and hot dry seasons have somewhat diminished the value of this natural wealth in some of the earlier settled districts. The chief source of employment in the Colony of Queensland, and the leading export, is still derived from the stock depastured on the native grasses that were found when the State was first explored.

A company or syndicate was formed in February, 1859, for the purpose of establishing a new pastoral settlement in North Australia. The project was conceived in consequence of the reports of explorers who had passed through much of the country to be operated on. These reports were from the journals of Sir Thomas Mitchell, Dr. Leichhardt, A. C. Gregory, the Rev. W. B. Clarke, and others. The prospectus was of a most ambitious and comprehensive nature, and it showed an intention to overcome, or make light of, all obstacles, and to march straight on to glory and wealth, as well as to start a young nation on its prosperous career. The area of the proposed new settlement was comprised within the 22nd parallel of S. latitude, the 137th degree of east longitude on the west, and on the north and east by the ocean, practically including what is now known as North Queensland.

The report of the Rev. W. B. Clarke, which was favourable to the probability of auriferous country being discovered, and of rich deposits of gold being met with on the northern rivers, was a great factor in promoting the project of founding a settlement which was to establish a thriving and industrious European and Oriental mercantile and planting community. The immediate design was to commence a detailed exploration of the country reported on by Dr. Leichhardt. The prospectus dwelt on the advantages of thoroughly exploring the rivers and country and making known the capabilities of the soil and climate to the capitalists of Australia as a field for investment. The programme mapped out was:—To proceed from Rockhampton direct to Leichhardt’s camp in the bed of the Burdekin River at Mount McConnel. To trace the Burdekin down to the sea in canoes, taking soundings to establish its navigable capabilities; to fix its mouth and its qualifications as a seaport. To fix the probable head of navigation, and a favourable site for a goods depôt there. To return to Mount McConnel; thence to explore the lower Suttor, lower Cape, and Burdekin Valley as far as the Valley of Lagoons, ascending the river by its western, and returning by its eastern bank; to fix the most favourable position as near as possible to water carriage for the first establishment of pastoral stations, and to trace the most accessible route from the latter to the former. To return to the settled districts by a different route, viz.: to trace up the Cape or Belyando River to its head in latitude 24 degrees, to cross the great watershed, and to drop down upon the Maranoa, which was to be followed to about latitude 26 degrees, where the course was to be left and a route made down the River Culgoa, arriving in the settled districts by the lower Condamine.

By adopting this route, the whole frontier, from the Valley of Lagoons to Gregory’s last track down the Victoria (or Barcoo) would be explored; thus, without additional outlay, deciding whether Leichhardt pushed westward by the Victoria according to Gregory, or what is more probable, from some point upon the Belyando or Burdekin, according to the Rev. W. B. Clarke. The person in charge of the party was to prepare a full report upon the country traversed, while the surveyor of the party was to draw out a chart of the region explored, copies of the report and chart to be furnished to each of the subscribers, who would then be in a position individually or collectively to take measures for tendering for and occupying the country, by sending their stock overland, and their stores, etc., by water to the depôt at the head of navigation.

The cost of the exploration was estimated at about £1,000, to meet which it was proposed to raise that sum by subscription; unless that amount were subscribed, the expedition to be abandoned. The leader proposed was George Elphinstone Dalrymple. The names of the subscribers of £50 each were:—Captain J. C. Wickham, R.N., Messrs. J. C. White, John Douglas, Gilbert Davidson, P. N. Selheim, A. D. Broughton, George Perry, W. A. Simpson, Ernest Henry, A. H. Palmer, Garland and Bingham, J. B. Rundle, Joseph Sharp, D. McDougal, Raymond and Co., R. Towns and Co., Griffith, Fanning and Co., How, Walker and Co., Dennison and Rolleston, F. Bundock, Edwd. Ogilvie, R. G. Watt, and J. R. Radfort.

It was intended that a committee of these subscribers should be at once formed in Sydney. The reasons given for the projection of a party with such a comprehensive and magnificent scheme before it were: 1st—Because the supply of butchers’ meat was even then unequal to the demand, and the latter increased more rapidly than the former. 2nd—Because the demand for sheep stations as an investment for capital was far beyond the capabilities of the settled districts; and the capital available for speculation in Melbourne in particular, was seeking new fields for employment. 3rd—Because the number of small or moderate capitalists who annually immigrate with a view to pastoral pursuits could find no field of operations within the settled districts, had to push northwards, and in a short time would occupy all available country within practicable distance of the most remote existing, or contemplated ports of shipment—Port Curtis and Broad Sound.

It was anticipated that other ports equal to Moreton Bay, with its highly-favoured back-ground, Darling Downs, would be opened up by exploration. The character of the country reported on by Dr. Leichhardt, intersected as it was by some very interesting rivers, such as the Suttor, Burdekin, Mitchell, and Lynd, warranted such a favourable conclusion.

The tablelands were high, and possessed of a cool and healthy climate; the soil on the banks of the rivers was of a rich nature, suitable for agriculture; the pasturage was unequalled for stock of all kinds; and the mineral prospects were favourable towards the settlement of a mining community. All this undeveloped natural wealth lay at the disposal of any who might enter and bring it under the magic influence of capital and enterprise.

In their wildest moments of enthusiasm, none of those enterprising colonists could have foreseen what a few years would bring forth. None could have expected to see in the short space of less than thirty years that, where the mangrove then fringed the shore, jetties and harbours would be built, and that great ocean-going steamers and vessels from all parts of the world would be found discharging valuable cargoes collected from many lands; that great cities would arise adjacent to these harbours, that land would be sold by the foot at high prices; that these thriving towns would be the termini of many railways reaching far away into that unknown interior which they were so anxious to explore, bringing in the natural products of the soil valued at many millions of pounds annually for shipment to the markets of the world, or that the mining prospects so modestly alluded to in their prospectus would be developed to such an extent as to produce hundreds of tons weight of gold. These men were the pioneers of a new colony; they looked out over the wilderness extending northwards to the Indian Ocean, and laid their plans to conquer and subdue it to the wants of civilised man. The promoters of this pioneering enterprise anticipated the probability of the deep indentation of the Gulf of Carpentaria enabling direct oceanic communication with the Western world, as well as with India and China, to be established, and that the projected telegraphic