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The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888

E >> Ernest Favenc >> The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888




In the bed of some far inland creek, the water rises in the sand in
shallow pools, during the dark hours of night, to vanish once more
beneath the sun. And in low caverns in the limestone hills, down some
deep fissure, can be seen the waters of a stream, whose rise and course
no man has ever traced. Again a solitary lagoon is found whereon no lily
grows, and wherein no fish swims. Where the belated bushman camping for
the night, finds the next morning that the water has sunk many feet, or
perhaps has risen, when no rain has fallen far or near for months. All
these signs and tokens from the great sea beneath us may serve as guides
to the end.

When one comes to know the real value of water in a thirsty land, it
almost seems like a crime on the part of Nature, that a spring should
rise and flow for a comparatively short distance, to be lost in the sea.
When by placing the source some fifteen or twenty miles away the course
would run for hundreds of miles through a dry country. Can human
ingenuity improve on nature?

In this case nature seems to have laid the ground work of a great
comprehensive continental plain; to have put the lever ready for man to
start it, and though the scheme is one of such magnitude that it may at
first glance seem widely impossible, there is no reason, backed as it
would be by natural forces, that it may not be an accomplishment of the
future.

To fully understand the great problem of the water supply of Australia,
it is necessary to comprehend and carry in mind the wonderfully unique
river system of the continent. In an average area of 1,800 miles east and
west, by 900 miles north and south, the whole drainage runs from north to
south; that is to say, all that finds vent in the ocean. This, of
course, is the surface formation carrying off the rainfall, and has no
bearing on the outbreak of subterranean springs. But, as showing the
upheaval of the land to the northward, it points out that naturally the
flow of irrigation on a large scale will be from north to south.

It may be said that from the 18th parallel there is a steady slope
southward, broken only by the subordinate natural features of the
country, which necessarily form the irregularities of the smaller
tributaries. In this great block of more than a million and a quarter of
square miles there are then all the defined channels requisite for the
carriage of water throughout the heart of the continent, but with the
important fact wanting that they are destitute of a constant and steady
supply from the doubtful rainfall. The tilt of the northern edge of the
plateau puts their sources above the level of the great springs, and
causes them to be dependent on these intermittent and often scanty rains.
And we know that these rains have failed in producing any comprehendable
system of drainage over one third of our continent, at, least, at present
with our limited knowledge, the water system appears wasteful and
purposeless throughout that region.

If then the underground sea that exists beneath could be, tapped as far
north as possible, the water would rise to the surface at a much higher
level, than would be possible elsewhere, and much greater use could be
made of it, inasmuch as a larger area would lay below it for
fertilization. Now, the question of the existence of this water supply at
a uniform depth beneath the earth's surface can be proved by noting the
existence of the springs that we know of, that have found their way
without artificial aid to the light of day. Only those can be brought in
evidence that are unmistakeably outside of local influence, and are
unaffected by wet weather, or dry.

In the north, on the edge of the tableland, they are most numerous. On
the east coast, at the head of the Burdekin River, there are
unmistakeable signs of an upward effort of the imprisoned waters to free
themselves. One main tributary, a creek called Fletcher's Creek, takes
its rise in a labyrinth of basaltic rocks, that for years defied the
efforts of the whites to penetrate. This stream rising from its cradle in
the dead lava, winds in and out of the encompassing stretches of rocks,
until it emerges on the outer country, where it feeds and maintains two
large lakes, ere it is lost in the sandy bed of one of the anabranches
of the Burdekin. It is one of the strongest and most consistent outbreaks
in the north, and its volume and continuance show the strength of the
source from which it emerges.

The head of the Burdekin itself is amongst lava beds, wherein there are
many similar springs; most of these take the form of permanent lagoons.
To the westward we find ourselves on a more arid surface, the formation
of the ranges not being so favourable to the development of springs; and
where they do occur, they are evidently the product of rainfall. On the
watershed we are on a corner, as it were, of the inland plain, and our
ascent has put us above the spring level. Lower down, if we follow the
well-known Flinders River, we find in the hot springs at Mount Brown
another upshoot from below that has evidently come from the neighbourhood
of the internal fires themselves. From this point right away west,
skirting the edge of the tableland, great rushes of water are
comparatively common. Some find their way between basaltic columns, and
after feeding the flow of some large river for many miles, die suddenly,
leaving the lower part of the watercourse a barren, sandy channel. The
heads of the Leichhardt and Gregory Rivers are particularly prolific in
springs; the latter river, as I have already noticed, being one of the
steadiest flowing rivers in Australia. Westward still, the heads of all
the rivers, no matter what their lower course is like, abound in springs
at the break of the descent from the tableland, and, as nearly as can be
computed, all these occur at nearly about an identical altitude.

To travel west, through to the western shore of Australia, only gives us
the same phenomena: everywhere the belt of springs is to be found about
half-way between the edge of the tableland and the coast level, just
where the abrupt descent terminates and a gentler slope is entered on. It
would be wearisome to enumerate them all, the fact of their existence is
so well-known in these days.

To fairly see what would be the result of bringing a little of the great
sea of hidden waters to the surface, let us take an instance of one of
the tributaries of that great artery of Australia, the Darling. The head
waters of the Warrego rise in latitude 24 deg., and at its very head,
within almost a stone's throw, are large springs, that find their way
down the range into the lowest river. Thence, through coastal lands, to
the eastern sea board. Now had these springs broken out on the higher
level of the Warrego watershed, their waters would have benefited
hundreds of miles of some of the fairest country in Australia, that now
suffers under constant drought.

The preserving and regulating of their waters, after guiding them into
the channels prepared by Nature, would be an after-work greatly assisted
by the varied formation of the country through which their courses would
run.






PART II.





MARITIME DISCOVERIES.




CHAPTER XV



To exhaustively deal with the early maritime discoveries of this
continent would require from the historian a vast power of research, and
especially of caution, in deciding or allotting to any one country the
priority of position as the "first-finders;" and while we know of few
studies affording more intellectual pleasure and enjoyment, we doubt if
the result would even then set at rest the mystery which still enshrouds
those narratives.

Since the commencement of this work, however, the following original
paper has been considered worthy of attention, as it presents the most
reasonable and logical theory yet put forward for the right to consider
the French as the original discoverers, and readers will have pleasure in
following out the various deductions as made by one of our
fellow-colonists, E. Marin La Meslée, Member of the Société de Géographie
Commerciale de Paris, who has, by great research, compiled, in the
following interesting article, the evidence relating to the voyage of the
old Norman navigator, Paulmier de Gonneville, in 1503.

Without endorsing what is here put forward, there is much in its favour,
and it shows a considerable degree of keen argument and cogent reasoning
that, in any case, is a valuable contribution to this department of
literature. Moreover, it may be the incentive for further exploration of
the locality mentioned at some future time, with the view of solving the
secrets of the strange carving and wonderful cave drawings, to which so
much interest has been attracted.

* * * * *

Most of the modern histories of Australia contain, with regard to the
voyage of De Gonneville, the same stereotyped remarks:--


"A claim has been set forth on behalf of a certain French sailor named De
Gonneville, who is stated to have landed on the coast of Australia in
1503, but this claim can easily be dismissed, as there is little doubt
that the country he describes is no other than the island of Madagascar."


This opinion, so generally entertained by modern writers is probably
based on the authority of Admiral Burney, and the eminent
English geographer, Mr. Major, who, in referring to Burney's remarks with
regard to this voyage in his paper on "Early Voyages to Terra Australis,"
printed in 1861, merely endorses this statement without attempting to
discuss it. The voyage of Jean Binot Paulmier de Gonneville is
authenticated, however, beyond the possibility of a doubt, but the
mystery to be cleared up as to what part of the Austral world the old
Norman navigator landed upon requires careful handling and very close
discussion.

De Gonneville left Honfleur in the month of June of the year 1503, in the
good ship L'ESPOIR, and after having rounded the Cape of Good Hope he was
assailed by tempestuous weather and driven into calm latitudes. After a
tedious spell of calm weather, want of water forced him to make for the
first land he could sight. The flight of some birds coming from the south
decided him to run a course to the southward, and after a few days' sail
he landed on the coast of a large territory, at the mouth of a fine
river, which he compares to the river Orne, at Caen. There he remained
for six months repairing his vessel, and making exploring excursions in
the neighbourhood, holding meanwhile amicable intercourse with the
inhabitants. He left this great Austral Land, to which he gave the name
of "Southern Indies," as being situated, in his estimation, "not far
from the true course to the East Indies," on the 3rd of July of the year
1504, taking with him two of the natives, one of whom was the son of the
chief of the people among whom he had resided. On the return voyage no
land was seen until the day after the Feast of St. Denis, I.E., the 10th
of October of the same year; but on nearing the coast of France the ship
was attacked off tile islands of Guernsey and jersey by an English
privateer, who robbed the navigators of all they brought from the land
they had visited, the most important loss being the journal of the
expedition. On his arrival at Honfleur, De Gonneville immediately entered
a plaint before the Admiralty Court of Normandy, and wrote a report of
his voyage, which was signed by the principal officers of his vessel.

The following is a translation of the title of this document


"Judicial declaration made before the Admiralty Court of Normandy by
Sieur de Gonneville, at the request of the King's procurator, respecting
the voyage of the good ship L'ESPOIR, of the port of Honfleur, to the
'Southern Indies.'"


Extracts from this judicial declaration were published for the first time
in 1663 by the bookseller Cramoisy, who had received them from a priest
named J. B. Paulmier, then Canon of the Cathedral Church of St. Pierre de
Lizieux. The document was addressed to Pope Alexander VII., and bears the
title of:--


"Memorial for the establishment of a Christian mission in the third part
of the world, or 'Terre Australe.' Dedicated to His Holiness Pope
Alexander VII., by a priest originating from that country."


This priest was the direct descendant of one of the "Australians" (a term
used for the first time by De Gonneville himself in referring to the
inhabitants of "Terre Australe"), whom the Norman captain had brought to
France, and to whom at his death he gave his name and fortune, in his
desire to make some atonement for the wrong which the worthy sailor
considered he had inflicted upon the native by taking him away from his
country under a promise to return, which he was never able to redeem. De
Gonneville married him to one of his relatives, and the priest in
question was the grandson of the "Australian," whose native name was
"Essomeric." Canon Paulmier appears to have been a man of mark in his
time, since he was resident in France as representative of the King of
Denmark. He was also a man of great learning, and Des Brosses informs us
that he had made a particular study of geography and the history of
voyages of discovery, with which he was perfectly acquainted.

The documents published by Des Brosses were translated and appeared for
the first time in English in a work entitled "Terra Australis Cognita,"
by the Scotch geographer, Callender, who, like Des Brosses, was fully
convinced that De Gonneville had landed somewhere on what is now known as
the Australian Continent. This territory was named by Des Brosses
AUSTRALASIA as far back as 1761, and was placed to the southward of the
Little Moluccas, where our maps now show the north-western portion of the
Australian Continent. Some English geographers, however, such as Admiral
Burney and Flinders, differ from the conclusions arrived at by both Des
Brosses and Callender. Burney inclines to the belief that the land
visited by De Gonneville could be no other than Madagascar. After him,
Major, than whom no higher or more respected authority exists in
geographical matters of this kind, seems to have too readily accepted
Burney's opinion. Perhaps they each considered the claim set up on behalf
of De Gonneville as based on insufficient grounds, and were disposed to
doubt, in the face of later knowledge of the natives of Australia, that
De Gonneville could possibly have induced one of his relatives to marry a
representative of these wretched races: and it must be admitted that
herein lies the great stumbling block in the way of fixing the position
of the territory upon which De Gonneville actually landed. It is also
probable that Burney was led to the conclusion that Madagascar was the
point visited by some inaccuracies in Callender's translation with regard
to the kind of head-dress described as worn by the women, which would
certainly appear to refer more to the inhabitants of the great African
island than to the Australians. The mystery is a difficult one to clear
up, but subsequent discoveries, and a closer scrutiny of the Norman
captain's narrative, prove, we think, clearly that De Gonneville's
"Southern Indies" could be no other than the Australian Continent, and
that he landed in reality at the mouth of some of the rivers on the
north-western coast.

In the first place, the judicial declaration cited above, which had been
for more than three centuries and a half mislaid among the records of the
Admiralty of Normandy, was discovered in the year 1873 by the French
geographer, Benoit D'Avezac, who published it in a pamphlet in which he
discusses this question, and concludes that the land visited by De
Gonneville must have been some part of South America. But this official
document, which is similar in almost all points to the memoirs of the
priest, Paulmier, and establishes at once the fidelity of his extracts
and the absolute truth of the voyage of the French captain, does not
contain any additional information which could lead to such conclusion,
based only on his description of the natives of the "Southern Indies."
D'Avezac's contention cannot be sustained, and must give way before the
evidence of other facts; but as the same arguments against his theory
apply also to that of Burney and Major, we need not discuss it here for
the present.

It is, however, necessary, in order that the reader may form a clear idea
of the subject, to quote at length the original memoirs as published by
the worthy priest. As the translation of Callender is, on the whole, a
fairly good one--although it may be inferred that the Scotch geographer,
who wrote in 1761, was better acquainted with the pure French of the
eighteenth century than with the quaint terms of the old Norman dialect,
in which De Gonneville's narrative is written--we shall transcribe here
that portion which bears on the subject, reserving to ourselves the duty
of pointing out the few inaccuracies which may have led Burney and others
to erroneous conclusions.

EXTRACT FROM THE MEMOIRS OF J. B. PAULMIER.

It were to be wished that some better hand than mine were employed to
give an account of these southern regions of the world; but I cannot,
without being wanting to my character, to my birth, and to my profession,
omit doing this duty to the natives of the Southern World. Soon after
the Portuguese had discovered the way to the East Indies, some French
merchants, invited by a prospect of sharing the gains of this trade,
fitted out a ship, which, in its route to the Indies, being driven from
the straight course by a tempest, was thrown upon this great southern
land. The natives of this region received the French with the most
cordial hospitality, and, during an abode of six months, did them every
good office in their power. The French, willing to bring some of the
natives home with them, prevailed upon the easy credulity of the chief of
that nation to give them one of his sons, promising that they would
return him to his country fully instructed in the European arts,
particularly that of making war, which these Australians desired above
all things. Thus was the Indian brought into France, where he lived long
enough to converse with many who are yet living, and, being baptised, he
received the name and surname of the captain who brought him over. His
godfather, in order to acquit himself in some degree of what he owed to
the Australians, procured him a small establishment in France, and
married him to one of his own relations. One of the sons of this marriage
was my grandfather. The solemn promise the French had given to the
inhabitants to return him among them, and what I owe to my original
country, induces me to give the following short account of the voyage,
compiled from the memoirs of my own family:--

"The French having formed the design of following the steps of Vasco de
Gama in the East Indies, equipped a vessel at Honfleur for that voyage,
which, being commanded by the Sieur de Gonneville, weighed anchor in
June, 1503, and, having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, was attacked by a
furious storm, which, driving them far from their intended course, left
them uncertain in what part of the world they were. Being in want of
water, and their ship having suffered much by storm, the sight of some
birds from the south induced them to hold their course that way, where
they soon discovered a large country, to which they gave the name of
Southern India, according to the usage of those days, when it was
customary to give the name of India to every new discovered country. They
cast anchor in a river, which they say was of the bigness of the Orne,
near Caen. Here they spent six months refitting their ship, but the crew,
being intimidated, obliged Gonneville to return to France. During his
stay in this country he had time to form a most curious account of the
country and the manners of its inhabitants, which he inserted in his
journal; but, unfortunately, being just off the coast of France, he was
taken near the isle of Guernsey by an English privateer, who robbed him
of his journal and everything he had. On his landing he complained to the
Admiralty, and, having emitted the following judicial declaration, at the
request of the procurator of the King, he inserted it in a short relation
of the discoveries he had made. This public act, authenticated by all the
proper forms, is dated 19th July, 1505, and signed by the principal
officers of the ship. From this the following are extracts:--

"ITEM. They say that during their stay in that country they conversed in
all freedom with the natives, having gained their goodwill by some
trifling presents. That the said Indians were simple people, leading a
careless, easy life, subsisting by hunting and fishing, and on some roots
and herbs which the soil furnishes spontaneously. Some wear mantles
either of skins or of woven mats, and some of them are made of feathers,
like those of the gypsies in our country, only they are shorter, with a
kind of apron girt above the haunches, which the men wear down to the
knee, and the women to the calf of the leg. The women wear collars made
of bones and small shells. The men have no ornament of this sort, but
carry a bow, and arrows pointed with sharp bones. They have also a sword,
made of very hard wood, burned and sharpened at the end; and these are
all their weapons. The women and girls go bare-headed, with their hair
neatly tied up in tresses mixed with flowers of most beautiful colours.
The men let their hair hang down, but they wear crowns of feathers,
richly coloured.

"They say further, that having gone two days' journey into the country
and along the coasts both to right and left, they found it very fertile,
and full of many birds, beasts, and fish utterly unknown in Christendom.
The late Nicole Le Fevre, of Honfleur, a volunteer in this voyage, had
taken exact draughts of all these things. But everything was lost,
together with the journals of the voyage when the ship was taken: and
this makes their account very imperfect.

"ITEM. They say, further, that the country is not very populous, the
natives living dispersed in villages consisting of thirty, forty, or
eighty huts. Those huts are made of stakes drove into the ground, the
intervals being filled up with herbs and leaves, and a hole at top to let
out the smoke. The doors are formed of sticks neatly tied together, and
are shut with wooden keepers like those of the stables in Normandy. The
beds are made of soft mats, skins, or feathers. Their household utensils
are formed of wood, even the pots with which they boil water but, to
preserve them from burning, they are laid over with a kind of clay an
inch thick.

"ITEM. They say that the country is divided into many cantons, each of
which has its king, or chief. These kings are highly honoured and feared
by their subjects, though no better dressed or lodged than they. They
have power of life and death over the subjects, of which some of the crew
saw a memorable example in the person of a young man of twenty years of
age, who, in a fit of passion, had struck his mother. Though no complaint
was made, yet the king sent for him and ordered him to be thrown into the
river with a large stone tied to his neck, having previously called
together the young men of that and the neighbouring villages to witness
his punishment.

"The name of this king, to whose territory the ship came, was Arosca. His
canton extended a day's journey within land, having about a dozen
villages in it, each of which had its particular chief, but under Arosca.
The said Arosca was, to appearance, about sixty, then a widower, but had
six sons--from thirty to fifteen years of age--who came often to the
ship. Arosca was of middle stature, thick set, of grave but pleasant
countenance. He was then at peace with the neighbouring kings, but they
and he were at war with the people in the inland country, against whom he
marched twice, during the ship's stay there. Each time he had a body of
500 or 600 men with him, and when he returned the last time, there were
great rejoicings made on account of a victory he had gained. There was
nothing but excursions for a few days, in which they begged the French to
march with them, in hopes of being assisted by their firearms, but the
commander excused himself.

"ITEM. They say that there came five of their kings to see the ship, but
they wore nothing to distinguish them but their plumes of feathers,
which, contrary to those of their subjects, was of one colour. The
principal inhabitants wore some feathers of the colour of the king's
mixed with the others. Arosca had his of green.

"ITEM. They say that these friendly Indians received them as angels from
Heaven, and were infinitely surprised at the bulk of the ship, the
artillery, mirrors, and other things they saw on board. Above all, they
were astonished at our method of communicating our thoughts to each other
by letters from the ship to those on shore, not being able to divine how
the letter could speak. For these reasons they greatly feared the French.
At the same time they were so much beloved by them, on account of some
axes, mirrors and knives they gave them, that they were always ready to
do anything in their power to serve the strangers, bringing them great
quantities of flesh and fish, fruits, and other provisions. Besides
which, they brought them large quantities of skins, feathers, and roots,
of dying in different colours, in exchange for which they received
different kinds of hardware of small price, and thus the French got
together above one hundred quintals of their goods.

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