Discoveries in Australia Volume II Part 34

(*Footnote. A spirited painting of this encounter I saw ornamenting the walls of Captain Mears' cottage at Guildford.)

(**Footnote. Her Majesty's dockyards are now availing themselves of this supply of excellent timber; and its proximity to the sea must greatly enhance the value of this part of the continent.)

CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. CLIFTON, ETC.

Having conversed with Mr. Clifton on the subject of the settlement he had intended to make near Port Grey, and been made acquainted with his reasons for doubting the existence of the harbour, and the fertility of the surrounding country, as well as with his desire to have the question satisfactorily set at rest, I requested him to write to me on the subject; and on the receipt of his letter,* I communicated, also in writing, with his Excellency, Governor Hutt, and the Surveyor-General, Mr. Roe; the result of which correspondence was, that I determined to examine that portion of the coast; and to afford Mr. Clifton the opportunity of accompanying me, and with his own eyes convincing himself of the policy or impolicy of the course he had adopted.

(*Footnote. From which the following is an extract: Your arrival at Gage Roads, in her Majesty's surveying vessel, Beagle, under your command, affords me an opportunity of soliciting your able a.s.sistance towards the solution of a question of great interest, not only to the Western Australian Company, whom I represent, but to this colony at large; and I feel a.s.sured that your known zeal in the cause of Geographical and Hydrographical research will induce you, if it be within your power, to comply with the request which I now take the liberty to make. Under these feelings I proceed to state to you, that the Western Australian Company, after all their plans had been formed for founding their intended Colony of Australind, in Leschenault inlet, were led under circ.u.mstances which occurred, and information which reached them, to abandon that intention and to determine to fix their settlement at a port discovered by Captain Grey, designated in England by the appellation of Port Grey, and lying on the North-West coast of this colony, in or about the lat.i.tude of 29 degrees south, within the limits of the district between Gantheaume Bay and the River Arrowsmith, in which district her Majesty's Government had permitted the Company to take possession of extensive tracts of land in lieu of their property in other parts of Western Australia.

Upon my arrival, however, in March last, at Port Leschenault, with the intention of conveying in the Parkfield, with the first body of settlers and emigrants to the new district, the Company's surveying establishment already employed in this neighbourhood, I received such communications from his Excellency the Governor, and such information respecting the supposed Port Grey, and the country in its vicinity, together with a tracing of the partial survey made by you in Champion Bay, lying in lat.i.tude 28 degrees 47 minutes South which is presumed to be identical with Port Grey, that I was induced, after full consultation with his Excellency, to unite with him in opinion, that it would be proper for me to depart from my instructions, and to found the colony under my charge on the spot originally contemplated in Leschenault Inlet, instead of at Port Grey, which determination I accordingly carried into effect under the Governor's sanction.

It naturally was my most anxious wish, as it would have been my duty, if it had been practicable, to visit myself the supposed port, before I took, in conjunction with his Excellency, a step involving so great a personal responsibility, and so seriously affecting all the predetermined plans of the company, settlers, and emigrants. I have since made every practical endeavour, but without success, to obtain means of proceeding to the district in question, in order to establish the fact by actual observation and research, whether that district does or does not afford a proper site for the establishment of a new settlement on an extensive scale, or is totally inapplicable for it, according to the information which led to the decision come to. And as the result of such examination involves measures which may prove of very great importance to the local interests of this colony, and even to the interests of the mother-country, I venture to submit to your consideration, whether you would not deem that inquiry of sufficient importance to justify your proceeding to Champion Bay, in her Majesty's sloop, Beagle, under your command, to ascertain fully the capabilities of the country in its immediate vicinity, and to determine whether there be another harbour or not at the place a.s.signed to Port Grey on the map recently published by Arrowsmith.

If your proceeding to that part of this coast should be within the scope of the service a.s.signed to you by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, or the importance of the solution of these questions, on which such extensive interests and operations depend, should induce you to take upon yourself the responsibility of going there, I earnestly request you will allow me the honour of accompanying you, for the purpose of fulfilling my duty to the Directors of the Company, and to the very numerous body of persons interested in the formation of the intended settlement under them.)

EXAMINATION OF COAST.

On the 12th, accordingly, we sailed from Gage Roads, and next morning closed with the land in lat.i.tude 29 degrees 13 minutes South being thirteen miles south of the position a.s.signed to Port Grey in Arrowsmith's map, before alluded to. From thence we followed the sh.o.r.e at a distance of between three and five miles, in soundings of 7 and 12 fathoms; the first part trended North by West two miles, and then North-West 1/2 West to Point Grey, lying five miles South by East of Point Moore (a bight of that width being formed between) without any sign of the sought-for harbour. The general appearance of the coast was that of high sandhills, partly covered with vegetation; immediately in the rear of which there appeared a range rather higher, and of a less barren appearance; behind these again, at a distance of eight or nine miles, rose a series of singular table-topped broken ranges, terminating southwards in about lat.i.tude 29 degrees 5 minutes South. Mount Fairfax and Wizard Peak are the most conspicuous objects in this range.

REACH CHAMPION BAY.

Owing to the water being very smooth, we found ourselves embayed on approaching the point of the above mentioned bight, by a reef, the outer part of which bore South 37 degrees West fifteen miles from Mount Fairfax. The delay caused in clearing this danger, made it evening by the time we reached Champion Bay, in lat.i.tude 28 degrees 47 minutes South, from whence we had previously examined the coast northward for nearly thirty miles. We had, therefore, now satisfactorily ascertained that, excepting Champion Bay, there was no good anchorage on the coast between the lat.i.tudes of 28 degrees 20 minutes South and 29 degrees 20 minutes South.*

(*Footnote. For a description of Champion Bay, see above.)

From what I have said it will appear, that the point represented in Arrowsmith's map, as sheltering the north side, has no real existence. It is probable, that the following pa.s.sage from Mr. Moore's Journal, may have had some share in suggesting the contrivance.

"To the south of the tongue of land which forms the bay, there is also another bay, which would be completely sheltered from all northerly winds, so as to combine, between the two bays, perfect shelter at all seasons of the year."

VISIT MOUNT FAIRFAX.

This point being set at rest, we proceeded with a large armed party at daylight on the morning of the 15th, to examine the country. Landing, we took an East by South direction for Mount Fairfax, the nearest and most commanding point. About one mile and a half from the beach, we crossed the dry bed of a stream, trending South by East about twenty yards wide, with banks from twenty to thirty feet high, composed of reddish earth and sand, having considerable portions of ironstone in it. A few small tea-trees of the colonists grew in the sand that formed the dry bed of the stream. Our course continued afterwards uninterrupted, over a gradually rising plain, of a sandy scrubby nature, until reaching the foot of Mount Fairfax, when we crossed another small watercourse, trending South by West where, for the first time, we noticed a solitary stunted casuarina. Mount Fairfax is the southern and most elevated part of an isolated block, forming Moresby's Flat-topped Range. It rests on a reddish, sandy, sloping plain, on which were occasionally noticed fragments of quartz and ironstone, which latter formation is the character of Mount Fairfax, and apparently of the neighbouring heights.

Having completed our observations, which place Mount Fairfax 582 feet above the level of the sea, we continued our journey to the south-east, in the direction of Wizard Peak. Two miles, over a scrubby sandy plain, brought us again to the Chapman or Greenough. Here, for the first time, there was an appearance of fertility; but only in the valley of the river, which was about a quarter of a mile wide.

With the exception of a few brackish pools, the bed, as where we before crossed it, was dry, and formed of white sand, growing in which was a small crooked kind of drooping gum, besides a species of wattle and tea-tree. Its course was about South by West and appeared to come from the valleys, formed by the ranges in the rear of Mount Fairfax, and north of Wizard Peak. Continuing our journey, we proceeded over an undulating plain, on the higher parts of which a reddish sand and ironstone gravel universally prevailed; in the lower parts, and near the watercourses, the soil approached a light mould, and produced the warran, so much sought after by the natives. In all this district the vegetation was of the worst description--the trees, which grew only in the valleys, were small kinds of banksia, wattles, and drooping gums--not large enough to furnish building materials.

ASCEND WIZARD PEAK.

In the course of the afternoon we reached the summit of that remarkable and almost solitary pyramidal hill, Wizard Peak,* which we found composed of large blocks of ironstone, having a most powerful effect on the needle, and changing its direction in different places ten degrees. Here we noticed two or three stunted xanthorrhoeas growing on the South-West side of the hill; and a few small casuarinas, and wattles were thinly scattered on its summit, which, by barometric measurement, was found to be 715 feet above the level of the sea. Part of the range lying immediately north was absolutely a ma.s.s of bare ironstone. This view was very commanding--to the North-North-West and North-East lay extensive valleys, all of which appeared through a spy-gla.s.s to be of the same arid nature; for a few miles to the eastward, and a great many to the northward, the formation of the country was of the same flat, broken, and irregular character, but no part visible appeared to be of greater elevation than that on which we stood; to seawards the appearance of the country was that of an undulating plain, with patches of stunted woodland widely scattered.

(*Footnote. Distant eleven miles from Champion Bay.)

APPEARANCE OF COUNTRY FROM WIZARD PEAK.

After attentively examining with my gla.s.s, resting on the ground, all that lay within the extensive range of vision afforded by Wizard Peak,* I could not help congratulating Mr. Clifton on his display of judgment, in taking the responsible step I have mentioned; and it is to be deeply regretted, that one so energetic, and so well adapted for the duty he had undertaken, should have been totally abandoned by those who sent him out.

It was now clear that this part of the country was not fit for the settler, being deficient in the three most necessary articles, water, timber for building, and food for stock.** It was also now clear that the opinion expressed at Swan River, regarding both the harbour and the quality of the country was substantially correct. But it was not until it became apparent to my own eyes, that I could believe anyone could be so reckless as to induce a large number of individuals, including women and children, by false, or at least exaggerated representations, to sever the ties of kindred and of friendship, and become voluntary exiles to a far country, in search of a new and more prosperous home; whilst in lieu of the promised streams and fertile plains, nothing in reality awaited them but sterility--the certain loss of property, and the imminent risk of their lives.

(*Footnote. The reader will see my position, at this time, together with the track of the Beagle's party, and that of Captain Grey's, laid down in one of the charts accompanying this work.)

(**Footnote. Mr. Moore's description of the country near Champion Bay, is as follows: "Judging by the eye at that distance, the entire s.p.a.ce, as far as we had any opportunity of seeing, after going a little way back from the coast, on the slope to the hills, upon the hills, among the hills, beyond the hills, and, in short, everywhere, as far as the eye could discern, appeared a gra.s.sy country, thinly sprinkled with some low trees or shrubs, perhaps acacias. If this be the case, and there be water sufficient, of which there is no reason to doubt, this may certainly turn out to be the finest district for sheep pasture that this colony can possess." This testimony, one would have thought, was much too vague to justify the expression of any decided opinion as to the capabilities of the country. Mr. Moore judged entirely from a distant view with the naked eye: he could not discern the nature of the trees, does not a.s.sert positively that the land was gra.s.sy, is unable to speak with certainty as to the existence of sufficient water, and ventures only to draw the conditional conclusion that this district MAY turn out to be the finest the colony can possess.

Mr. Bynoe, who accompanied me in my excursion over this part of the continent, writes as follows respecting it: "There can be but one opinion of the country in the vicinity of the supposed Port Grey, namely, that it is comparatively sterile. All the soil pa.s.sed over, during our two days'

journey, was of a sandy nature; and the gumtrees, particularly in the open country, were stunted and gnarled. Isolated clumps, however, of a taller, straighter, and smoother character, were met with in the dried watercourses. Near Wizard Peak, the warran, or native yam seemed to grow in great abundance, and to some considerable depth. There the soil could be pretty well judged of; and the deeper the holes had been dug by the natives to obtain the root, the more pure was the sand; it was only the surface soil that held decayed vegetable matter. Twice during the trip, near the bases of cliffs, I saw a few acres of alluvial deposit, two very circ.u.mscribed beds, which were lost in the bottom of a watercourse, sliding, as it were, gradually under the sand. Near Moresby's Range, where the soil became freely mixed with ironstone and pebbles, the vegetation was more stunted, consisting princ.i.p.ally of a p.r.i.c.kly bush, mingled with coa.r.s.e brown gra.s.s. During the whole time of our ramble, we saw only three kangaroos, and five emus; and in some parts of the tall scrub were wallaby tracks.")

Descending, we found the party left below in the dry bed of a watercourse had failed in their endeavour to procure water by digging; we, therefore, as we supposed, had no resource but to return, exhausted as we were, to the brackish water-pools we had seen in the Chapman or Greenough.

NATIVE WELL AND BURIAL PLACE.

Happily, however, our dog discovered a deep hole under a drooping gum, which proved to be a native well, and after clearing and digging deeper, afforded our thirst relief. The soil through which this well was sunk was a light alluvial deposit, based on sand six feet below the surface.

Numerous native paths and deep holes, from which the warran root had been extracted, encircle this spot; some neighbouring huts of a superior structure gave us snug quarters for the night; Wizard Peak bearing South 50 seconds East about a mile distant.

At break of dawn we resumed our exploration. The morning was dull and cloudy, thermometer 59 degrees; on the previous day its greatest height had been 85 degrees. Two miles from our bivouac, we fell in with a recent native grave--a circular pit three yards in diameter, filled within a foot of the surface with sand, carefully smoothed over. Small sticks, some with red horizontal marks painted on them, and others sc.r.a.ped, with the shavings tastefully twisted round, ornamented the edge of the grave; a large semicircular fence fronted the south-east side; and the neighbourhood bore evidence, in the shape of several destroyed huts, of its having been deserted by the companions of the dead. After walking at least five miles, we again made the Chapman or Greenough, above a mile south of the point at which we before met it, and pursuing its usual course between South and South-South-West. The bed was still dry sand, but we found a small hole of brackish water in a hollow. Crossing, we continued our west direction, and were surprised to find ourselves again on the river; a line of red cliffs thirty feet high, forming the south bend, had changed its course to the northward. We subsequently again crossed two dry parts of it; from an elevation on the South-West side of the last, Mount Fairfax bore North 50 degrees East and Wizard Peak South 58 degrees East.

RECOGNITION BEND.

Hitherto I had been in doubt whether this was the Chapman or Greenough of Captain Grey; but here finding that a branch trended southwards, I was convinced it was the latter, and gave this part the name of Recognition Bend, as it further led to my discovering that Captain Grey had mistaken the hills in Captain King's chart,* and that, therefore, his description of the country refers to another portion; and it is only justice to him to state, that considering he was travelling for his life, and the great hardships he endured, it is surprising how the information collected was obtained.

(*Footnote. This error Captain Grey candidly acknowledged in the following letter to me, afterwards published by his authority in the South Australian Register.

Government House, Adelaide, January 28th, 1842.

My dear Sir,

I have attentively read your letter to the Honourable the Surveyor-General of Western Australia; I have also considered the observations made by you to me, relative to the error you suppose I have fallen into in mistaking the Wizard Peak of Captain King for the hill named by him Mount Fairfax; and I find that I have certainly fallen into this error, a by no means unlikely one, considering the very similar character of the singular group of hills, called Moresby's Flat-topped Range, and the circ.u.mstances under which I was journeying. Consequently the country I have described as lying near Mount Fairfax, lies near some other hill to the north of Mount Fairfax, and the country I have described as lying near Wizard Hill lies near Mount Fairfax, being placed from ten to twelve miles south of its true lat.i.tude.

The mistake arose thus: I carried Captain King's chart, and having only a Kater's compa.s.s with me, on recognizing what I considered to be Mount Fairfax, I a.s.sumed the lat.i.tude of that hill as laid down on the chart to be my true lat.i.tude, and made an entry in my journal accordingly.

On subst.i.tuting the name of Mount Fairfax for Wizard Hill, the description of the small portions of the country traversed by us in common, will be found to coincide almost exactly...I am, my dear Sir, yours faithfully, G. GREY.

I need scarcely add, that Captain Grey having been obliged to a.s.sume his lat.i.tude, none of his positions, during this hara.s.sing journey, can be expected to be accurate.)

MOUTH OF THE GREENOUGH.

From this point we proceeded one mile west over a dry, arid plain, covered with yellow and white everlasting flowers of small growth: a little patch of woodland, consisting of a species of wattle and a very small kind of gum, here delayed our progress. The ground beneath these trees was entirely barren of vegetation; but emerging from them, we came upon the only piece of gra.s.s of a useful nature seen in the route; it was, however, quite parched, and occupied a s.p.a.ce only of three or four acres. From thence to the coast dunes, to reach which we made a detour to the South-West walking over about six miles of country, all was scrub and sand. On the low ridge, lying immediately behind the coast range of sandhills, limestone occasionally cropped out. Embarking, we proceeded in a boat to examine a small estuary, seen from Mount Fairfax, at the northern part of the bay. This we found to be separated from the sea by a low bank of sand, thirty feet wide and five high, over which the sea appeared in gales to enter; but from the manner in which the sandhills overlapped at the mouth, it was not possible to detect the entrance from seawards. We landed and traced it for a mile in an east direction, until we proved it to be the mouth of the Greenough; the water was entirely salt, and the banks, in some places seventy feet high, were composed of limestone. Near the head of this estuary we discovered the place where Captain Grey crossed it, as described in the following extract from his notes communicated to Lord John Russell, then Secretary for the Colonies.

CHARACTER OF COUNTRY.

"The character of the country again changed, and for the next two miles and a half the plains were sandy, and covered with scrub. At the end of another mile we reached a river, about twenty-five yards wide; it was salt where we made it, and it was so shallow, that we soon found a place where, by jumping from rock to rock, we could cross it. This river discharged itself into a bay;* it ran rather from the South of East.

[East of South?] Four miles further, South by East, were sandy plains, with scrub, etc."

(*Footnote. This was doubtless Champion Bay; but in our examination of the coast, we did not see anything of the bay or harbour which Captain Grey speaks of in his work (volume 2 page 35) about nine miles north of the Greenough, and which he supposed to be Champion Bay, "since denominated," he says, "Port Grey." According to the true lat.i.tude of Champion Bay, the bay in question would be in about 28 degrees 38 minutes South or nearly twenty-two miles north of the position a.s.signed to Port Grey in Arrowsmith's map, before alluded to.)

Thus terminated our exploration of this part of the country, called, by Captain Grey, the Province of Victoria; and certainly all we had seen of it deserved the character of sterility, which in some measure it appears to retain further northward, as we learn from the report of Lieutenant Helpman, who has recently visited it in the colonial schooner Champion.

We did not, on our route, fall in with any native, but on reaching the boat, found that a party of five men had approached the beach, and held friendly communication with Mr. Pasco, who, in exchange for a handkerchief or two, had obtained from them a hunger belt, composed of wallaby furs, a throwing stick, and a nose-piece of kangaroo bone. They were entirely naked, and slightly scarred, but were not smeared with the red pigment called wilgy, and had their hair knotted upon the crown of their head, like the natives of the neighbourhood of King's Sound.

SAIL FROM CHAMPION BAY.

On the morning of the 16th we were again on our way southwards, with, strange to say at that season of the year, westerly winds, which prevailed for the three succeeding days.