A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888

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




The vessel was fitted with a plant cabin for the purpose of making
botanical collections for the Royal Gardens at Kew, and on each return to
Sydney Cove, all plants, trees, shrubs, etc., were to be transferred to
the Governor's garden until the INVESTIGATOR sailed for Europe.

King George's Sound being chosen as the place to prepare themselves for
the examination of the south coast of Terra Australis, they anchored off
Point Possession, on the south side of the entrance to Princess Royal
Harbour, previous to wind and water being favourable for entering the
harbour to refit and procure wood and fresh water.

Many excursions were made by the naturalist, botanist, and artist, and a
new survey of King George's Sound made.


"On the east side of the entrance to Princess Royal Harbour we landed,
and found a spot of ground six or eight feet square dug up and trimmed
like a garden, and upon it was lying a piece of sheet copper bearing this
inscription:--

"'AUGUST 27TH 1800. CHR. DIXON.
'--SHIP ELLEGOOD.'"


This answered the finding of the felled trees on Point Possession, also
of the disappearance of the bottle left by Captain Vancouver in 1791,
containing parchment that Flinders had looked for on landing.

In Flinders' description of the country in the neighbourhood of King
George's Sound he says:--


"The basis stone is granite, which frequently shows itself at the surface
in the form of smooth, bare rock; but upon the sea-coast hills and the
shores on the south side of the sound and Princess Royal Harbour the
granite is generally covered with a crust of calcareous stone, as it is
also upon Michaelmas Island. Captain Vancouver mentions having found upon
the top of Bald Head branches of coral protruding through the sand,
exactly like those seen in the coral beds beneath the surface of the
sea--a circumstance which would seem to bespeak this country to have
emerged from the ocean at no very distant period of time.

"This curious fact I was desirous to verify, and his description proved
to be correct. I found, also, two broken columns of stone, three or four
feet high, formed like stumps of trees, and of a thickness superior to
the body of a man, but whether this was coral or wood now petrified, or
whether they might not have been calcareous rocks worn into that
particular form by the weather I cannot determine. Their elevation above
the present level of the sea could not have been less than four hundred
feet."


On January 4th, 1802, a bottle containing parchment, to inform future
visitors of their arrival and departure, was left on the top of Seal
Island, and on the morrow they sailed out of King George's Sound to
continue the survey eastwards. They anchored on the 28th in Fowler's
Bay--the extremity of the then known south coast of Terra Australis.

Off Cape Catastrophe, a cutter, with eight men, was sent on shore in
search of an anchorage where water could be procured. Nothing of the boat
and crew was again seen but the wreck of the boat showing that it had
been stove in by the rocks. After a careful but hopeless search for the
men, their pressing need for water caused them to abandon further delay,
and they left to examine the opening to the northward.


"I caused an inscription to be engraven upon a sheet of copper, and set
it up on a stout post at the head of the cove, which I named Memory Cove,
and further to commemorate our loss, I gave each of the six islands
nearest to Cape Catastrophe the name of one of the seamen."


Flinders sailed up the gulf, which he called Spencer's Gulf, and had a
long look towards the interior from the summit of Mount Brown.

The Gulf of St. Vincent then fell to his share to discover, and shortly
afterwards he met with the French ship LE GÉOGRAPHE Captain Baudin; says
Flinders:--


"We veered round as LE GÉOGRAPHE was passing, so as to keep our broadside
to her, lest the flag of truce should be a deception, and having come to
the wind on the other tack, a boat was hoisted out, and I went on board
the French ship, which had also hove to."


The two Captains exchanged passports and information, but Flinders was
afterwards much annoyed to find on the publication of M. Péron's book,
that all his late discoveries had been rechristened with French names,
and, in fact, his work ignored completely. Parting from the French ship
in Encounter Bay, as he named it, the English navigator sailed for Port
Jackson.

Suddenly coming to the Harbour of Port Phillip, Flinders thinks he has
entered Port Western, but finds his mistake next morning; then
congratulates himself upon having made a new and most useful discovery,
he says:--


"There I was again in error, this place, as I afterwards learned in Port
Jackson had been discovered ten weeks before by Lieutenant John Murray,
in command of the LADY NELSON. He had given to it the name of Port
Phillip, and to the rocky point on the east side of the entrance Point
Nepean."


On the 9th May, the INVESTIGATOR anchors in Sydney Cove, and again left
in company with the LADY NELSON, on the morning Of July 22nd, for the
examination of the east coast, making many discoveries before reaching
Torres Straits that had escaped Captain Cook, among others Port Curtis
and Port Bowen.

The LADY NELSON in consequence of being disabled left the INVESTIGATOR on
the east coast, and returned to Port Jackson.

We will again take up Flinders' narrative during his examination of the
Gulf of Carpentaria, which had not been visited since the days of the
Dutch ships. The first point Flinders mentions finding corroborative of
the fidelity of their charts is the entrance to the Batavia River and
there is no doubt that this spot is indicated by the words "fresh
water," in the map accredited to Tasman, as there is a capital boat
entrance of two fathoms to this stream, and at a comparatively short
distance from the mouth of the water at low tide is quite fresh. This
river heads from a plateau of springs, a tableland covered with scrubby
heath, and intersected by scores of running gullies, boggy and
impassable; in fact, the same country as caused such trouble to the
Jardine brothers when they explored this shore of the Gulf.

From this place, however, Flinders seems very doubtful as to the identity
of some of the rivers laid down. One point, the most remarkable on the
coast, and which Yet was not in the Dutch chart, Flinders named "Duyfhen
Point," and another, he called "Pera Head," after the second yacht that
entered the Gulf.

At Cape Keer-Weer he fairly gives in that he could see nothing
approaching a cape, but a slight projection being visible from the
mast-head, out of respect to antiquity, he puts it down on his map. The
"Vereenidge River" he concludes, has no existence, and the "Nassau
River" turned out to be a lagoon at the back of a beach. Still the
existence of anything approaching the reality of what was indicated on
the charts, proves that at any rate the ships had been there, even if
they had not kept close enough to the land to be quite certain of what
they saw. So shallow is the approach to this shore, that when so far from
land even at the mast-head the tops of the trees could only be partially
distinguished, Flinders only found from four to six fathoms of water.

Of the Staaten River he says that--"Where that river can be found I know
not," and at last he begins to fancy that the formation of the mouths of
the rivers must have altered since Tasman's time.

Reaching the head of the Gulf, Flinders sighted a hill, which gave him
hope of a change in the flat monotony of the coast he had now followed
for one hundred and seventy-five leagues. This Will, which turned out to
'be an island, Flinders judged to be a headland marked on the western
side of "Maatsuyker's River." The river he failed to discover, to the
island he gave the name of Sweer's Island. Here Flinders remained some
time, having found fresh water, and an anchorage adapted to cleaning and
caulking his ship. But a great disappointment awaited him. The report of
the master and carpenter who overhauled the INVESTIGATOR, was to the
effect that the ship was perfectly rotten. It ends in these words:--


"From the state to which the ship seems now advanced, it is our joint
opinion that in twelve months there will scarcely be a sound timber in
her; but that if she remains in fine weather and happen no accident, she
may run six months longer without much risk."


This was a death blow to Flinders' hope of so completing the survey of
the coast, that no after work should be necessary. Under the
circumstances, he determined to finish the exploration of the Gulf, and
then to proceed to Port Jackson by way of the west coast, should the ship
prove capable, if not to make for the nearest port in the West Indies.

Leaving Sweer's Island, Flinders next investigated Cape Van Dieman, and
found it to be an island, which he called Mornington Island. Cape
Vanderlin of the Dutch was the next point sighted, and it too was an
island, one of the Sir Edward Pellew Group. On taking leave of this
group, Flinders remarks on these discrepancies as follows:--


"IN THE OLD DUTCH CHARTS, CAPE VANDERLIN IS REPRESENTED TO BE A GREAT
PROJECTION FROM THE MAINLAND, AND THE OUTER ENDS OF NORTH AND WEST
ISLANDS TO BE SMALLER POINTS OF IT. THERE ARE TWO INDENTS OR BIGHTS
MARKED BETWEEN THE POINTS WHICH MAY CORRESPOND TO THE OPENING BETWEEN THE
ISLANDS, BUT I FIND A DIFFICULTY IN POINTING OUT WHICH ARE TILE FOUR
SMALL ISLES LAID DOWN ON THE WEST OF CAPE VANDERLIN; NEITHER DOES THE
LINE OF THE COAST, WHICH IS NEARLY W.S.W. IN THE OLD CHART, CORRESPOND
WITH THAT OF THE OUTER ENDS OF THE ISLANDS, AND YET THERE IS ENOUGH OF
SIMILITUDE IN THE WHOLE TO SHOW THE IDENTITY. WHETHER ANY CHANGES HAVE
TAKEN PLACE IN THESE SHORES, AND MADE ISLANDS OF WHAT WERE PARTS OF THE
MAINLAND A CENTURY AND A HALF BEFORE--OR WHETHER THE DUTCH DISCOVERER MADE
A DISTANT AND CURSORY EXAMINATION, AND BROUGHT CONJECTURE TO AID HIM IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF A CHART, AS WAS TOO MUCH THE PRACTICE OF THAT TIME-IT
IS NOT NOW POSSIBLE TO ASCERTAIN, BUT I CONCEIVE THAT THE GREAT
ALTERATION PRODUCED IN THE GEOGRAPHY OF THESE PARTS BY OUR SURVEY, GIVES
AUTHORITY TO APPLY A NAME WHICH, WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO THE ORIGINAL ONE,
SHOULD MARK THE NATION BY WHICH THE SURVEY WAS MADE. I HAVE CALLED THE
CLUSTER OF ISLANDS SIR EDWARD PELLEW GROUP."


As no marked change has taken place since Flinders' survey, we may
conclude that his last conclusion is the right one, and that a great deal
in conjecture was brought to bear on the construction of the chart.

Still following the bend of the gulf, Flinders next ascertained that Cape
Maria was only an island (Maria Island) and so with many points up to the
northern termination of the Gulf. Along part of the southern and most
western shore of Carpentaria many indications of the Malay visits were
found--scraps of bamboo, rude stone fireplaces, and stumps of mangrove
trees, cut down with iron axes. When amongst the English Company's
Islands, a fleet of proas was met with, fishing for trepang. A friendly
interview was obtained with them, and from the chief, Pobassoo, Flinders
learnt that this was the sixth or seventh voyage that he had made to the
Australian coast. He had a great horror of the pigs on board the
INVESTIGATOR, but a decided liking for the port wine with which he was
regaled.

The state of his vessel now decided Flinders to relinquish the survey,
thinking himself fortunate in having escaped any heavy weather.


"We had continued the survey of the coast for more than one-half of the
six months the master and carpenter had judged the ship might run without
much risk, provided she remained in fine weather, and no accidents
happened; and the remainder of the time being not much more than
necessary for us to reach Port Jackson, I judged it imprudent to continue
the investigation longer. In addition, the state of my own health, and
that of the ship's company, were urgent to terminate the examination here
. . . . It was, however, not without much regret that I quitted the coast
. . . . The accomplishment of the survey was, in fact, an object so near
my heart, that could I have foreseen the train of ills that were to
follow the decay of the INVESTIGATOR, and prevent the survey being
resumed-and had my existence depended upon the expression of a wish--I do
not know that it would have received utterance."


Thinking himself fortunate in escaping any heavy weather, he sailed for
Coepang, and from there to Port Jackson.

In July, 1803, in the PORPOISE, Captain Flinders, with the officers and
men of the INVESTIGATOR, left Port Jackson for England, to procure
another vessel to continue the survey left incomplete on the north coast,
but were wrecked on Wreck Reef, and afterwards taken prisoners by the
French.

His subsequent career and early death were both unhappy, and no effort
has been made by either England or Australia to do tardy justice to his
name. After his shameful detention in the Isle of France, and his
reluctant release, he returned to England to find his rightful promotion
in the navy had been passed over during his long years of captivity, and
that the licensed bravo of Napoleon, General de Caen, had retained
(stolen would be the right word) his private journals; and it was only
after much trouble and correspondence between the two Governments that
they were restored. Flinders completed the work of his life by preparing
for the press his charts and logs, and died on the 14th June, 1814,
of-there is every reason to believe--a broken heart.

Captain King, when he visited the Isle of France after his Australian
surveys, speaks with pride of the kindly memory entertained by the
residents for the unfortunate Flinders, and the contempt bestowed upon
his cowardly gaoler.

Australia at the time of the explorer's detention was not certainly in a
position to demand his liberation. But what has been done since? Sir John
Franklin, an official visitor to our shores, erected a memorial to him in
the little township of Port Lincoln--a tribute to a brother sailor. Ask
the average native-born Australian of the southern colonies about
Flinders. He will tell you that it is the name of a street in Melbourne.
In Queensland, the boy will say that it is the name of a river somewhere
in the colony. That is the amount of honour Australia has bestowed on her
greatest navigator.

What was the fate of his companion, Bass?

After the return from the investigation of Bass's Straits, the young
surgeon shipped on board an armed merchant vessel on a voyage to South
America. At Valparaiso the governor of the town refused to allow the
vessel to trade. Bass, who was then in command, threatened to bombard the
town if the refusal was not withdrawn. It was rescinded, but, watching
their opportunity, the authorities seized Bass when he was off his guard,
and it is supposed that he was sent to the mines in the interior, where
he died. He was never heard of again, nor was any attempt made to
ascertain his fate.

Not only can we admire both of these men for their dauntless courage, so
often tried, but all their work on the coast of Australia was done with
no hope of ulterior gain for themselves; their one thought was the
extension of geographical knowledge and the benefit of their fellow men.




CHAPTER XVII.



The French Expedition--Buonaparte's lavish outfitting--Baudin in the
Géographe--Coast casualties--Sterile and barren appearance--Privations of
the crew--Sails for Timor--Hamelin in the NATURALISTE--Explores
North-Western coast--Swan River--Isle of Rottnest--Joins her consort at
Coepang--Sails for Van Dieman's Land--Examination of the South-East coast
of Australia--Flinders' prior visit ignored--French names
substituted--Discontent among crew--Baudin's unpopularity--Bad food--Port
Jackson--Captain King's Voyages--Adventures in the MERMAID--An extensive
commission--Allan Cunningham, botanist--Search at Seal Islands for
memorial of Flinders' visit--Seed sowing--Jeopardy to voyage--Giant
anthills--An aboriginal Stoic--Cape Arnhem and west coast
exploration--Macquarie Strait--Audacity of natives--Botanical results
satisfactory--Malay Fleet--Raffles Bay--Port Essington--Attack by
natives--Cape Van Dieman--Malay Teachings--Timor and its Rajah--Return to
Port--Second Voyage--MERMAID and LADY NELSON--East Coast--Cleveland
Bay--Cocoa-nuts and pumice stones--Endeavour River--Thieving
natives--Geological formation of adjacent country--Remarkable
coincidences--Across Gulf of Carpentaria--Inland excursion--Cambridge
Gulf--Ophthalmia amongst crew--MERMAID returns to port.

The voyage of the GÉOGRAPHE and NATURALISTE, under Commander Baudin, was
undertaken whilst the explorations of Flinders were in progress, and
their meeting on the south coast, and the subsequent substitution of
French for English names, led to a very sore feeling on the part of the
English navigator.

The expedition was under the special sanction of Buonaparte, and there is
little doubt was mainly dictated by his morbid jealously of the maritime
supremacy of England.

Even at the time when the army of reserve was on the move to cross the
Alps, he found leisure to attend to the details of the projected
expedition and nominate twenty-three persons to accompany the ships and
make scientific observations. "Astronomers, geographers, mineralogist,
botanists, zoologists, draftsmen, horticulturists, all were found ready
in number, double, treble, or even quintreple."


"Particular care had been taken that the stores might be abundant and of
the best quality. The naval stores at Havre were entirely at the disposal
of our commander. Considerable sums were granted him for the purchase of
supplies of fresh provisions, such as wines, liquors, syrups, sweetmeats
of different kinds, portable soups, Italian pastes, dry lemonade,
extracts of beer, etc., some filtering vessels, hand mills, stoves,
apparatus for distilling, etc., had been shipped on board each vessel."


Added to which a national medal was struck to preserve the memory of the
undertaking, and unlimited credit opened on the principal colonies in
Asia and Africa.

Think of Flinders in the crazy old INVESTIGATOR, of King and Cunningham
cramped up in the MERMAID, where the cabin was not big enough for their
mess-table, and imagine with what scorn they would have looked on these
luxurious preparations.

M. Péron writes:--


"On the shores to which we were destined were many interesting nations.
It was the wish of the First Consul, that as deputies of Europe, we
should conciliate these uninformed people, and appear among them as
friends and benefactors. By his order the most useful animals were
embarked in our vessels, a number of interesting trees and shrubs were
collected in our ships, with quantities of such seeds as were most
congenial to the temperature of the climate. The most useful tools,
clothing, and ornaments of every sort were provided for them; even the
most particular inventions in optics, chemistry, and natural philosophy
were contributed for their advantage, or to promote their pleasure."


Certainly if M. Baudin failed it would not be the fault of the First
Consul.

On the 27th of May, 18oi, the coast of New Holland was made--"a blackish
stripe from the north to the south was the humble profile of the
continent first caught sight of." Their first acquaintance with the coast
was not encouraging. Landing at Géographe Bay to examine a river reported
to be there, the longboat was lost, a sailor named Vasse drowned, and the
NATURALISTE lost two anchors. The ships now parted company, the GÉOGRAPHE
steering north to Dirk Hartog's Road, or Shark's Bay. Here they waited
some time for the appearance of the NATURALISTE, but that vessel not
appearing, the GÉOGRAPHE sailed north, and on the 27th July they were in
the neighbourhood of the much visited Rosemary Island. On the 5th of
August the Lacepede Islands were found and named, but no landings were
effected, and the voyagers described the appearance of the islands as
"hideously sterile."


"In the midst of these numerous islands there is not anything to delight
the mind. The soil is naked; the ardent sky seems always clear and
without clouds; the waves are scarcely agitated, except by the nocturnal
tempests: man seems to fly from these ungrateful shores, not a part of
which, at least as far as we could distinguish, had the smallest trace of
his presence. The aspect is altogether the most whimsical and savage, at
all parts raising itself into a thousand different shapes of sandy,
sterile, and chalky isles, many of them resembling immense antique tombs;
some of them appear united by chains of reefs, others protected by
immense sand-banks, and all that one could see of the continent displayed
the same sterility, and the same monotony of colour and appearance. The
dismayed and astonished navigator turns away his eyes, fatigued with the
contemplation of these unhappy isles and hideous solitudes, surrounded,
as he views them, with continual dangers; and when he reflects that these
inhospitable shores border those of the archipelago of Asia, on which
nature has lavished blessings and treasures, he can scarcely conceive how
so vast a sterility could be produced in the neighbourhood of such great
fecundity. We continued to range the coast, which seemed to make part of
the archipelago, everywhere bordered with reefs and quicksands, against
which the sea struck with violence, and varied itself as it were in
sheafs of foam. Never was such a spectacle before presented to our
observation. 'These breakers,'" says M. Boulanger, in his journal, "'seem
to form several parallel lines at the shore, and little distant one from
the other, above which the waves are seen raising themselves,
successively breaking with great fury, and forming a horrible cascade of
about fifteen leagues in length. We navigated at this time in the midst
of shallows; the lead found only at times six fathoms. Then, though more
distant from the land, we were not out of sight of it. This part of New
Holland is truly frightful. All the islands that we could reconnoitre
presented alike hideous characters of sterility. We continued to sail in
the midst of shallows and sandbanks, compelled to repeatedly tack, and
avoiding one danger only to fall into another.'"


Their privations were very heavy at this time; the food to which they had
been reduced since their departure from the Isle of France had affected
the health even of the strongest, and the scurvy increased its ravages.
Added to that, the allowance of water beginning to fail, and their belief
in the utter impossibility of taking any from these shores, the
GÉOGRAPHE, after naming the archipelago of the north-west coast,
BUONAPARTES, a name now obsolete, sailed for Timor, and here, after a
lapse of some time, was joined by her consort. The stay at Coepang was a
long one, for scurvy and sickness was rife amongst the crews and many
died.

During the time Captain Hamelin of the NATURALISTE was absent from his
consort, he had been busy along the coast. The Swan River was explored by
Bailly the naturalist, and the island of Rottnest examined.

"The River of Swans," says M. Bailly, .'was discovered in 1697 by
Vlaming, and was thus named by him, from the great number of black swans
he there saw. The river cannot be considered as proper to supply the
water necessary for a ship; in the first place it is difficult to enter,
and its course is obstructed by many shoals and sandbank; and secondly,
the distance from the mouth of the river is too great before we can find
any fresh water.

"In the meantime the days fixed by Captain Hamelin to wait for the
GÉOGRAPHE had expired, and we had heard nothing of her, nor did it now
appear likely that we should obtain any news of her by staying any longer
on this coast, we therefore determined to sail for Endracht's Land,
leaving on this island of Rottnest a flag, and a bottle with a letter for
the Commander, in case he should touch there."


Leaving the Isle of Rottnest, they sailed north, intending to examine the
shore, but the wind compelled them to keep off the land. After several
attempts they succeeded in keeping near enough to distinguish the general
constitution of the soil, and pronounced this part of Edel's Land of the
same melancholy appearance as the shore of Leeuwin's Land. On the 9th of
July they were in sight of the Isles of Turtel-Duyf and the Abrolhos, on
which Pelsart was wrecked in the year 1629. Their first care on anchoring
in the "Bay of Sea-dogs"--or Shark's Bay--so called by Dampier--was to
find if the GÉOGRAPHE was there, or had been there, this being the second
rendezvous appointed. No signs being found, they concluded to wait eight
or ten days in the hope she would appear.

"Our chief coxswain, on his return from the island of Dirck Hartighs,
brought us a pewter plate of about six inches in diameter, on which was
roughly engraven two Dutch inscriptions, the first dated 25th of October,
1616, and the second dated 4th of February, 1697. This plate had been
found on the northern point of the island, which for this reason we named
Cape Inscription. When found it was half covered with sand, near the
remains of a post of oak-wood, to which it seemed to have been originally
nailed.

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