Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia

TWO EXPEDITIONS

INTO THE INTERIOR OF

SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA

DURING THE YEARS

1828,1829,1830,1831

WITH OBSERVATIONS

ON

THE SOIL, CLIMATE AND GENERAL RESOURCES

OF THE COLONY OF

NEW SOUTH WALES.

By Capt. CHARLES STURT, 39th Regt.

F.L.S. and F.R.G.S.

“For though most men are contented only to see a river as it runs by them, and talk of the changes in it as they happen; when it is troubled, or when clear; when it drowns the country in a flood, or forsakes it in a drought: yet he that would know the nature of the water, and the causes of those accidents (so as to guess at their continuance or return), must find out its source, and observe with what strength it rises, what length it runs, and how many small streams fall in, and feed it to such a height, as make it either delightful or terrible to the eye, and useful or dangerous to the country about it.”…Sir William Temple's Netherlands.

IN TWO VOLUMES

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME

VOLUME I

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

Purpose of this Chapter—Name of Australia—Impressions of its early Visitors—Character of the Australian rivers—Author's first view of Port Jackson—Extent of the Colony of New South Wales—its rapid advances in prosperity—Erroneous impressions—Commercial importance of Sydney—Growth of fine wool—Mr. M'Arthur's meritorious exertions—Whale-fishery—Other exports—Geographical features—Causes of the large proportion of bad soil—Connection between the geology and vegetation—Geological features—Character of the soil connected with the geological formation—County of Cumberland—Country westward of the Blue Mountains—Disadvantages of the remote settlers—Character of the Eastern coast—Rich tracts in the interior—Periodical droughts—The seasons apparently affected by the interior marshes—Temperature—Fruits—Emigrants: Causes of their success or failure—Moral disadvantages—System of emigration recommended—Hints to emigrants—Progress of inland discovery—Expeditions across the Blue Mountains—Discoveries of Mr. Evans, Mr. Oxley, and others—Conjectures respecting the interior.

EXPEDITION DOWN THE MACQUARIE RIVER, AND INTO THE WESTERN INTERIOR IN 1828 AND 1829.

Chapter.

1. State of the Colony in 1828-29—Objects of the Expedition—Departure from Sydney—Wellington Valley—Progress down the Macquarie—Arrival at Mount Harris—Stopped by the marshes—Encamp amidst reeds—Excursions down the river—Its termination—Appearance of the marshes—Opthalmic affection of the men—Mr. Hume's successful journey to the northward—Journey across the plain—Second great marsh—Perplexities—Situation of the exploring party—Consequent resolutions.
   
   
2. Prosecution of our course into the interior—Mosquito Brush—Aspect and productions of the country—Hunting party of natives—Courageous conduct of one of them—Mosquitoes—A man missing—Group of hills called New-Year's Range—Journey down New-Year's Creek—Tormenting attack of the kangaroo fly—Dreariness and desolation of the country—Oxley's Table Land—D'Urban's Group—Continue our journey down New-Year's Creek—Extreme Disappointment on finding it salt—Fall in with a tribe of natives—Our course arrested by the want of fresh water—Extraordinary sound—Retreat towards the Macquarie.
   
   
3. Intercourse with the natives—Their appearance and condition—Remarks on the Salt or Darling River—Appearance of the marshes on our return—Alarm for safety of the provision party—Return to Mount Harris—Miserable condition of the natives—Circum
   

   stances attending the slaughter of two Irish runaways—Bend our course towards the Castlereagh—Wallis's Ponds—Find the famished natives feeding on gum—Channel of the Castlereagh—Character of the country in its vicinity—Another tribe of natives—Amicable intercourse with them—Morrisset's chain of Ponds—Again reach the Darling River ninety miles higher up than where we first struck upon it.
   
   

4. Perplexity—Trait of honesty in the natives—Excursion on horseback across the Darling—Forced to return—Desolating effects of the drought—Retreat towards the colony—Connection between the Macquarie and the Darling—Return up the banks of the Macquarie—Starving condition of the natives.
   
   
5. General remarks—Result of the expedition—Previous anticipations— Mr. Oxley's remarks—Character of the Rivers flowing westerly—Mr. Cunningham's remarks—Fall of the Macquarie—Mr. Oxley's erroneous conclusions respecting the character of the interior, naturally inferred from the state in which he found the country—The marsh of the Macquarie merely a marsh of the ordinary character—Captain King's observations—Course of the Darling—Character of the low interior plain—The convict Barber's report of rivers traversing the interior—Surveyor-General Mitchell's Report of his recent expedition.
   
   
6. CONCLUDING REMARKS—Obstacles that attend travelling into the interior of Australia—Difficulty of carrying supplies—Importance of steady intelligent subordinates—Danger from the natives—
   

   Number of men requisite,—and of cattle and carriages—Provisions—Other arrangements—Treatment of the natives—Dimensions of the boat used in the second expedition.

APPENDIX TO THE FIRST VOLUME.

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