% ^OF-CALIFO/?,^ i^J^"^ •^(?A8VMni^'^ .£^ o --»»v ''■^^^diAINll-Jl^V ■< >j,OFCAllF0/?^ ^.OFCAllFOi?^/; to J '^A«v % P O J "" P ^ "^AiiaAiNajwv CO > >5^ ■^/Sa9AIN0-3UV^ ^OFCAIIFO/?^ m C-5 C: ^ .F ^WEUNIVERS-M % ^WEUNIVER% •hr ^mi. ..inijAumfp. < m SO in ?^ ^OF-CAUF0%. ^^V^EUNIVER% 7- o^lDS-AMCElfjv. CO so > o ,s>;lOS-AflCElfXy. >• r^ j -n C ■^/id3AINiHHV c: 0/: >i '- So ^OFCAllFOff/^ .MjOFC/ v< ^n y^^ "^ommwi^ ^o-m ^sjlOSANCELfJV. ^,^^^■l!BRARY<9/^ .: §1 ir ^ I ^ ■''Hf 2v:::^-iji .^\\EUNIVER% . %a]AINfl3WV^ ^;lOSANCEi;j>^ ^^^^■lIBRARY6>/ , ^'AtUBRARYO/- SL^ 3 S 'mV %aJAiNniWv' vvVlOSA %0JllV3J0->"'' •'l;'. i- 5 5^)1 1 ,-<:j -ri t_; O u„ m^ '^■^owm'^ ^xjiiONvsoi^ '*'mm ^^\^FUWIVERS'/A. ^,>:\nS-ANfilPj^>. J' O .A- "tV>jO^ '^TJl^OKVSOl^ "^a^AINfl 3\\V^ ^tllBRARYO^, <^\ ^OJIIVDJO^ '^(i/OJm .^-5J^FUN!VER5"/A o ^ « /■ >^ '^ r"^ * ^MEUNIVER% .s^lOSA) 'UM\ildi\-^<'" VJ-i'O'- ■'/J!a:IAII .^WEIJNIVER% ^lOSAl # ■■^/iili/M, :n> #1 ^^mmy\^ '^^OJIP " ''-r* ij^i'. .4.0FCAI .i'^ ^^'^ ^' .^AlNlliAV •5^, ^^aOJIlVJiO-^ ^TiiaQKY-SOi'-'- .^WE•UNIVERy/A GENESIS OF QUEENSLAND, '^y:^kM^^^6i^ THE GENESIS OF QUEENSLAND: AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST EXPLORING JOURNEYS TO AND OVER DARLING DOWNS : THE EARLIEST DAYS OF THEIR OCCUPATION; SOCIAL LIFE; STATION SEEKING; THE COURSE OF DISCOVERY, NORTHWARD AND WESTWARD; / AND A RESUME OF THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO SEPARATION FROM NEW SOUTH WALES. WITH PORTRAIT AND FAC-SIMILES OF MAPS, LOG, &c., &c. BY %n\w Mnnvt Eussfll TURNER & HENDERSON. rilDCCCLXXXVIII. MtXikuitti TO THE MEMORY OF HENRY HUGHES, OF Worcester, England, AND Westbrook, Darling Downs, Queensland. " By heaven ! I cannot flatter, — but a braver place In my heart's love hath no man." PREFACE. But for respect to prescribed custom, I should leave this book to be ushered into public presence under the countenance of Patrick Leslie's silent introduction. A preface, however, does shape itself into an easy chair for the scruples of the most self-distrusting occupant from which he may address himself in tendering the payment of a debt always incurred by ordinary men to their neighbours in the attainment of an end. For my own relief I use it, therefore, for thanking those who have, in all courteous sympathy, helped me to a short review of times synchronous with the detachments of story to which this first one hundred of Australia's years of self-assertion under the Union Jack has committed her. By tradition of the past, in a measure, Australia's habit may be characteristically caparisoned in the future. To the late Michael Fitzpatrick (awhile Premier of New South Wales), and then to the unreserved and hearty acquiescence of Henry Halloran and Deputy-Surveyor-General R. D. Fitzgerald, in obtaining for me the perusal of many official documents, a preface gives room for my grateful acknow- ledgments. These may have forgotten ; I have not. Among the amenities of private intercourse, I am glad to thank Philip Gidley King for enabling me to produce Journals of Allan Cunningham, of which a record in full had been long fallow among his family preserves ; also the widow of the noble Carron, to whose manhood 1 wish to pay tribute, and by her to his memory ; and her also who has honoured me by the permission to place this neophyte beneath the tutelary presence of the same Patrick Leslie. To the boon of a public library, its able and energetic Chief Librarian, R. C. Walker, and his considerate, cordial, and courteous coadjutor, D. R. Havvley — not forgetting the politeness of the active officials therein — I have now a chance of bearing warm testimony. To the FRIEND to whom I dedicate this redemption of a pledge given to himself when in life, and who procured for me the accompanying specimens of Cook's Log and handiwork, it viii. Preface. is too late to address myself. Those who inherit his cherished name may accept my meaning and regret. The chagrin shared with others now gone, that the days of " our" Darling Downs, on which we breathed a then new element, and revelled in the elastic aspirations of the squatter of the olden time, should fade out of the freshness of their dawn ; the aim, that objects wrought out by single enterprise should be fixed to the right name ; the fear, that as years fall farther and farther back, the impress of many a notable occurrence, whether affecting time, place, or person, the progress of squatting exploration or that of locality, might fall back with them into the haze of forgotten or irrecoverable things, or, what is more fretting, into the fogs of future distortion and assumption — have all spurred this "small chronicler of his own small times" to present himself to the "some few" yet living to whom the recital may yet bring reflection, whether of personal interest or not ; and to those who follow, mindfulness of some worthies gone before, whose names may plead the claim of whilom companion- ship and attachment in bush or town, prosperity or adversity. Out of the sunny years of HER who called our Queensland into her lot, have the purer rays been shed upon it which have lit up the latter, the happier half of Australia's age. May not the last, the youngest branch of Australia's growth, bud out in hope, yet more loyally grafted upon the name of HER who gave it as the days consolidate its own Centenary ? Henry Stuart Russell. North Willoughby, Sydney, N.S.W. CON TENTS. CHAPTER I. Early Explorers — Fernandez de Quiros — Torres — Torres Straits — (."ook — Galamp de la Perouse — Delangle — The Times — Byron's Birth — Norfolk Island — Lieutenant King — Bass — Richard Dove — Atkins — Sydney Gazette — Flinders — Memor- able execution — South Head Lighthouse ^ — Fort Macquarie — Territorial Seals — Commissioner Bigge — Allman — Lang — H.M.S. "Britomart." ..... 17 CHAPTER II. Newcastle — The "Mermaid"- — Port Macquarie^ — Oxley's coast survey — Ports Bowen and Curtis — Moreton Bay — Strange tale of bewilderment at sea — The River Brisbane — Habits of coast natives — Sir Francis Forbes — John Stephen- — John Carter — Gonlon Bremer — Port Essington — Melville Island — Oxley in the " Amity " — The "Australian" — Trial by Jury — Cunning- ham — Amity Point — Oflficial visit to Moreton Bay — John Macarthur — Francis Stephen — Red cliff Point — Edenglassie — Fort Dundas — Raffles Bay — The Cobourg Peninsula — Patrick Leslie- — Darling Downs — Leichhardt — The "Lady Nelson" — P'irst despatch from Melville Island— George Miller — Port Essington again — Bremer in H.M.S. "Alligator" — Letter to Sir George Gipps — Owen Stanley — H.M.S. "Rattlesnake" — A Cape York rescue — Collapse of North Coast Settlements — Keppei in H.M.S. " Moeander." . . . 21 CHAPTER III. Retrospection — Prospects — Thomas Hobbes Scott- — Rex v. Robert Cooper— Van Dieman's Land — Governor Darling — Major Lockyer — Military Discipline — Captain Bishop — Maurice Charles O'Connell — Surmises respecting our Watersheds — The River Macleay — Captain Logan — Stradbroke Island — ■ South Boat Passage — H.M.S. " Warspite" — Sir James Brisbane — The River Tweed — First " Daily " — Logan's Walk — " Isle of Stradbroke " — Dunwich — Rous Channel — The River Logan — Captain Philip King in the "Mermaid"- — Thomas de la Condamine — Henry Grattan Douglas — Fort Wellington — Rev. C. P. N. Wilton — Allan Cunningham. . . 48 C: H A P T E R IV. Fate of La Perouse — Thomas Livingstone Mitchell — Gallows in 1828-9 — The River Clarence — Colonial Botanist Frazer — X. Contents. i'AC.E Swan Port — Stapylton — William Grant Broughton — Allan Cunningham — Leslie — Leichhardt — Port ^Macquarie Free — Commandant Logan — " Surprise " and " Sophia jane " — Runaways — Agricultural Company at Newcastle — " Specials '" — Lord Howe's Island — Benjamin Sullivan's Scheme . 60 C H A P T !<: R \' . The "Squatter" — -Our First Bishop — E. Deas-Thompson — John Blaxland — A. McLeay — The "James Watt" — Doubly Wrecked — Lang's " Minerva " — German Clerics — Presbytery of Moreton Bay — Sir Maurice O'Connell — Captain King — Crown Lands Police — Squatting Bill — Withdrawal from INIoreton Bay — Major Cotton — Commissioners of Crown Lands — Confusion of names ..... 70 CHAPTER Yl. Allan Cunningham's Journals — Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth — Blue Mountains — Hovell and Hume — Segenhoe — Potter INIacqueen — Macintyre — Dartbrook — River Page — Dividing Range — Liverpool Plains — Oxley's River Field — INIelville Hills — Goulburn Vale — Barrow's Valley — Lushington Valley — Vansittart Hills — Mitchell's River — Cod Catching— Effects of Drought — Buddie's River^ — Wild Cattle — Stoddart's Valley — Oxley's Peel — Drummond Ranges — Carlyle's and Little's Hills — The " Cone INLasterton " — The River Dumaresq — Macintyre's Brook — Indians — The River Condamine — Darling Downs — Peel's Plains — Canning Downs — Harris Range — INIount Dumaresq — Millar's Valley^ — Logan Vale — Mount Warning — The "Gap" — A Glimpse Eastward — Homeward Return — Anderson's Brook — -The River Burrell — Shoal Bay . . jj CHAPTER VII. Cunningham on the East — Logan — Brisbane — Limestone Station — The "Gap" — Eraser — Mount Warning — Cowper's Plains- Canoe Creek — The River Logan — Birnam Range — Letitia's Plain — " High," or " Flinder's" Peak — Mount Dunsinane — Mount Warning — Innes Plain — Erris Vale— Ascent of Mount Lindesay — Macpherson's Range— Coke and Borough Heads — Glen Lyon — The River Richmond — Mount Clanmorris — Hughes' Peak — Mount Hooker — View of the Sea — Mount Shadforth — Wilson's Peak— Minto Craigs — Mount French — Knapp's Peak — Dulhuniy Plains — Rattray Plain— The River Bremer — Logan returns to Brisbane — Limestone Hills — Starts in search of the " (iap " — Mount Forbes — Bowerman Plain — Finds the " Gap's " Eastern Face — Threads the " Pass " — Contents. xi. PAGE View of Darling Downs — Mount Mitchell — IMount Sturt — Tempest in the " Gap "' — Return— Bainbrigge Plain — Mount Fraser — Mounts Edward and (jreville — Arrive at Limestone — Remarks — Lockyer's Boat Excursion — Cook — -Cunningham — Arthur Hodgson — Patrick Leslie — Leslie's Diary — Dobie — Peter Murphy — Falconer Plains — Walter Leslie — New England — The River Clarence — Admiral King — Garden and Bennett's Station — Toolburra — Glengallan Creek — Canal Creek — Bannockburn Plains — Fresh Start with Stock — Wyndham's — Condamine — Further I^xploring of DarlingDowns — Hodgson — Etonvale — King and Sibley — Fred Isaac — Leslie's Recol- lections . . . . . . .127 CHAPTER VIII. Petty's Hotel — Letters of Introduction — Aldis' Cigars — Arthur and Pemberton Hodgson — Todd — Buying a Horse — Brown the Saddler — Major Barney — Disadvantage of a Name — Sydney as it seemed to me — Australian Club — En route to New England — -Newcastle — ^Cox's Hotel — Paddy Grant — Lettsome and Archibald Boyd — Black Creek- — Hughes and Isaac — Colburne " Old Soldiers " — Patrick's Plains — Cullen's Inn — Singleton's — Muswellbrook — Skellatar — Bengalla — Overton — Nagoa — St. Heller's— Cox — Allman — Aunty Bell — Nowland's Inn — Aberdeen — Potter Macqueen — Scone — ^Chivers' Inn — The River Page — Denny Day — Currabubbula — Charles Hall — Killalla — Salisbury — Hodgson's Highwayman — Denne's Station — Cashiobury — " Cocky" Rogers — Back to Sydney — Reverend Robert All wood . . . . . .172 CHAPTER IX. John Allman — Arthur Maister — Dr. Bland — Owen Stanley — H. H. Browne — Gilbert Elliot — Rape of the Coat-tails — Boydell — Owen Macdonald — Ride to the South — Murrum- bidgee — Sharp — The Station Sold — ^Cavan — Hallelt, of Oriel — Yass — Road back to Sydney. . . . 185 CHAPTER X. Tatrick Leslie — The s. "Victoria" — Henry and Alfred Denison — ^ Edward Hamilton — Hodgson and Elliot — Frank Forbes — Archibald Bell — Stephen Ferriter — Glennie — Dr. Bowman — Loder's — Allan Macpherson — Charles Hall again — River Peel — Stubbs and Irving — Dalzell — Milne — Rusden — Werris" Creek — St. Aubin's — Captain Dumaresq — Denny Day and Frank Allman — Magnus McLeod — Butler — St. Heller's — Henry Denison and Paddy Grant— Pemberton Hodgson — " Tinker " xii. Contents. PAGE Campbell — Cameron — McAllman — George Gammie — Bergen- op-Zoom — George ^lacdonald — Captain O Connell — Cash's — The River Bundarrah — Clark and Ranken"s — Wyndham's — Eraser's Creek — Gregory Blaxland — Leslie's Marked-tree Line — The Severn — The "Fiver'" — A. Hodgson and Fred. Isaac from Darling Downs. , . . . 191 CHAPTER XI. The Condaminc Grass Trees — Cocky Rogers again — Exploring Etonvale Creek — A Yahoo — Cunningham's "Gap" — West- brook — Hodgson's " iNIy Word ! " — Limestone — Arrest — George Thorne — George Thome's Wife- — Pleasant Quarters. 199 CHAPTER XII. Owen Gorman — John Kent — Dr. Ballow — Andrew Petrie — Eagle Farm — Stephen Simpson — William Henry Wiseman — Mrs. Gorman — Logan's Reign — Cunningham's Gap— Joe Archer — Gorman's Gap — Baker or " Boralcho " — The Drummer's — Toolburra — Clifton — Novel Watch-pocket — Dalrymple — A Headlong Meeting — Blacks at Lockyer's Creek — Hell's Hole — Etonvale — Elliot — Shearing — Black I'ommy. . . 210 CHAPTER XIII. George Leslie — The first Clip^ — Trip to Brisbane — Arthur Hodgson again — Mosquitos — Thorne and Cunningham's "Gap" — Plough Station — Ralph Gore — To Sydney with Hughes — Henry and Fred. Isaac- — Westbrook and Jock ^Maclean — Gowrie — Denis — Scougall — Coxen — Myall Creek — Jimbour — Samuel Stewart — Wingate — Tummavil — Rolland and Taylor — Yandilla — Talgai — Ellangowan — George Mocatta — Tent Hill — Helidon — Somerville — Fred, and Francis Bigge — Evan and Colin INIackenzie — jNIcConnell — Balfour — My Brother Sydenham — Run to a Rencontre — How Syd. trumped a Trick — Frank Allman — Pagan — Skellatar — Milburne Marsh and Miss ]\Iarsh — David Scott — Bengalla Races — Helenus Scott— Glennie — Bundock — John Cox — " Dick " Glover — INIatthew and Charles Marsh — Darby and Goldfmch — Morse — Armidale — Ben Lomond — Horses Lost — Etonvale — INIurray — Rose — Brooks — Frank Hodgson — Arthur's Round Table — Frank Forbes — Search for a " Run '' — Cecil Plains — Back at Betty's Hotel, in Sydney — John Allman — Campbelltown — Captain Allman — John Hurley — Sir Thomas INIilchell — Dr. Wallace 222 CHAPTER XIV. The "Shamrock" to Moreton Bay — Governor and Suite — JollifTe — Milburne Marsh's Flying Shot — Cleveland Point — First Contents. Queen of May on Darling Downs — Dr. Goodwin — James Canning Pearce — Fife — Aikman — Simpson's Homceopathy — ■ Quixotic — Chambers' "Edward " — Pinis Petriana — An Agree- ment. ....... XIU. 242 CHAPTER XV. Boat Trip to Wide Bay — Edward Baker — Walter Wrottesley — Jolliffe — Mocatta — The River " Alorouchidor'' — •" Petrie's Head " — Aboriginal Doctoring — Bracefell — -Brown's Cape — The " Stir- ling Castle"^Wreck — A "Tourr"— Mrs. Eraser — Her Escape — Boppol — Southern Entrance into Hervey's Bay — Capsize — A Chorus — A Eog — -Sheridan — Puzzled — Fire-flies — "Gam- mon Inch "...... 250 CHAPTER XVI. Bunnia-Bunnia Range — JoUiffe's Beard — The River Monoboola (now " Mary") — Difficulties on nearing Mount Boppol — " Old Bill" — Arthur Hodgson in the " Canopus" — Derhamboi — Strange Scenes — A Watch Found — Back to Brisbane — Pamby-Pamby's Good-bye— " Makromme" — Derhamboi's Au Revoir ! — Life with the Ginginbarah — Native Character — Shells for my Sisters in England — The Hunting Phocoena — My Leaf Written in Gaol — Hopes of the Forlorn — ^ Cannibalism — Cooking — ■ Stolen Pleasures ...... 270 CHAPTER XVII. Narratives of the " Stirling Castle's" Wreck— Death by Torture — Gathering Doom — Choice of Two Horrors — Garbled Account of Rescue — -Base Ingratitude — Bunnia-Bunnia — Arniicaria Bidwellii — Female Cannibal Priviliges — The Bundinavah — Courting on the Monoboola — Contract Sealed — Character of the Contract — -Aboriginal Domestic Habits — Natural Learning. 300 CHAPTER XVIII. Patrick Leslie — Denny Day — Sir Thomas Mitchell — Stapylton — Execution of His Murderers — The " Piscator" — Leslie and Darling Downs — Lettsome and Boyd — The River "Albert" — Moreton Bay Progress — Glover, from Bathurst — Peter Quack — John Hill and Christopher Gorry — New Road Over the Range — -Francis Bigge Shot — Overland to Wide Bay — Eales' Sheep — ^Superintendent Last — A Christmas Eve Night — Overland to Port Essington — Orton — Black Jemmy — The "Gulf Stream" — A Comet — -Bell and Cameron — -Thomas Sutcliffe Mort — Cooranga— Blacks Surprised — Henry Denis — A One-eyed Murderer . . . . . 317 xiv. Contents. CHAP T E R X I X. Sir Charles Malcolm — Glover — Sydenham Russell— Letters — Cecil Plains— Burrandowan — A Day and a INIonth of Dying — Com- missioners Macdonald and Rolleston — Cambooya — Pot Luck —Hodgson a Butcher-Boy — Pie-bald Strife — " Gourmand's " in Brisbane — Egg Txic\.— Table-d' -hole in Queen Street — The Horse " Mentor '" — Benedict Bracker. . 342 CHAPTER XX. I.iulwig Leichhardt — Our First Meeting — G. K. Fairholme — Pipe Ponderings Over — Port Essington — Sandy Blight — The Doctor opens our eyes, and his own are fixed X^orthward — I\Iy Stockman, William Orton — Deliberations — Leichhardt Pre- pares himself in Sydney — Return — Route — Ruin — Resurrec- tion — Reaction — Second Start — Swan River— Sickness — Third Start — Fading away . . . . . 359 CHAPTER XXL Robert Little — Kearsey. Cannan — Contemporaries — Duncan — Thornton — Sheridan — Brisbane Celebrities — Ralph Gore — Invitation to Bustard Breakfast — An Unforgotten Rebuke — The Loss of the "Sovereign" — Waste Lands — Port Curtis Settlement — Wickham — Moretoii Bay Courier — Darling Downs Gazelle — Brisbane v. Cleveland — A Visit by Night — Brisbane Race- courses • — Butterflies — Caterpillars — Land — Wentworth — Labour — Tea-fight — Burnett — H.INLS. "Orpheus" — Dr. Lang's Emigrants — The Close of my Darling Downs Days. . 377 CHAPTER XXIL Edmund Kennedy — P>om Sydney by Sea to Rockingham Bay — Thence by land starts for Cape York — William Carron's Journal — Bad beginning has a worse end — Carts useless and left behind — Horses dying are eaten — Terrible Obstacles — Rain — Food filched — Watching Stores — Party left at Weymouth Bay — Doom's Dallyings — A Skeleton Remnant — Carron and Kennedy — -Kennedy's Death — Jacky's "Ariel" — A Canoe Chase — Dust and Ashes — Faithful to the end . 399 CHAPTER XXIII. ^ Xc-.v South Wales' Leap Year — Her growth — Charles Kemp — Spectre of Separation — Ghost of Ruin — Prevention — A Continuance Bill — Sir Robert Peel and Vernon Smith — Power of a Word — Londo7i Colonial Gazelle . . . 427 Contents. xv. C \\ A F T E R XXIV. A iJay with the " Separation " Pack — Lang and Lowe at the Meet — PhiHppic from Port PhiUip — Lang- and the " Lima" — Hobson's Choice — A Hook for Separation — Moulding for a new Cast — Lang impeaches Grey — Lang's aim at Separation — His Land Orders — Lang's portly President — Lang's League — — Lang for Sydney — Henry Parkes for Lang — Lang elected — " In the name of the Prophet Figs !'' . . . 444 CHAPTER XXV. Patrick Leslie and Separation — Separation Strifes — Grey's odd trick — Leslie and Lang — Sydney Wrath^Five to three against "Jackeroo" — -Hodgson on Separation — Public Sentiment — Apology for " Exiles " — New Constitution Bill — Clauses fifty-one and fifty-two — Denunciation — Indignation — Exultation -Termination. 473 CHAPTER XXVI. Aspiration. ....... 508 APPENDIX A . Extracts from Cook's Journal (Hawkesworth). — Cape Byron — Mount Warning — Points Danger and Look-out — Moreton's Bay — Cape Moreton — Glass Houses — Double Island Point — From Bustard Bay to Cape Townshend— Thirsty Sound — Conway — Gloucester — Whitsunday — Grafton to Cape Tribu- lation — Coral stricken — ^The Endeavour River — Capes Bedford and Flattery — Breaking through the Barrier Reef — Providential Channel — Weymouth Bay — Bok Head — Sir Charles Hardy's and Cockburn's Isles — Cape York — Newcastle Bay- — Possession Island — -Cape Cornwall — Booby Island — Return by Timor, Batavia, and Cape of Good Hope — Lands at Deal. . 513 APPENDIX B. Extract from Flinders' Journal. — Epitome of his Introductory Review of Early Discoveries — WhatFlindershad todoin thesloop " Norfolk " — Sugar Loaf Point — Shoal Bay — Point Skirmish — X* Pumice Stone River — Hervey's Bay^H.M.S. "Investigator" — Do Wide and Hervey's Bays join ? — Gatcombe Head — Port Curtis — Keppel Bay — The "Lady Nelson " — Parts company — Threads the '' Needles " — The Gulph garnished — "Xenophon" will not Retreat — Sink or Swim with the "Investigator's" Rottenness — By North and West Coasts round Cape Leeuwin in his rotten Ship — To Port Jackson. . . . 543 xvi. Contents. APPENDIX C . PA6E Journal of ax Kxcursion up thp: River Bkisbwe in the Year 1825, by Edmund Lockver, Esq., J. P.. late Major in His Majesty's 57th Regiment of Foot .... 589 A P P I<: N D I X D . General Order. — With respect to the Military posted at Penal Stations. Government Order. — Coasting Service. Proclamation. — Port INIacquarie, Moreton Bay and Norfolk Island as Penal Settlements La Perouse's Relics. — Brought to Port Jackson by Captain Dillon, commanding the Honourable East India Company's ship " Research." Government Order. — Major Mitchell's appointment as Surveyor- General. Government Order. — The Rev. W. G. Broughton, Archdeacon, Member of the Legislative and Executive Councils. Proclamation. — General Thanksgiving. Proclamation. — Port Macquarie open to Settlers . . 602 A P P E N D I X E . Account of Logan's Mi^rder.^ — -The Funeral — Captain Clunie's Letter. , . •. . . . . 610 APPENDIX F. Proclamation. — Checks upon Excessive Punishment of Convicts 615 APPENDIX G . Major Campbell's Journal. — -Record of Settlements on North Coast — Melville Island — General Description. . .616 APPENDIX H . Proclamation. — Boundaries of the District of Moreton Bay — Stephen Simpson appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands 634 APPENDIX J . First Sale of Land at Brisbane. — Buyers and amounts. . 635 A P P E N D I X K . Extract Sydtiey Gazelle. — Arrival of the horse St. George and Stock from Bathur.st. ..... 636 CHAPTER I King Arthur made new knights to fill the gap Left by the the Holy Quest. — Tennyson. (The Holy Grail.) Assuredly the gallant Pedro Fernandez de Quiros must have been possessed by some of the " sacred madness " of King Arthur's bard when as he first gazed, as he thought, upon the coral-gripped coast of the new land which King Philip of Spain had sent him to seek, he shouted in reverent joy with doffed sombrero: "Australia del Espiritu Santo!" But was "Australia" the utterance, or was it "Tierra"? 'Twas not for de Quiros to discover his own error. Choosing one course for further discovery, he directed his Lieutenant to take another in the second ship, and so they parted in 1606. Superstitious dread prevailed over the discipline of his own, and he was compelled by his mutinous men to return to Peru, which he reached in disgrace, ever attendant upon failure. His Lieutenant, Luis Vaes de Torres, soon found that the Admiral had saluted but an island — probably one of the New Hebrides — continued his course westwards, bore away along the south coast of New Guinea; unwittingly fixed his eyes upon the true "Tierra Austral "; upon the "very large islands" which the Cape, since called York, presented to his bewildered sight, ere he stood away to the north, threading his way through the mazy channel which exposed his commander's mistake. Torres had unconsciously fulfilled the Holy Quest. The memory ofand monument to his name are baptised and bathed by the isle-fretted waters which bear it. In John Bull justice did a native of our own British island stamp " Torres" with his hand of authority as hydrographer to the Admiralty upon that strange channel which had already begun to be the promise of a grand highway claimed by, but not destined for the sovereignty of that flag under which Torres had sailed. The most authentic registration of Queensland's birth was thus declared from the far north ; her future growth was nourished and confirmed from the far south. Among the first forms of a new shore brought to light, she has derived her existence from that which was delivered last by the labour of B 1 8 Genesis of Queensland. our Yorkshire countryman, James Cook, Into the arms of our glad motherland. But through what throes has the first colony planted in this our Australia been nursed to its stature, that it may bear its own part, and send forth its own offspring to bear theirs on the great stage upon which in these years of grace, 1887-8, it and they are summoned to enact the several characters allotted to them, and as yet rehearsed by the help of the common prompting of religion, race, kindred, and country. It is by the finger-posts of incident in colonial life that the tracks of a community's social rise and progressive ability may be faithfully followed and run out, irrespective of the governing element. Whether of good or evil, worthy or unworthy, noble or ignoble report, the course of events proves a people's character ; whereas a religious and political history, even of a new country, compiled from a mass of wrestling opinions, can be taught and learnt but by the commonwealth's outcome up to a present — a present which can find no end while the Avorld is. The former — my task — is an easy one : the latter, one which only rare ability and genius dare challenge. Yet the one may allure the interest and amused attentiveness of the many, who do not care to dig up or into the thirsty ground of theory, nor sink into the quicksands of inquiry which cannot be solidified. For instance, who that dwells in this land of bright token can take up an almanac, and fail to exult in his secret soul that on the 20th day of January, 1788, our fellow countryman, .\rthur Phillip, had saved it for us "Britishers" but by a few days from becoming the rightful refuge for the Frenchman's " folies "; that two days after he had taken possession of the country in the name of the United Kingdom, established his head-quarters on the bay-sporting waters of Port Jackson, and in all chivalrous courtesy "fended off" "I'Astrolabe" and "la Buffole" with their gallant commanders, Jean Francois Galamp de la Perouse, and his friend Delangle, to the less hospitable shores on which they met their sad fates ? Is the fact that the same month of the same year — 1788 — hailed the birth in our realm of a people's new and giant power — the power of the press, the fourth estate — in a dingy room at Printing-House Square, whence on the first of its days issued forth the first cry of^the infant Times, now stalking forth in strength equal to a nation's leverage, worth no grat(-ful glance ? Can the nascent glow of Shadows of a Substance. ig Australia's poetic aspirations bear no reflective companionship with the spark which kindled the simultaneously new-born Byron's genius ? Are all incurious to the fact that Norfolk Island was made a dependency of New South Wales on the 13th day of the month following, under Lieutenant, afterwards Captain, and then Governor King? Is it not worth a glance that on the 26th of September, i 791, Lieutenant-Governor, afterwards Governor King, had arrived in the "Gorgon," having received our territorial seal, with authority to grant pardons absolutely or conditionally ? Nothing to any housewife that in 1796 coals were being received in Sydney from Newcastle ? nor to the admirers of sea-bred pluck that Dr. Bass had thrown open the straits which wear his name, and returned in his whaleboat thence to Port Jackson in February, 1798 ? Are there none now who would be surprised that until December, 1800, no copper coin was in circulation in the colony? None now living who may read with namesake interest the first noteworthy death in New South Wales, that of Judge-Advocate Richard Dove ; none to lift up their eyebrows at the recorded name of his successor, Richard Atkins ? And then, a smart step onward on March 5, 1803, The Sydney Gazette aiid Neiv South Wales Advertiser, published " by authority," coupled with the drawback — important enough in those days — of the report brought to Sydney by him to whom the coast of New Holland had become so much indebted for development, Matthew Flinders, of the loss of the " Porpoise" and " Cato," upon his arrival within the Heads on September 8th, in an open boat. Is there no sensation attendant upon the announcement of horrors presumably lawful (in the type of the period), and ten- dered in a somewhat cynical regard for authority one day of this year : " Memorable execution (!). — Joseph Samuels, for burglary, was three times suspended ; first, the rope separated ; second, it unrove at the fastening ; third, it snapped short ! The Provost Marshal, Mr. Smith — a man universally respected — compassion- ating the criminal's protracted suffering, represented the case to the Governor, who was pleased to' reprieve him"? Was there no thought for defence in those troublous days of antipodean wars ? Nor for light in those days of darkness ? There was; for on the i8th of July, 181 6, Governor Macquarie laid the first stones of the tower which makes his name redoubt- 20 Genesis of Queensland able, and of the South Head Lighthouse, pulled down not long ago, and then put up again the brightest beacon of the seas ! The old Seal, too, worn out, not probably by the frequency of pardoning, but by ceaseless attachments to hanging warrants, was replaced by a new Territorial Seal, sent with a warrant, by the clemency of the Prince Regent, in the November following. Why should we decline to refresh our knowledge of the stirring times during the chaotic reign of Governor Bligh for one year, five months, and thirteen days ; or mark the record of a new era which set in with the arrival of John Thomas Bigge, the Honourable Commissioner of Inquiry, consequent upon Bligh's eviction, in the ship " John Barry," with his secretary, Thomas Hobbes Scott, on the 25th September, i8ig? Or, beginning already to creep away to the northward, to mark that a gallant officer of the 48th Regiment, Captain Allman, whose name is still held high in Campbelltown esteem, and in our midst, in memory of a fine old soldier and impartial magistrate, was sent forth to establish a penal settlement at Port Macquarie ? Coming apace to household names of our own years, the preaching of his introductory sermon by Dr. Lang in Sydney, on June 8, 1823, will surely make many prick up their ears. And how strangely it sounds now that on the 8th of the preceding month Thomas McVitie was magistrate for the week ! That the harbour of Port Jackson presented " a novel and gay appearance on the Sunday before, as six vessels were under sail at once ! Five to go through Torres Straits, Captain Peach, of H.M.S. "Britomart," being commodore of the squadron; that this smart vessel saluted Point Piper en passant, which was promptly answered by our respected naval officer (and postmaster), Captain Piper "! CHAPTER II For not this man and that man, but all men make up mankind, and their united tasks the task of mankind. How often have we seen some adventurous and perhaps much-censured wanderer light on some outlying, neglected, yet vitally momentous province, the hidden treasures of which he first discovered, and kept proclaiming till the general eye and effort were directed thither, and the conquest was completed ; thereby, in these his so seemingly aimless rambles, planting new standards, founding new habitable colonies in the immeasurable circumambient realm of nothin_gness and night. — Carlyle. (Sartor Resartus). How fast within our first half century did the necessities of New South Wales, with respect to the classification of her criminals, and the infliction of secondary punishment, compel her in her apparently dismal destiny's fulfilment to w^ork out under such degrading associations her sad course ; blindfolded to all considerations but those by which she could render service to the old home by relieving it of the presence of outcasts and ne'er-do- w-eels. The establishment of these very depots of guilt became the direct guidance to the exploration of this land. Let us see. Newcastle was the first afifiliated prison-house ; but on the nth of September of 1823 the Government cutter " Mermaid " — which plays so frequent a part on the north coast henceforth — sailed with stores to Newcastle, from which dependency about forty prisoners were to be transferred to that of Port Macquarie, as the former is to be no longer considered a "place of banishment" for our felons; and on the i6th of October, the Surveyor-General, John Oxley, had received instructions from Governor Brisbane, upon the advice of Commissioner Bigge, " to proceed northward as far as Port Bowen, Port Curtis, and Moreton'Bay; to examine them, and report as to forming in each spot, if fit for the purpose, a new settlement, to which all the convicts not usefully employed on the old settlements, as well as the refractory and incorrigible, were to be removed, and employed in the clearing and cultivation of land, &c., with the view, further, of removing to them, or any one of them, the prisoners then stationed at Port Macquarie, which from the excellence of the soil, the fineness of the climate, and its convenient distance from Sydney, the Governor was desirous of throwing open to free settlers.'' And so, accompanied by Uniacke, the Sur\eyor-General proceeded to Port Macquarie, which they found flor.rishing after 22 Genesis of Queenslmid. its two years' occupation; a town laid out in "streets of straight lines, handsome esplanade, barracks for 150 soldiers, neat commodious officers' quarters, comfortable huts of split wood, lathed, plastered, and white-washed, for prisoners, garden attached to each ; fruit trees, maize, and sugar-cane growing very luxuriantly," and natives of exceptionally fine mould mixing with the whites in a most friendly manner, who in consideration of being " victualled from the King's store," perform very efficient duty as a constabulary, especially in pursuing and bringing back runaways '' dead or alive."' Their next visit was to Port Curtis ; here they were not so well pleased: harbour difficult, vegetation scanty, timber none but what would do for firewood. They found no fresh water nearer the shore than twelve or fourteen miles, in a rapid river which they named the Boyne, up which they came to a succession of rapids, the banks " highly picturesque, the hills covered with wood, and the plains well grassed. The result, however, was that the place was unsuitable, and that convict labor there would be wholly thrown away." So, on return, they entered Moreton Bay, discovered by Cook, and visited by Flinders. Dropping anchor, a number of natives rushed down to the shore, among them one who appeared much larger in frame and lighter in colour than the others, who, advancing to a point opposite to the " Mermaid,'' hailed her in English. A boat was sent off, and as it drew towards them, the natives showed many signs of joy, hugging this man, and dancing wildly around him. He was perfectly naked, daubed all over with white and red ochre. He was soon discovered to be an Englishman, and so bewildered that little could be made of him that night. However, on the morrow Uniacke took down his narrative in writing, and this is by far the most curious and interesting paper in Barron Field's collection. His name was Thomas Pamphlet ; had set out with three others — Richard Parsons, John Finnigan, and John Thompson — from Sydney in a large open boat for Illawarra or the Five Islands (at that time the popular name for that place) to get cedar ; met with a violent gale whic:h last(,'d live; days, which drovt^ them, as they imagined, to the southward as far as Van Dieman's Land. Under this delusion they kept to the northward, suffered terribly from want (jf wal(M' for twenty-one days ; John riu)m])son died ol thirst ; then were wrecked on Moreton Island, w hich they still Cedar Traders at Sea. 23 believed to be to the south of Port Jackson. Parsons and Finnigan insisted some six weeks before upon another attempt northwards for Sydney ; he had gone with them about fifty miles, become too foot-sore to proceed, but got back to this tribe- Parsons and Finnigan having quarrelled, the latter also had returned, but was away at present on a hunting excursion with the chief. Parsons had not since been heard of."^ Finnigan came in the following day ; and, guided by their information, Oxley proceeded in the whaleboat to examine the mouth of the river which both had assured him ran into the south end of Moreton Bay. By sunset of that day they had ascended this river about twenty miles. The next day the satisfaction they had at first felt increased. Oxley felt "justified in believing that the sources of this river were not to be found in a mountainous country, but rather that it flows from some lake which will prove to be the receptacle of those interior streams crossed by me," he observes, " during an expedition of discovery in 181 8." In a review upon three works which were published in London in 1826, viz., by W. C. Wentworth (1824), Edward Curr (1820), and Barron Field (1825), appears the following: "The name given to this important river is the Brisbane. That it derives its waters from the lake or morass into which the Macquarie falls, and from those numerous streams which were crossed by Oxley in 1818, all running to the northward, seems a very reasonable supposition. He was able to trace its course forty miles from its mouth, and he could see in the same direction, viz., in the south-west, the abrupt termination of the coast range of mountains ; and the distance from Moreton Bay to the lake or morass of the Macquarie is not more than 300 miles. The discovery of this river may cause those to hesitate who so positively assert that none of any magnitude fall into the sea from New Holland. Captain Cook discovered Moreton Bay ; it was well known to Captain Flinders, who anchored his vessel both above and below the mouth of this river, and passed it twice in his boats, but it was concealed from him by two low islands." Pamphlet said that nothing could exceed the kind attention paid by the natives to the shipwrecked seamen ; * It will be seen, however, that in January of next year Parsons was discovered. 24 Genesis of Queensland. they lodged them, hunted and fished for them, and the women and children gathered fern root for them, painted them twice a day, and would assuredly have tattooed their bodies and " bored " their noses but for their dislike to the process. Not only did these Moreton Bay natives deal with them so kindly, they met with similar treatment among all the tribes with whom they had met in their wanderings to the north. Of the habit of boiling water they all seemed to be ignorant. Pamphlet had saved a tin pot, in which, on one occasion, he had heated some water ; it began to boil, and the anxiously-watching savages took to their heels, shouting and screaming. They would not draw near again till he had poured it away ; nor were they, in his sojourn, ever reconciled to the operation. Each aboriginal had the cartilage of the nose pierced ; many wore large pieces of bone or stick (supplanted in after days by the white man's pipe) thrust through it. The women, as at Sydney, had all lost the first two joints of the little finger of the left hand, but the adults had not, as at Port Jackson, one of the front teeth extracted. The women were daily busied in getting "dingowa," fern root, for subsistence, and making bags of network from rushes. The men made the fishing and kangaroo nets from the bark of the kurrajong (hibiscus heterophyllus) . The fishing stations and grounds of each tribe were some few miles apart ; and they would change from one to another as the fishing or game began to fail. Their huts were of wattle bent into an arch, interwoven with boughs, covered with the bark of the tea tree (melaleuca armillaris) and impervious to rain. Some would hold ten or twelve persons. Pamphlet declared that during a sojourn of seven months he never saw a woman struck or ill- treated ! The men would quarrel — their fights were frequent, often ending fatally. The common usage was for a champion on either side to fight it out fairly in a ring made for the occasion. He saw one, he said, of these duels. At a spot chosen was a circle about twenty-five feet in diameter, three feet deep, and surrounded by a palisade of sticks. The two combatants entered it, parleyed awhile with violent gestures, plucked their spears from the ground; one was pierced through the shoulder; he fell, and was carried off by his friends, the lookers-on departing with loud shouts on all sides. Reconciliation succeeded, and that again was hailed with loud shouts, dancing, and wrestling, after which they all joined in a general hunt for a week. Sir Francis Forbes. 25 Instrumental in the discovery of the river Brisbane, these white castaways have thus appeared upon the scene. Let us now return to Port Jackson. We shall, for the first time, hear of one whose name became a household word, not only in this colony, but through his sons, in years after- wards, on Darling Downs. In the person of Sir Francis Forbes, the bench attained the honour of a Chief Justice who, by the brilliancy of his talents, shed new light upon its records, as his estimable character and broad philanthropy did upon the darker pages of the history of New South Wales. It was the beginning of a new era in colonial being. Captain Johnson, in his good ship the "Guildford," did deliver upon these shores our first Chief Justice, his wife and family, on the 5th of March, 1824. The same day the formal promulgation of His Majesty's New Charter of Justice for the Colony of New South Wales took place at the Government House, the Court House, and the Market Place of Sydney, and the Chief Justice took his seat on the bench. The nth of the August following proclaimed — as effacing what may be termed the martial control — a Legislative Council, established by Royal sign-manual, as being in existence under the hand and seal of the Governor-in Chief ; and in the same month was hailed the advent of the first Solicitor-General and Commissioner of the Court of Requests, John Stephen, with his family, in the " Prince Regent," and the first Master-in-Chancery, John Carter, with his family, in the same ship. Another spurt Northward, Ho ! through Torres Straits this time, encircling Queensland and all that she contains, commemorates the month of August, 1824, for H.M.S. " Tamar,'' commanded by Captain Bremer, C.B., accompanied by the " Countess of Harrington," taking a civil and military establishment, sailed for the north coast of " Terra Australis " on the 24th, for the purpose of founding a new settlement in the vicinity of Melville Island, which, with Port Essington, becomes so much identified with a Queenslander's retrospect, that the energies expended upon that spot should not, with the settlements themselves, be abandoned through exhaustion. Who can forget that Port Essington, at least, was Leichhardt's refuge ? Pending the Melville Island expectations, let us see again what part Moreton Bay is preparing to take in our Australian programme. 26 Genesis of QtLeensland. In September we find our indefatigable Surveyor-General, John Oxley, again at work. He has sailed in the brig "Amity " with a civil establishment, prisoners, and stores, to plant a new settlement somewhere in Moreton Bay. As a guard, a detachment of the 40th regiment, the officer in command Lieutenant Butler. The Commandant-elect, Lieutenant Miller of the same regiment ; his suite completed by a storekeeper, subordinate officers of various designations, and a number of volunteers. The King's Botanist, Cunningham, accompanies the Surveyor-General. Upon John Oxley falls the responsibility of fixing upon the site most eligible for this new dependency. What says October of 1824 to the credit of our country? Liberty of the Press! thanks to Sir Thomas Brisbane. The publication of an independent weekly newspaper — the Australian, on the 14th. Trial by jury on the same day obtained in the Quarter Sessions Court. Did these boons follow in the Chief Justice's train ? Its 2ist day brought back our brig "Amity," Captain Penson, with the Surveyor-General and King's Botanist. Our new settlement was established for the while on the very shores^ of Moreton Bay, at a spot called Red Cliff Point, on its northern margin. It was deemed peculiarly eligible, although it had drawbacks from want of safe anchorage. Oxley went thence up the river about forty miles beyond the place he had ascended it in December last. He then gave his opinion that the river communicated with the interior waters, and it was to be regretted (it was then said), that no proof of that being a fact had been yet obtained. However, his party found fish hitherto know^n only in the western shed, and that circumstance afforded a strong presumption of the surmised communication. The tree now known as the "Moreton Bay" Pine (Araiicaria Ctinnh^ghaviii) , was much noticed. The King's Botanist, Cunningham, made ex- tensive collections, and it is remarkable " that most of the plants were of genera hitherto supposed to be exclusively troj)ical." It will be remembered that by the cutter " Mermaid " last year had been rescued two men wrecked on Moreton Island, and that they had spoken of one, Parsons, who had left them, and not re-appeared. About a month before the arrival of the " Amity " on this occasion, this man had returned to his old friends at the mouth of the Pumice Stone River. He had been Moreton Bay — Expansion. 27 wandering among the tribes of Hervey's Bay and the coast north of Moreton Bay ever since he had left his comrade in misfortune. For two years his dwelHng among the blacks was an interesting story. In all respects he declared he had been well and kindly dealt with. Upon her return the " Amity " passed through the southern passage into Moreton Bay, which took its name as the " Amity Point Entrance," she being the first craft to make use of it. The discovery of this approach shortened the distance by about fifty miles to the river Brisbane."^ The colony must have made a fresh start on the ist of November, when the first Court of Quarter Sessions was held in Sydney; and Moreton Bay must have been on "tip-toe" in the expectation of a vice-regal visit, for on the nth the same staunch brig " Amity " conveyed His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief (Sir Thomas Brisbane), the Chief Justice, and the Surveyor- General to sea en route to the new settlement, followed by her tender, the " Little Mars." Captain John Macarthur and Francis Stephen, Clerk to the Council, completed the pleasant party ; pleasant, doubtless, in spite of the weather, which in a fit oi ill-humour kept them fourteen days on the passage. The heavy gales and thunder-storms were spoken of as terrible day after day, and night after night. They entered the Bay by the north passage. The Governor and Chief Justice went up the river some twenty-eight miles, were much struck by the size of the trees on the banks, and pleased by what they saw. The natives were beginning to be troublesome at Red-Cliff Point, by continual thefts of tools, &c. Sir Thomas had decided upon removing the settlement to a spot about nine miles up the river, which would be more convenient for shipping. The Chief Justice had named the new site Edenglassie (Brisbane?). The "Amity " went to sea by the southern passage, and returned to Port Jackson in four days, on the 4th December. In August of the year 1824, Captain — afterwards Sir James John Gordon Bremer — in command of H.M.S. "Tamar," and accompanied by the "Countess of Harcourt," Captain Bunn, left Port Jackson for the north coast of Australia, and established the first settlement thereon at Fort Dundas on Melville Island. * Until the loss of the steamer " Sovereign," in 1847, it was the usual entrance, except in very heavy weather ; after that catastrophe it was for many years " tabooed." 28 Genesis of Queensland. Melville Island and Raffles Bay were the outcome of this attempt for a few years, and afterwards Port Essington. The idea of such an extension may be best expressed by the concluding paragraph of Major Campbell's journal in the appendix. Clothed in such an opinion, common sense, which thus weighed the probabilities of the future, would hnd herself much out-at-elbows in these days of democratic hatred of Indian, Chinese, or Islander service. If she were suffered to look at herself in the glass, she would hardly recognise her own features, and would shrink from the ugly mask which some " larrikin-spirit " hand has bedaubed them with during her long nap. We know how spasmodically — spasms of mercantile and monetary panics — the eyes of Sydney used to be fascinated by the enticement to hook on to the chain-trace which nature has stretched across the Indian Ocean from our neighbours in the hemisphere opposite. To Queensland the existence of a settlement on the Cobourg Peninsula has been, I think, an unappreciated boon as yet. Not embraced by the area of her possessions, yet in reviewing the track by which she came to where she is, Port Essington becomes much identified with her career. It was the suggestion of a direct overland connection with it which at times so highly stimulated the appetite for its realisation. The occupation of Darling Downs by Patrick Leslie gave fresh strength to the desire : the question of such a consum- mation became lively in town and bush. Port Essington was the northern magnet of which the attraction energised the gallantry of many an ambitious heart. Leichhardt would not, I think, have so promptly tempted the intervening wilderness but for the refuge ready for him at the end of his way. So, out of Patrick Leslie's hands sprang the baby colony into the cradle of Leichhardt's chevaleresque design; that design was sketched perspectively through the focus which concentrated Port Essington's distinctness of welcome. The Cobourg Peninsula may yet have a grand part to play for the benefit of the land of the south. It was admitted that the object of the Government of that day in despatching this expedition was " to open and preserve an intercourse with the Malay coast, so as to encourage and facilitate the spice trade." The latitude of the proposed dependency was about 12 deg. S., and 130 deg. E. To be con- Gordon Bremer. — Digesting the Coast. 29 veyed thither by Captain Gordon Bremer were Captain Barlow of the 30th Regiment (Buffs) — upon whom the superintendence was eventually to devolve — Ensign Everard, twenty-four non- commissioned officers and privates of the same regiment ; Dr. Turner, medical officer ; George Miller, commissariat clerk in charge of the duties of that department : George Wilson, whose assistant was George Tollemache ; and forty-four prisoners of the crown as workmen and mechanics. The Government colonial brig " Lady Nelson, ""^ John, master, accompanied the " Tamar " and " Countess of Harcourt." In the following March, 1825, the " Philip Dundas " from Mauritius, brought news to Sydney that the " Countess of Harcourt," after landing her stores at Fort Dundas, Melville Island, had called at the Isle of France, en route to England ; had reported " all well " with Captain Gordon Bremer and the new settlement so far. Houses sent in frame from Sydney had been put together, a fort finished and seven guns mounted, soldiers and prisoners well " hutted," the commissariat officer Miller, getting a store completed. The official despatch from Captain Gordon Bremer gave the following particulars : " Having completed everything necessary for the expedition, sailed from Port Jackson on the 24th of August, 1824, the ship 'Countess of Harcourt,' and the colonial brig ' Lady Nelson ' in company. On the 28th, passed Moreton Island with a fair wind ; from this period running down the east coast, anchoring occasionally, until the 17th of September, when we passed Torres Straits, and on the 20th at Port Essington, of which port and the coast between 129 deg. and 130 deg. east longitude, I took possession in the name of the King. On the 21st, at daylight, began examining the surrounding shores of Port Essington, and despatched four boats in search of fresh water. On the east side the country was much burnt up, the soil sandy and thickly interspersed with red sandstone rock, probably containing iron ; trees of no great height, mostly like those of New South Wales ; no water found this day. On the 22nd the search was again unsuccessful, but on the western side the soil was better, the country more open, * The " Lady Nelson" was a brig of 60 tons, brought from England by Lieutenant Grant, R.N., in 1800; built with sliding keels, came out of Deadman's Dock, London, on January 13th, 1800; laden at Gosport on February 9th, had freeboard but 2ft. gin., and looked so small for such a voyage that she got the name of His Majesty's " Tinder Box." 30 Genesis of Queensland. and the trees of magnificent height. On Point Record a hole was found fenced round with bamboo, containing a small quantity of thick or rather brackish water, evidently the work of Malays, as the bamboo is not indigenous in New Holland."^ Traces of natives were also found everywhere, but none made their appearance. Our parties had penetrated in various directions considerably into the country, but never found any water ; however, there is no doubt that by digging deep wells it might be obtained, yet the present apparent scarcity much diminished the value of Port Essington. " It is, nevertheless, one of the most noble and beautiful pieces of water that can be imagined, having a moderate depth, with a capability of containing a whole navy in perfect security^ and is well worthy of His Majesty's Government, should they be pleased to extend their establishment to this coast. On the 23rd, as water had not been met with, and the season was advancing^ weighed and made sail for Apsley's Strait. On the 24th, made Cape Van Dieman, and on the 26th entered the Strait and anch'ored off Luxmore Head, when formal possession was taken of Melville and Bathurst Islands. On the 27th, 28th, and 29th, boats were despatched in search of water, other parties sinking wells on both islands, without success. The wells produced a small quantity muddy and slightly brackish. " On the 30th I had the good fortune to find a running stream in a cove about five miles to the southward of the ship, the south-east point of which presented an excellent position for the settlement, as it was moderately elevated and tolerably clear of timber. The ships were immediately moved down to this cove, which was named ' King's Cove,' after the first discoverer of the straits and islands; the point determined on to form the settlement ' Point Barlow': and the whole anchorage ' Port Cockburn,' in honour of Vice-Admiral Sir George Cockburn, one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. " On the 1st of October parties were sent on shore to clear the ground and lay the foundation of a fort; and as it was probable the Malays would visit the place in grt'at numbers, * In the seventh chapter of Explorations in North Australia, which appears in the Sydney Morning Herald of the 7th May, 1887, by the Rev. J. E. Tenison- Woods, mention is made of bamboo as indigenous, "which," however, "only grows on a few Northern rivers," he observes. Black and White. 31 and as much hostility might be expected from the natives, who were, as we could judge from the number of their fires on both sides, very numerous, I was determined to render the fort as strong as the means of the expedition would admit. Thermometer 84 deg. to 88 deg. " On the 8th, began a pier for the purpose of landing provisions, guns, &c. From this period up to the 20th the various works were carried on with such zeal, that the pier, one bastion, and the sea-face of the fort were completed, and I had the satisfaction, on the 21st of October, of hoisting His Majesty's colours under a royal salute from two nine-pounder guns and one twelve-pounder carronade mounted on ' Fort Dundas,' which I named in honour of the noble lord at the head of the Admiralty. The pier is composed of immense heavy logs of timber and large masses of sandstone rock ; it is sixty-four feet long, eighteen wide, and thirteen high at the end next low-water mark, and from the solidity of the materials will probably last many years. " On the 25th of October I had been several miles up a small river in Bathurst Island, and on my return, near the entrance, was surprised by the sudden appearance of ten natives, who had waded — it being low water — across the river nearly to a dry sandbank situated in its centre. They were armed with spears, and at first seemed disposed to dispute the passage with us. On our approach they retired towards the shore, which was thickly covered with mangroves, and throwing down their spears, spread their arms out to show us they intended nothing hostile, accompanying the action with great volubility of tongue. I rowed towards them, but they hastily retreated. However, after some time they gained confidence, and advanced so near as to take a handkerchief and some other trifles from the blade of an oar, which was put towards them. 1 called the river, consequently, ' Intercourse River,' and the point ' Point Interview.' " The same afternoon two of our men, cutting timber and reeds, were in an instant surrounded by a party of the natives, who seized them, but offered no other violence than wresting their axes from them. They had probably been watching some of our parties in the wood, for they appeared to have a correct idea of the value and use of the axe. As soon as our men were at liberty they ran towards the fort — an alarm was given — the 32 Genesis of Queensland. soldiers seized their arms, and the savages would have suffered had they not hastily retreated. I immediately went on shore with Captain Barlow, and after going some distance, came up with the natives, in number eighteen or twenty, with whom we soon established communication by making signs of peace. They threw down their spears and came forward with confidence ; they, nevertheless, kept some of the youngest in the rear, whose duty seemed to be to collect the spears ready for action. We offered them handkerchiefs, buttons, and other trifles, which they accepted without hesitation, but after having satisfied their curiosity they threw them away. They made many signs for axes, imitating the action of cutting a tree, and accompanied it with loud vociferations, and almost inconceivable rapidity of gesture. They were given to understand they should have axes if they came to the settlement, and so drew them near the fort, but no inducement could get them into the clear ground or inside the line of cottages. They had, I found, stolen three axes, but as we were anxious to establish friendly relations, no notice was taken of the theft ; and three others were given to them, at which they appeared highly pleased, especially the chief, to whom a broader one than the rest was given, and who immediately examined the edge, and with much delight showed his fellows that it was sharper than theirs. They retired, and made their fire about half a mile from us. " On the 27th the same party re-appeared, accompanied by a youth evidently of Malay origin, but even lighter in colour than those people generally are. In his manners he was exactly like the rest, and most probably had been taken by them when very young. They seemed very anxious that we should notice him, thrusting him forward several times when near us. I found they had surprised two of our men, and taken from them an axe and a reaping hook. These articles were of some value to us; our stock was limited, and it became necessary to check the disposition for theft. Therefore, on their making the usual signs for axes, they were given to understand that we were displeased and that none would be given. " The young Malay, having the reaping-hook in his hand, it was pointed to, and after some hesitation'was given up ; but the axe was gone. I retired towards the fort. Poinding they could, not get the only object that they seemed to value, and our sentinels being on the alert with fixed bayonets, of which they Natives. 33 were much afraid — they retired ; but it was evident from their brandished weapons they were dissatisfied and probably meant mischief. We saw nothing of them until the 30th, when our boat at the watering-place was surrounded by some twenty who sprang from the bushes, but hesitated to attack on seeing the arms the crew had. At the same moment another party equally numerous suddenly appeared at a cottage in a garden which had been made by the officers at a small distance from the water. It appeared that only one of the young gentlemen and a corporal of marines were in the house. They attempted to retreat, but were opposed by the natives. The affair began to look serious, and they preparing to throw their spears the corporal fired over their heads — (I had given positive orders that except in cases of absolute necessity they should not be fired upon) — upon which they drew back and offered an opportunity for retreat. The corporal loaded as he ran, firing repeatedly until the young gentleman reached the boat, when a shower of spears were thrown from both parties of the natives, some of which went into the boat, and one grazed the midshipman's back. For the sake of sparing bloodshed which would have followed another discharge of spears, the corporal then selected the chief for punishment, and fired directly at him ; he Immediately fell or threw himself on the ground — which several others Instantly did on seeing the flash — but it was most probable that he was struck, for he did not rise so quickly as the rest, and the whole party ran Into the wood. None have since been seen in the neighbourhood. " These people were above the middle height, their limbs straight and well-formed, possessing wonderful elasticity ; not strongly made, the stoutest had but little muscle, their activity was astonishing, their colour nearly black, their hair coarse but not woolly, tied occasionally in a knot behind, and some had daubed their heads and bodies with red or yellow pigment. They were almost all marked with a kind of tattoo, generally in three lines, the centre one going directly down the body from the neck to the navel, the others drawn from the outside of the breast and approaching the perpendicular line at the bottom. The skin appeared to have been cut in order to admit some substance Into it, and then bound down until It healed, leaving small raised marks on the surface. The men were entirely naked, but we saw at Bathurst Island two women at a little distance who had small mats of plaited grass or rushes round the body. Their c 34 Genesis of Queensland. arms were the spear and waddy. The former is a slight shaft well hardened by fire, about nine or ten feet long ; those we saw generally had a smooth sharp point, but they have others which are barbed — deadly weapons. One of them was thrown at us, and I have preserved it ; it is very ingeniously made, the barbs being cut out of the solid wood ; they are seventeen in number, the edges and points exceedingly sharp ; they are on one side of the spear only. As they had no iron implements or tools it is wonderful that they can contrive to produce such a weapon. We saw but few of these barbed spears, and it is probable that they cost so much labour in making that they are preserved for close combat or extraordinary occasions. They did not use the wommerah or throwing-stick, so general in New South Wales. The waddy or short pointed stick was smaller than those seen in the neighbourhood of Sydney, and was evidently used in close fight as well as for bringing down birds or animals for food. They throw this stick with such wonderful precision that they never fail to strike a bird on the top of the highest tree with as much certainty as we could with our best fowling pieces. In their habits these people much resemble the natives of New South Wales, but they are superior in person, and if the covering of the women is general it is a mark of decency and a step towards civilisation perfectly unknown to the inhabitants of the east coast. The hallowing and decoration of a sepulture is such an acknowledgment of a supreme power and a future state that it appears evident that the notions of this people on this subject are by no means so rude and barbarous as those we have been accustomed to find amongst the New Hollanders generally. " On Bathurst Island we found the tomb of a native ; the situation was one of such perfect retirement and repose that it displayed considerable feeling in the survivors who placed it there ; and the simple order which pervaded the spot would not have disgraced a civilised people. It was an oblong square open at the foot, the remaining end and sides being railed round with trees seven or eight feet high, some of which were carved with a stone or shell, and further ornamented by rings of wood also carved. On the tops of these posts were placed the waddies of the deceased ; the grave was raised above the level of the earth, but the raised part was not more than three feet long. At the head was placed a piece of a canoe and a spear, and round the grave were several little baskets made of the fan palm leaf, Work. — Climate. 35 which from their small size we thought had been placed there by the children of the departed. Nothing could exceed the neatness of the whole ; the sand and the earth were cleared away from its sides, and not a scrub or weed was suffered to grow within the area. "The pier having been finished on the 21st, the party employed on that service and the whole strength of the expe- dition was directed to the fort, and completing the different works. " On the 2nd of November commenced building a magazine. On the 7th the Commissariat store-house was finished ; and by the 8th the whole of the provisions, stores, and necessaries were landed from the ' Harcourt,' and properly secured therein. This store-house is built of w^ood, well thatched, and fully equal to the occasion until a more regular and substantial one can be built. It contains nearly eighteen months' provisions. The fort, which commands the whole anchorage — the shot from it reaching across to Bathurst Island — was completed (with the exception of the ditch) on the gth of November. It is composed of timbers of great weight and solidity in layers live feet in thickness at the base ; the height of the work inside is six feet, surrounded by a ditch ten feet deep and fifteen feet wide ; on it are mounted two nine- pounder boat guns to shift on occasion, and to be put on board the ' Lady Nelson ' when it is necessary to detach her to the neighbouring islands or for other purposes. Those guns are provided with fifty rounds of round and grape, and are part of the upper-deck guns of this ship. The fort is rectangular, its sides being seventy-five yards by fifty : in this square are the houses for the commandant and the officers of the garrison, and a barrack for the soldiers is to be put into immediate progress. The soldiers and convicts have built themselves good and com- fortable cottages near the fort. " The climate of these islands is one of the best that can be found between the tropics : the thermometer rarely reaching 88 deg., and in the morning at dawn sometimes falling to 76 deg. Nothing can be more delightful than this part of the twenty-four hours. I was obliged, by necessity, with the whole of the ship's company, to be constantly exposed to a vertical sun, but fortunately few have suffered, and none very severely. " The soil of this island appears to be excellent. In digging a deep well for the use of the settlement we found a vegetable 36 Genesis of Queensland. mould about two feet deep; then soft sandstone rock, occasionally mixed with strata of red clay, until the depth of thirty feet, when we came to a vein of yellow clay and gravel through which an abun- dance of water instantly sprang, and rose to the height of six feet. " It is probable that this soil is capable of producing most — if not all — the tropical fruits and shrubs of the Eastern Islands. The plants brought from Sydney flourish luxuriantly, particularly the orange, lemon, lime, banana, and sugar-cane. Melons and pumpkins spring up immediately, and the maize was above ground on the fourth day after it was sown. '' We found the stream of water first discovered to run into several ponds near the beach — which affords to ships an easy mode of watering — and, no doubt, valuable rice plantations may be formed in their neighbourhood. " Amongst the trees, some of which are of noble growth, I found a sort of lignum vitae, which, probably, will be valuable for block-sheaves ; and several others, which appear to be calculated for naval purposes. The forests are almost inexhaustible. A sort of cotton tree was also found in considerable numbers, but not being certain of its produce being valuable, I have sent a sample to E^ngland for inspection. We likewise found the bastard nutmeg, and a species of pepper highly pungent and aromatic. The trepang has not been found here. The fish taken in the seine are mullet, a sort of bass, and what is most abundant is that which seamen call the 'Old-Wife.' Our supply of fish is very precarious, being sometimes a week without taking sufficient for everybody. At Port Essington, on the contrary, we always filled the seine at a haul. " The animals we have seen on this island are the kangaroo, the opossum, the native dog, the bandicoot, the kangaroo rat, and the flying squirrel. The birds are pheasants, quail, pigeons, parrots, curlews, a sort of snipe, and a species of moor-fowl. The venomous reptiles are few : some snakes have been found, which, from the flattened head and fang, were evidently poisonous ; centipedes, scorpions, and tarantulas are by no means numerous. The mosquito, as is usual in all new and tropical countries, is exceedingly active and troublesome ; and a sandfly not larger than a grain of sand is so extraordinarily venomous that scarcely anyone in the ship or expedition has escaped without bites from these insects, which have in many instances produced tedious and painful ulcers. Settled. — George Miller. 3y " Port Cockburn Is one of the finest harbours I ever saw, and is capable of containing ahnost an unlimited number of shipping of any draught of water, and is completely secured from every wind that blows. " On the loth of November, the defences of Fort Dundas being quite equal to an attack from much more formidable enemies than the natives of Melville Island, I determined to proceed in the further execution of the orders I had received from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. I gave charge of the settlement to Captain Maurice Barlow, and placed Lieutenant Williamson and his detachment, of Royal Marines under the command of that officer. " Weighed and dropped into the fair-way, and was saluted by fifteen guns from the garrison, which was returned from this ship. " On the nth and 12th employed getting ready for sea, and finally sailed from Port Cockburn on the 13th, the ship ' Countess of Harcourt ' in company : the latter for Mauritius and England : H.M.S. ' Tamar ' for India." I may here gratify myself at least by bearing witness, through documents of authority, to the value of an old friend in the public service, whose merits — at so great a distance from the seat of authority — were so tardily and scantily acknowledged ; and when acknowledged, were so shabbily waived. Smith, of London, had better friends there than George Miller, of New South Wales. Extract from " General Orders." " Head Quarters, Sydney, Tuesday, 17th August, 1824. " The following appointment in the Commissariat Department will take place from this date : — " Mr. George Miller, Commissariat Clerk (Treasury Appointment), is to take charge of the Government duties of the settlement about to be formed at the north-west coast of New Holland. " R. Snodgrass, Major of Brigade." " Commissariat Oflice, Sydney, New South Wales, " 30th November, 1825. " Independently of the above considerations I beg to recall their Lordships' attention to my letter of the 28th March last, No. 301, in which, without being apprised of their intentions, I had taken the opportunity to recommend that that gentleman (George Miller) should be promoted to the rank which their lordships rightly deem befitting the 38 Genesis of Queensland. office to which such a station is entrusted. The sentiments of approba- tion which I expressed upon the occasion have been strengthened by every account that has been received since ; and, if opportunity offered, would, I feel assured, be confirmed by the testimony of Captain Barlow, the Commandant. I respectfully request permission, therefore, to renew my former solicitations in Mr. Miller's favour, and to add that my confidence in his integrity still remains unshaken. " W. Wemyss, Deputy Commissary-General. " George Harrison, Esq., " Treasury Chambers, London." " Sydney, 13th October, 1828. " The Lieutenant-General is pleased to direct that Mr. George Miller, Treasury Clerk, shall proceed by the first opportunity to relieve Mr. Smith* in the charge of the Commissariat at Port Macquarie. " By command, " C. Sturt, Acting Major of Brigade." " Treasury Chambers, London, " 13th April, 1829. " Sir, — The Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury having had under consideration your letter, transmitting a memorial from Mr. Commissariat Clerk INIiller, praying for promotion, I am commanded to acquaint you that their lordships will bear in mind the testimonials which they have received of Mr. INIiller's services and good conduct, but that in the present state of this department they cannot comply with his request. " (Signed) C. J. Stewart. "Deputy Commissary-General Laidley, " New South Wales." In order to keep the doings on the north coast in sight, I must make a hop from 1824 to 1838. Captain Sir Gordon Bremer, in command of H.M.S. " Alligator," accompanied by Lieutenant Owen Stanley, in H.M.S. " Britomart," the latter having arrived in Port Jackson on the 15th July, 1838, had received instructions to make another effort to make a per- manent military dej)6t at Port Essington. The gratifying intel- ligence was hopefully discussed again in Sydney ; commercial prospects brightened. The names attached to the address presented to the com- mander of the " Alligator," on the 22nd of August, may ♦ Afterwards Sir John Smith, Commiisary-General-in-Chief, in London. Port Essingtun. — Sydney Hopes. 39 recall many a familiar face and pleasant acquaintance. Two only, perhaps, are yet amongst us. It was presented to Sir Gordon Bremer, on the quarterdeck of H.M.S. " Alligator." " To Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer, Captain R.N., K.C.B., C.B., &c. "We, the undersigned merchants and gentlemen, residing in this colony, take leave to congratulate you on your second visit to our shores, and to offer you our sincere good wishes for the success and prosperity of the new settlement at Port Essington, for the purpose of founding which you have been again selected by His Majesty's Government, and to express our admiration of the zeal and enterprise which have induced you, under many trying circumstances, to undertake this arduous adventure. " We need hardly assure you of the deep interest we naturally feel in the formation and progress of another dependency in this vast continent ; its welfare promoted by the auspices of our parent state, and supported by the industry and capital of Great Britain. " But we desire to convey to you more especially our hope that the settlement which you are about to re-establish may speedily emulate in prosperity this old appendage of the British Crown, and the conviction that she will also become a very important entrepot for the products of trade with the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. " That your health, and that of the officers and men under your command may be preserved through the trials always attendant upon the formation of a new settlement, and that you may be eventually rewarded by its complete and permanent success is the sincere wish of " Your obedient and faithful servants and friends, " Richard Jones, M.C. Robert Campbell, M.C. Alexander McLeay A. B. Spark H. H. Macarthur, M.C. John Jamison, M.C. P. de Mestre Wm. Walker and Co. J. Blaxland, M.C. W. Lithgow, M.C. Thomas McQuoid S. A. Donaldson Edward Aspinall Alexander Berry, M.C. John Campbell Lamb and Parbury Edwards and Hunter William C. Botts Samuel Ashmore G. L. P. Living R. Duke and Co. R. R. Mackenzie William Gibbes J. S. Ferriter J. Nicholson, Harbour Master John Lord and Co. A. Mossman Geo. Cooper, Col. Customs. Brown and Co. John Gilchrist A. B. Smith and Co. Willis, Sandeman and Co. R. Campbell, junr. and Co. Thomas Smith W. S. Deloitte and Co. W. Dawes 40 Genesis of Queensland. Kenworthy and Lord Thomas U. Ryder P. W. Flower Robert How John Tooth Ramsay and Young Betts Brothers George Weller Alexander Fotheringham Cooper and Holt J. T. Manning Geo. Miller Edye Manning Hughes and Hosking. " Sydney, August 22, 1838." In honor, it may be presumed, of the occasion, our old friend " Isabella" becomes wedded to the new settlement, and sails thereunto, in duty bound, as the " Essington," ahead of the squad of vessels belonging to the expedition, in September. The most interesting (being autographical) memorial of the second attempt at consolidating an establishment at Port Essington after the abandonment of its neighbours on the right hand and on the left that I have preserved is that contained in a letter from Sir Gordon Bremer to Governor Sir George Gipps. Port Essington itself was abandoned soon after it had done one good service to the country in sheltering and resuscitating Leichhardt and his band. As soon as New South Wales had obtained the gratification of her desire of years, its object was effaced. The interest which its name once so roused lies dormant: nursing, perhaps, but the occasion to fulfil the promise which Port Essington once held out, the future may yet have that occasion in store. "Victoria, Port Essington, March 17, 1839, " My dear Sir George, " You will doubtless wonder that you have been so long without accounts from me. Our communication by the 'Orontes" (the transport) on which I dwelt as a certainty, was cut off by the wreck of that ship on a reef some distance from the entrance of the harbour. As usual with these sort of craft, neither lead or lookout. The crew are still with me here. The master and his wife are departed for Coepang, en route to India. The ' Essington' schooner sails to-day for the Islands, thence to Coepang, and finally to Sydney, but as I have it in serious contempla- tion to visit you the moment the arrival of the 'Beagle" or any despatches will open my views a little, I forbear to send you any public letters. They must necessarily be voluminous, and I hope to be at Sydney in ten or twelve days after the schooner. 1 am anxious to confer with you on so many points connected with this valuable and important addition to our colonies, that I feel the necessity of personal communication. You may remember that I sailed on the 17th September; on the 20th October Cape York. — Port Essington Work. 41 Cape York was taken possession of and the Queen's colours hoisted. I had always supposed this to be a barren land ; I was therefore delighted to find a country actually beautiful. The summit of the Cape is about 500 feet high ; on the S.E. side the ascent is rough and vegetation has as usual been stunted by the constant winds, but looking down on the western, a plain about six or seven miles wide and extending far south, presented a scene which reminded me of some of the finest portions of India ; it seemed teeming with luxuriance. We landed in a beautiful bay alongside a natural pier, with three and four fathoms water — close to. The ship lay in nine fathoms about two miles off, but she might have approached ad libihcm. The Albany Islands seem adapted for cattle, having even then at the very end of the dry season abundance of grass and few trees ; this will ultimately be an admirable position for a settlement, in the direct route through the Straits close to New Guinea, and surrounded by a group of islands, which must possess valuable articles of export. On the 2 7lh I reached this place, and commenced our anxious search for that indispensable requisite — water. It was also important to fix on a position suitable as to approach from ships, and for landing our guns and stores. It was not, therefore, until the 3rd November that I had finished my inspection of the harbour and decided on this spot. It is a very pretty piece of land of considerable elevation. The north head, which I call Minto Head, is seventy-six feet above the sea, with a steep rocky point. On it I have placed a battery of four eighteen-pounder guns, two mortars, and a block house of twenty feet square with a pivot eighteen-pounder. The south head is fifty-five feet high, also unapproachable from the sea ; on it there are already four eighteen- pounders. These heads form the widest portion of a neck of land which gently falls towards the interior — the area w^hich is enclosed in it is just eighty-five acres. The soil all around us is as fine as can be imagined, indeed in many parts exceeditigly rich from the immense quantity of vege- table matter decomposed yearly. The trees in our immediate neighbour- hood are not large, and scarcely one is perfectly sound ; this I ascribe as much to the thick shade as to the effects of the white ants, which are in swarms, but we find that they diminish as w-e clear the ground. " It is astonishing to witness the rapid change which is daily dis- coverable. Our Hospital, store-room, my own house, and officers' quarters are finished and inhabited ; they form very pretty buildings. 1 have a pier extending to low water mark, 140 feet long; and it is really a surprising work. I have a dock-yard, with boat-houses, blacksmiths' shop, mast-house, and I am now getting on with a provision store. The marines have built as pretty cottages as an English village can shew; several of the officers have also their cottages, and in all I encourage the cultivation of garden ground — we have not yet derived much benefit from our public garden. I fear my botanist is too great a 4 2 Genesis of Queensland. gentleman (in his own opinion) to grow cabbages and pumpkins, but the latter are becoming abundant in the gardens of the men. By means of the ' f'ssington' we have been tolerably well supplied with fresh meat. I hope she will come up to us again. " Port Essington is certainly one of the finest pieces of water in the world. In the inner harbour the 'Alligator' lies in nineteen feet at the lowest spring tide within hail of the pier. About two miles ofT is the anchorage capable of containing fifty sail of the line in seven fathoms. " As regards fresh water, we have an abundance, and of delicious quality. I have four wells already in work, which supplied us amply before the rains, and are now overflowing ; there are several pretty streams within a mile or two, and the flats or meadows which almost surround us are now considerably flooded. They would produce rice in extreme abundance, while spices, cotton, and almost all tropical valuable articles, I am convinced, may be cultivated with success. The climate is certainly extraordinary; we have not had one case of actual sickness since we came here. The 'Britomart' has buried two men ; one of them was consumptive when he left England, and would have died ; the other went off in an apoplectic fit. The heat in the middle of the day is sometimes extreme, reaching 95 deg., but it is the least oppressive I have ever met with — it is a pure ethereal heat, while the nights and mornings are generally delicious. I write to you at half-past seven, the thermometer before me stands at 76 deg., while the last of the land wind brings its sweets from flowers, which at this season are beautiful. One large boat is constantly surveying. On her passage to Rafifles Bay to ascertain the condition of the old settlement, she entered the opening between Point S?)ii/h and the N.W. point of Rafifles Bay, which Captain King had not opportunity to examine. The lieutenant discovered that It is the entrance to one of the finest harbours in Australia, which has been admirably surveyed, and to which the ofilcers have been kind enough to give my name, calling it Port Bremer. The bottom and west side of this harbour is not more than three miles from Table Head, in Port Essington, the country between them excellent. The west side of Raffles Bay is also not more than two miles from the east side of the port, so that we are as it were a continuous chain of harbours. I have no doubt that good anchorage, if not a good harbour, is to be found in Trepang Bay. In short, the capabilities of this noble place are daily developing. "1 have just returned from a most interesting cruise in the ' Brito- mart,' having visited the islands Moa, Letti, and Kissa (I was twice at the latter). There was subject of infinite pleasure. I found the Dutch missionaries very excellent men, and apj-arcntly labouring with abundant zeal in the good cause ; they are, however, grievously neglected by the Island Missions. — Timor. 43 Dutch Government, having been upwards of two years without the shghtest communication, even with Coepang. It really was a distressing thing to witness the thankfulness with which these men — European gentlemen — received the slop shoes and stockings I supplied them with, together with wine, needles, thread, and, in short, every article of comfort I could discover they required. The population of Kissa is upwards of 7,000, 1,500 of whom are Christians. Letti contains 6,000, of whom 900 are Christians ; while Moa, the largest and most beautiful of the islands, has only 500 persons of our faith. Their churches are neat little edifices, reminding me of some of the very old places of worship in the north of England. " After leaving Kissa, I proceeded to Dilly, in Timor, where I was received by the Governor with every possible respect and attention. I was fortunate in this visit, as a vessel about to sail afforded me an opportunity of writing to Mr. Bonham at Singapore, requesting him to forward me during the N.W. monsoon all papers, letters, &c., by way of Dilly. I find the communication perfectly easy, and you will be surprised when I tell you that by means of the Singapore papers I had extracts from the London News of the 12th September, 1838, on my table here on the ist February, 1839 ; this is easily accounted for by the rapid flight of letters and papers from England to Bombay, and thence to Singapore. I receive from the Dutch residents most complimentary letters and offers of service, but from private information I am led to think they view us with extreme jealousy. " The desire for British calico goods, for brass wire, iron, and other hardware amongst the islands is astonishing. They have abundance of cattle, fruit, fowls, yams, &c., and some corn. I established a regular market. For our cotton handkerchiefs, value 6d., two fowls ; for four inches of brass wire, a good pumpkin or melon; for four yards of coarse calico, a pig, and so on ; but they have tortoise-shell, wax, and other valuable articles. I learned that a man saved from the schooner ' Stedcombe,' wrecked on Timor coast several years ago, was seen and spoken with in February, 1838. He told the person (who was the master of a small schooner) that two Dutch men-of-war brigs had visited the island ; that he had endeavoured to excite the compassion of the commanders, but they refused to listen to him although he repeatedly told them he was an Englishman. I have, in consequence, sent the ' Britomart' thither to reconnoitre the place, and have directed my first lieutenant who is in her to use his discretion in taking means to recover the man, and as the natives are very numerous and very fierce, not to hazard an attack. I will put them to rights in the ' Alligator,' if neces- sary. The 'Britomart' then proceeds to the Arra Islands, which have probably never been visited by English vessels, certainly not by ships of war, and I anticipate a most interesting account. 44 Genesis of Queensland. " One subject of high satisfaction to me is that we have never had even an angry word with the natives ; they are constantly about us in numbers, and are useful to us, bringing fish, grass, honey, and a sort of bean — their confidence in us is astonishing. " One of them went with me in the brig, and another is now in her on her present voyage. In conclusion, my dear Sir George, I cannot but congratulate you, and myself, on the complete and perfect success of my undertaking — this place cannot fail to become most valuable; in truth, I anticipate that in a few years it will be the Singapore of Australia. I look forward with great pleasure to the prospect of meeting you. I have an infinity of important matter to discuss with you. I only await the arrival of the ' Beagle,' or other vessel to determine me. " I hope that the middle of June will afford me an opportunity of repeating that, I am, " Dear Sir George, your Faithful Friend, " J. J. Gordon Bremer. " I forgot to mention that I had named my city-in-embryo: Victoria. I believe it to be the first Colony founded in Her Majesty's reign." Sir James John Gordon Bremer, K.C.B., created 1841 ; K.C. and Knight Bachelor, created 1836; married in 181 1 Mrs. C. Glasse, of Rochester; was made lieutenant in the navy in 1805 ; commander in 1807 ; in 181 2 captured the " Bon Genie," privateer; in 1 81 3 took an American letter of marque of 280 tons ; became post-captain in 1814; was appointed to the " Comus," 22 guns, in 1816, which was lost off Newfoundland in October of that year; to the " Tamar," 26 guns, was despatched to form a settlement on Melville Island; returned to England in 1827; was appointed to the " Alligator," 26 guns, on the East India station, in 1837. So closely is Owen Stanley associated in my first recollec- tions of Sydney with Port Essington, that I cannot keep his name apart from that of the settlement, of the prospects of which Sir Gordon Bremer makes so high an estimate in this letter. Owen Stanley had been promoted to the rank of commander on the 26th of March, 1839, and had aided, in the " Britomart/' in forming the new colony on which Sydney afterwards built such grand hopes. He was a son of the then Bishop of Norwich, born on the 13th June, 181 1 ; entered the Royal Naval College 5th August, 1824 ; embarked as volunteer in the " Druid " frigate, 8th January, 1826, and in the following March was midship- man on board the "Ganges," 84, then fitting for the flag of Owen Stanley. 45 Sir Robert Waller Otway, commander-in-chief in S. America, whence he was removed in December, 1829, to the "Tartar," 44. In January, 1830, he joined the "Adventure," sloop, Captain Philip Parker King, employed in surveying the Straits of Magellan. On his return to England the following November, he became mate to the " Belvidere," 42, and to the " Rainbow," 28 — Captains, the Honourable Richard Sanders Dundas and Sir John Franklin — both in the Mediterranean in 1831 ; then to the " Kent," 78 ; the " Procris," 10 ; the " Malabar," 74 ; and the " Mastiff," 6, in succession, all in the Mediterranean. In 1836, nth May, he was appointed to the "Terror," and on the 21st December, 1837, to the command of the " Britomart," in which he remained until the 27th April, 1843. In the interval, having aided at Port Essington, he made a track survey of the Arafura Sea, &c. He then became post-captain in 1844, on September 23rd, since when he commanded the surveying ship " Rattle- snake," in which he made many valuable additions to hydro- graphy, especially in the examination of Simon's Bay, the inner route through Torres Straits from Dunk Island to Bligh's Farewell ; his last work being the survey of the south-east coast of New Guinea and the Louisiade Archipelago. F.R.S., F.R.A.S.. Captain Stanley died at Sydney on the loth March, 1850. Before his coming into Port Jackson, he had heard at Cape York of a brother's death : on anchoring, of his father's. He was buried in the North Shore cemetery. While lying at Cape York in the preceding October, a watering party from the "Rattlesnake" brought off a white woman and some of a tribe who had come over from Prince of Wales Island to the mainland. Upon coming on board, she could scarcely make it understood that she wished to be rescued from the natives, as she had almost forgotten the English language. Her maiden name had been Barbara Crawford, daughter of a tinman, a Scotchman residing in Sydney, who had arrived in the "John Barry" as an immigrant: had married a man named Thompson at Moreton Bay, which she left with him and some other men in a small cutter called the "American " for Port Essington, where they wished to settle. They were cast away on Prince of Wales Island, and all but herself drowned. The natives had treated her very humanely for the five years she had been with them, but refused until now to allow her to communicate with any passing vessels. ^6 Genesis of Queensland. Having seen the "Rattlesnake" anchored at Cape York, she induced them to take her on board, saying she wished to shake hands with her countrymen. Captain Stanley rewarded the blacks liberally. From her much information was received as to the manners and customs of the islanders of Torres Straits. Port Essington had been discovered by Captain P. P. King, in the cutter " Mermaid" (84 tons, 56 ft. in length, beam 18 ft. 6 in.), on the 23rd of April, 1818, and so-named in honour of the " late Vice-Admiral Sir William Essington, K.C.B." " As a harbour," writes Captain King, in his narrative pub- lished in 1824, " Port Essington is equal, if not superior, to any I ever saw, and from its proximity to the Moluccas and New Guinea, and its being in the direct line of communication between Port Jackson and India, as well as from its com- manding situation with respect to the passage through Torres Straits, it must, at no very distant period, become a place of great trade, and of considerable importance." How little the pledges of success given by the reports made about the settlements on the Northern Coast of South Australian Territory have been redeemed, twenty-five years after the first stick had been cut and laid for Fort Dundas, on Melville Island, proved in a manner unpalatable to the promoters of the early schemes for extending trade. It remains for Port Darwin, which may claim to be one of the group, to bring about in due time the honour so long deferred to each flattering earnest. There is something to wonder at, and attract to the spot at which our Mercury takes his first sub-marine plunge upon our Australian errands. In sombre contrast with the gay colouring of Sir Gordon Bremer's descriptions do we find the shadows which had successively fallen upon each nest of dwelling-places, which spoke of the building, but from which the birds had flown, in the year 1847. On the 9th of November, Port Essington was declared by Captain Stanley — according to Macgillivray's Narrative — to be insalubrious ; to give no hope nor promise of improvement : men sick ; provisions bad and scanty ; the site of Victoria injudicious and unhealthy. The first step had been taken by Captain G. Bremer on the 20th September, 1824, in H.M.S. " Tamar," at Port Essington. For want of water he at once had gone on to Melville Island, and founded Fort Dundas, on the Apsley Strait. Four years afterwards — 31 March, 1829 — this had been deserted. Government still persisting in the Port Raffles. — All Abandoned, 47 desire to plant firm foot in these quarters, Captain Stirling, in H.M.S. "Success," had the gratification of finding a nook in the neighbourhood which seemed to be, and proved to be free from disadvantages which had as yet impeded the progress of the past speculations. This had been at Port Raffles, and was denoted by the erection of Fort Wellington — on i8th June, and when the kernel of this Colony had begun to mature into a really flourishing state of sound health, sudden orders — unexpected and unaccountable — had been received for its entire abandonment, which had been effected by the 29th August, 1829. Eight years afterwards Government had a fourth time resolved upon an establishment on the north coast with the twofold object of affording " shelter to crews wrecked in Torres Straits, and endeavouring to throw open to British enterprise the neighbouring islands of the Indian Archipelago." Thus had Captain Sir G. Bremer been again sent forth on the 27th October, 1837, ^^ re-form a settlement at Port Essington, whence he wrote the letter given already. Subsequently, the " Alligator " having left. Captain John Macarthur, with a subaltern and forty men of the Royal Marines, was left in charge. The "Britomart" remained several years as a tender to the military post, and was succeeded by H.M.S. " Royalist." In October, 1845, ^^^ remains of the original party, which had been there for seven years (including also a small detachment sent down from China), were relieved by a draft from England of two subalterns, an assistant surgeon, and fifty- two men of the Royal Marines ; Captain Macarthur still remaining in charge; ''and now" says Macgillivray, "after the settlement has been established for eleven years, they were not even able to keep themselves in fresh vegetables." And so Port Essington was finally abandoned on November 30, 1849, when all was removed to Sydney by H.M.S. " Mseander," commanded by Captain the Honourable H. Keppel. CHAPTER III. Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat ; Nor strong tower, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeons, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit. — Shakespeare. (Julius Caesar.) The year 1825 brought forth the triumphant cry, " Freedom of the Press." Hitherto there had been a mild censorship exercised by the Colonial Secretary ; such surveillance was abolished and the papers of the day were jubilant. And good reason there was for gladness over the harvest of the past year : the new Charter of Justice: the formation of a Legislative Council : trial by jury : the liberty of the press : a quadruple alliance beginning to equip itself for an onward march. The sinews of war were beginning to stiffen in the young life: capital was turned towards us substantially : the Australian Agricultural Company was girding itself for the work of development : a new era was dawning. The Gazette affirmed that " Posterity will do every justice to the year that is gone." On the 17th of March the vessel first mentioned as having been sent to Moreton Bay for the sole purpose of supplying it, returned in a leaky condition. Her name was the " Nancy." In the following May we have the Rev. Thomas Hobbes Scott on the scene, by the ship " Hercules," as our first Archdeacon, and holding his primary visitations in the Church of St. James on the gth of June. In the train of our civil enlargement follows the inevitable harlequin, Agitation. The unwonted summons, the novel scene of empanelling a jury for the first time, on the 12th of last February, to dispose of a case (such cases having hitherto been disposed of in a very summary manner), such as that of "The Kingz;. Robert Cooper," our great Australian distiller, in whose favour a verdict was recorded, may have been sensational enough to cause further fermentation. In August began the exciting claim for repre- sentative government: the question grew warmer as it proceeded through September into October. The Gazette shot out its leading articles with plenty of powder, and Governor Brisbane Major Lockyer. — Strain on Discipline. 49 had publicly avowed that the time was come when such rights should be bestowed. Van Dieman's Land also now came to the front: was declared independent on the 8th December. Lieut. - General Ralph Darling was sworn in as its first Governor, who then resigned the reins into the hands of Lieut. -Governor Arthur. But Moreton Bay had not been lost sight of in the turmoil of Sydney emotions. Major Lockyer, of the ' 57th Regiment (whose name, in the early days of Darling Downs, was a terror to the bullock drivers, in its adoption by the creek which stopped their way on the old road to Brisbane), had started off — for his shooting, maybe — on the ist of September, by that con- stantly requisitioned craft, the cutter " Mermaid," in company with one of our pilots. Gray, to explore the river Brisbane to its source. Lockyer's journal, attached to these memoranda, can best speak for itself. His conclusions are interesting. One extract will amuse nowadays : " I think it very probable that the large swamp into which the river at Bathnrst loses itself, occasionally overflows, and is the cause of the tremendous floods that at times take place in the Brisbane RiverT The first payment made for the new settlement at Moreton Bay by the Colonial Fund startles inquiry: "Paid, Oct. 6. 1825, P. Quigley for ^8 razors, 2X is. 2^d. each, 11 Spanish dollars 60 cents"! The establishment does not appear to have been guilty of extravagance. The monotonous routine of duty at the outlying penal settlements, at the beginning of the year 1826, had drawn attention to its evil influence upon the military detachments so stationed ; for on the 2nd of January a general order was issued which betrayed some cause of fear as to the result of the distasteful duty of watching and guarding prisoners. There existed, indeed, an apprehension lest soldiers so isolated, and cut off from so much of social relaxation, should become inoculated with the virus of the atmosphere which they breathed, in functions exacted by such unmilitary demand for loyal service. (See Appendix.) More stringent regulations were established also with respect to the Government vessels passing to and from the different settlements, as shown by the Government Order (appended) of February 13th, while another of the 21st in- structed commandants " at the several stations and settlements, 50 Genesis of Queensland. to keep a journal " of all proceedings of a public character. In March our old friend the " Amity " was busied in the convey- ance of the relief company of the 40th regiment, under Captain Bishop, by one of the 57th, and another batch of fourteen prisoners, and in the same month the name of a young Australian, one since so much esteemed in the annals of Queensland, and not long since snatched from her public life, will lighten up our recollections' of Maurice Charles O'Connell, the eldest son of Colonel O'Connell of the 73rd regiment, by his being gazetted as ensign in the same regiment, in his 15th year. His mother was the relict of Captain Patland, R.N., and daughter of our late Governor Bligh. Five and twenty years after the establishment of New South Wales, a road had been found through the hitherto impenetrable barrier of the Blue Mountains — the dividing range. It was afterwards pierced by two other routes preferable to the first, and the western country began to be a sensational subject of conversation and inquiry this year. Bathurst and Liverpool Plains ; the rivers Castlereagh and Peel opened large views of a probable future and profitable venture. Strange that the hankering after the eastern discharge for the whole water system thus being developed existed among our folks then, and continued to do so, until a precise knowledge of the sources of the river Brisbane so many years afterwards. There was the relic of the same adhesion to our sea-board, in the dragging away even of the Condamine to Wide Bay. There was evident hope in the moot question of this year — "Where do these streams go ?" for again and again we were promised that if " these waters should unite in the Brisbane river recently discovered to fall into Moreton Bay, Liverpool Plains and the country through which all these streams hold their course will become of the utmost importance to the wealth and prosperity of the colony." Notwithstanding Governor Brisbane's wish to withdraw the " banpenal," from Port Macquarie settlement three years ago, Governor Darling proclaimed it, with Moreton Bay and Norfolk Island, as a place to which offenders convicted in New South Wales " shall be sent," in August this year. (Appendix.) The record that the " country was indebted " to a black native for what was "ranked amongst the most valuable of our late colonial discoveries," in the laying open to our view and use Captain Logan. — Sir James Brisbane. 51 the fertile banks of the Macleay recently, was somewhat in contrast this year with the crimes imputed to those whose hunting-grounds we had usurped. In October, Captain Logan, commandant at Brisbane, had distinguished himself by adding another stream — to which he had given the name of " Darling" — to our coast waters in the southern nook of Moreton Bay ; a name, however, which has been in this case superseded by that of " Logan." To our commandants, at least, if in any way within the scope of their inclinations or energies, the interesting work of exploration must have presented an agreeable distraction from the monotony of life, whatever may have been the effects of such seclusion upon their subordinates on these outposts. Captain Logan was pre-eminent in pursuits which came to an unhappy end only with his career in the public service. On this, the third of his efforts in that district, he set forth in a boat, and came to the mouth of the stream in question about fifty miles south of that of the Brisbane, and ascended it until stopped by trees lying across the channel. It was described as " infinitely superior in point of soil and water to that of the Brisbane" — in these days we may think such comparisons "odious." Its "situation is immediately under Mt. Warning," and the conclusion was justified in Sydney that we need not " yet despair of some inlet into the interior being found out that will solve the mysteries of these Australian water-sheds," when the matter was reported. Hitherto, Stradbroke Island had been looked upon as part of the mainland, for we were suddenly told "that a passage for small vessels had been discovered between Mount (Point?) Danger and Amity Point which will in future prevent the necessity of rounding Amity Point, since the latter now proves only to be an island." The closing of the year 1826 was marked by the arrival of the first seventy-four that ever entered an Australian port, on the 19th of October: that of H.M.S. " Warspite," commanded by Sir James Brisbane, C.B., accompanied by Lady Brisbane and the two Misses Brisbane on their way from Trincomalee to South America. The mention of this occurrence cannot be impertinent to any group of events, in which interest in the name of Brisbane is prominent, especially when intensified by the following coincident announcement. * Evidently in allusion to the "boat passage" between the southernmost end of Stradbroke Island and the mainland. 52 Genesis of Queensland. " Colonial Secretary's Office, " December 19th, 1S26. " His Excellency the ( jovernor announces with feelings of unfeigned regret the death of Commodore Sir James Brisbane, which took place this morning at ten oclock. " This event, which has deprived his country of a most distinguished officer, and the Service and Society in which he lived of an example deserving of imitation, will be deeply and sincerely lamented. " His health had suffered from his exertions in conducting the Naval operations at Rangoon. When he arrived here his constitution was evidently in a state of great exhaustion, and he continued to decHne until the moment of his final dissolution. " The name of Sir James Brisbane will be associated with an event which forms an interesting epoch in the annals of this colony : the arrival of the first line of battle ship in the harbour of Port Jackson, anil will be handed down with it as a record to posterity. " His Excellency has been pleased to order that arrangements be immediately made for the funeral, which is to take place to-morrow afternoon, at five o'clock. "By His Excellency's command, " Alexander McLeay." In the procession were two hundred men of the Royal Marines, the 3rd Regiment of Foot, accompanied by the band of the 3rd and 57th Regiments. The Governor and Lieutenant Brisbane were chief mourners. The dilqmma as to the water-shed — say to the eastward of the meridian 135° — necessarily perplexing at that time, must be still interesting. At the end of this year it was thought by some that the river lately discovered by Captain Logan, fifty miles to the " southward of Moreton Bay," and immediately " under Mount Warning" designated the "Darling," was the same as that of which the late Mr. Uniacke speaks in Field's compiled work on this colony. Uniacke accompanied Oxley in a tour to Moreton Bay, and " it appears," said one report, " they fell in with a bay or river to the south of Moreton Bay, to which the name of ' Tweed' was given, but we cannot bring ourselves to believe that the 'Tweed' and the ' Darling' are one and the same, since Mr. Oxley would never have omitted to mention so pre-eminently valuable a discovery: for Mr. Uniacke does not pretend to give anything like the account that Captain Logan has furnished, neither is it advanced that they penetrated one hundred miles to discover the source Logan' s Walk. 53 of the ' Tweed.' We think that the ' Tweed' must either be a branch of the Darling River, or that the latter is entirely distinct from the 'Tweed,' and consequently a new discovery. We hope, however, that the present Government will not be long before they cause the solution of this mystery ; though, with our present information we are satisfied that Mr. Oxley never encountered the new river." The new year — 1827 — began with the sound intent to advance ! On its first day the first weekly came out as the first daily newspaper in these colonies : still, however, as the Sydney Gazette. Information had reached the Government lately that laxity of discipline had crept into the organization of the penal status of the country, which portended evil, perhaps alarming conse- quences. A "Government Order" [in Appendix], dated March 1 6th, is worth considering. June introduced Captain Logan again, not as a boating man but as a pedestrian : it seems unjust and improper to omit any portion of his own handwriting ; his sad fate consecrates his work. The following extract from his letter, addressed to the Colonial Secretary, Alexander McLeay, was dated July 25, 1827: "I proceeded up the Brisbane on the 7th of June — as will appear by my journal — with the view of heading the river lately discovered ;"' [named by him ' Darling,' now known as the ' Logan,'] " reaching Mount Warning, and from thence taking the most direct route to the Tweed. However, I found it impossible, notwithstanding every exertion, to get through the thick scrubs which cover the mountain in that direction. I was, in consequence, obliged to return to the settlement without accomplishing the object of my journey. However, I have much satisfaction in reporting that the country through which I travelled exceeded my most sanguine expectations and is everywhere exceedingly well watered ; and I have no doubt, whenever it may suit the views of Government to open it for settlers, it will be found the most desirable district for that purpose hitherto found in the colony. After the sailing of the ' Wellington,' I will take an opportunity of proceeding to the spot from whence I saw what I supposed to be the Tweed, and from thence endeavour to make a direct route. The distance did not seem to me to exceed fifty miles." Captain Logan's journal : "June 7. Left the settlement at four o'clock in the morning: proceeded up the Brisbane, and arrived at the Limestone flills on the left branch at ten o'clock at nig-ht : distance fiftv-seven miles. 54 Genesis of Queensland. " June 8. Sent the boat back to the settlement and proceeded overland : directed my course S.S.W. in the direction of Mount Dumaresq: the country very fine: black vegetable mould on a limestone bottom : the timber consisted of eucalyptus, viz., ironbark, blue gum, box, apple-tree, and a variety I have not hitherto seen. Men being very much fatigued halted for the night : distance thirteen miles. Resumed at eight next morning : country superior, for eight miles, to yesterday's : shot two beautiful parrots — a new species — not hitherto found in the colony : came to a large swamp, several miles in extent : skirted it for some miles and then crossed it : came again on the Brisbane" (Bremer.') "running N.E., crossed it, and proceeded up the left bank : approached Mount Dumaresq towards evening : the country now exceeded in beauty and fertility anything I had before seen : in the bed of the river I found small specimens of coal and crystal : distance twenty miles. "June lo. Commenced this day's journey at half-past eight o'clock : crossed a beautiful plain two miles in width, and about three in length, very lightly timbered, no preparation necessary for the plough- share : at half-past nine entered a thick scrub at the foot of Mount Dumaresq, which continues to the summit ; found several turkeys, and a remarkable large pigeon upwards of three pounds weight : gained the top of the mountain at three o'clock : had a grand and extensive prospect : the Limestone Hills bore N.N.E. I had traversed the valley of the Brisbane thirty-six miles, and it appeared about the same in breadth : I may safely rely that there is in this beautiful vale at least half a million of acres excellently watered, and fit for any purpose to which it may be applied. I could likewise distinctly see the windings of the 'Logan' through an extensive and beautiful country eastward from Mount Dumaresq, and only separated from the valley I had quitted by moderately elevated ground. In descending the mountain on the southern side, had to encounter a difficult scrub which I could not clear before sunset : luckily found water in a ravine, when I stopped for the night : distance this day, twelve miles. "June II. Resumed my descent through the scrub at eight o'clock : after much difficulty cleared it at ten o'clock : found a branch of the Logan at the base, running northward : the river here passed through a large swampy plain well adapted to graze cattle : saw a large fiock of emus, the first seen in the vicinity of Moreton Bay ; the course of the river making a detour to the west, left its bank, having changed my course to south, in the direction of Mount Shadforth, and after a few miles' walk recrossed the Logan, which flowed through a large plain ; the grass thereon being on fire obliged me again to cross the river ; proceeded uj) the left bank for some miles ; the mountains towering on each other on every side reminded me of a Pyrenoean valley ; at four o'clock killed a large kan- garoo, which was very acceptable lo the men ; distance twenty-five miles. River Logan. — Mount Warning. ^^ "June 12. Continued my route to the south; the river branched into several streams ; we were evidently near its source ; walked for some hours over a hilly country admirably adapted for grazing sheep ; came to a creek at the foot of Mount Shadforth, and shot an emu on the bank : ascended the mountain, which was the most fatiguing part of the journey : it unfortunately began to rain on my reaching the summit, accompanied by a thick fog which prevented me from having so extensive a prospect as I expected. I was surrounded by mountains on all sides, but I could not get a view of Mount Warning : to continue my route to the southward would have been very difficult and would have protracted the journey beyond the time intended. I therefore deter- mined to steer eastward, and gain the low country : descended the mountain to the eastward, and halted for the night in a natives' encampment : distance fifteen miles. "June 13. Continued my route eastward over a very difficult and mountainous country : at length perceived Mt. Warning, direct in my course : on approaching the base found the principal branch of the Logan : the stream was so rapid I had some difficulty in passing : encamped on the right bank, and immediately commenced to ascend in hope of reaching the summit, but could only gain a peak not more than half way to the top : all attempts appeared to be hopeless at the east and north sides, and it would have detained me two days longer to have made a detour to the westward, probably with as little chance of success. I therefore returned to the encampment with the intention of proceeding on my journey in the morning : distance fourteen miles. "June 14. Made another attempt to ascend the mountain on the north side : had a very extensive view : found Limestone Hills bore due north : recommenced my journey to the east : proceeded for some miles without much difficulty : crossed another river which washed the S.E. side of the mountain, and united with another a few miles below : crossed some beautiful valleys well watered with mountain streams : got into an extensive scrub, which prevented me making way to the east : towards evening made a detour to north to clear the scrub : and got into an open forest country before sunset : distance twenty miles. "June 15. Started at sunrise, proceeded east: passed through a fine hilly country covered with most luxuriant grass to the top of the hills : the soil principally a black vegetable mould : this part of the country is the best I have seen either for sheep or cattle, and is most abundantly watered, each valley possessing a most beautiful rivulet : passed several considerable streamswhich unite with the Logan : towards evening myroute eastward was completely terminated by mountains covered with pine scrubs to the summits : perceiving a stream running north, I determined to follow the course for a few miles, for the purpose of finding a more even way to cross the mountains to the sea coast : distance twenty-five miles. 56 Genesis of Queensland. ''June 16. Started N.E. over a hilly country somewhat inferior to yesterday, but well adapted to pasturage : distance fifteen miles. " June 17. Ascended a ridge of mountains : could see nothing but mountains to the eastward covered with pine scrubs : provisions were nearly exhausted and the men's shoes worn out : determined to steer northward and join the settlement : proceeded down the banks of a river through a rich tract of country : saw several kangaroos, but the dogs were so weak they could not run them down : fortunately before sunset killed one : stopped for the night : distance twenty miles. "June 18. Continued my route : passed through a rich valley : towards midday left the valley on my right: my route now lay over some rocky ridges : the worst country I have passed through : the men greatly fatigued : distance sixteen miles. "June 19. Continued north the first part of the day : country was very good : much improved in appearance to that traversed yesterday : towards noon it became swampy : at two o'clock arrived at the Logan, not fordable : stopped for the night : distance twenty miles. "June 20. Made several unsuccessful attempts to cross the river: moved up the bank about eight miles. "June 21. Proceeded up the river about two miles : crossed at a ledge of rocks : steered north for the settlement : timbered with finest oak : considerable number of swamps : distance twenty-two miles. "June 22. Recommenced my route for Brisbane Town for a few miles through a swampy country : towards midday arrived at Cooper's Plains, and crossed Canoe Creek : reached the Brisbane opposite the settlement at four o'clock." Following in the wake of worthy w^ork, Palmam qui meruit ferat does the following Government Order proclaim to the public on July i6th : — " His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to direct that the Island forming the southern boundary of the eastern channel into Moreton (Bay shall lie designated the " Isle of Stradbroke" in compliment to the Honourable J. H. Rous, commanding H. M. Ship ' Rainbow ' — the first ship of war which entered IMoreton Bay. " The point of land in the Isle of Stradbroke (which is intended as the site of a Public Establishment) [Quarantine] opposite to Peel's Island is named ' Dunwich : ' and the anchorage where the ' Rainbow ' lay, ' Rainbow Reach.' The channel between the Isle of Stradbroke and Moreton Island is named ' Rous Channel.' " 2nd. The Governor has been further pleased to name the river recently discovered at IMoreton Bay — immediately to the southward of the Brisbane — the ' Logan,' as a record of his Excellency's approbation of the zeal which Captain Logan, the commandant of Moreton Bay, has Coast Surveys — Captain P. King. 57 evinced in adding to the important discovery made by Mr. Oxley, the Surveyor-General, of the river Brisbane in the year 1823. "By His Excellency's Command, .. Alexander McLeay." No violence will be done to date-disciplined thoughts in taking up awhile a publication which appeared at this time, which tells of a coast survey by Captain Philip King, commenced so far back as 18 18, in that well-worn and worked cutter, the " Mermaid." The following is an outline : — " Captain Philip King — son of the late Governor King of N. S. Wales — sailed from Port Jackson in 18 18, with Mr. Cunningham, the botanist, and ' Boongaree '* the native who had accompanied Flinders. He touched at Twofold Bay and passed through Bass' Straits to King George's Sound, where he stayed some time ; and thence to North-west Cape, carefully surveying and laying down the coast the whole way. He then proceeded northwards to Rowley's Shoals, Goulburn Islands, and Raffles Bay, in which he met with a Malay fleet. At Port Essington he was attacked by the natives in Knocker's Bay, where, as well as on the most of the northern coast, they were found particularly hostile and troublesome. Having inspected Van Dieman's Gulf, Melville Island, Sir George Hope's Islands, and Alligator River, he crossed to Coepang in Timor, of which there is an interesting description. The inhabitants called the New Hollanders on the opposite coast 'Maregas ' from their treacherous and savage disposition towards them when fishing, for trespassing on their shores. After seven months' absence Captain King returned to Sydney with a valuable collection of plants, seeds, insects and minerals ; then made a trip of two months to Van Dieman's Land, and surveyed particularly the Derwent and Macquarie Harbour. The trees at Pine Cove are described as being well adapted to nautical purposes. "In May, 1819, he again sailed, accompanied by Lieutenant Oxley, in the brig 'Lady Nelson,' to survey the east coast. The 'Mermaid' then proceeded northward, discovering Rodd's Bay, visiting Percy Island, and entered Endeavour river. The natives at that place had shields in the shape of crescents made of the coral tree. The river soon becomes shallow, and is fresh nine miles from the mouth ; the banks are low and covered with mangroves. The track of the ' Investigator' through Torres Straits was then followed. Liverpool river on the north coast v/as discovered and examined. It forms a good port, and is four miles wide at the mouth, but decreasing to half a mile ten miles up. It swarms with fish, egrets, and white cockatoos. Alligators about twelve feet long are also very common. At Cape Londonderry they were again attacked by the natives, who were uniformly hostile. Touching at the Isle of Suva, the ' Mermaid ' then returned to Sydney. * Last chief of the Port Jackson blacks, buried at Rose Bay. 58 Genesis of Queensland. " The vessel was there put under water to destroy the myriads of rats and cockroaches ; but the eggs of the latter were speedily hatched on re-entering the tropics. The voyage in 1820 was nearly over the former ground. "In May, 182 1, the 'Mermaid' being found unseaworthy the ' Bathurst,' of 170 tons, was fitted out for a fourth voyage. Captain King sailed along the eastern and northern coasts. Several affrays occurred with the natives. At one place was found a remarkable cavern cut into regular galleries and ornamented with drawings in red ochre of various animals, clubs and plants. Prince Regent's River, on the north coast was explored. It contains a magnificent cascade, 150 feet high. Alligators and other fish were numerous, and a curious amphibious animal about nine inches long, called a mud-fish. It buries itself in an instant in the mud, and on land uses the pectoral fins as legs. At Hanover Bay, Mr. Montgomery, the surgeon, was severely wounded by the natives. The ' Bathurst ' then visited the Isle of France, and returned thence to King George's Sound. The natives there are peaceable, eat raw seal flesh, and wear cloaks of kangaroo skins. On the west coast optical delusions frequently occurred, representing land and trees where none existed. The vegetation of the islands on the coast was usually very different from that of the mainland. In May, 1822, Captain King returned to Sydney and sailed for England. The botanical collection is cultivated by Mr. Alton, at Kew Gardens, and a herbarium of five hundred specimens is in the hands of Mr. Lambert, the botanist. " Captain King is now surveying the southern coasts of America, and is to make an attempt to reach the South Pole, which from Captain Weddell's late discoveries, it is thought, may be done." The name of Thomas de la Condamine is too familiar to a Queenslander's ear to be passed by without saluting it, as one perpetuated by the waters of Darling Downs. His appointment this year as Clerk of the Executive and Legislative Council appeared with that of Henry Grattan Douglas, as Commissioner of the Court of Requests, in a Government Order dated the 8th September. The battle of Waterloo and all its glory had not died out yet, for on its anniversary — i8th June — the " Amity" expedition to Port Essington had taken possession of a bay* adjoining that place, and called it " Wellington" under a royal salute. The British flag had been hoisted and the spot dubbed a "fort." The "Mary Elizabeth" which, laden with agricultural implements had left Sydney with the practical means of making Port * Baffles Bay. Enniii. — Zeal. 59 Essington a tropical garden, had been seen struggling on for Torres Straits : and on Friday, October 5, in a service ever relieving, but never relieved from weariness and en?iici, Lieutenant Bainbridge went to Moreton Bay to release Lieutenant Innes, who then returned to Port Macquarie ; at the same time that the Rev. Charles P. N. Wilton, M.A., supplied refreshment to the studious inquirer, by his publication — of which he was also the author — of the Australian Quarterly Journal of Theology, Literature, and Science. October brought to light a token of the strength of the ruling passion, which makes Strafford's motto, " Thorough," that of all of the British birthright who will it : it was but a scrap of paper found in a cave about seventy miles from Bathurst in the western country. So much as the following was deciphered: "In this cave the undersigned poor individual retreated, in order to examine in hermitical retirement the botanical treasures dis- covered by him on the 23rd April, 1817: journeying to the western coast. Allan Cunningham, H. B. M's Botanist. 3 o'clock p.m. Therm. Fahr. 60 deg." CHAPTER IV. " SPICILEGIUM." Indirectly appealing to Queensland sympathy, the fate of the gallant La Perouse and his companions brought out of the dark for the first time by the persevering efforts of Captain Dillon, commanding the East India Co.'s ship " Research," fixed first attention to the incidents of this year. On January 2nd, 1828, Captain Dillon, accompanied by Count Cheneau, Consul to China from France, arrived in Sydney, having completed his mission under the auspices of the E. I. Company. [See Appendix.] The perpetual strain had now told upon our indefatigable Surveyor-General, the discoverer of the Brisbane, the founder of the first of Queensland settlements. On the 26th of February he obtained leave of absence in the hope of re-establishing health. Major Thomas Livingstone Mitchell was appointed as his " locum tenens ;" and on the 25th of May Oxley died, after a long illness, brought on by the pressure of public business. The appointment of his successor. Major Mitchell, was gazetted on the 26th. [Appendix.] William Johnson was hung in Sydney, in March, for the murder of Morris Morgan, at Moreton Bay, under sentence passed by Justice Dowling. A case of the old story ! The settlement's requirements seem to have kept the coasters in lively exercise, the names of "Lucy Ann," "Alligator," and " Isabella" frequently recurring. Port Raffles and Melville Island were at this time " as well as could be expected from the incessant heat of the weather;" at the two latter places the aborigines on the North Coast were as harassing in their attacks on the Malays as on the white strangers. On the 25th of July gas first shed light in Sydney, i.e. in the shop alone of Mr. Woods. Why a ship should go to the Isle of France via Moreton Bay, who can tell ? But so it was with the " Borodino," on the 29th of August, from Sydney. On the 5th September, Captain Rous and the "Rainbow" returned from a cruise to the northward, reporting the discovery of the Richmond in latitude 28 deg. 54 min..and the* Clarence in * Clarence entrance, 29° 26' south latitude, 153° 23' east longitude. Tweed entrance, 28° 9' south latitude, 153" 34' east longitude. Gallows in Favour. — A Better Instrument . 6r the latitude and longitude of Point Danrjer (a manifest error somewhere, as this is the position of the Tweed). He fell in with five runaway prisoners from Moreton Bay, in a state of nudity. Fraser, the colonial botanist, had also returned, speaking in raptures of country which he had visited south of the settlement of Moreton Bay. The 1 8th April, 1829, was the last day of the lives of two wretched men, hung for the murder of their mate at Moreton Bay. Their names were Thomas Matthews and Thomas Allen. The first knocked down John Carroll, of the same gang, while the last cleft his head asunder with his mattock. The old story told on the gallows ! It seemed that at this time the French Government had decided upon forming settlements on our west coast, and sent formal notice of their intent to the British Ministry. This intimation evidently quickened ministerial movements in an exceptional manner. Orders were instantly despatched to the Cape of Good Hope for the immediate departure of a man-of-war with a suitable complement of military, to " Swan" Port, and the Captain of H.M.S. " Success," who had already urged the advantages of that spot for settlement, was at length sent off to it with all possible speed. [Appendix.] . Again, this month figured under the hangman's hand. James Sullivan had killed his companion, Patrick McConderan, at Moreton Bay, that he might by this method " be himself freed from suffering worse than death." This was the old story. May 12th brought to our shores, by the " Princess Royal," Captain Sherwood, G. C. Stapylton on the staff of our surveyors, from London the 6th of January. Poor fellow ! afterwards murdered by the blacks near Brisbane. The revered name of the Rev. William Grant Broughton^'" on the 1 7th of September, emitted a gentle ray — the earnest of advancing day upon the scene of Australia's higher life. As successor to the Rev. Thomas Hobbes Scott, in him the Archidiaconal grew into Episcopal dignity. His speeches, when he threw his weight into the scale of political discussion, breathed through his whole course the benignity of his nature, and the truth of the charity which he exercised in thought, word, deed, and preached abroad. He was sworn in as a member of the Executive Council and took his seat on the 23rd, and probably from him came the pleading under which the * Born four months after this colony. 62 Genesis of Queensland. Governor did not think it extravagant to issue his proclamation of the third of the November following by which he acknow- ledged the propriety of affording an opportunity " to the inhabitants of publicly expressing their humble thankfulness to Almighty God" for the instance of His mercy referred to — [Appendix] in relief from a long distress of drought. Of the early explorers of the " North Countrie," none, perhaps, may fire the sympathies of early Queensland so truly with the spirit of " Auld Lang Syne," as he yclept Allan Cunningham.'^ In the footprints of Cunningham's perse- verance did that pastoral preux chevalier^ Patrick Leslie, win his spurs ; but for Leslie's lead, Leichhardt, in all probability, had been loth to lunge his longings and his life on the wide circuit of this unknown land ; and but for Leichhardt, his hearth and heart's loved dream, t this virgin "realm" had not so soon been led out of her captivity in "nothingness and night" by exploit of his knight-errantry and his squires to be enthroned Aphrodite of thisfoam-sprungTierra Austral. We are ever looking back inquiringly upon the queenly form roused from her wilder- ness sleep by Cunningham's hand and voice, and asking "how much owest tJioti under the sun to the memory of this man's loyal service and of his fellow rescuers"? Patient and plodding, now again we find him, on the 24th September, 1829, in our midst, back from the new north with lo triumphe ! on his every smile. " See these specimens ! dead, dried, and living : plants which that region only as yet can gladden us with : vegetation as yet unknown. With what delight will the herbarium at home nurse these ! I have paced again that paradise, pathless yet around that pen of punishment : that penal patch within which pity is but a poor phantom in rags, and pain soon palsies the prison pulses. More yet ! I have set at rest the fretting question which has so long addled our humours : I have seen enough to know that the grand labyrinth of Oxley's western waters shuns all defiling intercourse with this braggart stream of Brisbane which has so tantalised our fancies with the promise of its pretentious mouth." * Allan Cunningham. Was he not of Dumfrieshire? t Leichhardt told nne that he had come here to make a name for himself by success in his undertakings in Australia, that he might so be enabled to return to his native country and carry out his engagement to a lady to whom he was much attached. Dark Deeds. — Faint Rays. — Logan s Last. 63 Murders north and murders south ! In 1830, two more white savages on the 4th of February by the barque " Lucy Ann," from Moreton Bay, to be tried, and, of course, hung ; and in May the black savages in Van Dieman's Land to be punished wholesale, through the impressed service of their far-north fellow country- men ! The happy expedient had been hit upon by some merciful soul of sending " down a body of blacks, who, it is thought, ma\- be useful " as bloodhounds on the track of their distant kindred ; for which purpose we find that " a party of Moreton Bay natives are now in Sydney comfortably clothed in blankets, and pre- paring for their novel expedition/' Now, in the spirit of "advance," was the first suggestion of "overlanding," for it was gazetted that the "Government were about to drive a thousand head of cattle to Moreton Bay, for the purpose of supplying the settlement with fresh meat/' But it was never done. Port Macquarie lifted up her head with an open honest countenance on the 15th day of August. The word went forth that she should be no longer a prison house on the 30th of July. [Appendix]. Another edict had presented our young industries with the mother-land's indulgence of a reduction of the duty upon our kangaroo-skins' introduction into her exclusive nursery, from twenty to five per cent., as a new year's gift last year — 1829. Four years had Captain Logan's commandancy at Moreton Bay endured, and, on disait in October, that he w^ould return to head quarters by the very next craft. He certainly did return, but not until the Government schooner " Isabella " had arrived on the 23rd of November, bringing his dead body. In those four years his "bent" had been conspicuous in his exploring excursions by land and water. Before making way to a successof, he had wished his closing effort in the public service to be the completion of a map, in which should be embodied his own and all other results which had up to the time accrued in the examination of the surrounding district. And so, self-reliant and a stranger to all apprehension, he set forth on the gth of last month — October — to make his last conge to the river-god of the Brisbane. On that Saturday, accompanied by his servant Collison, of the 57th Regiment, and five prisoners, he set about his work, that of laying down correctly the windings of its course between the Pine-ridge, Lockyer's Creek, and Mount Brisbane ; examining the creek which struck out of the main channel at the foot of this mountain in a north-easterly direction ; 64 Genesis of Queensland. and thence returning by the " Pumice-stone " stream and the "Glass Houses" to the settlement. He took two pack-bullocks, together with their requirements. On Sunday they had travelled about fourteen miles; next day, when nearing the Pine Range, some two hundred blacks showed in hostile array upon a hill close to which they had to pass, rolled down large stones on them, without doing damage however, but used no spears. A shot fired by Collison over their heads kept them off awhile ; but they renewed their attack shortly afterwards. The bearing of the natives towards the party throughout was unusually threatening. On his return, and when close under Mt. Irwin, Captain Logan, still lingering in his investigations of the ground which he had now learnt so well, left the others, with instructions that they should camp in a place he spoke of, where he would rejoin them that evening. He was never seen again alive. "^ [See Appendix.] Too significant, it may be feared, of the excessive discipline practised hitherto in the control of prisoners at the penal settle- ments appointed for secondary punishment, was the issue of the Proclamation — to be found in the Appendix — which bears the date of October 26, 1830. The frequent executions for murder, the declarations, on more than one occasion, made by the wretched culprits before the fatal " drop," had stirred up men's minds to a general condemnation of the extreme system of punishment which was exposed by such reiterated " last words " on the gallows. There was a prevalent rumour in the North that the terrible occurrences which had marked Logan's end had been worked out by the blacks under the instigation of revengeful convicts, — possibly runaways dwelling among the very natives, who were ever greedy in their appetite for the white man's blood. De mortiiis nil 7iisi bomivi. Bowing to the principle, let the question sleep. Yet this proclamation cannot fail to be suggestive. [Appendix.] Following in the wake of past notable incidents, paddled out the " Surprise," the first steamboat launched in Australia, on the 31st of March, 1831, and made her first trip to Parramatta under the auspices of Wednesday, the ist day of June following. The 1 2th of July added another gross record of an execution : * From one of the reports appended it seems that the skeleton found in 1840 by Arthur Hodgson on his station of Etonvale could not have been that of Captain Logan's horse, as supposed when told of at Moreton Bay. "Happy'' Releases. 65 that of McMann's, convicted on the previous Thursday of an attempt "to murder a fellow-prisoner with a hoe at Moreton Bay with the avowed object of getting sent to Sydney ; then to forfeit his own life." April, just past, was noticeable through the issue of a Government order, dated the 16th, "prohibiting the abomin- able traffic with New Zealand for human heads!" On the 1 6th of May the steamer " Sophia Jane " arrived from England, under the command of Captain Biddulph, and accomplished her first trip to the Hunter on the 19th; and on the i6th of August another mess of misery stares us in the face, in the reception into Sydney Gaol of three runaways from Moreton Bay, " who had reached the vicinity of Port Macquarie, had been brought in and delivered over to Captain Smyth by the blacks of that settle- ment," escaped again thence, and reached Port Stephens, where they were seized and sent on here for disposal. Escaping from one gaol to be shut up in another, in spite of all the attendant risk in the way of spears and starvation, must have been but a sorry taste of freedom for a season. This year turned out upon the waters of the Williams river another steamer, built by Grose, of Parramatta, which was launched on Monday, 21st November, and proceeded to Sydney to take in her engines ; while our new and useful comer, the "Sophia Jane," received, pro forma, the first two tons of coal from the just completed " Agricultural Company's wharf at Newcastle, the first fruits of the new workings." The years 1832, 1833, and 1834 presented little body of sen- sational matter directly or indirectly from the northern district. Distinguishable from the bearing of the then present upon the future is the satisfaction of finding that in 1833 the "Isabella" took to Moreton Bay, for secondary punishment, no less than twenty of that class of convicts called " specials," a class which, having " moved once in their day in a more respectable sphere of society," deserved, it was very fairly said, " no distinction in treatment." Moral instruction — an advantage of which they had had the early teaching — had been scorned : habits of idleness, self-indulgence, and vice had left them no power to be useful even in the enforced labour of punishment ; much less in the desire of better things : while the other class had furnished many instances of returning to a desire of showing practically that it was "never too late to mend." So murmured justice. Some of the more energetic — it may be supposed — had 66 Genesis of Queensland. managed to escape in a Government boat early this year. The " Isabella " had searched in vain for them and the boat at Norfolk Island, and so came back again on July i8th ; but soon this fair craft told a tale of more prolific industry, for on the 27th of August she, under command of sturdy master Hanson^ with a hold full of cedar, treenails, and speci- mens of Moreton Bay wood ; her deck lively with some rank and file of the 1 7th Regiment, in whose charge [proh ! pudor) were three female prisoners of the Crown, were gladly hailed in Port Jackson. Some trades must have been flourishing, when on the 19th of August, 1834, were sold by auction at the Commis- sariat Stores, by Samuel Lyons, 8,000 bushels of maize, at from 3s. to 3s. 2d. a bushel, and 32,000 feet of cedar, in plank, at i^d. a foot, brought from Brisbane by the "Harriet:" while it was hoped that the departure of the revenue cutter, " Prince George," from Sydney on the i6th December, for the purpose of examining " Lord Howe's " Island, and reporting upon its eligibility for a penal settlement upon the Norfolk Island system, might be an indication of the abandonment of Moreton Bay, because of the facilities of escape thence, and the prevalence — so stated — " of ague, and other afflictions and diseases, to a fearful extent," at that place. Spring Rice (afterwards Lord Monteagle) had moved at home for leave to bring in a bill to establish criminal courts at Norfolk Island. The modesty of the following, which appeared in December of 1835, overpowered attention to any other memoranda which may entitle that year to our regard. The very perusal, even now, incenses. What an escape have we had from the closed fist of Major Benjamin Sullivan ! " To the Nobility and Gentry of the British Empire and its Colonies : " The distress that is year after year prevalent in Great Britain and Scotland, partly arising from the inability of employing fully at all seasons of the year its redundant population, requires the serious attention of the British public. A beautiful well-watered tract of country 'on its (New South Wales') eastern coast, extending from the counties of Macquarie and Cambridge to the tropic of Capricorn, particularly claims the notice of Britons for emigrating to ; possessing every earthly requisite to induce man to occupy it ; its soil being excellent, with numerous fine rivers running through it and covered with timber extremely valuable for ship and house building and for cabinet work ; its degrees of latitude correspond with those of the northern. Sulliva7i' s Sale. 67 allowing five degrees for the difference of cold in the temperature between the two hemispheres, within which, in the northern the best wine countries are to be met with ; it may therefore be presumed thai it would be adapted for the vine, tobacco, the sugar-cane, coffee, European and New Zealand flax, European hemp and the mulberry — otherwise the silk-worm tree — besides the cultivation of various fruits and grains, and the grazing of sheep and cattle : it abounds with minerals, precious stones, and pearls, lime, coal, iron, and copper ; it is admirably situated for pursuing to any extent the whale fishery; and it possesses a surface, taken from its sea coast to the 150th degree of east longitude, of upwards of 20,000,000 acres ! " Private emigrants, however (particularly the poorer classes), cannot attempt to turn such a vast extent of territory into profit, for in endeavouring to do it many would infallibly be ruined, while those who might be fortunate enough to succeed in overcoming that danger, would find that many years would be required to bring it into public estimation and importance. "Nevertheless, a joint stock company might undertake to do what private individuals, however persevering, could not; that is, to bring into a state of cultivation and of colonization the aforementioned tract of country ; if such were to be formed on a plan that would not only effectually ensure to the British Crown all due obedience, authority, and patronage, but also would give to its proprietors ample remuneration for the risk, the zeal, and the perseverance that would necessarily be required of them in effecting it. " Upon that basis, the undersigned has drawn up the following prospectus for the formation of such a company, which he humbly submits to your notice and patronage. " The undersigned, with all due deference, has the honour to subscribe himself. " Your most obedient, humble servant, " (Signed) " Benjamin Sullivan. " Port Macquarie, County INIacquarie, "New South Wales, December i, 1832. " Prospectus. " I. It is proposed that a Joint Stock Company shall be formed, to be called the 'Eastern Australian Company,' with a capital of one million pounds sterling, to be raised by twenty thousand shares of fifty pounds each, and paid in five instalments. " 2. That the said Company shall petition the Crown to grant to it all the territory from 24 deg. to 31 deg. 10 min. south latitude, and from the eastern sea coast of Australia, including its adjacent isles, to 150 deg. 68 Genesis of Queensland. east longitude ; or from that coast as far westward as the dividing mountain ranges will permit, free from all reserves and rights on the part of the Crown, save that of the right of erecting such military and naval buildings as may from time to time be found necessary for the protection of such territory, and for the honour and dignity of the Crown." Here follow thirty-three sections of this prospectus. Then in all naivete: " to the foregoing prospectus some explanations may be considered as necessary." For a description of the territory that it was proposed to petition the Crown to grant to such a Company, the projector refers the reader to Went- worth's "Australia," vol. II.; to Barron Field's "Australia"; to King's " Australia," vols. I and II ; to Cunningham's " New South Wales," vols. I and II. ; and to the annexed statement made before himself as Resident Magistrate at Port Macquarie by runaway prisoners of the Crown from the penal settle- ment at Moreton Bay, and by the chief constable at that place. " The place where it would be advisable for such a Company to commence operations from should be Brisbane Town, on the Brisbane River, which empties itself into Moreton Bay, where the Crown possesses at present several buildings of brick and stone, as also cattle, all of which would be required by the Company ; therefore it is recommended by the sixth clause that land should be purchased at a fair and reasonable valuation from the Crown, at three years' credit. " According to the existing regulations His IMajesty has directed that none of his Crown lands shall be given away, but that such should be sold ; and that in New South Wales such sale shall not be under the minimum price of five shillings per acre, for the purpose of establishing a fund to assist individuals of Great Britain and Ireland in emigrating to it. "Such a Company as the one proposed cannot expect to have land granted to it by the Crown, but by purcha.se : nevertheless it may be presumed that His Majesty would be favourably disposed towards such a Company — -and that he would therefore be induced to command that the proposed lands should be allowed to be purchased by such a Company, at the aforesaid fixed valuation, in the course of fifty years, by annual instalments." The gallant Major then unburdens himself "to the free inhabitants of New South Wales." It appears to have taken him twenty months to digest the chagrin of his rejected address. SiL lliva 11 "Sold." 69 " To the Free Inhabitants of New South Wales. "Port Macquarie, 20th August, 1836. " Gentlemen, "In the latter end of 1832, I undertook the laborious task of drawing up a systematic plan for colonising the different parts of this immense island without imposing any additional burthen upon His INIajesty's Home Government; and proposed therein that the experiment should be tried by an Incorporated Joint Stock Agricultural, Commercial, and Political Company, on the eastern coast, that is from 31 deg. lomin. to 23 deg. 30 min. south latitude. " That plan, from several unforeseen circumstances, I was prevented from transmitting to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies till the month of September, 1833. "In December, 1834, I was honoured with an answer from Mr. Spring Rice, through Mr. Lefevre, the Under-Secretary of State, dated the previous month of July, stating that ' His Majesty's Govern- ment having no intention of forming any settlement in that quarter, Mr. Spring Rice regrets that he is thus precluded from entertaining any project of the nature of that which you have submitted ; and that he is the more concerned in being obliged to come to such a decision, from the care and attention which you have bestowed upon the subject. " I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, " Your most obedient humble Servant, " (Signed) Benj. Sullivan." What a squeak for Queensland ! CHAPTER V Hear a little further And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon us : without the which, this story Were most impertinent. — Shakespeare. (Tempest.) There is a complexity in the term "squat" which, in justice to squatters in the present days, should be accounted for : these take their seats among the elite of Australia without a glance back at their inheritance of the designation, with more heed than the fashionable of Sydney or Brisbane would care to take upon the Egyptian cradle from which their exodus was rocked. How shocking to the modern squatter to read in a record of March, 1836, that a petition was going round the districts of the colony praying the legislature of the day to pass an act "for the prevention of ' squatting,' through which so much crime was daily occurring, inasmuch as squatting was but another term for sly grog-selling, receiving stolen property, and harbouring bushrangers and assigned servants !" The Venerable the Archdeacon had returned on the 2nd of June from London, by the good ship " Camden" — Captain Ryan — having set sail thence on the 22nd February last, as the Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Australia, accompanied by his family. The See of Madras, which had hitherto enfolded Australia, had no belt sufficient for the girth of so fast-growing a member of its flock. The "Camden's" passage was exceptionally fast for fifty years ago. On the Sunday following the ceremony of installation took place at St. James' Church, and a new era for our church set in. Followed by another change in public office, we are told in August that " Mr. E. Deas-Thomson had received the appoint- ment of Colonial Secretary and Registrar of Records in the room of Mr. McLeay, who retired from public life. If his pension," the notice acrimoniously went on to say, " is to retire with him, let the Whig ministers pay it out of their own pockets by all means, and welcome ! but to Mr. John Blaxland's we join our heartiest protest against such a conversion of the public money, if it be proposed to saddle the revenue of this future colony with such an encumbrance as a retiring pension to Mr. McLeay. Were Mr. McLeay's gains for the last ten years From Frying Pan to Fire. ji but one quarter as enormous as they have been, we think he might gladly retire without asking or seeking for anything more." Deas-Thomson's appointment appeared in the London Gazette, and bears date 24th March last. Just one year after E. Deas-Thomson's appointment, i.e. in August, 1837, w^s a memorandum that the "' James Watt,' steamship, Captain Parsons, had sailed for Moreton Bay on account of the Colonial Government,'^ which became strangely hooked on in tow of the news of a double shipwreck, which was freighted with interest enough to catch the eye. A schooner called "Active" had been wrecked on the 2nd of July last year, on a reef among the " Feejee" or " Viti" group. Her crew and Captain Dixon had with difficulty reached one of the islands, on which two missionaries — Cross and Cargill — received them with all kindness. After a while some grew impatient ; seized a boat with the purpose of reaching some vessels which the natives had spoken of as trading for beche-de-mer ; had been seen by the savages of an island which they had passed, who put off and killed them all. Then, three more of the crew joined some Tongaese in a large canoe in hopes of reaching Vavoa, one of the Friendly group. About the 9th of September, those who remained received a note from W. Stutchens, master of the brig " Elizabeth" of Sydney, to the effect that he was lying at Eboona, under a hundred miles away : had heard of their position, and of the murder : but that in the teeth of such winds as had set in he could not go to their help. Then came a message by a small craft called the " Pearl," tender to an American ship, the "Eliza," from her commander, Captain Wynn, which offered them all his vessel as a home as long as she remained among the islands, and a passage to Rotumah or Manila when he left. And the " Actives," captain, mate, and supercargo (J. P. Wilkie) were landed on the island of Rotumah on the 7th November, and on the nth of this year, 1837, ^'^^ whaling ship " Duke of York" — master, Robert Morgan — called there, took them on board in most cordial fashion, and went swimmingly until the 14th of August, when the " Duke of York" followed the bad example of the " Active" in getting wrecked, and the compliment of her indwellers, thirty-two all told, took to their whale boats, three in number, and on the 26th reached Moreton Bay in company, where they were agreeably surprised by finding the "James Watt" ready to start for Sydney. Before 72 Genesis of Queensland. reaching Moreton Bay they had on one occasion, when procuring water, lost two men, murdered by the blacks. The "James Watt" returned to Sydney on the 29th inst., bringing J. P. Wilkie of the " Active," Captain Morgan, nineteen of the crew of the " Duke of York," and Captain Jackson, R.N., from Moreton Bay. On Saturday, the 23rd of September, the "Foster Fyans" brought up the remainder of the crew of the " Duke of York" and the "Active" left behind at the settlement. In justice to the memory of Dr. Lang, I am glad to have an opportunity of reproducing from the beginning of 1838 the record of an event which makes its better mark on Moreton Bay history, as the first practical effort towards applying the use of that young settlement to a brighter purpose, and guiding its way out of dark and dismal traditions towards one of bounden national humanity, duty and justice. The "Minerva,'' from Greenock, the 13th of August last, arrived on Thursday, 25th January, 1838, with 235 emigrants, but in consequence of typhus fever, were placed in quarantine. They had been " selected by the Rev. Dr. Lang during his recent visit to the mother country, and had come out under the care of the doctor's brother-in-law. Captain McAusland. Among the passengers were thirteen German clerics with their families, come out to establish a mission to the aborigines, northward of this colony, under the superintendence of the Synod of New South Wale.s. Two were ordained clergymen, and the remainder, who came in the capacity of catechists, had also been instructed in various mechanical arts, with a view to the communication of the arts of civilised life to the aborigines, in conjunction with Christian knowledge. Hitherto the cabin passengers had been free from disease, the fever having confined its ravages entirely to the 'tween decks. Orders had been issued by the Executive Government for the immediate landing of the emigrants, and for the occupation of the buildings recently erected at the Quarantine Station, Spring Cove — then called the " Lazaretto." On the 20th March, the " Isabella " took to Moreton Bay the Rev. Christopher Eipper and fourteen of the Germans. The Rev. Mr. Schmidt and the remaining missionaries were to follow bv the next o]j]M)rtunity. Messrs. Schmidt and Eipper Mission. no had been admitted as members of the Synod of New South Wales, and would as soon as practicable form themselves into a limb in connection therewith, to be called the " Presbytery of Moreton Bay." Again in May, the same craft brought back most gratifying intelligence. They had met with the kindest reception from Major Cotton, the commandant of the settle- ment, who had shown a disposition to forward their views to the utmost of his power. It was proposed to select a site for their establishment, a short distance from the settlement, but sufficiently near for protection by the military. The aborigines of the northward seemed to differ in character and disposition from those of the south — ''they expressed themselves highly gratified (!) on learning the purport of the missionaries' visit to the settle- ment." The merits of Dr. Lang's beneficent work for Moreton Bay came to light prominently on the 2'nd day of the opening year; 1839. A meeting was held in the School of Arts, in Sydney, in aid of this mission : Roemer in the chair. Dr. Lang had in 1836, made application to the local Government for assistance towards establishing German Presbyterians at Moreton Bay, but met with no favourable reply. Subsequently two more appeals were made, and at length the Government promised a sum equal to what might be raised by private subscriptions for the purpose. When Dr. Lang went home, he visited Germany, and arranged at Berlin for the selection of twenty persons, clergy and laity, who consented to join the undertaking. They had sailed from Greenock under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Schmidt, and, as already shown, had arrived just a year ago, proceeded to the settlement, and been principally engaged ever since in building their dwellings, &c. The full amount of £^i'] contributed and granted had been slightly exceeded by the disbursements. Financial considerations in February much exercised the patience of the Governor — Sir George Gipps — and his Council. There was an extraordinary session for the purpose of " adopting measures for the tranquillity of the districts beyond the limits of location," when Major-General Sir Maurice O'Connell and Captain King were sworn in as members, and took their seats. 74 Genesis of Queensland. His Excellency read the following speech : — " Gentlemen, — I have called you together at this unusual season of the year, in order to propose to you a measure for the establishment of a police force beyond the settled districts of the colony. '' The vast interests which have grown up in those distant parts of the territor}-, and the number of persons of all classes now engaged in depasturing sheep and cattle beyond what are called the boundaries of location, might be sufficient of themselves to call for the protection of a police force ; but the necessity for it is rendered far more urgent by the frequent aggressions made of late by the aboriginal natives upon the flocks and herds of the colonists, as well as on the lives of their stockmen ; by the outrages which have been committed upon the aborigines, as well as by them, and particularly by one atrocious deed of blood, for which seven men have suffered on the scaffold. " The bill which I shall lay before you purposes to accomplish this object, by giving to the Crown Land Commissioners, who already perform certain functions in these districts, far more important powers than they now possess ; and by providing that each Commissioner shall be accompanied by a moving police force, sufficient to repress the predatory attacks of the natives, and to keep order amongst all classes. " As it appears to me perfectly just that the persons who are protected by this force should bear the expense of it, the bill provides for that object by means of an assessment on cattle and other stock. " In proposing, however, a new tax upon any portion of the people of this colony, it is not sufficient, I think, to show that it falls upon persons who may properly bear it : it is necessary to prove that the tax itself cannot be dispensed with. Without, therefore, entering into an elaborate statement of finance, which at the present season of the year would be premature, I will request the attention of the Council to a few facts tending to show that it would be highly unwise in the present state of our finances to incur any new expenses without providing at the same time the means to defray them. The total revenue of the year 1838 (exclusive of Crown lands) was ^^202, 960 7s. 5d., being jC26,7^g 12s. yd. less than it was estimated at by Sir Richard Bourke. The total expenditure of the same year — 1838 — (exclusive of immigration) cannot yet be exactly ascertained, but it may be taken at about ^295,000, being an excess over the revenue of ^^92,000. The excess of expenditure over income of the present year must be taken, I am sorry to say, at a still higher sum. In the financial minute which I laid before the Council on the 7th of August last, it was estimated at ^^100,798 6s. 4cl. Since that time, however, new charges have arisen which have to be provided for, and the increased price of jjrovisions of every description has caused all our contracts to be made at a higher rate than that which is set down in the estimates ; the excess of expenditure over income for the year 1839, Brisbane Breaking-up. — Crown Lands Police. 75 will, therefore, I now apprehend, be much greater than what I considered probable August last." His Excellency having finished, made a few remarks on the nature of the bill which he then presented to Council. He said, " it would be remembered that in the last Session, only a few months since, a bill had been passed to restrain the occupation of Crown lands ; but the opinion given by two of the judges had rendered some slight alterations necessary. The bill was then read a first time. On the gth of the month following — March — the bill came on again before the Council, and clauses postponed at a previous sitting raised long discussion, in the course of which the Governor suggested the probability of both increasing the assessment and raising the price of licenses at a future time, as the bill afforded so many facilities to " squatters" over the old colonists. The "Squatting Bill " — to which the title given was "an Act further to restrain the unauthorised occupation of Crown lands, and to find means to defray the expenses of a Border Police" was read a third time, and passed on the 26th March. Blacks and whites seem to have sickened Government of their northernmost settlement by this time. No Patrick Leslie had yet made his anabasis to Darling Downs. No squatter had yet invaded the gaol-yard precincts of the Brisbane command- ancy. Yet on disait in April that the establishment there would be shortly broken up. The Government, indeed, had taken up the steamer " Sophia Jane" to proceed to it and bring back the whole of the government machinery, with the exception of the commissariat officer, the assistant-surgeon, and the subaltern. So back came she on the 21st May with the Commandant, Major Cotton, and his family, Lieutenant Aitken of the 28th Regiment, Mr. Parker, superintendent of stock, Messrs. White, Spicer, Sheridan, Hallan, and Mr. and Mrs. Cox with four children, fifty-seven female and nineteen male prisoners, twenty- three soldiers, &c. " Commissioners of Crown Lands" became gentlemen of mark when the new act, in force on the ist of June, entitled the following cavaliers to have two stalwart policemen armed cap-a-pie en poursiiivant at a respectful distance: of such — the quality of the bush — the Government Gazette on that day enumerated the respected names: for Port Macquarie, Henry Oakes: 76 Genesis of Queensland. New England, J. G. Macdonald : Liverpool Plains, Mayne : Hligh, Hunter : Wellington, L. V. Dulhunty : Lachlan, H. Cosby : Murrumbidgee, H. Bingham : Maneroo, J. Lambie : Port Phillip, H. F. Gisborne ; but their gentlemen-at-arms had not been yet fully equipped. And at length the ever misleading perplexity of one nairie's " double-dub " — so common in the colony — is for the future obviated by an act of common sense and convenience ; for the last gracious word of Sir George Gipps in December was issued in the Government Gazette of the 7th, directing that " in order to avoid confusion, the river entering Shoal Bay in latitude t29 deg. 26 min. S., commonly called the ' Big River' (a popular description in the bush of many a water course), shall for the future be called the Clarence." CHAPTER VI. Yes, truly, if Nature is one, and a living indivisible whole, much more is Mankind, the image that reflects and creates Nature, without which Nature were not. — Carlyle. (Sartor Resartus.) Drawing near to the hour when Hfe was to spring into the light which the following — till now unpublished journal — had already shed upon one of the fairest features of our present Queensland, its introduction at this spot becomes, I think, due to the able and excellent man who so long laboured among the early colonists as His Britannic Majesty's Botanist, whose loving service to Nature, Nature reflects upon his work, and illustrates while he teaches. With Allan Cunningham came our earliest knowledge of our " Faerie Queene," embowered in the land of the North. "A report of observations made during the progress of a late tour, on the face of the country, lying between Liverpool Plains and the shores of Moreton Bay, in New South Wales ; compre- hending a portion of the interior within the parallels of 28 deg. and 32 deg. south, for the most part previously unexplored by Allan Cunningham, to whom the direction of a late expedition of discovery, under the immediate sanction and patronage of his Excellency the Governor, was intrusted. "29/5386. — 8th July, 1829. — Register. "November, 1827. "Introductory Remarks. "We are living in a land, the physical constitution of which differs strangely from every other portion of our globe •* with a superficial extent that has been estimated at more than three- fourths of that of Europe, yet furnishes (as far as a minute examination of its various shores has been effected) no river by which a knowledge of the capabilities of a distant interior might be acquired, or the produce of its soil wafted to its coasts. * Captain de Freycinet, in assigning proportions to the principal divisions of the globe, estimates the surface of Europe at 501,875 square French leagues, and that of Australia at 384,375, which is to Asia and America as 3 are to 7, or about one-fourth of the superficial extent of Africa. Voy. aux. Terres Australis, p. 107. yg Genesis of Queensland. " Admitting the non-existence of rivers in so vast a country of distant internal origin, or of magnitude approaching those noble streams, which, rising in the more elevated regions of the Andes, are disembogued on the shores of the American continent, we are naturally led to the belief that no lofty ranges of mountains traverse the central regions of this ' great southland,' either in the direction of the meridian, or transversely in that of the parallel, but the rather, that large portions of our intertropical interior will one day be discovered to be of low depressed surface, subject in part, in seasons of much rain, to extensive inundation. Indeed, it has been remarked by travellers that, so far as their observations have extended, the high lands of this continent are, on or at no great distance from its shores, and navigators inform us that the more elevated ranges occupy its eastern coast, which in several parallels they immediately invest, and throughout a span of five hundred miles within the tropical circle, are of primitive structure.^ "Fourteen years have elapsed since those enterprising travellers, Messrs. Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth, upon surmounting the many obstacles that lay in the way of internal discovery in their day, passed that formidable barrier, our Blue Mountain Ranges, and at once laid open an extensive western country, not only to the persevering industry of the husbandman and grazier, but to the no less laudable research of the zealous naturalist. "Almost immediately subsequent to that epoch in the annals of our colony, expeditions were despatched to explore rivers, then of recent discovery, in which Mr. Oxley, our able Surveyor- General, to whom their direction was intrusted, was engaged in 1817 and succeeding years; but the results of these journies having tended in no small degree to check that spirit of internal geographical inquiry, which had at those periods manifested itself, no tour of any magnitude, with the view towards the acquirement of a further knowledge of our interior has, since those days to the present year, been undertaken, if we except the laborious excursion of Messrs. J. Hovell and Hume from the country of Argyle, across a portion of our southern interior, to the shores of Port Philip. Of the relation of that long journey, * King's Voyage 2, p. 570. Starting in Quest. jg however, although it was performed three years since, we have yet to learn the details. These, when published, will doubtless prove highly interesting, not only to the colonist, but to every well wisher of the country, since it has been affirmed that those travellers, in the progress of their expedition, passed through an undefined extent of beautiful country, the richest that had been discovered at that period, " the finest in point of soil, and incomparably the most English-like in point of climate." "Inheriting, as we have for many years, the shores of so vast a country, when Nature's operations in her animal and vegetable products, more especially from so many striking peculiarities, inducing, not merely to create our surprise, but sufficient to keep perpetually alive within us a laudable inquiring curiosity, it is singular that at this advanced age of the colony, we should be found in possession of so little well-founded information in respect to the construction of our distant interior, since, in our limited range of inquiry, although the surface of the country has been found in parts made up of brushy waste, or noisome swamp we have, nevertheless, been abundantly encouraged to advance on meeting with the verdant glade amid the desert — been gladdened at length to discover, beyond the confines of regions scarcely tenantable by men, extensive tracts of rich pasture land, possessing all the physical conditions requisite for the well-being of civilized society. "Proposed Journey through the Country lying INTERJACENT TO LIVERPOOL PLAINS AND MORETON BaY. "To add to the scanty knowledge we have already acquired of our interior, I had the honor to address myself to his Excellency Lieutenant-General Darling on the subject in February last. "In my communications to the Governor at that period I respectfully submitted, that as little perhaps remained to be done in the way of geographical research in the country bearing S.W. from Lake George, it having been penetrated to the sea on our south coast by Messrs. Hovell and Hume, I felt rather desirous of explaining a portion of the unknown region lying north from the latitude of 31 deg., to which parallel the country had been seen by Mr. Oxley so far back as the year 18 18. "With these views, I had the honor to submit for his Excellency's consideration and approval, the following proposed 8o Genesis of Queensland. plan of a journey I had long since had in contemplation : To proceed, in the first instance, by the most direct and eligible route from the colony to Peel's River, in the country on the north-eastern skirts of Liverpool Plains, and situate between the meridian of 150 deg. and 151 deg. in or about the parallel of 31 deg. S. Thence I proposed to penetrate north, in a line west of the meridian of 151 deg. towards the shores of Moreton Bay, in the parallel of 27 deg., with the view of ascertaining the general features of the interjacent country ; the character of its vegetation, the nature of its soil, and the number, magnitude, and direction of the streams, by which it was reasonable to conclude a region comprehending more than three degrees of latitude is doubtless watered. I further respectfully submitted that should the condition of my horses, the state of my provisions, and other circumstances justify it, upon my reaching the northern point to which I might be enabled to penetrate, my intention was, ere my return home, to occupy a portion of the time in an excursion direct into the interior, with the expec- tation of being able to gather a few facts in respect to the presumed magnitude of those great marshes into which ('tis said) all our western waters flow, to the eastern margin of which (in 30^ deg. south latitude) Mr. Oxley had descended in 1818. Should, however, the circumstances of my expedition not permit of this digression to the westward from that advanced step of my journey, I finally submitted to his Excellency that, with the view more fully to embody the chart, I would pursue my journey southerly towards the colony, through that considerable range of country lying east of the meridian of 151 deg. intermediate between my projected line of outward route and the sea coast. y "As this plan of my proposed tour to the northern interior met with the entire approbation of His Excellency, an ample equipment, fully equal to the magnitude of the journey, and agreeably to my requisitions, was directed to be prepared for me, and as the various items were completed to my entire satisfac- tion about the close of the month of March, I lost not a moment, (notwithstanding the unfavourable lowering aspect of the weather), in putting an establishment of six men and eleven horses (of which eight were the property of the Crown) into motion. To effect the more important points contemplated in this journey, I provided myself with the following instruments. Equipping. 8i viz. : a sextant, by Jones, divided to ten seconds, an artificial horizon, a Schmalcalder's compass, a pocket chronometer, an odometer or improved perambulator, and a mountain barometer, by Jones, which latter I compared with others in possession of J. Mitchell, Esq., of the General Hospital, who very obligingly engaged to furnish me (upon my return home) with his daily observations on the range of the mercurial column made in Sydney, during the period of my proposed absence in the interior, in order to enable me to compute, from data given by their difference from my own, simultaneously noted, the mean elevation above the level of the sea of the several stations or encampments of my journey. " Thus prepared for my winter's tour, 1 proposed to proceed in the first instance with the party composing my expedition to Segenhoe, the estate of J. P. Macqueen, Esq., M.P., on an upper branch of Hunter's river, not more from its being in that direct line of route which the plan of my journey had marked out than from its proximity to the Dividing Range, over which my course lay, and the assistance that would be afforded me by Mr. Macintyre, the highly respectable agent and director of that extensive and valuable farm, in passing that formidable chain of mountains which separates the Coal river country from the great levels of Liverpool Plains. '' Desirous of preserving the fresh condition of the horses in this first stage of my journey, to enable them the better to meet its after labours, they were despatched overland without their loads, whilst the baggage, stores, and provisions for the use of the expedition were conveyed round by sea to Hunter's river. "Arriving at Segenhoe"^ on the 26th of the month, I was most hospitably received by Mr. Macintyre, whose residence, together with the village-like group of habitations of the farming servants, was found eligibly situated on a tributary stream to Hunter's, named the Page, about a mile and a half above the confluence, and within twenty miles of the northern mountains, the elevated points of which constitute so striking a feature of the landscape of this most beautiful part of the Coal river country. "The adjustment of the several pack-horse loads, and general preparation for my departure being effected in the short period * A grant from the Crown, procured by influence in England, as a means of provision for J. P. Macqueen, vvho had brought himself to ruin by a corruptly contested election for Bedfordshire. 82 Genesis of Queensland. of my stay at this station, I commenced my journey to the north on the 30th March, with an estabHshment of six servants and eleven horses, and with full provisions for fourteen weeks, having determined, from the information I had obtained of its practicability, to attempt my passage over the Dividing Range at the head of a stream of Hunter's river, called Dartbrook, which rises in a part of those mountains bearing to the N.W. about thirty miles. "The situation of Mr. Macintyre's house on Page's river was found by observations to be as follows : — latitude by meridional altitudes of the sun taken in an artificial horizon and observed with an excellent sextant, being the mean of eight observations taken chiefly on the return of the party to this station in August, 32 deg. 6 min. 37 sees. S. ; longitude by a set of lunar distances, 150 deg. 57 min. 16 sees. E. ; "^ variation of the needle, deduced by the mean of several sets of azimuths, 7 deg. 24 min. E.; and mean elevation above the level of the sea, being the result of twenty-one distinct observations of the mercurial column taken morning and evening, five hundred and ninety-seven feet. "On the 2nd May, having traced the narrow valley through which Dartbrook flows, to its head immediately at the foot of the mountains, we were joined by Mr. Macintyre, who had obligingly tendered me his services to conduct the party over the more difficult parts of the range, at a part by which he had himself on a former occasion crossed those mountains to Liverpool Plains. "From the grassy hills immediately at the head of the valley, we gained by great exertion the higher parts of the Dividing Range, by climbing a narrow lateral ridge of so abrupt an acclivity as repeatedly to render it necessary, rather than endanger the lives of the horses, to disburden them of, portions of their loads. "Traversing the extreme summit of the range about two miles to the westward, at a mean elevation of three thousand and eighty feet above the level of the sea, a sloping grassy ridge enabled us to descend to the head of a valley at the northern foot of the mountains on the afternoon of the 4th, when the tents * As this result accords nearly with the meridian deduced by the actual survey of the country from Newcastle, viz., 150 deg. 58 min. 45 sees. E., which (there is reason to apprehend) places Segenhoe somewhat to the eastward of its real position, it may be considered about its true longitude. Liverpool Range and Plains. 83 were pitched until the morning of the following day. This encamping ground, which was found by observation to be in latitude 31 deg. 50 min. S., and longitude (by account) 150 deg. 35 min. E., I ascertained by barometrical admeasurement to be twelve hundred and twenty-one feet lower than the summit of the range, or about six hundred and seventy feet above the head of the opposite valley of Dartbrook. "Having safely passed this mountain barrier, the rock of which I remarked was trap, we set out on our journey to the north at an early hour on the morning of the 5th, intending to pass along the eastern skirts of the vast lands before us, under- as near as the country would admit, the meridian of 150I deg. We soon descended through the vale, at the head of which we had rested, to the more even-surfaced open-wooded land, when on leaving a small creek that had meandered with us from the mountain base, to wind its course to the lower levels of the great plains,* which had just opened to the view, we pursued our way through an extent of ten miles of barren forest, wooded with stunted box and ironbark, frequently interspersed with brush, which, from the languishing state of its scanty vegetation generally, had evidently been without water for several months. "Crossing a branch of the plains, in 38 deg. 38 min., stretching to the S.E. under the hills, and through which a small rivulet wound northerly, the country before us was found to rise to forest hills of ordinary elevation, lightly wooded with box timber, and frequently very stony on their summits, the rock itself being a coarse sandstone. "The valleys, which were very confined, and occasionally disposed to be brushy, as well as some intermediate patches of level ground, furnished timbers of large dimensions, chiefly of the apple tree and gum. Immediately to the westward of our * The mean elevation of Liverpool Plains above the sea shore (which Mr. Oxley their discoverer had no means of determining) has always been considered much greater than recent admeasurement has given. A series of interesting observations, carefully made with an improved portable barometer by Jones, gave me the following mean results, showing how much the surface of the southern sides of these plains, which have evidently been raised by the washings of soil from the adjacent boundary range, is elevated above that of either the centre or northern margin. The southern skirts are eleven hundred and twenty feet ; the central surface is about nine hundred and fifty feet, whilst the northern limits are from eight hundred to eight hundred and forty feet of perpendicular height above the level of the ocean. 84 Genesis of Queensland. line of route, a chain of low thinly wooded great hills stretched northerly, and interrupted the view of the main body of the plains, whilst to the east were ridges, bold and precipitous, assuming in some parts a lofty mountainous character, whence issued several streams, which, after watering the various valleys, intersected by our line of route, escape westerly to the margin of the plains, where at length they unite in their course to the north, and form Field's river of Mr. Oxley, by the channel of which the eastern sides of those considerable levels are drained. "The hills (as already remarked) are composed of a coarse grained sandstone, and in the valleys and heads of creeks was remarked a breccia or pudding-stone, on which the former reposed. "On the iith we reached the north-eastern angle of Liverpool Plains, and passed the parallel of 31 deg. 2 min., in Avhich latitude Mr. Oxley had crossed Peel's river in his journey to Port Macquarie, in 1818, and from which particular point of intersection of that stream it was my intention to have taken a new departure, the interior to the north of it being totally unexplored by Europeans. The country, however, to east and north-east of our line of route proving on examination to be by far too broken, mountainous and rocky to permit my heavily laden pack horses to penetrate to the channel of that stream, conformably with the plan of my journey, their feet having already sustained considerable injury in passing those stony hills, which our line of route from the Dividing Range had intersected, I determined to continue our course to the north under the meridian at which we had arrived (about 150^ ^eg.), being satisfied that as there could be no doubt of the waters of the Peel falling internally, my course would intersect its channel whenever the chain of lofty hills immediately to the eastward of us, which appeared to stretch far to the north, should either terminate, or become so detached or broken as to allow of its escape to an obviously lower north-western interior. "Meeting with a rill of excellent water at the foot of a grassy ridge (evidently one of the Melville Hills of Mr. Oxley), I was induced to halt to allow my people to refasten the shoes of several of the horses, which were nearly torn off by the rocky irregular surface of the ground we had traversed in the progress of our stages of the last two days. As it was early in the afternoon, I climbed a hill distant about two miles to the N.W., Elbowed away fro?n East ! 85 10 observe the features of the country before us. From the eminence I had a more extended view of the broken mountainous country at E. and N.E. than I had previously had from a lower level, the precipitous aspect of which perfectly justifying my abandonment of the design of attempting to penetrate east (in the parallel 31 deg.) to the bank of Peel's river, as I had originally contemplated. "Beyond the nearest ridge of hills at those bearings, I could perceive more elevated ranges, lying parallel with them, at sufficient distance from each other to mark distinctly the existence and direction of the ample vale to which the name of Goulburn was given by Mr. Oxley in 181 8. At north, the country although hilly appeared very open to penetration, to points of which, in the vicinity of Barrow's Valley of our able Surveyor-General, I took bearings, and at N.W. and W.N.W. the eye traversed a vast extent of wooded and seemingly level country, through which Field's river of the chart winds its course to a declining interior. "At W. and S.W., I recognised points of Mr. Oxley's survey in 1818 which I had identified in my winter's excursion in 1825, along the western side of Liverpool plains, particularly that remarkable forest ridge which bounds Lushington Valley on the S., named on the chart Vansittart's Hills. Not the smallest trace of human beings was perceived in an extensive range of country lying between N.E. and W. by the way of N., but at S.W., large columns of smoke, which rose from the surface of a distant region at that bearing, showed it to be extensively fired by the natives. " On the morning of the i ith we quitted our resting place on the creek, and pursuing a course to the S. of W. about three miles, at length passed round the western extreme of the Melville Hills, through a dry brushy tract of forest ground, and were then enabled to shape a more direct line of route to the N.W. On this line of course, which led us through a level wooded country, scarcely one thousand feet above the sea coast, and alike suffering with other parts under the severity of a long protracted period of drought, we at length crossed the track of Mr. Oxley in 1818, the observations at noon taken in the midst of a dense brush of the drooping acacia pendula, giving us for latitude 31 deg. 31 sees. N., which placed our position about a mile to the north of that gentleman's line of route, after he had 86 Genesis of Queensland. forded Field's river. Upon penetrating beyond these brushes of the grey-hued acacia above referred to, we pursued our way to the N.W. about four miles, over a level declining country, alternately forest ground and open plain, clothed with a vegeta- tion in part destroyed by the drought, the long continuance of which was abundantly indicated by the extensive rents that had been effected in the ground by the sun, the extremely parched appearance of the surface, as well as the total absence of water in channels, which evidently, from their shaded situation, afford in seasons of ordinary humidity an ample supply. Amidst the distressing circumstances of the country, we were not a little surprised to observe upon reaching the skirts of the forest-land, on the western side of a large patchy plain we had traversed, so striking a change in the conditions of its grasses and vegetation generally. '' We had evidently descended to a lower level than the spot on which our tent had stood in the morning, and on entering the wooded land bordering the plain, which was timbered with apple trees (angophor) of large dimensions, we perceived that the whole forest had been flooded to the depth of five feet ! at which height drift wood had been washed against the trunks of the timber, and although the entire plain thereto adjacent, as also other portions of the country south of it, nearly on the same level had been at the same time subjected to like inundation, yet the exposure of their open surface to the daily action of the sun, for very many months, had so far parched its vegetable products as to leave no clear evidence of the condition to which it is at periods subjected. It was, therefore, only under protection from the solar ray beneath the umbrage of densely foliaged apple trees, that plants, growing even in a soil fattened by the deposits of these floods, could assume amidst the extremes of a dry season, the luxuriance of growth in which we had observed them. " The inclination to the S.W. of the heads of certain plants growing in this forest marked distinctly the direction which the current, upon the retiring of the waters of the last great flood, had taken, showing also the point of declination of the country at this particular part. Having accomplished twelve miles, and satisfied from every appearance around us that we were in the immediate neighbourhood of a water of larger magnitude than any stream we had passed since we quitted Hunter's river, we Mitchell' s River. — Quick with the Gaff ! 87 directed our course through the forest N.N.W., towards the base of a range of hills, the S.E. head of which overlooked the plain we had traversed, and in a mile came upon the left bank of a river which bent itself round the southern extreme of these hills in its course to the westward. "The width of the channel we ascertained to be about one hundred and fifty yards, but of this breadth about one third only was occupied by water, which formed a succession of deep pools and pebbly rapids. "The bank on which I had encamped was about thirty feet of perpendicular height above the low level of this river, and an idea may be formed of the vast bodies of water that at periods flow through its channel to the westward when it is observed that there were marks of the floods in the forest ground four feet above the level of the spot on which the tents were pitched. Deriving its origin in the very hilly country to the N.E. of us, which evidently formed a secondary dividing range, separating this part of country from that through which Peel's river flows, this stream, upon bending its course round the southern termination of the ridge of hills immediately on its opposite bank, wends its way to the westward, and in a few miles joins Field's river in its progress north-westerly. "To the stream which had not been previously seen by Europeans, I gave the name of Mitchell's river, as a compliment to the medical officer to whom I am so much indebted for the very valuable details of barometrical observations, taken in Sydney during my absence on the journey. "Very recent marks of the native's hatchet on the trees and a well-beaten path along the bank of the river, with other traces of the aborigine, showed us that this solitary part of the interior was not without inhabitants, and about sunset some distant voices were distinctly heard, but neither the savage himself or the glare of his fire was seen. In a deep pond immediately beneath the tents our people were successful with their hooks, several fine fish of the cod of the western waters were taken, but so eager were the fish to seize the baited hooks that several with portions of line attached were carried away in attempting to lift them from their native element. "The end of an eclipse of the moon, which took place in the evening at 7 hrs. 55 min. 19 sec. apparent time, as observed with a tolerably good telescope, gave further longitude of the Genesis of Queensland. particular part of Mitchell's river whereon we had encamped 150 deg. 27 min. 15 sec. E. This served to compare with its meridian' reduced from that of Segenhoe on Hunter's river, which gave a difference of two minutes to the westward — viz., 150 deg. 25 min.|"i5 sec. E. However, as there were reasons for considering the latter result the more correct, it has been preferred. "The latitude ascertained by a solar meridional altitude observed on the 12th was 30 deg. 59 min. 12 sec. S., and the mean elevation of the bed of the river above the level of the sea proved from barometrical data to be only eight hundred and forty feet,-'; which is nearly one hundred feet lower than the central path of Liverpool Plains. "i2th. Continuing our journey to the north. Immediately on observing the sun's altitude at noon, we were led over a continuation of level forest ground, subject to inundation, about two miles, when we again met the river, running from the N.E., and having forded it at a pebbly fall, pursued our way through a forest of fine large blue gum. In another mile we came upon an open plain stretching to the N.W., and bounded on the S.W. by a continuation of the forest range, along the eastern base of which Mitchell's river flows. Skirting this plain on its eastern margin, and trusting to the hope of finding water, I altered my line of route to the N.N.E., but upon advancing about four miles through a forest country, almost denuded of grass and herbage by long droughts and the destroying effects of natives' fires, and without the slightest trace of water, felt obliged to return to the river, the bank of which we reached about an hour after sunset. "Here we were again glad to pitch our tents, and as there was abundance of grass for the horses, I determined to rest the whole of the 13th, in order to afford them the benefit of a patch of luxuriant pasture, such as we were apprehensive from the aspect of the country before us northerly we could not expect to meet with, until we again came upon a living stream. "On the morning of tlie r4th we again advanced on our journey to the north, through a dry uninteresting forest land, broken by watercourses, very level of surface, and thinly wooded with tlic usual timber. "Occasionally we penetrated smaller patches of brush, scarcely interesting even to the botanist, and again gained a The Land a-thirst. 89 more open surface of barren forest ground, perfectly bare of grass or herbage, and exhibiting an arid argillaceous soil, rent in chasms by an obviously long protracted drought. "Upon completing thirteen miles, I remarked the fall of the low ridges over which we had been travelling throughout our last three miles, to be to the eastward, I therefore altered our course in search of water, which most fortunately finding, we rested for the day about five p.m. "Resuming our journey at an early hour on the 15th, we pursued a course to the N.N.W. through a heavily timbered, but parched level country. Our sixth mile brought us to the base of a ridge of barren forest hills, the declivities of which were deeply grooved by the rains of former years, that had also laid bare portions of the rock formation, which proved to be an argillaceous schistus. Immediately on passing this ridge, the southern flanks of which my horses climbed with considerable difficulty, we intersected in about two miles a stream running briskly over a rocky bed to the eastward, which in consequence of the general steepness of its immediate banks, gave us some trouble to pass. •"Upon gaining the rising forest ground on its north bank, I was induced to direct a halt, not knowing (in a country so generally parched by an excess of dry weather) at what distance water might again be found. Other inducements to rest here were, its grasses were much fresher than those the open forest furnished, and we had, moreover, effected about nine miles distant to the north. The latitude of our encamping ground reduced from the observation at noon, was 30 deg. 36 min. S., and our barometer showed us we were upwards of a thousand feet above our station on Mitchell's river, into which the rapid rivulet on which we had rested ultimately falls, after meandering easterly and southerly among the hills. To individuals accustomed to live only amidst the charms of society, the solitary aspect of the greater portion of this day's stage would have proved most distressing. Scarcely a bird, not a kangaroo, emu, or native dog, or the evidence (even of the most ancient standing) of the wandering Indian, were remarked, until we had arrived in the immediate neighbourhood of an encamping ground, when our dogs gave chase to a solitary kangaroo. "To us it was no less distressing to observe, as we travelled onward northerly, to what a degree vegetation was languishing amidst the severity of a drought of so protracted a period, that go Genesis of Queensland. we might with great truth say no rain had fallen to benefit either herbage or the soil during the last twelve or fifteen months. " 1 6- 1 8. Our course to the north throughout the three suc- ceeding days led us over a hilly and in several parts broken country, which rose progressively in elevation, until we had attained a height exceeding two thousand feet above the sea shore. " Occasionally a narrow valley, bearing a matted grass of the growth of two or three years, and bounded on either side by forest hills of steep acclivity, wooded with small trees, and grassy to their summits, afforded some diversity of feature in the line of country penetrated, which in general was that of open forest, furnishing the usual timbers of stunted growth, totally inapplicable to any purpose of rural economy. The water courses presented rocky deep channels, from twelve to twenty feet in width, which, in seasons less adverse, assumed the characters of respectable creeks. "On the 17th, at noon, when our observed latitude was 30 deg. 22 min. S., we reached the bank of a stream, which received the name of Buddie's river, and although there was but little water in its channel, which was thirty yards wide, it nevertheless bore evident marks of being in seasons of heavy rains swollen to the height of twenty feet. " This small river dipped to the E.N.E., and as the country appeared at length to be much more open in that direction than had been remarked in any part since we crossed to the north of 31 deg., it is without doubt a tributary to Peel's river. " It was on the banks of Buddie's river that natives to the number of five persons were seen for the first time during this journey. Being myself a little in advance of the horses, I had no sooner reached the right bank than my attention was arrested by the appearance of smoke rising from the forest ground on the opposite bank, and immediately I perceived four natives and a child, who having previously observed me, were standing for the moment in a state of extreme surprise and r alarm. I called out to a man who stood in front of the fire, and who was armed with short spears, signifying by signs indicative of a friendly intention on my part — my wish to court an interview. To all my overtures he simply made a brief reply, and then on seeing the pack-horses descend to ford the river, he took to his heels, and w^ith the other adults (seemingly women), ran off up the river, and immediately disappeared. Cattle Cache. gi "19th. We resumed our journey at an early hour from a rocky creek on which we had encamped, and having advanced about three miles through a lonely uninteresting forest of tolerably level surface, we reached the base of an abrupt ridge of barren hills, timbered with small iron-bark, and deeply grooved by sharp narrow gullies, which, declining in a northerly direction, fell into a grassy bottom. Upon passing in a variety of courses over the banks of these arid ridges, suddenly a break in the hills at the N.W. afforded us a confined view of a level wooded country of unbounded extent, and to which there appeared an approach by a narrow wall before us. Descending without much difficulty to an apple-tree flat, the valley gradually expanded, being, however, bounded by very steep rocky ridges on its eastern and western sides, and watered by a small limpid stream which, originating in the congregated hills at its head, murmured over the stony bed of a channel, which wound through its centre beneath a shade of swamp oak. On completing our eighth mile, I observed the meridional altitude of the sun, which gave for our latitude 30 deg. 2 min. 30 sec. S., and then continuing our journey north, along the valley other six miles, I was induced to encamp on the bank of the creek, on a patch of the most luxuriant pasture we had met with since we left Hunter's river. " We were not a little surprised to observe at the head of this valley, so remote from any farming establishment, the traces of horned cattle, only two or three days old, as also the spots on which from eight to a dozen of these animals had reposed, at a period so recent that the grassy blade, which was of long luxuriant growth, had not recovered its upright position. " From what point of the country these cattle had originally strayed appeared at first difficult to determine. On consideration, however, it was thought by no means impossible that they were stragglers from the large wild herds that are well known to be occupying plains around Arbuthnot's Range, S.W. one hundred and seventy-iive miles from this vale. Upon the range on the eastern side of the valley I discovered several undescribed plants of the most interesting description, observing also that the rock, which was a species of flint of curious laminated figure, like some agates, reposed on large masses of serpentine, obvious in the lower parts, and in the base of the ridge. g2 Genesis of Queensland. " During our stay in the vale, which I named after a friend in the Ro3-al Staff Corps, Stoddart's Valley, I was enabled to determine the position of my encampment with tolerable precision. The result of my observations on the 20th were as follows, viz. : latitude observed, 29 deg. 58 min. 52 sec. S. : longitude by account reduced from the meridian of Segenhoe, 150 deg. 33 min. E. ; longitude by distances (sun west of moon), T50 deg. 37 min. ; longitude mean, 150 deg. 35 min. E. ; variation by azimuth, 8 deg. i min. 30 sec. E. The mean of the results of barometrical computation, which showed us a very considerable declension of country to the north, in our last stage gave us a mean elevation of only eleven hundred and sixty feet above the level of the sea. "On Monday, the 21st of May, we prosecuted our journey to the north along the valley, the beauties of which were progressively developed as we advanced. The ridges, which limited the view on either side gradually as they stretched to the north, lowered in elevation, and assumed the character of open forest hills, thinly wooded with small trees, and altogether less stoney. Passing over some fine patches of grassy flat, clothed sparingly with apple trees of, however, robust habit, we followed the creek that waters this extensive cattle range, about seven miles, to its discharge into a river of large dimensions, evidently the Peel of Mr. Oxley, which having flowed from the southward, through a very gradual fall of country, to a level of little more than nine hundred feet above the sea shore, at length winds its course by a creek, through the eastern hills, and passing the northern extremity of Stoddart's Valley, escapes (as Field's river) to a still lower north-western interior. "The channel of this river at the ford by which we passed it exhibited a bed of gravel, exceeding two hundred and fifty yards in breadth, which at periods of great rains is occupied to the depth of twelve and fifteen feet, as we gathered from the flood marks on its outer banks. The long continuance of dry weather, beneath the effects of which an unknown extent of the interior appeared to be suffering, had, however, diminished the waters of the Peel to a breadth not exceeding fifty yards, and to a depth so trifling that it was fordable in many parts. On crossing this river, we halted on an elevated patch of forest ground on its right bank, the day being far spent. As we descended Stoddart's Valley to the river, we observed several of the trees had been Friends Afield! — Effaced? go completely and recently barked by the natives, and on the bank of the river opposite our encampment large bodies of smoke rose from the fired grass and herbage, but we neither saw or heard any of the Indians, the very recent prints of whose feet (as well adult as child) we clearly perceived on the sands at the ford. "22nd and 23rd. Quitting the right bank of Peel's river (which we found by our barometer to be only nine hundred and eleven feet above the level of the sea), we pursued our route to the N.N.W., immediately at the base of a continuation of the eastern range of hills, which again assumed a bold and rocky character. "We passed through an uniformly barren tract of wooded country, frequently very broken and ridgy, and as the declivity of the several gullies were of considerable dip towards the channel of the Peel, which extended along the eastern base of a densely wooded range, bearing west of us, we found the whole of the day's stage exceedingly badly watered. At a distance of about fourteen miles north from the ford of Peel's river the country considerably improves, and by being less encumbered with useless timber and brushwood, and therefore more open to the sun and air, the soil, which had assumed a darker colour, was productive of a tolerable clothing of grass and esculent vegetation. The thickly wooded ranges, to which the name of Drummond was attached, lying a few miles to the west of our route, was at length, as we advanced, observed to terminate, and the country beyond its northern extreme appeared from the higher grounds, near which we were travelling, to be well timbered, but a level, declining clearly to the northward and westward. " At last the rocky ridge of hills which had for some days entirely circumscribed our view at that bearing, also falling to the ordinary level, the country assumed a picturesque appear- ance. Detached hills of moderate height diversified the surface, which being very thinly wooded with small trees, furnished on their slopes in seasons less destructive to vegetation an abundance of sheep pasture. To two of these hills, remarkable for their likeness to each other, I attached the names of Carlyle and Little, after friends on Hunter's river. They are formed of a reddish sandstone with which the summits are crowned. " To the north-east the country rises to a considerable elevation, and a very lofty rocky range crowned with the picturesque cypress, and from the extreme ridge of which rose a very sharp cone, received the name of " Masterton." g4 Genesis of Queensland. " At noon of the 23rd we came upon the wide but shallow reedy channel of a river, forming, however, at this season simply a deep chain of ponds, at which the observed latitude proved to be 29 deg. 34 min. 44 sees. S. This we traced about four miles to the N.E., and then encamped on its immediate bank, where there were some good strips of grassy flat, affording our cattle excellent food. " The marks of the natives' hatchet (of stone) were observable on the trees, but the few Indians that wander through these lonely regions in quest of food appear very careful to avoid us ; the train of laden horses, the numbers of my men and dogs doubtless alarming those who may have seen us from the hills so much as rather to urge their flight than induce them to seek a communication with us. "24-26. On crossing the reedy channel of this river, we passed over a low stony cypress ridge, and among a mass of vegetation characterising the Hora of the Bathurst country, I discovered a few plants not previously met with, of, however, established well-known genera. The rocks of this ridge are of the ferruginous sandstone of the Blue Mountain Ranges, and as quantities of the disintegrated parts of this formation had been washed by the rains upon the lower forest grounds in the neighbourhood, the surface (resting on an argillaceous subsoil) was covered with a barren grit to the depth of four inches. At our fifth mile we rose by an easy acclivity to the pitch of a forest ridge, when we remarked a change had taken place in the rock formation, which was abundantly shown by the dark colour and superior quality of the soil. It was a trap exceedingly porous, forming amygdaloid containing nodules of chalcedony. Upon reaching the extreme part of the ridge, we observed before us a very moderately undulated country, interspersed with patches of plain. A series of forest hills and intervening valleys furnishing abundance of grass, but perfectly destitute of water, succeeded in our course to the north throughout the succeeding seven miles. At length we arrived at a patch of forest ground, that had been recently fired, and as I was induced to believe, that as the natives had evidently passed through these woods within the last three days, water could not be far distant, I directed a diligent search to be made for it. In a mile further northerly to our great joy, a large clay hole was found containing an ample sufficiency of that precious element to meet all our The Soil's Distress. 95 demands, and although stagnant evidently for some months, was nevertheless of a good quality. "The pasture in several parts of this day's stage was excellent considering the distress to which vegetation generally had been subjected by the drought of the year, and although the timbers were uniformly indifferent and chiefly of box, the general appearance seemed to augur that we are on the verge of an improving country north of us, and certainly of easy access. " 25th. As I had been led to conclude, so we found the country, for we had not advanced a mile before we reached a patch of plain, of a rich black soil, bounded by low thinly wooded forest hills, which gave the whole a very pretty picturesque appearance. Over this plain we travelled N. by E. to the opposite piece of wooded land, passing which we came upon a second plain, stretching as did the former east and west several miles, their breadth being about a mile and a quarter. " It was distressing, however, to observe so much fine black soil, sound, dry, and crumbling beneath the foot, as these plains possess, rich moreover in grasses and herbage, languishing for rain, and without channels of sufficient depth or capacity on their ample surface to retain water permanently throughout the year. A succession of open forest hills and waterless downs characterised the face of the country to the close of a journey of twelve miles, which terminated in a stony gully, in which after some search we were fortunate to discover fine water, retained in narrow rocky cavities. Upon reaching the brow of the forest ridge, immediately over our encampment (which reduced from the observation at noon, was in 29 deg. 10 min. S.), the hills to the westward were observed to terminate, and a level open country, bounded on the N.N.W. and N. only by the very distant horizon, broke upon our view, which although it appeared for the most part very densely wooded (probably with small stunted trees) nevertheless exhibited patches of open plain, diversifying the otherwise monotonous aspect of a vast expanse of surface. I could perceive from the spot on which I made these observa- tions the level country as far east as N.N.E., but the terminating points of all the eastern forest ridges, facing the west, projecting to an intersection of that line of bearing, my further observation easterly was prevented. The mean elevation above the sea of our tents was twelve hundred and twenty-eight feet, which placed us upwards of three hundred feet above the bed of Peel's river. g5 Genesis of Queensland. " 26th. Pursuing our journey to the N.N.E., through an extent exceeding five miles of barren forest ground, in part closely timbered with small ironbark, and interspersed with thickets of plants frequent on the skirts of Liverpool Plains, we at length intersected the sandy channels of a river, which in other seasons than the present must be highly important to the grazing flats on its bank, forming in periods of great rains a rapid stream, ten feet deep and fifty feet wide. " The distress of the season, so often spoken of in the narration of this journey, appeared, however, to have entirely deprived this ample channel of its waters, and as its sandy bed was in part overgrown by a brush of woody plants usually affecting arid desert situations, this circumstance alone afforded me the clearest proof of its having been dried up many months. " Amidst this dearth it was with surprise we noticed how extraordinarily the native grasses had resisted the dry weather on the upper bank of this dried watercourse. They were fresh, verdant, and doubtless nutritive, affording abundance of provision to the many kangaroos that were bounding around us. " On crossing this sandy channel we continued our original course (N.N.E.) over a plain or flat clear of trees, two miles wide, the soil of which we found excellent, but very dry, the surface exhibiting deep rents, occasioned by the action of the solar ray. " Apprehensive that we should not readily meet with water by pursuing the course we had preserved steadily since we set forth in the morning, I was induced, on passing over the brow of a ridge and observing a hilly country to the eastward, to alter my line of route to the E.N.E., in the hope of meeting with a sufficiency of that element for our horses and selves, in an advance of two or three miles, towards more elevated grounds. " Penetrating about two miles, through an arid desert forest, of a deep sandy soil, and timbered with cypress and red gum, we reached the rocky margin of a creek, by which the waters that fall from the hills to the eastward are conveyed to probably a greater channel, at a lower level in the neighbourhood. I was led to this inference, not simply from the bed of this creek forming a succession of falls, showing me its considerable dip to a lower country in the vicinity, but more especially from the numbers of the white cockatoo that appeared about us on the Cunningham' s Strait. gy wing — these birds, it having been long remarked, flock about laro-e rivers, as well in the colony as the interior beyond Bathurst. "Water being immediately found in the rocky excavations of this creek, and grass of an ordinary quality on its margin, I directed the party to halt and encamp. During the 27th (being Sunday) I rested my people and horses. The morning was exceedingly lowering, but as the day advanced it cleared sufficiently to allow me to take the necessary observations for the determination of our position. Their results placed us as follows on the chart : latitude observed 29 deg. o'o min. 0*2 sec. S. ; longitude, by account, 150 deg. 40 min. 15 sec. E. Variation of compass, 7 deg. 53 min. E. The mean of several observations of the height of the mercurial column, taken morning and evening, gave us only an elevation of eight hundred and forty-two feet above the sea shore, which is lower than the bed of Peel's river at our ford ! " We had at length gained the parallel of 29 deg., and having consumed more than half of the original stock of provisions with which I had quitted the colony, it became absolutely necessary that I should at once determine, not only the distance to which I might possibly penetrate further to the northward with the limited means I have at command, after laying aside six weeks' full rations for consumption during the journey homeward, but also the precise direction of our route onward, under all the circumstances of the reduced condition of mv horses, the arid state of the country, and the aspect of the weather, that bear upon me, and that I must of necessity be governed by, in all my future movements. Upon inspecting my horses, I found that notwithstanding the extreme care of my people, the backs and sides of several had become much galled by their saddles, and all were much reduced and debilitated by the labour of the journey, the parched up state of the pasturage, and the general poverty of the country through which we had travelled. To these points of consideration I subjoined the circumstance of the low level to which we had descended, the barren country it presented and the probability that by pursuing our course further north (the declination of the country being evidently at that point of the compass), we should descend to an arid region of that scrubby country totally destitute of grass or esculent vegetable, where the lives of my horses would be placed in imminent daneer. q8 Genesis of Queensland. "Viewino- all these circumstances as connected with my situation at this encampment, and regarding the preservation of my horses as paramount to every other consideration, I felt bound, although reluctantly, to determine on a deviation from the line of northern course the plan of my tour had prescribed. "I, therefore, resolved to pursue my journey more to the eastward, not only to secure to my half famished horses a more certain and nutritive provision than that on which they had for some time past subsisted, which it was reasonable to suppose the hio-her lands in that direction would furnish, but also with the view of connecting (upon penetrating to the meridian of 152 deg., and north to the parallel of 28 deg.) my sketch of those parts of the interior through which we have travelled with the country in the vicinity of Moreton Bay, by bearings to such of its fixed points as I might identify, and especially to the cone of Mount Warning. The rocks of the creek on which we had rested is a friable freestone, of a much whiter colour than is usually to be observed. The gully appeared to have been the resort of the few natives of these desert regions, who have from period to period availed themselves of the softness of the rocks, to form edges to their mogos or hatchets of stone of a harder description. The traces of these operations, as well of a distant period as of recent date, were observed on the surface of the stony ledges in various parts of the creek. Among the birds observed about our tents we remarked a parrot of large size not heretofore seen. The feathers of its head were snow white, whilst its body appeared of an uniform green ; the wings, which were also of that color, presenting on their outer sides a brownish hue. Only two birds of this species were seen at the water holes, probably the male and female, and they proved so shy that no opportunity was afforded to shoot them. " 28th, Monday. The inference I had drawn from the structure of the creek, and the presence of the white cockatoo, of the existence of a river in the neighbourhood, proved this morning to be perfectly just, for we had not proceeded three miles to the N.N.E., through a continuation of desert, before we came to the left bank of a stream, presenting a handsome reach, half a mile in length, thirty yards wide, and evidently very deep. Its bed, which was of a gravel containing many large v.a'ccr-worn pebbles of quartz and jasper, was skirted by lofty swamp oaks, bearing on their branches flood marks at least twenty feet above its channel. Dumaresq ; why Severn now ? go When, therefore, its waters are swollen to that height, it forms a rapid river from eighty to one hundred yards in breadth, as I ascertained by the measured distance of the outer banks from each other, on which the gigantic swamp oaks grow. "This stream, which received the name of Dumaresq's river, in honour of the family, to which His Excellency the Governor is so intimately connected, rises in a mountainous country to the N.E., at an elevation (determined in the progress of this journey) of nearly three thousand feet above the sea shore, and after pursuing a western course for about one hundred miles, along a considerable declivity of country, falls two thousand one hundred feet to the spot at which we had crossed its channel, the perpendicular height of which above the ocean,^ I found by barometrical admeasurement to be only eight hundred and forty feet, which is about the mean level of the northern sides of Liverpool Plains. Tracing the left bank up, about half a mile, we found a ford, which enabled us to cross over safely, and resume our journey to the N.N.E. " Passing over some stony ridges of trifling elevation immediately on the right bank of the river, we penetrated about eleven miles through an arid sandy forest ground Avooded with small iron-bark and cypress. " Upon accomplishing our fourteenth mile (by the odometer) the country continued nearly a perfect level, clothed with small blighted timber and much scrubby underwood, but without the smallest indication of water, which, however, could not be hoped for in a region the surface of which we found so generally coated with a loose reddish sand to the depth of several inches. " In this situation we found ourselves at an advanced hour of the afternoon, and as the sun was rapidly declining on the lower levels westerly, it became necessary to determine at once on the course we should pursue onward, since by continuing our route at N.N.E. it appeared evident we should penetrate more deeply into the midst of the desert. As there appeared a slight depression of country easterly, I directed my people to the north-east, and at the same time despatched a man at that point to search for water. Another mile brought us to a broad, but fiat, shallow sandy channel, dipping to the N.N.E., in which was * By a reference to the chart it will be seen that this particular part ot Dumaresq's river is about one hundred and seventy statute miles west from the coast line. TOO Genesis of Queensland. found a waterhole just dry. With renovated hopes we traced it downwards, and finding many proofs of the recent existence of water on the surface, continued about one and a half miles further, when a small pool was discovered, fringed around with the aquatic plant, known to botanists by the name pJiilydruiu lamiginosuin. At this small pond, scarcely six feet in diameter, we most gladly halted, after accomplishing a long stage of nineteen miles, through a tract of country, in the extremes of sterility, quite destitute of water, and in an atmospheric tempera- ture of 75 degs. The thermometer at sunset stood at 70 deg., and the mean results of barometrical computation showed me that we were even lower than the bed of Dumaresq's river: our encamp- ment was only eight hundred and eleven feet above the level of the ocean. Early on the morning of the 2gth we quitted our resting place, on which my half famished horses had scarcely found a blade of grass, and continuing our course to the N.N.E., almost immediately passed beyond the sandy surface to that of a stiff clay, inducing me to hope we were on the verge of a better country, although the level continued the same. In this we were not deceived, for we had scarcely effected two miles before we reached the bank of a small river, falling westerly, about fifteen vards wide, presenting at this season simply the disunited form of a chain of stagnant deep ponds or reaches a quarter of a mile in length. Traversing the level forest flat, through which this rivulet winds its course, we immediately entered a thick brush of cypress and acacia, and having penetrated, with great difficultv to the horses, about two miles to the N.E., rain, which had been threatening since daybreak, began to fall, with every appearance of continuing throughout the day. Totally ignorant of the extent of this thicket, which towered over our heads to the height of twenty-five feet, or to what distance we should be obliged to travel before we again found water, I deemed it prudent to return to the rivulet we had left, and encamp. This we effected just about noon, in time to square an observation of the meridional altitude of the sun, between the showers, which placed us, in consequence of our extraordinary stage of the preceding day, as far north as 28 deg. 45 min. f sec. " 30th. The fineness of the morning, after a continued rain throughout the preceding night, invited us to advance forward at an early hour, our burdened horses having, moreover, been materially benefited by the grazing they had met with on Macintyre' s Brook Brush. loi the margin of the rivulet on which we had rested. The remarks I had already made on the seeming extent of the northern brushes, led me to hope that an E.N.E. course would carry us perfectly clear of those almost impervious thickets. On this course, however, we had not proceeded two miles before we discovered, with more than ordinary concern, that their greater body stretched across our line of route to due east. " There was therefore no alternative left us but to enter them, with the hope that by pursuing steadily our course we should more readily reach a clearer open forest, on their north- eastern side. It was nine o'clock when we passed their southern margin, and although their breadth did not exceed two miles, such were the difficulties to the baggage horses, that we were nearly three hours in effecting a passage through to a patch of clear forest ground, through which we were enabled to pursue our way to the north-east upwards of a mile, when we were most agreeably surprised to meet Avith a rivulet bending from the eastward to the north-west, the forest ground on either side furnishing a richer and altogether more luxuriant growth of young grass than we had met with at any stage of our journey. It was a subject of great astonishment to us to meet with so beautiful a sward of grass, permanently watered by an active stream, after traversing that tract of desert forest, and penetrating brushes the extremes of sterility in its immediate vicinity. The presence of a fine piece of pasturage on the banks of a beautiful stream, in parts fifteen yards in width, to which I gave the name of Macintyre's Brook,* after my friend at Segenhoe, again induced me to cherish the hope that we were on the confines of a better country. We had, however, difficulties new and fresh to encounter ere the labours of the day were closed. " Leaving Macintyre's Brook, which occupied us some little time in fording, owing to its depth and extraordinary rapidity of its current, we resumed our course to the N.E. Compact thickets of like description with those we had passed again stretched from east to west, over a surface of country so truly level as to afford us, as far as we could observe, not the slightest * The situation of our point of intersection of Macintyre's Brook on the chart is as follows : latitude, 28 deg. 44 min. S. ; longitude 150 deg. 48 min. E., the elevation of its head above the level of the sea being not more than eight hundred and ten feet. I02 Genesis of Queensland. rise whence anv observation might have been made of the extent of these jungles, or the direction, supposing them to be strips and not extensive bodies, in which they were disposed in these arid regions. Finding ourselves thus hemmed in, and altogether with a very discouraging prospect before us, I nevertheless determined to persevere on my course to the N.E., bearing, however, in mind that should we fail in our endeavours to effect a passage through them to more open grounds, after a feu- hours' exertion, we could at least return on our track to the brook, where our horses would rest on good pasture, and on the bank of which we might subsequently pursue our way to the eastward ; although, perhaps, on a course in the first instance not better than E.S.E. As these thickets from their very margin presented a density almost impervious to pack horses, I directed an active man to follow me with an axe, to remove every obstacle that might prevent their passing forward in the course I endeavoured steadily to pursue. In many parts the quantities of fallen timber were considerable, and the stems of an acacia (fifteen feet high) were so closely grown together, and interwoven with other plants, as to present at first view a barrier altogether impenetrable. However, a laborious circuitous route enabled us to avoid those intricacies, and as we subsequently came upon small patches much thinner brushed, and more open to the sun and air, whereon the wearied horses were allowed to breathe, we were encouraged in no ordinary degree to advance forward. Thus we continued until an advanced hour of the afternoon, when having cut a passage about four miles for the horses, we were rejoiced to reach an open clear forest, through which we pushed our way to the N.E. without further inconvenience. Meeting with a chain of ponds in about three miles, I was exceedingly glad to rest, as both men and horses were sinking beneath the labours of the day. The course and distance made good, notwithstanding the difficulties of the stage, being E. 41 N., magnetic eleven miles. " 31st. The day's stage to the northward and eastward was extended through a rising wooded country, consisting of stony hills of moderate elevation and narrow shallow valleys, often brushed with the prevailing acacia of the country, and very indifferently watered. "At our fourteenth mile we came unexpectedly on a patch of good grass on a flat heavily timbered with blue gum, where, In the " Doldi' 117118." 103 upon finding a sufficiency of water, I halted. From the summit of an open elevated forest ridge, which I climbed in the earlier period of this day's stage, an extensive view was afforded me of the country at all points. At an estimated distance of, perhaps, eighty miles, I perceived an apparently low detached range, stretched east and west, from N. 2 deg. W. to N. 12 deg. ; and, somewhat more easterly, another range, pointed in the centre, bearing N.N.E., was remarked, the country around them being exceedingly level. Hence, looking easterly, the country appeared to rise progressively, and ridges of more than ordinary elevation extended towards loftier ranges, which may probably be perceived from the coast line. From W.S.W., by the way of west, and thence to north, the eye became fatigued by traversing a vast expanse of level internal country, without the slightest rise of surface to relieve the sameness of the scene, and bounded only by the horizon."^ "June 1—3. Onward we pursued our course to the E.N.E., and throughout a space exceeding twenty miles penetrated for the most part a barren and altogether an uninteresting country, frequently of broken stony irregular surface, forming low ridges clothed with a scrubby vegetation, which occasionally dropped into slight concavities, scarcely to be denominated valleys, equally sterile. But even in the midst of a line of country so generally destitute of vegetable product sufficient to sustain animal life, we were fortunate enough to meet with small isolated spots on which to rest, providing us some little grass or herbage, and water for our burdened horses. On the evening of the 2nd we halted on the margin of a stony gully, and, giving my people and horses rest during the following day, I determined our position on the chart as follows : lat. observed, 28 deg. 17 min. 49 sec. S. ; long., by account, 151 deg. 22 min. E. ; variation of the compass, 7 deg. 36 min. E. "The mean elevation of our encampment above the level of the sea, one thousand four hundred and four feet. " 4th. During last week we penetrated in a north-eastern course a country rising progressively in altitude, yet exceedingly bare of esculent vegetation ; nevertheless, situated as we were, we could not possibly pursue a better line of route. I. therefore, * This afternoon we crossed, to the eastward, the meridian of Parramatta, in latitude reduced from the observations at noon, 28 deg. 33 min., which placed us three hundred and sixty-six statute miles due north from that town. 104 Genesis of Queensland. on the morning of the 4th continued our journey in that direction by ascending a succession of rather heavily timbered forest ridges, of easy acclivity, but rough and stony, to the feet of our enfeebled horses. "At our third mile, whilst in the act of passing over the brow of one of these hills, the voices of natives were distinctly heard. Almost immediately we perceived several of these Indians in motion among the timber, not, however, before they had had, for some moments, the first gaze of surprise at us, as the trunks of the trees, being as black as their bodies, had prevented our perceiving them as quickly. " I happened to be accompanied by only one of my people, others being with the pack horses at another part of the rising ground beyond the natives, where the acclivity was more moderate. On my calling to the pack horse leaders, the natives stood and viewed us at the distance of about one hundred yards, occasionally retiring behind the trees, and again walking about in great uneasiness. The spot was ground on which they were bivouacing with their women and children, whose respective voices we distinctly heard ; they therefore could not leave their tires with that precipitation which their great alarm, induced by our presence, would evidently have urged. The instant, however, my people replied to my call from the gully whence they were ascending to me, the agitation of the natives became extreme, they therefore, having already hurried away the gins (women) and little ones, ran off with the utmost despatch through the brushy woods to the north of us. I could have wished to have brought about a communication with these Indians had the whole of my party been with me, or had we met each other on more open ground than a close brushy forest, for I felt perfectly satisfied that as soon as their fears had been removed by our pacific overtures to them, they would have proved themselves of friendly disposition, as they neither made me any reply, or appeared in the least disposed to place themselves in menacing attitude, or exhibited their weapons to deter us from approaching them. Under the circumstances, however, of our meeting, I deemed it prudent so soon as I perceived them to stand still until they had made their little arrangements to depart. I would have advanced quickly upon them, but the consequence might have been serious to us, as we had no arms at the time, and these people might have disputed Cooks and Cockatoos. 105 the ground with us on the score of the women and children, whom Nature teaches even the savage it is a duty in man, as a husband and parent, to protect. Before my people had joined me they had passed the fires of these Indians, which were seven in number, and about them they recognised the bones of bandicoots and the bustard (of which bird the feathers were strewed around), upon the flesh of which these savages had been feasting. " Upon joining again, we continued our journey, and imme- diately quitting the more open forest ground entered a dense brush of acacia, dairesioe, &c., the wand-like stems of which, indurated by fire, proving a serious annoyance to us. By dint of great bodily exertion to man and horse, we penetrated about four miles through a body of thicket ten feet high, and upon making the open forest ground on its eastern skirts we traced a narrow valley, falling easterly, in search of water. We followed the vale about a mile and a half, when meeting with water in a stagnant state, I was obliged to halt, although on a spot furnishing but little grass, it being after sunset, and my horses were greatly distressed by the length and difficulty of the day's stage. " 5th. The smokes which we had for the last two days observed to rise from the country to the northward and eastward of us, considered with the frequent screeching in that direction of the white cockatoo (a bird loving to inhabit forest land in the neighbourhood of rivers), fully satisfied me that we were on the verge of a desirable country. At our usual hour of departure in the morning we hastened from the spot on which we had passed the previous night, pursuing our way in an E.N.E. direction. "Beyond a patch of stony forest ground of rather open character, we crossed (at our second mile) a rocky creek dipping easterly, having some clear pools of water in its channel, and grass on its margin. From the pitch of a ridge immediately above this watercourse, we had a most agreeable though confined view of an extensive range of open country, lying in the direction of our course, which from its ample feature and prospect, I doubted not would in its examination abundantly reward all our labours in penetrating to it through a considerable tract of desert country, stretching back to the southward of the parallel of 29 deg. A hollow in the forest ridge immediately •o6 Genesis of Queensland. before us allowed me distinctly to perceive that at a distance of eight or nine miles, open plains or downs of great extent appeared to extend easterly to the base of a lofty range of mountains, lying north and south, distant by estimation about thirty miles. With the fullest expectation of being able to reach the \vestern margin of these downs at an early period of the day, we proceeded forward with a quickened pace, through an open grazing forest, to our eighth mile, when our observed latitude proved to be 28 deg. 11 min. 10 sec. S. Already had the land become much thinner of timber, and we had not advanced half a mile further, before we came upon a patch of open plain, skirted by a low ridge of forest hills on its western side, and by a closely v^ooded forest ground on the opposite point. " On climbing a low stony ridge in our way, it was really with the greatest satisfaction that we perceived we had approached within two miles of the Downs, and as small patches or strips of mist extended throughout their whole length, and a line of swamp oak stretched along their south-western extreme, it was clearly shown us that these extensive tracts of timberless land were not wanting in water. Upon accomplishing a journey of thirteen miles (the last one extending over a commencement of the great plains) we arrived at the left bank of a small river, about fifteen yards in breadth, having a brisk current to the N.W. There w^as in all parts of its channel, in the neighbourhood of the spot at which we had made it, very deep w'ater, which affording ever}' encouragement to my people to employ a period of the afternoon in fishing, I sent them away along the left bank, furnishing each with hooks and lines. " In the meanwhile I obtained some sets of lunar distances with the sun, the mean results of which gave me for the meridian of my tent 151 deg. 39 min. 45 sec, ; but as the accurately measured distance between it and the north-easternmost encamijmcnt of this journey (the situation of which was determined by several observations aided by correct bearings, to certain fixed points on the coast line) upon being reduced, placed the position of my encampment i| min. to the eastward, its situation may be stated as follows : longitude 151 deg., 41 min. 30 sec. E. : latitude, by observation at noon of 5th, 28 deg. 9 min, 37 sec. S. : its mean elevation above the sea shore, by the barometer, being one thousand four hundred and two feet. First Oasis. 107 " The anglers caught several fine cod, and whilst thus successfully occupied on the bank of the river, three natives were remarked in the adjoining forest ground on the opposite bank firing the dried herbage of these woods ; they did not, however, venture to approach towards my people, but without manifesting the least alarm, walked leisurely away to the more distant parts of the forest. " -* "6th. Immediately after noon of the 6th we quitted our resting place, and proceeding up the river about half a mile, crossed to the opposite bank, at a ford previously discovered by one of my party. From this stream, which I named Condamine's river in compliment to the officer, who is Alde-de-Camp to his Excellency the Governor, we entered upon the extensive downs before us, pursuing our w^ay to the E.N.E., along their southern margin. During the afternoon of the 6th and following day, we travelled throughout their whole extent, to the base of the mountainous land that bounds them on their eastern extreme, and in the progress of our journey made the following general observations on their apparent extent, soil, and capability. These extensive tracts of open country, which I subsequently named (by permission) Darling Downs, in honour of His Excellency the Governor, are situate in or about the mean parallel of 28 deg. 8 min. S., along which they extend east eighteen miles, to the meridian of 152 deg. On their northern side they are bounded by a very gentle rise of lightly wooded ridge, and on their opposite margin, by a level forest of box and white gum of ordinary timber. A chain of deep ponds, supported by streams from the lofty ranges Immediately to the eastward, passes along the central lower flats of these downs, throughout their whole length, and uniting in seasons of heavy rains, falls westerly into Condamine's river. Their breadth varies in different parts of their lengthened surface, appearing at their western extremity not to exceed one and a half miles, whilst towards their eastern limits it was estimated at three miles. The lower parts, by a deeply grooved water course, form flats, which In consequence of their permanent moisture furnish a very considerable range of cattle pasture, at all seasons of the year — the grasses and herbage exhibiting generally in the depth of winter an extraordinary luxuriance of growth. Among the mass of excellent vegetation produced on these flats, no plant appeared more striking In its growth than a species of rib- io8 Genesis of Queensland. grass [plantago Struthionis) which I had formerly described, the leaves of which measured from twelve to fifteen inches in length. " From these central grounds rise downs of a rich black and dry soil, which extend several miles to the eastward, and, as they furnish an abundance of grass, and are conveniently watered, yet perfectly beyond the reach of those irrigations which take place on the flats in wet seasons, they constitute a most valuable sound sheep pasture, the permanently dry nature of which may be inferred from the fact of there being a difference of three hundred feet between their upper or eastern limit and Conda- mine's river, as shown by the mean results of barometrical admeasurement. " Towards the close of the afternoon of the 7th, having gained the forest ground on the eastern verge of the downs, we continued our course to the northward and eastward about one and a-half miles, through a truly beautiful apple-tree forest, abounding in kangaroos, when, upon reaching the base of a remarkable flat- topped mount, forming the termination of a portion of the lateral range to which I had taken a bearing when twenty-five miles to the S.W., I encamped on the bank of a narrow creek, furnishing plenty of water, and upon a patch of the finest meadow pasturage I have seen in New South Wales. " Here I gave my wearied horses two days' rest, some having been reduced to a state of extreme debility, and all having suffered considerably in condition by the severity of the journey from Liverpool Plains. " Whilst, therefore, they were recovering a degree of strength, by rest and good sound pasture, I was busily engaged examining the dark brushes which clothed the adjacent mountain from its base to its very summit, the vegetation of which appeared altogether tropical. "The morning of the 8th proving exceedingly fine, I set out from the encampment, accompanied by one of my party, to ascend the table mount above our tents, from the elevated summit of which I had promised myself an extensive prospect around. After pushing our way through a mass of dense thicket investing tlie foot and flank of this eminence, we gained an open spot on its flat summit in about two hours, and were gratified exceedingly by the extensive view afforded us of the country from north by the way of west, and thence to S. and S.S.E. to the more remarkable points of which bearings were taken. The Plains of Darling Downs. 109 " At N.N.W., and especially at N., the country presented a broken and irregular surface, forming a series of heavily timbered ridges, extending laterally from the more elevated chain of mountains immediately to the eastward, and which, stretchin