Whilst the schooner
proceeded to Timor for ponies, Grey employed the time in forming a
garden, building sheds for the stores, and in exploring the country in
the neighbourhood of Hanover Bay. On the 9th of December, he hoisted the
British flag and went through the ceremony of taking possession. On the
17th of January the Lynher returned, and nearly a month later Grey and
his party, which now numbered twelve, started from the coast with
twenty-six half-broken Timor ponies as baggage-carriers, and some sheep
and goats.
The rainy season had now set in, and many of the stock succumbed almost
at the outset, whilst their route proved a veritable tangle of steep
spurs and deep ravines. On the 11th of February they came into collision
with the natives, and Grey was severely wounded in the hip with a spear.
When he had recovered sufficiently to be lifted on to one of the ponies,
a fresh start was made, and on the 2nd of March his perseverance was
rewarded by the discovery of a river which he named the Glenelg. He
followed the course of this river upwards, and reported the country as
good, being well-grassed and watered. Sometimes his route lay along the
river's bank; at other times by keeping to the foot of a sandstone ridge
he was enabled to avoid detours around many wearisome bends.
[Illustration. Rock Painting, North-Western Australia.]
The party continued along the Glenelg for many days, until indeed they
were checked by a large tributary coming from the north. As both the
river and the tributary were here much swollen, they had to fall back on
the range. It was among the recesses of this range that Grey discovered
some curious cave paintings of the blacks, in which the aboriginal
figures were represented as clothed.
[*Footnote.] A subsequent photograph of these paintings, by Brockman, is
reproduced in Chapter 20.
Unable to find a pass through the mountains, and enfeebled by his wound,
Grey determined to retrace his steps. As a last resort he sent Lushington
some distance ahead, but there was no noticeable change to report in the
aspect of the country. Hanover Bay was reached on the 15th of April. The
Lynher was waiting there at anchor, and H.M.S. Beagle was lying in Port
George the Fourth, awaiting the return of Captain Stokes, who was away
exploring the coast. The party having embarked, the Lynher sailed for the
Isle of France, where they safely arrived. Thus ended Captain Grey's
first expedition, which is interesting chiefly as a proof of the heroic
qualities of its members; for the Glenelg River has never invited
settlement, and has yet to prove that it possesses any considerable
economic value.
During January, 1839, Grey explored the country between the Williams and
the Leschenhault, while searching for a settler who had been lost in the
bush.
On the 17th of February in the same year, Grey, who had been back
endeavouring to persuade Sir James Stirling to assist him in his
explorations, was enabled to start on another exploring enterprise. The
object of this, his second important expedition, was to examine the
undiscovered parts of Shark's Bay, and to make excursions as far inland
as circumstances permitted. The party comprised four of the members of
his first expedition, five other men, and a Western Australian
aboriginal, and they left Fremantle in an American whaler, taking three
whale-boats with them. They were duly landed at Bernier Island, where
their troubles commenced at once. The whaler sailed away, taking with her
by mistake the whole of their supply of tobacco. There was no water on
the island, and, in their first attempt to start, one of the boats was
smashed and nearly half a ton of stores lost. The next day they succeeded
in making Dorre Island, but that night both the remaining boats were
driven ashore by a violent storm. Two or three days were spent in making
good the damage, when they succeeded in making the mainland, and obtained
a supply of fresh water. They had landed at or near the mouth of a stream
which afterwards proved to be the second longest river in Western
Australia. Grey named it the Gascoyne, and found that it was then dry
beyond the limit of tidal influence. They then pulled up the coast, but
one night, when effecting a landing, both boats were swamped, and their
previously-damaged provisions suffered another soaking. This accident
kept them prisoners for a week till the wind and surf had abated. Tired,
hungry, and ill, they were here harassed by frequent threats and one
actual attack by the blacks. A slight break in the weather tempted them
forth once more, and, having succeeded in righting the boats, they made
for the mouth of the Gascoyne, where they re-filled their water-beakers.
On March 20th they made a desperate effort in the teeth of foul weather
to fetch their depot on Bernier Island. We may picture their dismay when
they found that during their absence a hurricane had swept the island,
and scattered their cherished stores to the four winds.
Their position was now as desperate as could be imagined: the southerly
winds had set in, and they had to coast along a surf-beaten shore against
a head wind. Their food was scanty, and they were weak with the constant
toils they had undergone. There was nothing for it, however, but to put
to sea again, and they succeeded in reaching Gantheaume Bay on the 31st
of March. Fate had not yet spent all her wrath on them, and in attempting
a landing, Grey's boat was dashed to destruction upon a rock, and the
other received such a buffeting as to place it beyond repair. The only
hope of safety lay in an overland march to Perth, three hundred miles
away, upon their twenty pounds of damaged flour and one pound of salt
pork per man; and yet, so wearied were they with the unceasing battle
against wind and sea, that they even welcomed this hazardous prospect as
a change for the better.
They had not proceeded far before differences of opinion arose. Grey
naturally wished the men to cover the ground as quickly as possible
whilst their strength lasted, whilst they favoured slow marches, relieved
by frequent rests. Grey, who recognised that in their weakened condition
they could not replenish their scanty food supplies from the native game,
held firmly to his opinion, and made strenuous efforts to quicken their
progress; but the comparative safety of the shore had lulled his
followers into a feeling of false security; and after goading them along
for a hundred miles, bearing the chief burden of the march and sharing
much of his scanty food with the black boy, Grey left them to push
onwards, and if possible send them assistance. He took two or three
picked men with him, and after terrible sufferings and privations,
reached Perth, whence a rescue party was immediately despatched. This
party found only one man, Charles Wood, who by more closely following
Grey's instructions, had made better progress than the others. The
remaining five could not be found, and at the end of a fortnight the
rescuers were forced to return on account of the lack of provisions. Roe
immediately left with another party, and, after experiencing trouble in
tracking the erratic wanderings of the unfortunates, came upon most of
them hopelessly regarding a face of rock that stopped their march along
the beach, unable to muster sufficient strength to climb it. They had
then been three days without water, having nothing in their canteens but
a loathsome substitute.
One of them, Smith, a lad of eighteen who had accompanied the expedition
as a volunteer, had died two days before the rescue; his body was
recovered and buried in the wilderness. Walker, the surgeon and second in
charge, was still absent; but he had voluntarily left the main body and
had pushed on for assistance towards Fremantle, which he safely reached.
During these unfortunate expeditions, Grey had shown a generous spirit of
self-sacrifice combined with high courage and a fine enthusiasm for
geographical discovery. But his lack of experience and his ignorance of
the local seasonal conditions counterbalanced these, and explained his
failures. Afterwards he became Acting Government Resident at Albany, on
King George's Sound, and he was at a critical period Governor of South
Australia. But Australia proper saw little of him in his after prime, and
his fame was built up elsewhere, in New Zealand and at the Cape of Good
Hope.
Grey's reports left doubt as to the precise value of the country he
traversed under such trying circumstances, but he is justly credited with
the discovery of many rivers on the west coast -- the Grey, the Buller,
the Chapman, the Greenough, the Arrowsmith, the Hutt, the Bowyer, and
those important streams, the Murchison and the Gascoyne.
17.3. AUGUSTUS C. GREGORY.
[Illustration. Augustus C. Gregory, 1880. Photo, Freeman, Sydney.]
In 1846 we come upon a name destined to become linked with the history of
exploration in most parts of Australia. There were three notable brothers
of the name of Gregory; but as their expeditions, at least those of
Augustus and Frank, were conducted independently, with the exception of
the first, we shall deal with them separately. H.C. Gregory, it is true,
associated his work mostly with that of his brother, A.C. Gregory,
generally in a subordinate position, but Frank Gregory won nearly equal
fame with his brother Augustus as an independent explorer.
A.C. Gregory was the son of Lieutenant J. Gregory of the 78th
Highlanders. He was born at Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire, in 1819, and
came to Western Australia with his parents in 1829 in the Lotus, 500
tons, Captain Summerson, the second passenger ship that sailed for
Western Australia. Lieutenant Gregory had five sons in all: William,
Augustus, Francis, Henry, and James. The Lotus reached Fremantle about
the 10th of October, 1829. Captain Gregory had been obliged to retire
from active service, being incapacitated by serious wounds received at El
Hamed, in Egypt, and held a large grant of land from the Imperial
Government in lieu of pension. On this grant, situated not far from
Perth, he established a farm, and on that farm Augustus and his brothers
received the balance of their education and underwent their course of
bush training. Augustus, after his last expedition, was appointed in 1859
Surveyor-General of Queensland, in which colony he settled down later,
after retiring from active official life. He had a seat in the
Legislative Council, and was a prominent freemason. He was created C.M.G.
in 1874, and K.C.M.G. in 1903, and had several honours conferred upon him
by the Royal Geographical Society. He died in Brisbane, in 1905.
If we except a short excursion down the Blackwood and Kojonup Rivers, his
expedition of 1846, in which he was accompanied both by F.T. and H.C.
Gregory, was the first important enterprise undertaken by him. It was in
August that his party left Captain Scully's station at Bolgart's Springs,
about seventy miles from Perth.
On leaving the settled districts they at once found themselves in the
barren country that was damming back the eastward flow of settlement.
Having traversed it, they reached a range of granite hills, and turning
more to the northward, they kept along these for the sake of the
rain-water to be found in the rock holes. On striking again to the east,
they encountered an extensive salt lake, and in attempting to cross an
arm of this marsh, their horses were bogged, and extricated only after
great labour. The lake was afterwards proved to be of great size, and to
hem them in completely to the eastward, whilst, owing to its
crescent-like formation, for five days it baffled all their attempts to
proceed northwards.
Finally abandoning the lake, which they called Lake Moore, they turned to
the westward to examine some of the streams crossed by Grey during his
return from Shark's Bay. On the head of one of these rivers, the Irwin,
they found a seam of coal.
"Having pitched our tent and tethered our horses, we commenced to collect
specimens of the various strata, and succeeded in cutting out five or six
hundredweight of coal with the tomahawk, and in a short time had the
satisfaction of seeing the first fire of West Australian coal burning
cheerfully in front of the camp, this being the first discovery of coal
in Western Australia."
The party then returned by way of the Moore River to Bolgart Springs,
which they reached on the 22nd of September.
The discovery of coal deposits and of country available for settlement
was seen to be of great importance by the Government, and Lieutenant
Helpman, A.C. Gregory, his brother Henry, and Messrs. Irby and Meekleham,
in the colonial schooner Champion, were despatched to procure a quantity
of coal for testing. They were also instructed to make a further
inspection of the pastoral capabilities of the district, of which there
had been so many conflicting opinions. A three days' examination of the
country convinced them that it was suitable for settlement.
In 1846 Gregory took charge of an expedition to the north of Perth,
organised by the settlers of the colony, and entitled The Settlers'
Expedition; its object being to proceed to the Gascoyne River, examining
the intervening country as to its suitability for pastoral purposes.
Gregory was accompanied by one of his brothers, Messrs. Burges, Walcott,
and Bedart, and private King of the 96th Regiment, of whose services he
speaks very highly. This expedition excited great hopes amongst the
settlers, who found most of the horses and provisions. The party left
Lefroy's station of Welbing on the 9th of September, with ten pack, and
two riding-horses, but did not succeed in penetrating any distance beyond
the Murchison, being turned back at all points, after repeated efforts,
by the belt of impervious scrub between the Murchison and Gascoyne. They
therefore returned without seeing the latter river, after having attained
a distance of 350 miles from Perth; but they succeeded in finding a
considerable extent of available country, both pastoral and agricultural,
and in discovering a vein of galena on the Murchison. They re-entered
Perth on the 17th of November.
The following month, Gregory, Bland, and three soldiers of the 96th
accompanied Governor Fitzgerald by sea to Champion Bay to examine the new
mineral discoveries. The galena lode was found to be more important than
had been at first supposed. On their return to the schooner, an affray
occurred with the natives, in which the Governor was wounded.
"As the country was covered with dense wattle thickets, the natives took
advantage of the ground, and having completely surrounded the party,
commenced first to threaten to throw their spears, then to throw stones,
and finally one man caught hold of Mr. Bland by the arm, threatening to
strike him with a dowak; another native threw a spear at myself, though
without effect; but before I could fire at him, the Governor, perceiving
that unless some severe example was made, the whole party would be cut
off, fired at one of the most forward of our assailants and killed him;
two other shots were fired by the soldiers, but the thickness of the
bushes prevented our seeing with what effect. A shower of spears, stones,
kylies and dowaks followed, and although we moved to a more open spot,
the natives were only kept off by firing at any that exposed themselves.
At this moment a spear struck the Governor in the leg, just above the
knee, with such force as to cause it to protrude two feet on the other
side, which was so far fortunate as to enable me to break off the barb
and withdraw the shaft. The Governor, notwithstanding his wound,
continued to direct the party, and although the natives made many
attempts to approach close enough to reach us with their spears, we were
able by keeping on the most open ground and checking them by an
occasional shot, to avoid their attacks when crossing the gullies."
The natives followed them for seven miles, but finally desisted, and the
whites reached the beach and boarded the Champion without further mishap.
In 1856 Gregory made his most celebrated journey in the north of central
Australia. An account of this journey might have been included in Part 2,
but as the name of Gregory is so intimately connected with Western
Australia, this section is perhaps the most appropriate place in which to
recount its incidents. [But its lengthy place in which to recount its
incidents (sic)]. But its numerous details demand another chapter.
CHAPTER 18. A.C. AND F.T. GREGORY.
18.1. A.C. GREGORY ON STURT'S CREEK AND THE BARCOO.
The Imperial Government having long considered the feasibility of further
exploration of the interior of Australia voted 5000 pounds for the
purpose, and offered the command of the expedition to A.C. Gregory. As
the inexplicable disappearance of Leichhardt was then exciting much
interest in Australia, search for the lost expedition was to form one of
its chief duties.
On the 12th of August, 1855, Gregory's party left Moreton Bay in the
barque Monarch, attended by the schooner Tom Tough. There were eighteen
men in all. H.C. Gregory was second in command, Ferdinand von Mueller was
botanist, J.S. Wilson geologist, J.R. Elsey surgeon and naturalist, and
J. Baines artist and storekeeper. They had on board fifty horses, two
hundred sheep, and provisions and stores calculated to last them eighteen
months on full rations.
They did not reach Point Pearce, at the mouth of the Victoria River,
until the 24th of September. There they separated, the schooner taking
the stores up the river, and the Monarch proceeding on her voyage to
Singapore. The horses had been landed at Point Pearce, whence Gregory,
his brother, and seven men took them on overland by easy stages. One
night the horses were attacked by crocodiles, and three of them were
severely wounded. They followed up the course of the Fitzmaurice River
and then passed over rough country, not reaching the Victoria until the
17th. On the 20th they rejoined the members who had gone round by the
schooner, and learned that she was aground in the river. A large part of
their stores was spoiled; and the number of the sheep had also been
reduced to forty, in consequence of their being foolishly kept penned up
on board. These losses and accidents considerably weakened Gregory's
resources, and it was not until the 24th of November that any excursion
on horseback was undertaken. An attempt had previously been made to
ascend the river in the portable boat with which the expedition had been
supplied, but it was not successful, as the boat could not navigate the
rocky bars in safety.
Gregory left camp accompanied by his brother, Dr. von Mueller, and
Wilson, taking seven horses and twenty days' rations, his object being to
examine the country through which the exploring party would have to
travel on their route to the interior. On this preliminary trip, he
penetrated as far as latitude 16 1/2 south, whence, finding the
tributaries flowing from fine open plains and level forest country, all
well-grassed, he returned to the main camp.
On the 4th of January, 1856, Gregory started with a much larger party on
an energetic dash into the interior. He had with him six men besides his
brother, Dr. von Mueller and Baines the artist, and thirty-six horses. He
retraced his steps along his preliminary route, and on the 30th of
January, thinking it wise judging from the rapid evaporation of the
waterholes, to make his means of retreat secure, he formed a temporary
camp, leaving there four men and all the horses but eleven to await his
return, whilst he, his brother, Dr. Mueller, and a man named Dean, rode
ahead to challenge the desert to the south. On the 9th of February,
having run the Victoria out, he crossed an almost level watershed, and
found himself on the confines of the desert. From a slight rise he looked
southwards:--
"The horizon was unbroken; all appeared one slightly undulating plain,
with just sufficient triodia and bushes growing on it to hide the red
sand when viewed at a distance."
Gregory reviewed the problem from a logical standpoint. He decided to
follow the northern limit of the desert to the westward, until he should
find a southern-flowing watercourse which would afford him the
opportunity to make a dash beyond its confines.
On the 15th of February he came to a small flat which gradually developed
into a channel and ultimately became a creek, running first west, and
then south-west. This gave him his desired opening, and he pursued the
course of the creek through good open country, finding the water
plentiful, though shallow. On February 20th, however, the channel of the
creek was lost in an immense grassy plain. The country to the south being
sandy and unpromising, Gregory kept westwards, and succeeded in again
picking up the channel, now finding the water in it to be slightly
brackish. That day he crossed the boundary of Western Australia. The
creek now gave promise of continuity, the water-holes taking on a more
permanent appearance. It was now pursuing a general south-west course,
and Gregory, though still rightly anticipating that it would eventually
be lost in the dry interior, determined to follow it as far south as
should be compatible with safety. He named the creek Sturt's Creek, after
the gallant explorer of that name, who was naturally then often in his
mind. The creek maintained its southern course, until, on the 8th of
March, it ran out into a mud plain and a salt lake.
"Thus, after having followed Sturt's Creek for nearly 300 miles, we have
been disappointed in our hope that it would lead to some important outlet
to the waters of the Australian interior; it has, however, enabled us to
penetrate far into the level tract of country which may be termed the
Great Australian Desert."
Gregory, convinced that no useful results could arise from any attempt to
penetrate the inhospitable region to the south, determined to return
before the rapidly-evaporating water on which they were dependent should
vanish and cut off all retreat. He therefore retraced his steps up
Sturt's Creek, and on the 28th of March arrived at his temporary depot,
where he found the men all well and the horses much improved in
condition.
On the 2nd of April, A.C. Gregory, taking his brother Henry, Baines, and
one man, started on an excursion to examine the eastern tributaries of
the Victoria, and was absent a little over a fortnight. On their return,
the whole of the members started for the landing-place on the Victoria,
which they reached on the 9th of May. After all arrangements and
preparations had been completed, Gregory, with most of the party, started
on the return journey overland to Moreton Bay. The Tom Tough, now caulked
and repaired, was to make her way to the Albert River in the Gulf of
Carpentaria, where they would again probably meet.
Traversing the tributaries of the Victoria on his homeward way, Gregory
met with no remarkable incident until his arrival on the Elsey, a
tributary of the Roper River, which he named after the surgeon of the
expedition. It was here that he came upon the last authentic trace of
Leichhardt. He describes his discovery as follows:--
"There was also the remains of a hut and the ashes of a large fire,
indicating that there had been a party camped there for several weeks;
several trees from six to eight inches in diameter had been cut down with
iron axes in fair condition, and the hut built by cutting notches in
standing trees and resting a large pole therein for a ridge; this hut had
been burnt apparently by the subsequent bush fires, and only some pieces
of the thickest timber remained unconsumed. Search was made for marked
trees, but none found, nor were there any fragments of leather, iron, or
other equipment of an exploring party, or of any bones of animals other
than those common to Australia. Had an exploring party been destroyed
here, there would most likely have been some indications, and it may
therefore be inferred that the party proceeded on its journey. It could
not have been a camp of Leichhardt's in 1845, as it is 100 miles south of
his route to Port Essington; and it was only six or seven years old,
judging by the growth of the trees; having subsequently seen some of
Leichhardt's camps on the Burdekin, Mackenzie and Barcoo Rivers, a great
similarity was observed in regard to the manner of building the hut and
its relative position with regard to the fire and water supply, and the
position in regard to the great features of the country was exactly where
a party going westward would first receive a check from the waterless
tableland between the Roper and Victoria Rivers, and would probably camp
and reconnoitre ahead before attempting to cross to the north-west
coast."
From the Roper the party travelled around the shore of the Gulf, keeping
rather more inland than Leichhardt had done. On reaching the Albert they
found that the Tom Tough had not yet arrived at the rendezvous; and
Gregory, leaving a marked tree with a message indicating the situation of
some instructions he had buried, pushed onwards.
His route from the Albert lay along much the same line of country as that
followed by Leichhardt during his journey to Port Essington. He did not,
however, make such a wide sweep to the north, up to the Mitchell, but
struck away from Carpentaria at the Gilbert River. He corrected the error
Leichhardt had fallen into over the situation of the Albert, and re-named
the river that he had mistaken the Leichhardt. The exploring party
reached the settled districts at Hay's station, Rannes, south of the
Fitzroy; and thence reached Brisbane on the 16th of December, 1856.
To advance the search after Leichhardt, the interest in whose fate had
been stimulated by the discovery made by Gregory, a public meeting was
held in September, 1857, at which resolutions were passed requesting
monetary assistance from the Government, and offering the leadership of a
new expedition to A.C. Gregory. The appeal was successful, and
accordingly in March, 1858, Gregory left Euroomba station on the Dawson
with a party of nine in all, one of his brothers going as second. The
expedition was equipped for light travelling, taking as means of carriage
pack-horses only, of which there were thirty-one, as well as nine
saddle-horses.
Gregory crossed the Nive on to the Barcoo, which he proceeded to run
down, finding the country in a very different condition from that in
which it bloomed when Mitchell rode rejoicingly along what he thought was
a Gulf river. A sharp look out was of course kept for any trace of the
missing party, and on the 21st of April they came across another marked
tree.
"We discovered a Moreton Bay ash (Eucalyptus sp.), about two feet in
diameter marked with the letter L on the east side, cut through the bark
about four feet from the ground, and near it the stumps of some small
trees that had been cut with a sharp axe, also a deep notch cut in the
side of a sloping tree, apparently to support the ridge-pole of a tent,
or some similar purpose; all indicating that a camp had been established
here by Leichhardt's party...No other indications having been found, we
continued the search down the river, examining every likely spot for
marked trees, but without success."
Approaching the Thomson River, they found the country suffering from
drought although the river was running in consequence of some late rains.
As winter was now approaching, there was however no spring in the
vegetation, and their horses were suffering great hardship. On the 15th
of May they found themselves beyond the rainfall, and realised that lack
of water was likely to be added to an absence of grass.
"We, however, succeeded in reaching latitude 23 degrees 47 minutes, when
the absence of water and grass -- the rain not having extended so far
north, and the channels of the river separating into small gullies and
spreading on to the wide plains -- precluded our progressing further to
the north or west; and the only chance of saving our horses was to return
south as quickly as possible. This was a most severe disappointment, as
we had just reached that part of the country through which Leichhardt
most probably travelled if the season was sufficiently wet to render it
practicable. Thus compelled to abandon the principal object of the
expedition, only two courses remained open -- either to return to the
head of the Victoria (Barcoo) River and attempt a northern course by the
valley of the Belyando, or to follow down the river and ascertain whether
it flowed into Cooper's Creek or the Darling."
The latter alternative was chosen, and they proceeded to retrace their
steps down the Thomson, and on reaching the junction of the Barcoo they
continued south and west. In fact, following Kennedy's route, they soon
found themselves involved in the same difficulties that had beset that
explorer. The river -- now Cooper's Creek -- broke up into countless
channels running through barren, fissured plains. Toiling on through
these, varied by an interlude of sandhills, Gregory at last reached a
better-grassed land, where his famished horses regained a little
strength. He reached Sturt's furthest point, and continued on to the
point where Strzelecki's Creek carried off some of the surplus flood
waters, and finally lost the many channels amongst the sandhills and
flooded plains. He again struck Strzelecki's Creek and traced it as he
then thought, into Lake Torrens, but in reality into Lake Blanche, for
the salt lake region had not then been properly delimited. He reached
Baker's recently-formed station, eight miles beyond Mount Hopeless, and
thence he went on to Adelaide.
18.2. FRANK T. GREGORY.
[Illustration. Frank T. Gregory.]
It was in Western Australia, in March, 1857, that Frank T. Gregory
commenced his career as an independent explorer by taking advantage of a
sudden heavy downpour of rain on the upper reaches of the Murchison
River, which flooded the dry course of the lower portion where he was
then engaged on survey work. Gregory at once seized the opportunity thus
afforded of examining the upper reaches of this river, from which former
explorers had been driven back by the aridity of the country. Accompanied
by his assistant, S. Trigg, he proceeded up the river finding, thanks to
the wet season that had preceded him, luxuriant grass and ample supplies
of water. In consequence, he had a more pleasing account of the country
to bring back than the report based on the thirsty experiences of Austin.
So easy did he find the country, that only scarcity of provisions
prevented him from pushing on to the long-sought-for Gascoyne River. As
it was, he returned after an absence of thirteen days, having completed
what the Perth Gazette of that time justly described as "one of the most
unassuming expeditions, yet important in its results."
It was so far satisfactory, and roused such fresh hopes in the minds of
the settlers, that they once more formed bright hopes of what the River
Gascoyne might have in store for the successful explorer. For a long time
now they had become resigned to the conclusion that their northern
pathway was barred by a dry, scrubby country; but they at once took
advantage of the promising practical passage along which Frank Gregory
had led the way. Another expedition was organised to penetrate to the
Gascoyne, and the leadership being naturally offered to Frank Gregory,
was accepted by him.
On the 16th of April, 1858, he left the Geraldine mine with a
lightly-equipped party of six, including J.B. Roe, son of the
Surveyor-General. They had with them six pack and six riding-horses, and
rations for 60 days.
They proceeded up the Murchison, and on the 25th of the same month they
reached a tributary called the Impey, which had been the highest point
reached by Gregory the preceding year. This time, however, the party did
not find such ample pasture as he had described. Still following the
river up until the 30th April, on that day they struck off on a
nor-north-east course, the course of the Murchison tending too much in an
easterly direction to lead them speedily on to the Gascoyne. On the 3rd
they reached a gentle stony ascent, which proved to be the watershed
between the two rivers. Descending the slope to the northward, they soon
came to the head of a watercourse flowing northwards. They followed the
new creek, and on the 6th of May came to a river joining it from the
eastward, which at last proved to be the Gascoyne.
Gregory kept down the south bank of the Gascoyne, and on the 12th of May
passed a large tributary coming from the north, which he named the Lyons.
On the 17th they ascended a sandy ridge about sixty feet in height, and
had a view of Shark's Bay.
He returned along the north bank of the river, and having reached the
Lyons, followed that river up. On the 3rd of June he ascended the highest
mountain yet discovered in Western Australia, which he named Mount
Augustus, after his brother. Gregory gives the elevation at 3,480 feet,
but Mount Bruce in the Hammersley Range, to the north of it, has since
been found to be higher.* From the summit, however, he had an extensive
view, and was enabled to sketch in the courses of the various rivers for
over twenty miles.
*[Footnote.] 3,800 feet.
As they had now been out 51 days, and their supply of provisions was
approaching the end, the party turned back at Mount Augustus, and struck
southwards. On the 8th the Gascoyne was re-crossed at a place where its
course lay through flats and ana-branches. On the 10th of June they again
came to the Murchison, and followed it down to the Geraldine mine, and
finally reached Perth on the 10th of July. This expedition, so fruitful
in its results to the pastoral welfare of the colony, cost the settlers
only their contributions in horses and rations, and a cash expenditure of
forty pounds.
The discovery of so much fresh available country on the Gascoyne River,
with the prospect of a new base for exploration in the tropical regions
beyond, attracted the attention of English capitalists. The American
civil war had so depressed the cotton trade that those interested in
cotton manufacture were seeking for fresh fields in which to establish
the growth of the plant. Frank Gregory was then in London, and advantage
was taken of his presence to urge upon the Home Government and the Royal
Geographical Society the desirability of fitting out an expedition to
proceed direct to the north-west coast of Australia, accompanied by a
large body of Asiatic labourers, and all the necessary appliances for the
establishment of a colony.
Fortunately this rash and ill-considered scheme was greatly modified
under wise advice. Roe, the Surveyor-General of Western Australia, and
other gentlemen practically acquainted with the subject, suggested that
the country should be explored before the idea of any actual settlement
should be entertained. Acting on this advice, the Imperial Government
gave a grant of 2,000 pounds, to be supplemented by an equal subsidy by
the Colonial Treasury.
Gregory therefore obtained a suitable outfit in London for the party, and
left for Perth to complete the necessary details. The usual official
delays occurred, and the expedition did not leave Fremantle, in the
barque Dolphin, until 23rd April, 1861, nearly two months later than had
been arranged. As the rainy season in northern Australia terminates in
March, this delay was unfortunate.
Nickol Bay on the north-west coast was the destination, and was safely
reached. The work of disembarkation being completed, the exploring party
started on the 25th of May, 1861.
Gregory first pursued a western course, as he wished to cut any
considerable river discharging into the sea, and coming from the
interior.
[Illustration. Maitland Brown.]
On the 29th of May they struck the river which was subsequently named the
Fortescue. As this river seemed likely to answer their expectations of a
passage through the broken range that hemmed them in to the south, they
followed it up. A narrow precipitous gorge forced them to leave the
river, and, after surmounting a table-land, they steered a course due
south to a high range, which, however, they found too rough to surmount.
Making back on to a north-east course, they again struck the Fortescue,
above the narrow glen which had stopped them. They followed it up once
more through good country, occasionally hampered by its course lying
between rugged hills; but they finally crossed the range, partly by the
aid of the river-bed, and partly through a gap. On the 18th June, they
succeeded in completely surmounting the range, and found that to the
south the decline was more gradual. The range was named the Hammersley
Range. Their horses had suffered considerably, and had lost some of their
shoes in the rough hills. From here they kept south meaning to strike the
Lyons River, discovered by Frank Gregory during his last trip. On coming
to a small tributary which he named the Hardey, he formed a depot camp.
Leaving some of the party and the most sore-footed of the horses, he
pushed on with three men, Brown, Harding, and Brockman, taking three
packhorses and provisions for eight days.