“Ye who prepare with pilgrim feetYour long and doubtful path to wend.If whitening on the waste ye meetThe relics of my martyred friend.“His bones with reverence ye shall bear.To where some crystal streamlet flows:There by its mossy banks prepareThe pillow of his long repose.“It shall be by a stream whose tidesAre drank by birds of every wing,Where Nature resting but abidesThe earliest awakening touch of spring.“But raise no stone to mark the place.For faithful to the hopes of man.The Being he so loved to trace,Shall breathe upon his bones again.“Oh meet that he who so carest,All bounteous Nature’s varied charms,That he her martyred son should restWithin his mother’s fondest arms.“And there upon the path he trod,And bravely led his desert band,Shall science like the smile of GodCome brightening o’er the promised land.“How will her pilgrims hail the power,Beneath the drooping Myall’s gloom.To sit at eve and muse an hour,And pluck a leaf from Leichhardt’s tomb.”
“Ye who prepare with pilgrim feetYour long and doubtful path to wend.If whitening on the waste ye meetThe relics of my martyred friend.
“His bones with reverence ye shall bear.To where some crystal streamlet flows:There by its mossy banks prepareThe pillow of his long repose.
“It shall be by a stream whose tidesAre drank by birds of every wing,Where Nature resting but abidesThe earliest awakening touch of spring.
“But raise no stone to mark the place.For faithful to the hopes of man.The Being he so loved to trace,Shall breathe upon his bones again.
“Oh meet that he who so carest,All bounteous Nature’s varied charms,That he her martyred son should restWithin his mother’s fondest arms.
“And there upon the path he trod,And bravely led his desert band,Shall science like the smile of GodCome brightening o’er the promised land.
“How will her pilgrims hail the power,Beneath the drooping Myall’s gloom.To sit at eve and muse an hour,And pluck a leaf from Leichhardt’s tomb.”
—Lynd.
The following descriptions are taken from a journal of an expedition into the interior of tropical Australia in search of a route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria by Lieut.-Colonel Sir T. L. Mitchell, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, in 1845.
The money for this attempt was found by the Legislative Council of New South Wales. The Secretary for the Colonies sanctioned the expedition, which had been suggested by the leader himself, during a slack time in his department. This trip, though it never approached the Gulf, or even its watershed—which was its main object at starting—nevertheless discovered such an extent of available country as to make it one of the most valuable and interesting expeditions that were ever carried out in North Queensland. This was Mitchell’s third exploring trip, and it is referred to now, as it relates to the discovery and opening up of a large part of western, as well as a partof North Queensland. There is no doubt that Mitchell would have reached the Gulf waters if his equipment had not been so cumbersome and altogether dependent on good seasons. An account of his outfit will be interesting reading in these times when people think little of moving from the South to the North of Australia with any kind of a party, and his departure must have looked like the start of a small army on the move to conquer a new country. Sir Thomas Mitchell took with him eight drays drawn by eighty bullocks, two iron boats, seventeen horses (four being private property), and three light carts; these were the modes of conveyance. There were 250 sheep to travel with the party as a meat supply. Other stores consisted of gelatine and a small quantity of pork. The party consisted of thirty persons, most of whom were prisoners of the Crown in different stages of probation, whose only incentive to obedience and fidelity was the prospect of liberty at the end of the journey. According to the testimony of their leader, they performed their work throughout creditably; they were volunteers from among the convicts of Cockatoo Island, and were eager to be employed on the expedition. Some of those engaged on a previous trip were included in this expedition.
The whole party left Parramatta on November 17th, 1845, and crossed the Bogan on December 23rd, that country being then settled with stations, the result of discoveries made in previous years by the same intrepid explorer. Their journey led them by St. George’s Bridge, the present site of the town of St. George, on to the Maranoa River, then entirely unsettled, and this river was followed up towards its source. Touching on the Warrego, discovering Lake Salvator, and passing the present site of Mantuan Downs, they reached the head of Belyando. This was thought at first to be a river likely to lead to the Gulf country, but after following it down nearly to the latitude where a river was described by Leichhardt as joining the Suttor from the westward, Mitchell decided it was a coast river, and so the party returned on their tracks to a depôt camp which had been established on the Maranoa, coming to the conclusion that the rivers of Carpentaria must be sought for much further to the westward. Therefore, continuing their travels in this direction, the Nive River was discovered, and this was thought for a time to be a water leading to the Gulf, but after following it towards the south-east, the party turned northwards, and thus discovered the far-famed Barcoo River, which they thought was the Victoria of Wickham and Stokes. Again high hopes were entertained that at last a river was found that would lead them to the desired end, and that this was a Gulf River. They followed the course through all the splendid downs country, below where the Alice joins it, and found it was going much too far to the south to be a Gulf river, being thus again disappointed in their expectations. Mitchell speaks in glowing terms ofthe country through which they passed, and named Mount Northampton and Mount Enniskillen, two prominent landmarks. Returning to his party, he took the route home by the Barwon and Namoi, and so back to Sydney, which all reached in safety after an absence of over twelve months. Mitchell’s discovery of the Barcoo River was due to a division of his party, and a light equipment, by which he could advance as much as twenty or twenty-five miles a day, and still keep a record of his latitude and progress.
This trip of Mitchell’s led to the appointment of his second in command, Mr. E. Kennedy, to return and discover where the Victoria or Barcoo really went to, and to obtain further information of the mysterious interior of the great Australian continent, and its peculiar river system. Mitchell was famous for his exploring trips in the southern part of Australia, and his two volumes of explorations remain a classic in literature. His account of Australia Felix and the Werribee are most interesting. Mitchell invariably traversed his route with compass and chain, so that his positions can always be verified.
Edward Kennedy, who was second in command under Sir T. L. Mitchell when the Barcoo was discovered, was appointed to lead a party to the same districts in 1847. He followed down the Barcoo to where a large river came in from the north, which he named the Thomson, after Sir E. Deas Thomson, ofSydney. The Barcoo he identified with Mitchell’s Victoria, which at a lower stage is called Cooper’s Creek. Kennedy intended to go to the Gulf of Carpentaria, but the blacks removed his stock of rations left at the Barcoo, and so he decided to return to Sydney by way of the Warrego, Maranoa, Culgoa, and Barwon Rivers.
The Gregory brothers had successfully conducted several exploring expeditions in West Australia before entering on those journeys in North Queensland that have helped to make known its north-eastern parts. A letter from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Duke of Newcastle, to the Governors in Australia, was received, in which it was recommended that an expedition should be organised for the exploration of the unknown interior of Australia, stating that a sum of £5,000 had been voted by the Imperial Government for the purpose, and suggesting that Mr. A. C. Gregory should be appointed to the command, and Brisbane be the point of departure. The expedition was to be conveyed by sea to the mouth of the Victoria River, on the northern coast of Australia. It was to be an Imperial expedition, paid for by the Imperial Government, for the purpose of developing the vast and unknown resources of the continent. It was called the North Australian Exploring Expedition. The preliminary arrangements having been completed, the stores, equipment, and a portion of the party wereembarked at Sydney on the barque “Monarch,” and the schooner “Tom Tough,” and sailed for Moreton Bay on July 18th, 1855, arriving at the bar of the Brisbane River on the 22nd. The horses and sheep were collected at Eagle Farm by Mr. H. C. Gregory, and shipped on board the “Monarch” on July 31st. After some difficulties in getting over the bar and obtaining the necessary supply of water at Moreton Island, the expedition may be said to have started on its responsible task on August 12th, 1855.
The party consisted of eighteen persons, the principal members being:—Commander, A. C. Gregory; Assistant Commander, H. C. Gregory; Geologist, J. S. Wilson; Artist and Storekeeper, J. Baines; Surveyor and Naturalist, J. R. Elsey; Botanist, F. von Muller; Collector and Preserver, J. Flood. The stock consisted of fifty horses and two hundred sheep; and eighteen months’ supply of rations were taken.
They sighted Port Essington on September 1st, but the next day the “Monarch” grounded at high water on a reef, and was not worked off for eight days, during which time the vessel lay on her side, and the horses suffered very much in consequence, indeed, the subsequent loss of numbers of them is attributed to the hardships endured during the period. The horses were landed at Treachery Bay under great difficulties, having to swim two miles before reaching the shore. Three were drowned, one lost in mud, and one wentmad and rushed away into the bush and was lost. The “Monarch” sailed for Singapore, while the “Tom Tough” proceeded up the Victoria River, where Mr. Gregory and some of the party took the horses by easy stages to meet them, as they were so weak from the knocking about on the voyage that they had frequently to be lifted up. This little trip occupied three weeks before they joined the party on the schooner. When they met, it was to learn that mishaps had again occurred, the vessel had grounded on the rocks, and much of the provisions had been damaged by salt water; the vessel had also suffered injury; some of the sheep had died from want of water, and the rest were too poor to kill. The record is one continuous struggle with misfortune, but owing to good general-ship and patience, progress was made, and the main objects of the expedition being constantly kept in view, each step taken was one in advance.
After the horses had recovered a little from their journey, Mr. Gregory and a small party made an exploring trip towards the interior, and to the south to latitude 20 deg. 16 min. 22 sec., passing through some inferior country, and touching the Great Sandy Desert seen by Sturt, red ridges of sand running east and west, covered with the inhospitable Triodia or Spinifex grass. As his object was to visit the Gulf country, he retraced his steps to the camp on the Victoria River; and after adjusting matters there, dividing his party and sending the vessel to Coepang for supplies,with directions to come to the Albert River, he started on his journey to the Gulf of Carpentaria on June 21st, 1856. His party comprised the two Gregorys, Dr. Mueller, Elsey, Bowman, Dean, and Melville, seven saddle and twenty-seven pack-horses, with five months’ provisions.
They followed down the Elsey River to the Roper, so called by Leichhardt, and passed a camp of some explorers some six or seven years old, where trees had been cut with sharp axes. They reached the Macarthur River on August 4th, after passing through much poor country covered with inferior grasses. Their track skirted the tableland, and as the journal states, the country was barren and inhospitable in the extreme. The Albert River was reached on August 30th, 1856, and not finding any traces of the “Tom Tough” having been there, the explorer started from that point to Moreton Bay. Coming to a large river, which Leichhardt thought to be the Albert, Mr. Gregory named it after the great explorer, and it is now known as the Leichhardt. This river they crossed, and travelled east-south-east. After crossing the Flinders River, where the country consisted of open plains, the party travelled east-north-east through a flat ti-tree country, north of what is now the Croydon goldfield, a barren, flat, and dismal prospect. Gregory says in his journal, that had the season been earlier, he would have preferred travelling up the Flinders, and turning to the Clarke from itsupper branches. However, they moved on to the Gilbert River, and followed it up through rocky defiles and rough granite country till they reached the Burdekin River on October 16th; the next day they passed one of Leichhardt’s stopping places, where he camped on April 26th, 1845, in latitude 19 deg. 37 min. S. They were living on horseflesh at this time, and mention is made of a horse that had not carried a pack since leaving the Gilbert, being killed for food, and its flesh dried in the sun, forming what is called jerked meat, an article well known to early pioneers when salt was absent. They frequently saw the blacks, who mostly ran away at the sight of the horses, probably the first they had ever seen; but no casualty happened during the whole trip, owing to the good management of the leader, and the caution always shown where danger was likely. On October 30th they camped near the Suttor River, with Mount McConnell in view. After the junction of the Suttor and Burdekin Rivers had been passed, the Suttor was followed up past the latitude of Sir Thomas Mitchell’s camp on the Belyando, and thus his route connected up with Dr. Leichhardt’s. They left the Belyando, and on November 8th, killed the eleven months’ old filly, born on the Victoria River after landing, the flesh was cured by drying, and the hair scraped off the hide, which was made into soup. They passed the Mackenzie River, went on to the Comet, below the junction, and found a camp of Leichhardt’s party on theirsecond journey. They reached the Dawson River, and following a dray track, they came again in contact with civilisation at Connor and Fitz’s station, where they were hospitably received. They then travelled past Rannes (Hay’s station), Rawbelle, Boondooma, Tabinga, Nanango, Kilcoy, Durundur, reaching Brisbane on December 16th, 1856.
Mr. A. C. Gregory’s expedition in search of Leichhardt was equipped by the New South Wales Government. The objects of this expedition were primarily to search for traces of Leichhardt and his party, and secondly the examination of the country in the intervening spaces between the tracks of previous explorers. The expedition was organised in Sydney, and made a start from Juandah, on the Dawson River, on March 24th, 1857. They crossed the dense scrubs and basaltic ridge dividing the Dawson waters from those trending to the west, flowing into the basin of the Maranoa River. The Maranoa was reached in latitude 25 deg. 45 min., and they followed it up to Mount Owen, advanced to the Warrego River, westward from there to the Nive, and pursued a north-north-west course to the Barcoo River, then called the Victoria. As the captain of the “Beagle” had discovered and named the Victoria River on the north-west coast first, the name of Sir T. Mitchell’s river was changed to the Barcoo, a native name. When Mr. Gregory traversed this fine country, one of thosedevastating periodical droughts that visit this inland territory now and again, must have been prevailing for many months, and had left the land a wilderness. That land Mitchell had described in 1846 in glowing language as the fairest that the sun shone on, with pastures and herbage equal to all the wants of man, and water in abundance covered with wild fowl. When Gregory passed through it in 1857, it was bare of all vegetation, there was scarcely any water in the bed of the river, and that only at long intervals, nothing but the bare brown earth visible.
In latitude 24 deg. 35 min. S., longitude 136 deg. 6 min., a Moreton Bay ash tree was discovered with the letter⏗cut in, and the stumps of some small trees cut with an axe, evidently one of Leichhardt’s camps, but no further traces could be discovered, though both sides of the river were followed down. The Thomson River was reached and followed up to latitude 23 deg. 47 sec., and here they were compelled to retrace their steps owing to the terrible state of the country through drought; it being impossible to travel either north or west, although at that time the country was not stocked. The far-reaching plains were devoid of all vegetation except for drought-resisting herbage. The principal object of their journey had to be abandoned and a southerly course taken, as it was considered madness to travel into the sandy desert bordering on the river during such a season. So, with horses weakened by hard living, they followed downthe Thomson, over dry mud plains that wearied both man and beast, and across stony desert ridges to Cooper’s Creek and to Lake Torrens. Before reaching the branch of Cooper’s Creek called Strezlecki Creek by Captain Sturt, they saw the tracks of two horses lost by that explorer in this locality years before. Their course was continued south-south-west towards Mount Hopeless at the northern extremity of the high ranges of South Australia, which had been visible across the level country at a distance of sixty miles. Eight miles beyond Mount Hopeless, they came to a cattle station, recently established by Mr. Baker. After that they proceeded by easy stages to Adelaide.
It is, perhaps, with reference to the physical geography of Australia that the results of the expedition are most important, as by connecting the explorations of Sir T. Mitchell, Kennedy, Captain Sturt, and Eyre, the waters of the tropical interior of the eastern portion of the continent were proved to flow towards Spencer’s Gulf, if not actually into it, the barometrical observations showing that Lake Torrens, the lowest part of the interior, is decidedly below sea level.[A]
[A]There is reason to believe from later and more detailed surveys that Lake Torrens is not below the level of the sea.
[A]There is reason to believe from later and more detailed surveys that Lake Torrens is not below the level of the sea.
As the people of Victoria were desirous of taking part in the explorations of Northern Australia, a most elaborate and expensive expedition was organised totravel across Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Great credit is due to the enterprise of the people and the Government of Victoria for this display of public spirit, for, apparently, Victoria had less to gain than any of the other colonies by geographical discoveries in the interior. Robert O’Hara Burke was appointed leader, G. J. Landells second, and W. J. Wills third in command. Burke and Wills and two others reached the Gulf, and named the Cloncurry River; but the notes of the trip do not give much information as to the journey or the country travelled through. The expedition left Melbourne on August 20th, 1860, fifteen men in all, provided with twelve months’ provisions, making twenty-one tons of goods. The party was too large and cumbersome, and the time of year was badly chosen for a start; there were no bushmen with them, and the leader was a man unfamiliar with bush life, though full of devotion to the cause he had taken in hand. The record of the trip is one full of disaster, arising from mistakes that could have been avoided had men competent for the task been chosen. They started from Cooper’s Creek, where Brahe was left with a depôt store, while Burke, Wills, King, and Grey with three months’ provisions set out for the Gulf on December 16th, 1860. The party that had been so well equipped in every way on leaving Melbourne, was reduced to too small a compass when the critical time for action arrived. They followed theedge of the stony desert to the point reached by Sturt on October 21st, 1845, and then steered for the Gulf of Carpentaria, at the mouth of the Flinders. After passing through the Cloncurry Ranges, the little party followed one of the tributaries of that river, one that had numerous palm trees on its banks, which must have been either the Corella or Dugald, to the west of the Cloncurry River, and on February 11th, 1861, in the middle of the wet season, Burke and Wills reached tidal water in the Gulf, on the right bank of the Bynoe River, which is a delta of the Flinders River. Thus the object of the expedition was attained. On the return journey, Grey died through exhaustion and weakness. The ground was very heavy for walking owing to the rains, and the only horse had to be abandoned, while the camel was almost too weak to travel, even without any load. Burke, Wills, and King arrived at Cooper’s Creek on April 21st, having been absent four and a half months on their trip. They found the depôt had been deserted that morning by Brahe; he, however, had remained several weeks beyond the time he was instructed to stay. Instead of following on his tracks, Burke decided on starting via Mount Hopeless to Adelaide, but not finding water, they returned to Cooper’s Creek, growing weaker every day. Their last camel died, and they were forced to live on the seeds of the Nardoo (Marsilea quadrifida), which, however, gave them no strength. The blacks treated them kindly, but theyleft the creek, and then came the mournful end. Burke and Wills died, and Howitt’s search party found King, the only survivor of the little band, wasted to a shadow in a camp of the blacks. As no proper record of the journey, or description of the country was made, and in the diary many gaps occur of several days together, the expedition was barren of scientific results. There is merely the fact of visiting the shores of the Gulf, and returning to Cooper’s Creek, under the most distressing circumstances and hardships. Although successful in the main, it is a record of sorrow, despondency, and a sacrifice of life. On this expedition camels were used for the first time in Australia. Until the fate of Burke became known, many efforts were made to discover what had become of him, and to this end, there were five exploring parties sent out in search of him. They were Howitt’s, Walker’s, Landsborough’s, Norman’s, and McKinlay’s, and their discoveries led to an important increase in the knowledge of Australia.
Mr. A. W. Howitt’s party proceeded to the spot where Brahe had kept the depôt, and seeing no traces there of the missing party (although they had dug up the stores left), he searched down the river, and they came on King sitting in a hut which the blacks had made for him. He presented a melancholy appearance, wasted to a shadow, and hardly to be recognised as a civilised being except by the remnants ofclothes on him; this was on September 15th, 1861. As soon as King was a little restored, they looked for Wills’ remains, and having found them, gave them burial, marking a tree close by; a few days afterwards Burke’s bones were found and interred. They called all the blacks around, and presented them with articles such as tomahawks, knives, necklaces, looking glasses, combs, etc., and made them very happy indeed. When the sad story was revealed there was much sorrow and grief throughout Victoria; and it was agreed that Mr. Howitt should go back and bring down the bodies for a public funeral in Melbourne. A large sum of money was voted to the nearest relatives of Burke and Wills, and a grant made to King sufficient to keep him in comfort for life. A searching inquiry was made into the circumstances relative to the conduct of some of the officers of the expedition, and a few of them were severely censured for neglect of duty in not properly supporting the leader.
One of the expeditions in search of Burke and Wills was led by John McKinlay, who travelled through a great part of North Queensland, and reported favourably on its capacity for settlement. He started from Adelaide in August, 1861, and arrived at the Albert River in May, 1862, thus crossing the continent a second time. He was a bushman well fitted for such an enterprise by experience, endurance, and decision. The second in command was W. O. Hodgkinson, subsequently Minister for Mines in Queensland. McKinlay found a grave near Cooper’s Creek which he examined, and found a European buried there, which he understood from the natives to be a white man killed by them, but afterwards it was known to have been Gray’s burial place. The party made an excursion into the melancholy desert country described by Sturt many years before, consisting of dry lakes, red sand hills, and stones. They travelled through to the Cloncurry district, and onwards to the Gulf, passing through country now under occupation, Fort Constantine, Clonagh, and Conobie being the principal stations there, and thence over the Leichhardt River to the Albert, which was reached on May 13th. McKinlay expected to receive supplies from the “Victoria,” but she had sailed three months before, and thus short of provisions and generally hard up, he had to tackle a long overland journey to the settlements on the eastern side of North Queensland, a most trying and harassing undertaking, which, however, he accomplished successfully. He had first to eat the cattle, then the horses, then the camels. They killed their last camel for food—it was called “Siva”—and it proved a saviour, as they arrived at Harvey and Somer’s station, on the Bowen, with their last piece of camel meat, and one horse each left. They had a hard rough trip from the Gulf, travelling in by the Burdekin, and McKinlay proved himself a daringand most persevering and experienced explorer. The McKinlay River—a branch of the Cloncurry—and the township of McKinlay are named after him.
Though not pertaining to any exploration or discovery connected with North Queensland, it will be interesting to refer shortly to the Horn Exploring Expedition which was carried out on a scientific basis to make known the country in the more central part of the Australian continent. The scientific exploration of central Australia, or that part known as the Macdonnell Ranges, had long been desired by the leading scientific men of Australia. The party consisted of sixteen in all, with twenty-six camels, and two horses, and made a final start from Oodnadatta (which is the northern terminal point of the railway from Adelaide), on May 6th, 1894.
In the very centre of the continent there exists an elevated tract of country known as the Macdonnell Ranges. These mountains, barren and rugged in the extreme, rise to an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet above sea level, while the country surrounding them has an elevation of about 2,000 feet above the sea level, and slopes away towards the coast on every side, which at no point is nearer than 1,000 miles. The mountains are at the head of the Finke River; the region is called Larapintine from the native name of the river. The existence of these ranges saves that portion of the continent from being an absolute desert, as theycatch the tropical showers, which flow down the sides of the mountains, and cause inundations in the low country, and a spring of grass, which, however, is not permanent, the rainfall being from five to twelve inches annually. These ranges measure, from east to west, about 400 miles, with a width of from twenty to fifty miles, the entire area covering more than 10,000 square miles of country. Apart from these ranges, there are several remarkable isolated masses, about 32 miles S.S.W. from Lake Amadeus. Rising like an enormous water-worn boulder, half buried in the surrounding sea of sand hills, is that remarkable monolith known as “Ayers’ Rock.” Its summit can be seen more than forty miles away, as it rises about 1,100 feet above the surrounding plain. The circumference at its base is nearly five miles, and its sides are so steep as to be practically inaccessible, although Mr. W. C. Gosse, the explorer, succeeded with great difficulty in ascending it. It is quite bare of vegetation, except a few fig trees growing in the crevices. Fifteen miles west of Ayers’ Rock is another remarkable mountain mass called Mount Olga, rising to 1,500 feet from the plain. The Finke River flows south from these Macdonnell Ranges towards Lake Eyre, and water is only found after floods. Both alluvial gold and quartz reefs are found in the ranges. Professor Ralph Tate, of the University of Adelaide, and Mr. J. A. Watt, of the Sydney University, assisted in drawing up the report.
The second journey of Edmund Kennedy, in 1848, was confined to the east coast of North Queensland, and is one of the most mournful narratives of disaster and death; only three of the party returning out of the thirteen that started.
The party was hampered with an unsuitable outfit of drays, as well as some undesirable men, unused to the bush and out of accord with the objects of an exploring expedition.
The members of a party going into an unknown country have to depend on the fidelity of each to all, and according to the devotion displayed by each, so will success or failure attend the expedition. Kennedy had men in his party he had better have left behind.
His troubles and trials commenced after landing at Rockingham Bay, near the site of the present town of Cardwell, in trying to pass over swamps, and then cutting his way through tangled, dark, vine-scrubs to the summit of the steepest ranges in North Queensland. They were obliged to leave their carts and harness behind, and wasted much time in looking for a place to ascend the ranges. They quarrelled with the blacks soon after starting, and some of the men took fever. They reached the Herbert, and went into the heads of the Mitchell and Palmer Rivers, passing over the site of the Palmer goldfield. Here the strength of the party began to fail, and horse flesh was their main dependence for food. At Weymouth Bay, Carron and seven men were left, all sick with disappointment and hardship, and in a low state of health. Kennedy and Jacky, with three men, pushed on along the coast northwards to Cape York. One man was wounded by a gun accident, and he and the other two were left at Pudding Pan Hill, and were never heard of again. The leader and Jacky went on, intending to return to the scattered party. They were followed by hostile blacks, who speared the horses, and afterwards mortally wounded Kennedy himself, who died in Jacky’s arms. Jacky himself was also speared, but he buried his leader in a grave dug with a tomahawk, and after many hairbreadth escapes and much privation, he reached the northern shore, where the “Ariel” was waiting for the arrival of the party. Only one man, and he an aboriginal, endured to the end, and but for his keen bush knowledge, courage, and splendid devotion, neither of the two other survivors would have been rescued, nor any tidings of the mournful fate of the party have been made known to the world. The “Ariel” sailed to Weymouth Bay, and found thetwo men, Carron and Goddard, barely alive, the only survivors of the eight left there by Kennedy.
Kennedy’s papers planted in a tree by Jacky, were afterwards recovered by him. When the nature of the country through which Kennedy travelled is understood and its difficulties known, it is no wonder that mishaps occurred to him. Stony mountainous country, thick dark scrubs, long dense grass, with tribes of fierce blacks ready to throw a spear on every occasion, were enough to tax the capacity of any leader, without the accompaniment of sickness, want of rations and disorganisation.
E. KENNEDY.
His task is ended, his journeying o’er.He rests in the scrub, by that far northern shore;By the long wash of the Coral Sea,Brave Kennedy sleeps now quietly.Not lonely he lies in his last bed,For loving memories o’erbrood his head;Kindly to him, the tall ferns lean,In love, their fellowship of green.Sweetly for him, the bird’s deep song,Is sung when summer days are long;Soft drips the dew in the morning sun,Rest harassed one, thy task is done.His native friend, faithful to death,Stayed by him to his latest breath;Nor thought he had himself to save,Till he had made his leader’s grave.
His task is ended, his journeying o’er.He rests in the scrub, by that far northern shore;By the long wash of the Coral Sea,Brave Kennedy sleeps now quietly.
Not lonely he lies in his last bed,For loving memories o’erbrood his head;Kindly to him, the tall ferns lean,In love, their fellowship of green.
Sweetly for him, the bird’s deep song,Is sung when summer days are long;Soft drips the dew in the morning sun,Rest harassed one, thy task is done.
His native friend, faithful to death,Stayed by him to his latest breath;Nor thought he had himself to save,Till he had made his leader’s grave.
Mr. W. Landsborough left Brisbane in the brig “Firefly” on August 24th, 1861, in company with the colonial warship “Victoria,” taking the outer passage. Rough weather on the voyage caused distress and a loss of seven horses out of thirty, and they were compelled to seek refuge inside the Barrier Reef at Hardy’s Island. The brig grounded broadside on the reef; the masts had to be cut away to save the vessel; and the horses were landed through a large hole cut in the side of the ship. After some delay, the “Victoria” appeared in sight, towed the crippled craft off, and proceeded with her in tow in order to carry out the objects of the expedition. Passing through Torres Straits, they called at Bountiful Island and obtained a good supply of turtles, anchoring in Investigator Roads, situated between Bentinck and Sweer’s Islands. Landing on Sweer’s Island, they found the wells left by Flinders in 1802, also the “Investigator” tree. After clearing the sand out of the wells, the water was found fresh and good. Mr. Landsborough made a preliminary survey of the Albert River to find a site for landing his horses and for starting on his overland journey.
The Albert had not been surveyed since Captain Stokes had ascended it as far as Beame’s Brook in 1842, but being known, it was appointed a rendezvous for exploring parties. They found no traces of Burke having visited this spot. The hulk of the “Firefly” was towed up the Albert, and usedas a depôt for the expedition, and this was her last voyage. The writer saw her early in 1865; she was then in an upright position, close to the left bank of the river, with the tide flowing in and out where the side had been cut open for the horses to land on the reef. The horses soon recruited after landing, the grass round the depôt being excellent. They now got ready for a start to Central Mount Stuart, leaving the “Victoria” to wait ninety days for their return. The party consisted of Mr. Landsborough, Messrs. Campbell and Allison, and two blackboys, Jimmy and Fisherman. Their horses had improved so much that they gave a lot of trouble at first, throwing their packs and scattering the gear over the plains, but they soon quietened down to work. The little expedition followed mainly the Gregory River towards its source, and were much surprised to find a beautiful river with a strongly flowing stream and long reaches of deep water, overhung by pandanus, cabbage-palm, and much tropical foliage. They soon discovered the use of the heart of the palm as a vegetable, though it can only be obtained by the destruction of the tree. Blacks were frequently seen, observing their movements, looking on at a distance, as they usually do at the first sight of a white man; but they did not attempt to interfere with them. The Gregory River is distinct from most of the Gulf rivers. The luxuriant foliage along its banks, cabbage-palms, Leichhardt trees, cedar and pandanus, denote the permanency of the runningwater, while level plains, covered with fine pasture grasses, extend on either side for scores of miles. They named the Macdam, an anabranch of the Gregory, and observing a river joining on the right side of the Gregory, called it the O’Shannassey; the source of the flowing stream that made the river so useful and picturesque was shortly afterwards found, where a large body of clear water fell over some basaltic rocks, showing that springs caused the flow, and not summer rains in the interior as was thought at first. This is not the only instance in North Queensland where running streams flow from springs bursting forth from the basaltic table lands. Above the source of the water, the Gregory partook of the character of other Gulf rivers, dry sandy channels, dependent for their supply of water on tropical rains. They followed up the now dry river, and reached a fine tableland over 1,000 feet above sea level, which was called Barkly’s Tableland, after Sir Henry Barkly, late Governor of Victoria. Open basaltic plains, covered with the very finest pastures now met them everywhere, though water was scarce. After journeying across the open country southwards, a river was found, which was called the Herbert; it flowed in the opposite direction to the tributaries of the Gregory. Following down the Herbert, they spent Christmas Day on a sheet of water called Many’s Lake, and lower down Francis Lake was seen; still lower down grass and water both became so scarce as to inducethe leader, much against his will, to abandon the project of reaching Central Mount Stuart. In latitude 20 deg. 17 min., and longitude 138 deg. 20 min., he was compelled to retrace his steps. It was a season of drought, no water having come down the Herbert, and being limited to time to meet Captain Norman at the Gulf in ninety days, forty-three of which had already passed, no resource was left but to return by the route they had come. They followed the right bank of the Gregory River, and met a large number of natives, who threatened them on several occasions, but the little party of five passed through without any mishap, owing in a great measure to the care taken by the leader, who was well aware of the good old bush maxim of always being prepared and never giving a chance away. In following the Gregory, they ran Beame’s Brook, which forms the head of the Albert, down on the right bank. This is an effluent from the Gregory, and is one of the most remarkable streams in Queensland. It is very little below the level of the adjoining plains, and is a clear stream of pure water, overshadowed by cabbage-palms, pandanus, and ti-trees; it traverses the plains some fifty or sixty miles before it flows into the Albert. It is said the blacks can turn the water out of this channel by blocking up the exit from the main stream with stiff mud, and thus catch fish that may be left in the holes. The little channel is boggy in its course, and the country is subject to great floods in the wet season. The party cameto the depôt, and found all well, and there learnt that Mr. F. Walker, another explorer, had been there and reported finding Burke’s tracks on the Flinders, about seventy miles distant; and having restocked himself with some provisions, had left to follow up the traces. After three weeks’ detention, and arranging matters with Captain Norman, Landsborough took his departure with his party, intending to go right through to Melbourne. Their supply of rations was of the most miserable kind, not even as good as prison fare. The stores provided for the expedition were ample for all requirements, but they were refused tea, sugar, and rum. Starting on a long hazardous overland journey of unknown duration, the inadequate outfit accorded to these enterprising men from a steam vessel within a fortnight’s sail of a commercial port, was unjustifiable, and must be condemned.
The expedition left the Albert on February 8th, 1862, a party of six, Mr. Landsborough, Mr. Bourne, and Mr. Gleeson, with three blackboys, Jimmy, Fisherman, and Jacky, and twenty-one horses, whilst there was a continent to cross before they could reach their destination. The tracks of Walker’s party were just discernible, as they followed a course that took them to the Leichhardt River, over level plains covered with flooded box and excæcaria, commonly called “gutta percha,” one of the Euphorbia family; these plains are subject to floods, and are very much water-logged during the rainy seasons on account oftheir being so level. The grass grows in great tussocks, showing only the tops above the water for many miles, and these were the “Plains of Promise” of which so much was expected from the reports of the early explorers! They crossed at the bar of rocks at what is now Floraville, and directed their course to the Flinders River, eastward through Newmayer Valley, and on past Donor’s Hills, so named in honor of an anonymous contributor, a Melbourne gentleman, who gave £1,000 to the exploration fund. In following the right bank of the Flinders, they passed Fort Bowen, a small mount rising abruptly from the plains near the right bank of the river, which was called after the first Governor of Queensland. Many springs were met with surrounding the base of the little mountain forming mounds on the top of which water may be found. The nature of the ground in places is very treacherous; the water has a strong taste of soda, and is quite undrinkable in some of the springs. About twenty miles south-east from Fort Bowen are two similar small mountains, Mount Browne, and Mount Little (now forming part of Taldora run), at which springs similar to those at Fort Bowen are also to be met with. These small mountains, the highest of which is only seventy-five feet above the surrounding plain, were named by Mr. Landsborough after a firm of solicitors in Brisbane, the Hon. E. I. C. Browne, and Robert Little. The latter subsequently became the first Crown Solicitor of Queensland, but bothgentlemen are now dead. The ground in places is dangerous, for under the light crust, that shakes and bends beneath the weight of a horse, are depths of soft mud, sometimes of a bluish colour, that would engulf both horse and rider. One spring is hot, the water at the surface being 120 deg., evidently a natural artesian well. Heavy tall ti-trees surround all these mud springs, and also innumerable small mounds that are the result of the pressure of water from the great depths below. The whole extent of country travelled through consists of open treeless plains, covered with good pasture grass, and occasionally some small white wood trees (atalaya hemiglauca). As the river ran in the direction they were travelling, they followed it up, and about where Richmond now stands, they saw the fresh tracks of a steer or cow making south, supposed to have wandered from some of the newly-formed stations towards the Burdekin. After this, the river trending too much to the east, they crossed the divide, thus leaving the Gulf waters behind them. The change occurs in an open downs country without any ranges to cross. A watercourse called Cornish Creek took them to the Landsborough, and following it down to the Thomson River, they passed Tower Hill, where Mr. Landsborough had been exploring before, and had left his marked trees. Travelling southwards, they made for the Barcoo, and thence to the Warrego, and on May 21st they came to a station of the Messrs. Williams where they werereceived in a most cordial manner. They were now about eight hundred miles from Melbourne, and seven hundred from Brisbane, and it was decided to make for Melbourne by following the Darling.
McKinlay and Landsborough on their return were the recipients of a public demonstration by three thousand people in the Melbourne Exhibition Building, and had a splendid reception.
Landsborough died on March 16th, 1886, from an accident caused by his horse falling with him, and he is buried close to the north end of Bribie Passage at Caloundra, where he had resided with his family for some years previously. Landsborough was a very honorable and lovable man, of simple tastes, fond of reading and indefatigable in his love for travelling about the country.
F. Walker led a party from Rockhampton in search of Burke and Wills in 1861. He was a bushman of varied experience, and he has the credit of originating the system of native police in Queensland. He performed the task of exploration with which he was entrusted creditably and ably. Starting from C. B. Dutton’s station, Bauhinia Downs, on the Dawson River, he and his small party went through the Nogoa country to the Barcoo, where he saw traces of Gregory and Leichhardt. They then went north-west to the Alice and on to the Thomson River, and from thereon to the head of the Flinders, which was called the Barkly. A marked tree of Walker’s exists near the town of Hughenden. Instead of following down the river, he struck across the basaltic ranges and tableland northwards till he came to the heads of a river which he called the Norman, but which is more likely the head of the Saxby River; however, he followed it down to its junction with the Flinders, where he saw the tracks of Burke and Wills going down with four camels and one horse; crossing the river he found the same traces returning. Walker now went to the Albert River, where he met Captain Norman of the colonial warship “Victoria” at the depôt there, and obtaining fresh supplies, he returned to the Flinders. And now commenced a painful march through the ranges and tableland, so hard on the horses’ feet that they could be traced along the stones by the tracks of blood from their hoofs. The men suffered from the seeds of the speargrass, which penetrated the skin and caused irritation. The Burdekin was reached, and some fresh supplies were obtained at Bowen; and then passing through the settled districts to the south of that town, Walker arrived at Rockhampton early in June, having been absent about nine months.
He had several encounters with the blacks during his journey—attacks and reprisals. About 1865, Walker was sent out by the Queensland Government to report on the best route for an overland telegraph lineto connect the Gulf with Brisbane. On his recommendation, the line was taken up the Carron Creek by way of the Etheridge to the east coast at Cardwell, through some very poor country. He selected this route on account of there being timber suitable for poles; but as the white ants soon destroyed them, the line had to be rebuilt with iron poles.
Poor Walker died of Gulf fever in 1866 at a miserable shanty on the Leichhardt River, close to Floraville, and is buried there. His second in command on the telegraph expedition was a Mr. Young, who was subsequently telegraph master at Townsville in 1870. Young was a fine honorable man, but, unfortunately, he received an injury whilst in the execution of his duty repairing the telegraph line between Bowen and Townsville, from the effects of which he subsequently died, only a few days after his marriage.
A small private expedition, under the charge of J. G. Macdonald, started from Bowen, on the east coast of North Queensland, in 1864, for the purpose of discovering a practicable route for several mobs of cattle then being sent towards the Flinders or westward for the occupation of new country. The party consisted of Mr. Macdonald, G. Robertson, Robert Bowman, and Charlie, a native of Brisbane, with seventeen horses, and two months rations. The starting point was from Carpentaria Downs, onthe Einasleigh River, then the farthest out settlement, the latitude being 18 deg. 37 min. 10 sec. S., long. 144 deg. 3 min. 30 sec. E. The course generally was westward, following down the Gilbert River, and thence to the Flinders and Leichhardt Rivers. These they crossed, and then travelled on to the Gregory, which was followed down to the Albert. The object of the expedition having been achieved, and the country deemed suitable for stocking, the party commenced their return journey, crossing the Leichhardt River at a rocky ford, where the scenery was beautiful and the site admirably adapted for a head station. Eventually one was formed there, but was swept away in the disastrous flood of 1870, when the waters covered all the surrounding country to a great depth. The journey home was uneventful, the only occurrence being the finding of the skeleton of a horse they had left on their outward journey at the Gilbert River, and which had been killed by the blacks and eaten. The stages made were somewhat astonishing for an exploring party. The time taken by the journey outwards and the return was fifty-three days to Carpentaria Downs, and to Bowen seventy-one days in all; this trip proves what can be done with a lightly-equipped party, in contrast to many of the unwieldy expeditions fitted out in the south. Mr. Macdonald’s favourable report of the country was the direct means of a good deal of settlement on the Gulf. Mr. Macdonald, in conjunction with Mr., afterwardsSir, John Robertson, and Captain Towns, of Sydney, took up many stations on the Gulf waters and expended large sums of money in stocking them. They also despatched the first vessel with loading to the Albert, bringing consigned goods to settlers, as well as supplies for their own consumption. This vessel was the “Jacmel Packet,” which arrived in the Albert River from Sydney in 1865, thus leading to the establishment of Burketown. Sir John Robertson personally visited the Gulf in 1868, travelling overland from the east coast as far as Normanton and Burketown, and returning the same way.
Mr. Hann, one of the pioneers of the Burdekin country, was the leader of a small expedition sent out by the Queensland Government for exploring and prospecting purposes through the peninsula to Cape York. The party started from Fossilbrook station, in 1872; they named the Tate and Walsh Rivers, and then went on to the Palmer River, after crossing the Mitchell, which they found a strong running stream. On the Palmer gold was discovered, and the place was called Warner’s Gully, after Frederick Warner, the surveyor to the party; this being the first discovery of gold in that country. Travelling still north, they reached the Coleman River, and visited Princess Charlotte Bay. They discovered the Kennedy and Normanby Rivers, taking a few sheep with them as far as this. They then travelled to the present site ofCooktown, and followed up the Endeavour River for thirty miles, striking south to the Bloomfield River, where the dense vine scrubs greatly impeded their progress. On their way back they passed through some very rough country. So successful an expedition, made in so short a time, reflects credit on the leader of the party, who was a thorough bushman, and well acquainted with the dangers from hostile blacks in such a country. This expedition resulted in the development of one of the richest goldfields in Australia; bands of prospectors soon followed on their tracks and opened up the great alluvial diggings of the famous Palmer Goldfields, from which nearly £5,000,000 worth of alluvial gold was won.
W. O. Hodgkinson had been a member of the Burke and Wills expedition in 1860, and crossed Australia as second in command of McKinlay’s party in 1862.
In 1876, he led an expedition sent out by the Queensland Government to explore the north-west country from the Cloncurry to the South Australian boundary. The party was only a small one, but the work was well carried out, and the results were satisfactory and justified the expenditure incurred. They started from Cloncurry, which at that time, 1876, was already a settled mining township, but the country west and south was not well mapped out. They crossedthe rolling plains on the Diamantina River, and in their reports describe life in the far west in its natural aspect, the game of the country, the vegetation, the spinifex, the awful sand ridges, and all the details of a journey made at the cold time of the year. The country, according to the vicissitudes of the season, may be either a desert or a meadow, for the rainfall is very uncertain. They followed up the Mulligan River in well-watered country, reaching Mary Lake, on the Georgina, and then on to Lake Coongi in South Australia. Mr. Hodgkinson’s expedition was described in a diction not much used by the old explorers, whose records were made in a matter-of-fact style, with little attention to effect. Nevertheless, his descriptions are eminently interesting and life-like, and have a charm for all who like to read a traveller’s report of an unknown land. Hodgkinson’s name is commemorated by the goldfield named after him, as well as the river upon which it is situated.
G. E. Dalrymple led the north-east coast expedition fitted out by the Queensland Government in 1872. This was altogether a coasting trip by boats, and led to much information about the high values of the rich alluvial lands fringing the banks of the rivers which run into the sea on the east coast of the northern part of Queensland. The Johnstone, the Russell, and Mulgrave Rivers were named by him, as well as the Mossman and Daintree. Here was found mostmagnificent scenery, and on the Johnstone they discovered some fine cedar (one tree measuring ten feet in diameter), besides a vast extent of rich land fit for sugar growing. All these rivers have since been opened up for cultivation, and sugar-cane, with other tropical products, has taken the place of dense scrubs that then lined the banks of these comparatively unknown rivers—although the boats of the “Rattlesnake” had been into the Russell and Mulgrave Rivers in 1848. The country appeared to Dalrymple to be inhabited by very large numbers of blacks, and game was to be found in abundance. The name of Dalrymple is perpetuated in many places on the map of Queensland. A township on the Burdekin River, as well as several mountains and other remarkable features, have been named after George Elphinstone Dalrymple, who was a splendid type of man in every sense of the word. He was at one time treasurer of the Colony.
A search expedition for Leichhardt was promoted by the ladies of Melbourne, and although very little is recorded of its work, it has a melancholy interest from the fact that the leader, a man of great promise and energy, lost his life in endeavouring to carry out the task entrusted to him, and he now lies in an unmarked grave on the bank of a lonely billabong near the Cloncurry River, a few miles from his brother’s station, Dalgonally.
The expedition was entrusted to Duncan McIntyre, who had found on the Dugald River, during a private expedition in 1861, two horses that belonged to Leichhardt’s last expedition. Mr. McIntyre went out with camels and horses, and formed a depôt camp at Dalgonally station on Julia Creek in 1865. He went on to Burketown, then just opened, for the purpose of buying stores; at the time of his visit the Gulf fever was at its worst, and he took ill and died on his return to the camp. He is spoken of as a man of high attainments and of large experience in bushmanship, and his untimely death was fatal to the objects of the expedition, the leadership of which was assumed by Mr. W. F. Barnett. A short trip was undertaken by him, in company with J. McCalman as second in charge, Dr. White, a medical man, Colin MacIntyre, G. Widish, and Myola, a blackboy. They started with nine camels, six of which were young ones, ten horses, and stores for five months. They travelled westward over the Cloncurry to the Dugald to the camp, marked XLV. of Duncan McIntyre on his first expedition to the Gulf, the camp where he found the two horses that Leichhardt lost on his last trip. Near here is the grave of Davy, one of their blackboys, who died from fever. After travelling over the country in the neighbourhood for a few weeks, and not having any fixed plan or instructions, they returned to the depôt camp. The expedition, which was well equipped, was eventually given up and the party dispersed. In consequence of the death of the leader, no notes of his journey were obtainable. The camels remained on Dalgonally, the property of Mr. Donald McIntyre, for years, and increased to quite a herd. The ladies of Melbourne sent a handsome gravestone suitably inscribed to be erected over the lonely grave of the explorer, but for many years it lay unnoticed on the beach at Thursday Island, and is probably still there.
The trip of Major-General Fielding to Point Parker is in no sense of the term an exploring trip through new country, but rather an exploratory survey for railway purposes through a fairly well settled tract. Nevertheless, some notes of the journey may be found of interest.
In 1881, negotiations were entered into between the late Mr. (afterwards Sir) Thomas McIlwraith, then Premier of Queensland, and a syndicate called Henry Kimber and Co., to construct a railway on the land grant principle, between Roma and Point Parker, on the Gulf of Carpentaria. These negotiations resulted in the formation of a larger syndicate called the Australian Transcontinental Railway Syndicate, Limited, which initiated their scheme by making certain proposals to the Government of Queensland, and sending out General Fielding to traverse the proposed route in 1882.
The party, under General Fielding’s leadership, started from Roma, and went by way of VictoriaDowns and Yo Yo to Biddenham, on the Nive, thence by Lansdowne and Barcaldine Downs to the Aramac, and on to Mount Cornish, delays occurring along the route for repairs to waggonettes and harness, and for the purpose of exchanging horses or buying new ones. Following down the Upper McKinlay, they reached the Cloncurry on October 7th, and were joined there by the Government Geologist, Mr. R. L. Jack. More delays occurred here for the want of stores, and it was not until November 1st that all the members of the expedition reached Kamilaroi station, on the Leichhardt River; Gregory Downs was reached on the 7th, and Point Parker on November 15th; the expedition having camped sixty-seven times. On the night of their arrival at Point Parker, the natives surrounded the camp at midnight. There were about a hundred of them, but they left when three shots were fired over their heads; no one was hurt on either side, and this was the only demonstration made by the aboriginals.
Point Parker is described as having a very limited area for settlement, only about 7,000 acres being available. The Government schooner “Pearl” was waiting here, and after a careful survey of Point Parker and Point Bayley, they visited Bentinck and Sweer’s Islands and Kimberley (now called Karumba), at the mouth of the Norman River. Finally, on November 13th, they sailed up the Batavia River in the “Pearl” for about forty miles, and explored it still further in the boats, thence on to Thursday Island on December4th, 1882. In General Fielding’s opinion, the country traversed on his route may be divided into sections; the first part between Mitchell and Malvern was neither fitted for pastoral purposes nor for agricultural settlement; thick scrub, bad soil, and poor timber prevailing. Between the Ward and the Nive, and thence to the Barcoo, Thomson, and Diamantina Rivers was first-class sheep country, requiring a good deal to be done in the way of providing water to enable the country to be fully stocked. The country between the McKinlay and Fullerton Rivers is subject to flood. Approaching the mining district of Cloncurry, the country is not so favourable for sheep, and is better adapted for raising cattle and horses. From the Cloncurry through the Gregory to the Nicholson River is all good cattle country, but the grass seed along the banks of the watercourses, and the flooded nature of parts of the country in the rainy seasons, render it unfit for profitable sheep-farming. From the Nicholson to the Gulf at Point Parker, the country is described as particularly useless. The formation is desert sandstone overlaid with nodular ironstone conglomerate; the vegetation dense, chiefly ti-tree scrubs growing upon spuey or rotten ground, together with spinifex, saltpans, and marshes. Such was General Fielding’s estimate of the country through which the line was to pass. Captain Pennefather of the “Pearl” schooner had been surveying the waters between Allan Island and Point Parker. He was very reticent as to thequalifications of the place as a port; but looking at the soundings, and the open nature of the anchorage, coupled with the utterly valueless nature of the soil surrounding the place for over one hundred miles, the less said about it as a shipping port the better.
The whole scheme was condemned by Parliament, and the general election of 1883 returned a majority against the principle of land grant railways. One of the first reform acts of the new Parliament was to repeal the Railway Companies’ Preliminary Act. No doubt, had the scheme been favoured by the people of Queensland, a great impetus would have been given to settlement by the introduction of so much private capital into the colony, while the large annual payment of interest on borrowed money would have been avoided to a great extent. At all events, there is no transcontinental railway as yet, and when it does arrive, Point Parker will not be chosen as the terminus. Mr. Frank Hann, a brother of William Hann, the discoverer of the Palmer Goldfield, accompanied General Fielding as pilot. Hann is a first-class bushman, as hard as nails and full of energy. He was for many years the owner of Lawn Hill, situated on a western tributary of the Gregory River, but ticks ruined his herd. He is now in Western Australia.
The first surveyor appointed by the Queensland Government in the Gulf was Mr. George Phillips, lately the member for Carpentaria. He surveyed andlaid out Burketown, Carnarvon, on Sweer’s Island, and Normanton, on the Norman River. In company with W. Landsborough, in 1866, he explored and named the Diamantina and other western rivers. The former was named after Lady Bowen, the Governor’s wife, whose Christian name was Diamantina Roma. The party passed close by the spot where Winton now stands, and by Kynuna, and from the head waters of the Diamantina they struck across via the heads of Rupert’s and Alick’s Creeks to Minamere (then Sheaffe’s), thence to the Flinders, and on to Burketown. There were no signs of settlement between the Thomson River at Mount Cornish, and where they struck the Flinders River. Mr. Phillips and Mr. Landsborough were the first to navigate the Norman River, and they chose the site for the township.
The writer met this party coming down the Flinders on their way to Burketown, in which place he had been laid up for several weeks with the Gulf fever; he was then on his way back to Conobie, more dead than alive. This was in the early part of 1866.
The narrative of the pastoral industry in Queensland is almost the history of North Queensland itself. The outward flow of that restless and progressive industry can be traced from its infancy, when Mr. Patrick Leslie, of Collaroi, in the district of Cassilis, New South Wales, moved his stock northwards, and after first exploring the country by himself and a man named Peter Murphy, placed his sheep in June, 1840, and formed the first station in Queensland on the Darling Downs (discovered by Allan Cunningham 13 years before). He called this first station Toolburra, and afterwards selected Canning Downs station also. The stock consisted of nearly 6,000 sheep, two teams of bullocks and drays, one team of horses and dray, ten saddle horses, and twenty-two men, all ticket-of-leave men, pronounced by Mr. Leslie to be the best men he ever had in his life. The town of Warwick is built near this classic spot, where first the pioneers of the squatting industry pitched their original camp. The next to reach the Darling Downs were Hodgson and Elliott,who occupied Etonvale in September, 1840. No white man had settled on Darling Downs previous to Patrick Leslie in 1840. After Hodgson, King and Sibley were next to hold Gowrie, and these were followed by others, until in 1844, there were thirty stations formed and occupied in that district, the stock mostly coming from the Hunter River district of New South Wales.
In 1843, the first station on the Burnett River was formed by Russell and Glover who took up Burrandowan, and they were soon followed by other settlers, occupying all the beautiful country on the Upper Burnett and Mary Rivers. Here the soil is rich, the surface water abundant, the climate equal to any in Australia; and thus a rich territory was added to the young colony.
The names of the early settlers and pioneers of this country are as well known as the stations they formed. The Healeys of Tabinga were settled not far from Burrandowan. Over the Brisbane Range, John Eales, from the Hunter, was the first settler with stock in the Wide Bay District. The Jones’, of merchant fame in Sydney, were also among the first over the range at or near Nanango. The course they followed took them down Barambah Creek to Boonara station.
All the centre of the Burnett district was occupied by squatters coming by this line, while the upper, or Auburn portion, from lower down by Burrandowan. Lawless Bros. took up Boobijan; Anderson and Leslieoccupied Gigoomgan; whilst McTaggart, H. C. Corfield, Perrier, Forster, Herbert W. H. Walsh, Dr. Ramsay, E. B. Uhr, and others followed soon after.
Following on this, came the occupation of the runs on the Dawson River, a tributary of the Fitzroy, and onwards to the north and far out to the great west, where the downs rolled towards the setting sun. The Fitzroy River, draining an enormous territory, equal to any river in Queensland, and surpassed by but few in Australia, was gradually and successfully occupied. Through the brigalow and mulga scrubs, dense and forbidding, over mountain ranges, stony and steep, across flooded rivers, and over or around all obstacles, the pioneers still moved on and took up and occupied runs. Westward to the Maranoa and Warrego, and northward by the Fitzroy to the Burdekin and Flinders River, and even over the South Australian borders to Port Darwin, their mission was carried on, to fill the land with the outposts of civilisation.
Before 1853, the Archer family were squatting on the Burnett River, and in that year Charles and William Archer went northward on an exploring trip during which they discovered and named the Fitzroy River, and rode over the spot where now stands the city of Rockhampton, with all its wealth, civilisation, and promise of prosperity. They started from Eidsvold, on the Burnett, simply with pack horses and two men, passed from Dalgangal to Rawbelle, and at the foot of Mount Rannes found the establishmentof the brothers Leith Hay, then the farthest out station. They had some very troublesome country to penetrate. Besides hilly mountainous ranges, brigalow and vine scrubs surrounded the base of Mount Spencer, whose thousand feet of height they climbed, and gave to it its name. They crossed the Dee, and passed close to the site of the famous Mount Morgan gold mine. And so on they journeyed to the top of a range, where the most astounding view lay beneath them.
Through a large and apparently open valley, bounded by table-topped, pyramidal and dominant mountains, with here and there fantastically-shaped sandstone peaks, a large river wound its way towards the sea.
They supposed this river to be the confluence of the Dawson and Mackenzie, and the sea before them to be Keppel Bay. They explored the valley of the Fitzroy, which they named after Sir Charles Fitzroy, they being the first to discover it, and then went on to Gracemere Lake, a magnificent sheet of fresh water, about two miles long and three quarters of a mile wide. They rode on till they came to tidal water in the Fitzroy, and found it a fine navigable stream, with the tide running strongly up it. Near here they came upon a large lagoon covered over with a beautiful pink water-lily (nymphœa), which they called the Pink Lily Lagoon. In the account of their journey, they described the cycas palm growing withclusters of round smooth nuts encircling the top as a crown, under the leaves. After inspecting the country from opposite Yaamba to what is now known as Archer’s cattle station, and laying it out in blocks, they returned to the Burnett. These pioneers were looking for new country, and being perfectly satisfied with the Fitzroy and its promise of future prosperity, they returned with stock two years later, in 1855, and took legal possession. It was on August 10th of that year that they brought the first stock on to Gracemere and occupied it as a run.
In the same year, 1855, the site of the future town of Rockhampton was examined. The name of the town was chosen by Mr. Wiseman, Commissioner of Crown Lands for New South Wales, who had been sent up from Sydney to confirm the Messrs. Archer in the possession of their discovery. The rocks crossing the river situated above the present suspension bridge and forming the limit of navigation, helped to the choice of a name for the new northern town. Gracemere head station is on the south side of the Fitzroy River, and is distant seven miles from Rockhampton. Till then, Rannes had been the outer limit of occupation towards the north, in which direction settlement was extending. The Archers were a family of pioneer settlers, several brothers assisting in the enterprise of opening up country and forming new stations. They were extremely popular men of high character and attainments; and the name of Archerwill be known as long as Rockhampton exists. Archibald Archer represented the town and district for many years in the Queensland Assembly, and acted as Colonial Treasurer in the first McIlwraith Ministry with credit to himself and much benefit to the young colony.[B]The Archers may justly be said to be the original discoverers and actual founders of Rockhampton, for although the town took its great start on the road to importance from the time of the Canoona rush in 1858, called in those days the Port Curtis rush, the site of the town had been made known five years previously by the Archer Brothers.