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The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888

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It follows then, that the drainage and character of the terrace
surrounding the continent, keeping to natural and known laws was at once
understood, but the drainage of the plateau was more difficult to
comprehend, and it is now known to be confined to two river systems only,
first, that of the Darling and Murray, which rivers receive all the
waters flowing to the westward of the eastern coast range, and secondly,
the lake system further to the westward; the great salt lakes to the
north of Spencer's Gulf receiving Cooper's Creek and its many
tributaries, and also the Diamantina and Herbert; their waters being
dissipated by soakage and evaporation. Westward, again, there is little
doubt that no system exists, the level nature of the country and
intermittent rainfall shortening the existence of the creeks before they
have time to unite their flood waters in one large permanent channel.

The rivers of the eastern coast are the Kennedy, the Endeavour, the
Barron, the Burdekin with its many tributaries, the Clark, the Perry, the
Star, the Keelbottom, the Fanning, the Suttor (which last brings down the
united waters of the Cape and Belyando), and finally after passing
through the Leichhardt Range the Bowen, and the Bogie. The Fitzroy,
another river of many tributaries, the Mackenzie, the Isaacs, the Nogoa,
and the Dawson. Then come the Boyne, the Kolan, the Burnett (which
receives another Boyne), the Mary, the Brisbane, all in the Colony of
Queensland. On this coast in New South Wales, come next the Tweed, the
Richmond, and the Clarence; the Macleay, the Hastings, and the Hunter.
The Hawkesbury the Shoalhaven and the Clyde. The Snowy River, though
rising in New South Wales, discharges itself into the sea in Victorian
waters; thence we come to the Latrobe and the many minor streams that
flow into the ocean instead of into the great receiver the Murray. The
Glenelg and the Wannon. Then comes the Murray, the outlet of the inland
waters. Westward, the rivers of the coast become smaller and less
frequent, until at last they cease to exist; but on the western
shore--where the coast range once more reasserts itself--we find in
Western Australia, the Swan, the Irwin, the Greenough, the Murchison, and
the Gascoyne, the Ashburton, the Fortescue, the De Grey, and another
Fitzroy. On the north coast, we meet with the Victoria, the Daly, the
Adelaide, the Alligator, the Liverpool, the Roper, the Limmen Bight, the
Macarthur, the Robinson and the Calvert, the Albert--which is the outlet
for the Nicholson and the Gregory--the Leichhardt and the Flinders, the
Norman, the Gilbert, the Einesleigh, the Mitchell, the Archer, the
Jardine, and the Batavia, which brings us back to our starting point at
Cape York.

Now come the inland arteries, the streams running through the tableland
and feeding the Darling and the Murray. These are the Murrumbidgee, which
equals the Murray almost in importance, the Lachlan and the Darling,
which brings down the waters of a hundred streams, the Macquarie, the
Castlereagh, and the Bogan, the Namoi and Gwydir, the Dumaresque, the
Condamine, the Maranoa, the Moonie, and the Warrego. And falling into the
Murray itself, from the south are, the Ovens, the Goulburn, the Mitta
Mitta, the Campaspe and the Loddon.

The other rivers of' the inland slope are the Barcoo and Thomson, forming
Cooper's Creek, the Diamentina, the Burke and the Hamilton, the Herbert
or Georgina, and Eyre Creek, all these end in the flats and shallows of
the Great Salt Lake District.

The remaining watercourses to the westward cannot be classed in any way,
their course is apparently determined by local inequalities of the
surface, and although some are very considerable in appearance, their
flow is so brief that it is impossible to consider them as at all forming
parts of one system; the longest and most important is Sturt's Creek.

The coast country, meaning the land watered by the rivers first
enumerated, has the advantage over the tableland in the matter of
rainfall, and the rivers therefore possess more of the characteristics of
running streams, than the chains of isolated ponds that are known as
rivers in the inland slope. The climatic influence is especially
noticeable in the indigenous grasses and herbage of the two regions. Mr.
George Ranken, in one of his essays on Australian subjects ["The
Squatting System of Australia," by "Capricornus."] draws an excellent
picture of the reclamation and transformation of the forest primeval.

"The first comers in 1788, found before them, as their ships came to
anchor, sandstone bluffs covered with scraggy trees and heath-like
plants, with a bright blue sky above, and an elastic, buoyant atmosphere
around. As they went inland, they found an endless open forest, the
ground being clothed with a light, tufty grass, but it was the starved
outline of European woodland scenery, for the trees rose bare and
branchless from a thirsty soil, and the grass covered only half, the
surface of the earth. Except the grass, and that was thin enough, though
it grew everywhere, the country seemed poor in products, and looked as if
it were involved in a constant struggle between droughts and floods. They
would have judged it to be poor in capability also, if, on further
experience, a vitality had not appeared which seemed to electrify the
soil on the touch of colonisation. Imported animals, trees, and plants
lived and flourished among the dingy forests, which barely yielded food
enough for a few wandering savages.

"The farther they went, the greater contrast appeared, more drought and
better country; and in later times, as the last of enigmas, a change of
vegetation and climate seemed to follow the settler with his flocks and
herds. After a few years' feeding with stock, water has been found
permanently standing in country where it never stood before, and
sometimes the tufty herbage has changed into a sward. The flats that used
in one season to show a succession of swamps, and in another a surface of
bare dusty soil, rifted with yawning cracks, has often become good level
turf, intersected with runnels cut by the hoofs of the sheep and cattle."

The first invasion of the new territory across the range led to a
terrible feeling of disappointment; true, that on at once crossing the
crest of the watershed country was found, which being partly within the
influence of the heavier fall of rain, approached in every way the
perfection dreamt of by the explorers; but as progress inland was made, a
change was found to take place, and, above all, the familiar indigenous
grasses were lost, and replaced by what the settlers took to be nothing
but worthless weeds. All the now prized edible shrubs, such as the many
kinds of saltbush, the cotton-bush, &c., were amongst these despised
plants; and even the very stock did not take to them, until some years of
use had rendered them familiar. These drought-resisting plants were at
first supposed to be confined to the inner slope of the range, but the
extended exploration of the continent shows us that where the coast range
loses its character of a pronounced range, and is only represented by an
insignificant rise, the characteristics of the plain are continued right
down to within a short distance of the sea.

This is notably the case on the north, where the Flinders River and its
tributaries drain country that bears all the distinctive growth of the
interior. On the south coast, west of the Murray, this is also the case,
and in these parts, through the depression of the range, the climate is
much drier. On the eastern coast, however, the distinction between the
uplands and lowlands is strongly marked both in Queensland and New South
Wales, even in those cases where the rivers rise in uplands approaching
in elevation to the level of the tableland. The eastern coast of northern
Queensland is, from its situation and the superior height of the coast
range combined, the tropical garden of Australia, the luxuriant growth of
vegetation, taking the form of dense scrubs and jungles springing from a
deep, rich soil. These scrubs, of slightly varying character, form a
characteristic of the whole length of the eastern seaboard, and amongst
them we find much valuable timber. The cedar tree is one important
feature, and the kauri pine is found in one small tract in the north of
Queensland.

Further south, however, the trees grow to an enormous height in the
elevated forest lands. Victoria and Western Australia are particularly
noted for the giant growth of some of their trees. In Victoria the white
gum (EUCALYPTUS AMYGDALINA) has been found growing to a height of over
four hundred feet; the red gum (EUCALYPTUS ROSTRATA), and the blue gum
(EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS) also attain a great size in our southern colonies.
In Western Australia the jarrah (EUCALYPTUS MARGINATA) and the karri
(EUCALYPTUS DIVERSICOLOR) have become noted in the world as being most
valuable hardwoods.

Right through the continent, from east to west, the box tree (EUCALYPTUS
MALLIODORA) is to be found. On the tableland the timber is altogether of
a different growth. The giants of the slopes of the seaward range are
replaced by low, stunted, and crooked trees, some of them, however,
possessing edible foliage. Most of the acacias are of this kind--the
ACACIA PENDULA or myall, the brigalow, the mulga, and yarran. The
CAESARIANSAE common all over Australia, under the name of the oak tree.

The difference between the products of the interior upland and the
coastal lowland is mainly induced by the difference of climate, those
grasses and herbs growing on the tableland, while repellent in appearance
and colour, compared to the richer herbage of the coast, possess
qualities that render them invaluable as fodder plants. Once let the
grasses of the coast lose their moisture from drought, and they become
sapless and worthless, but it is not so in the tableland. Months of dry
weather have no effect upon the fattening properties of the shrubs; the
stock, however, have to become used to feeding on them before their full
value is attained.

Amongst the fauna of Australia the distinction between coast and
tableland is not so well marked, most of the well-known species ranging
indifferently over the whole continent. In the kangaroos, differences in
size, colour and appearance can easily be detected in widely separated
localities, but they do not amount to anything very noticeable to the
ordinary observer. The smaller kinds, the wallaby and kangaroo rat, are
common everywhere on the continent. In birds, however, the difference is
great, the seeds and fruit on which some birds exist being only found in
either the coastal scrubs or lowland country, whilst many of the parrots
and pigeons of the interior could not live on the coast. So sharply is
the line drawn in some places, that on the dividing watersheds of the
east coast flocks of galar parrots and plain-pigeons will be found
feeding on the western slope of a ridge, but never by any chance crossing
on to the eastern.

Australia is rich in waders, and they are found all over the continent.
The beautiful jabiru, or gigantic crane, is equally at home in some
lonely waterhole in the far west and at the head of a coast swamp; so,
too, the GRUS AUSTRALIS, or native companion, and the quaint and
rich-plumaged ibis. The familiar laughing-jackass is to be found
everywhere, but his peculiar note differs somewhat in different parts; a
blackfellow from the south says that the laugh of the northern bird makes
him feel sick, whilst the northern native says the same of the southern
kingfisher. The great inland plains are the haunt of the flock-pigeon; in
countless myriads, these beautiful birds come at some seasons of the
year, and in the morning when flying in to the water they look like
distant clouds.

The fish of the tableland differ greatly from those of the coast. In some
of the inland lakes and permanent lagoons they are so fat as to be almost
uneatable, and at times so plentiful and easily caught that the
blackfellows scarcely trouble to get them, which is rarely the case
elsewhere. The Australian native is a man with an unknown history whether
he is an improvement on his remote ancestors or a degenerate descendant
it is impossible to form any idea.

Whoever they were they left nothing behind them, except this wandering
savage, and he has neither traditions nor customs that tell us anything
of the past. The language is a perfect confusion of tongues, and
dialects, words of similar sound and meaning are often found in places
hundreds of miles apart; in distinct tribes wherein the rest of the
language is altogether different. Their physique does not differ greatly.
Perhaps in the north an admixture of Malay blood gives a handsomer cast
to the features in individual cases, but the Australian native is
unmistakable wherever you meet him, north, south, east or west.

The geological formation of Australia is, as is well-known very old, one
third of the continent being desert sandstone with no marine fossils, but
although, scantily supplied with water on the surface, there is little
doubt of the immensity of the subterranean supply.

Water has been struck by boring five hundred and seventy-two feet, and
risen to within ten feet of the surface, and on the Kallara run at one
hundred and forty-four, where it rose twenty-six feet above the surface.
Water then, will probably be found almost anywhere at a depth of six
hundred feet, and a vast portion of the lightly watered plains of the
interior will be worked up to their fullest capabilities by means of
boring.

It is generally supposed that the first portion of Australia that rose
above the sea was the south-east corner where the largest and probably
the most active of our volcanoes existed; the rise of the whole continent
which subsequently took place would have then left the interior a shallow
inland sea, girt round with a broken chain of more or less active
volcanoes. In time, these grew extinct, the sea evaporated and we were
left with our present coast range, with its now lifeless peaks, and our
depressed inland plateau, with its saline flats and lakes.





PART I.




CHAPTER I.



Expeditions of Governor Phillip--Mouth of the Hawkesbury found in Broken
Bay--Second expedition and ascent of the river--Expedition of Captain
Tench--Discovery of the Nepean River--Lieutenant Dawes sent to cross the
Nepean, and to try to penetrate the mountains--Attempt by Governor
Phillip to establish the confluence of the Nepean and Hawkesbury--
Failure--The identity settled by Captain Tench--Escaped convicts try to
reach China--Captain Paterson finds and names the Grose River--Hacking
endeavours to cross the Blue Mountains--The lost cattle found on the
Cow Pastures--Bass attempts the passage of the range--Supposed settlement
of a white race in the interior--Attempt of the convicts to reach it--
James Wilson--His life with the natives--Discovery of the Hunter River
by Lieutenant Shortland.


As may be well supposed, the men who arrived in Australia in charge of
the first party of convicts had more pressing work on hand than devoting
their time to scientific exploration. Separated by half the world from
the source of their supplies, in charge of a body of criminals of the
most dangerous type, Arthur Phillip and his officers had no light task to
perform, and every credit must be given to the little band of pilgrims
who, beset by danger from within and without, brought the colony through
its infancy without any tragedy happening. Apparently, these early
adventurers were no whit behind travellers of the present day in bringing
back wonderful tales of their discoveries whenever they essayed a trip
into the unknown. One of the officers writes:--

"We found the convicts particularly happy in fertility of invention and
exaggerated descriptions; hence, large fresh-water rivers, valuable ores,
and quarries of limestone, chalk, and marble were daily proclaimed soon
after we had landed. At first we hearkened with avidity to such accounts,
but perpetual disappointments taught us to listen with caution, and to
believe from demonstration only."

Amongst these gentry was a convict named Daly, afterwards banged for
burglary, who distinguished himself by instigating the first gold
prospecting party in Australia. Having broken up a pair of brass buckles,
he mixed the fragments with sand and stones, and represented the result
as specimens of ore he had found. A party was sent out under his guidance
to examine the locality, but, needless to say, failed in the endeavour,
the perpetrator of the hoax confessing to it in the end, and suffering
the punishment common at that period.

The discovery of the Hawkesbury River, in the year following the
settlement, may be looked upon as the first effort emanating from the
colony to push exploration to any appreciable distance.

On the 6th of June, 1789, Governor Phillip, accompanied by a large party
in two boats, proceeded to Broken Bay. After spending some time without
result, they pulled into an inlet, and suddenly found themselves at the
entrance of a fresh-water river, up which they rowed twenty miles in a
westerly direction, but provisions failing, they turned back.

A second expedition was then undertaken, and this time the boats
penetrated between sixty and seventy miles, inclusive of the windings of
the river. Further progress was stayed by a fall. The party examined the
surrounding country, but opinions differed greatly as to its value; some
reporting rich and beautiful land, others low-lying flats subject to
floods. A hill close by the fall was ascended, and christened Richmond
Hill, and the river was named the Hawkesbury.

On the 26th of the same month, Captain Tench, then in charge of the
newly-formed outpost of Rose Hill, started on an expedition to the
westward. He was accompanied by Mr. Arndell, assistant-surgeon of the
settlement, Mr. Lowes, surgeon's mate of the SIRIUS, two marines, and a
convict. His relation of his trip is interesting, as being the earliest
record of land exploration, and also as containing the account of the
discovery of the Nepean River. An extract from his journal runs as
follows:--

"I left the redoubt at daybreak, pointing our march to a hill distant
five miles, in a westerly or inland direction, which commands a view of
the great chain of mountains called the Caermarthen Hills, extending from
north to south farther than the eye can reach. Here we paused, surveying
'the wild abyss, pondering over our voyage.' Before us lay the trackless,
immeasurable desert in awful silence. At length, after consultation, we
determined to steer west and by north by compass, the make of the land
indicating the existence of a river. We continued to march all day
through a country untrodden before by an European foot. Save that a
melancholy crow now and then flew croaking overhead, or a kangaroo was
seen to bound at a distance, the picture of solitude was complete and
undisturbed. At four o'clock in the afternoon we halted near a small pond
of water, where we took up our residence for the night, lighted a fire,
and prepared to cook our supper-that was to broil over a couple of
ramrods a few slices of salt pork, and a crow which we had shot. At
daylight we renewed our peregrination, and in an hour after, we found
ourselves on the banks of a river nearly as broad as the Thames at
Putney, and apparently of great depth, the current running very slowly in
a northerly direction. Vast flocks of wild ducks were swimming in the
stream, but, after being once fired at, they grew so shy that we could
not get near them a second time. Nothing is more certain than that the
sound of a gun had never before been heard within many a mile of this
spot."

A short description of the hunting practices of the natives here follows,
and the explorer then continues:--

"Having remained out three days, we returned to our quarters at Rose Hill
with the pleasing intelligence of our discovery. The country we had
passed through we found tolerably plain, and little encumbered with
underwood, except near the riverside. It is entirely covered with the
same sort of trees as grow near Sydney; and in some places grass springs
up luxuriantly; other places are quite bare of it. The soil is various;
in many places a stiff, arid clay, covered with small pebbles; in other
places, of a soft, loamy nature; but invariably in every part near the
river it is a coarse, sterile sand. Our observations on it (particularly
mine, from carrying the compass with which we steered) were not so
numerous as might have been wished. But, certainly, if the qualities of
it be such as to deserve future cultivation, no impediment of surface but
that of cutting down and burning the trees exists to prevent its being
tilled.

"To this river the Governor gave the name of Nepean (after Captain
Nepean, of the New South Wales corps). The distance of the part of the
river which was first hit upon from the sea coast is about thirty-nine
miles, in a direct line, almost due west."

In December, 1789, Governor Phillip dispatched a party, under Lieutenant
Dawes, of the Marines, accompanied by Lieutenant Johnson and Mr. Lowes,
to cross the Nepean and try to penetrate the range beyond. They
discovered a ford in the river, and crossing, proceeded in a westerly
direction. So rugged and difficult, however, did they find the country
that in three days they had only covered fifteen miles. At a bill that
they called Mount Twiss they turned back, having penetrated fifty-four
miles in a direct line from the sea coast.

In August, 1790, Messrs. Tench, Dawes, and Morgan explored south and west
of Rose Hill. They struck the Nepean higher up, nearer its source than on
the former occasion, and remained out seven days, penetrating to a
considerable distance in a south-west direction. Near the end of the same
month, the same party made an excursion to the north-west of Rose Hill,
and traced the Nepean to where it was first discovered by Tench's party
in 1789.

In April, 1791, Governor Phillip, attended by a large company, numbering
in all twenty-one persons, including two natives, set out on an
expedition from Rose Hill to determine the identity, or not, of the
Nepean and the Hawkesbury. On the 12th of the month they struck the
river, and followed it down for some distance, but did not accomplish the
object they had in view.

In the following month, however, Messrs. Tench, Dawes, and two soldiers,
again went out, and settled the vexed question.

About this time, although scarcely to be included in the tale of
exploration, a number of convicts made a desperate attempt to proceed
overland to China. They, however, only managed a very short stage of the
journey--namely, to Broken Bay. Here they were attacked by the natives,
and returned in a demoralised condition to Rose Hill and gave themselves
up.

The impression these deluded men set out under was, that at a
considerable distance to the northward there was a large river which
separated this country from China, and when it was crossed they would
find themselves amongst a copper-coloured people, who would receive and
treat them kindly.

In 1793, Captain Paterson, who had already had some experience as an
African traveller, started on an expedition to the Caermarthen Hills (by
this time beginning to be known as the Blue Mountains), intending, if
possible, to cross the range, or at any rate, penetrate some distance
into it, He was accompanied by Captain Johnstone, and Messrs. Palmer and
Lang. The party was well equipped, and provisioned for six weeks. Pulling
up the Hawkesbury, they left the heavy boats at the fall that had
formerly stayed the progress of Governor Phillip, and taking two light
ones with them, they tried to ascend higher up the river. They managed to
reach ten miles beyond the furthest point ever before visited, and then,
their boats having suffered some damage, and there being a slight fresh
in the river, they returned. The highest part of the river where they
were they named the "Grose," and Paterson, who was a botanist, discovered
several new kinds of plants.

Another determined effort to cross the range that seemed to defy all the
attempts of the colonists was made by quarter-master Hacking, in 1794.
The party succeeded in pushing out twenty miles further than any European
had been, but their report was unfavourable. They reached the foot of the
range, and after climbing over some eighteen or twenty ridges, formed of
little else but precipitous rocks, they saw before them nothing but the
same savage and inaccessible country. Tier after tier of ranges rose in
view, divided by abrupt and impassable chasms and gorges. The only
natives they saw fled at their approach, and, saving for the presence of
some large red kangaroos, little sign of animal life was met with. Away
to both north and south, the same iron range could be traced, showing no
prospect of gap or pass, and they returned dispirited. The colonists now
began to look upon the Blue Mountains as their western limit, and the
extension of settlement in that direction was regarded as chimerical.

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