The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 Part 20

In November of the same year, he made a third expedition in the vicinity of Lake Eyre, but there is very little of interest attaching to his journal, as his course was mostly over much-trodden country. He reached the Neale again, and inst.i.tuted a survey of the good country he had formerly traversed, occasionally approaching to within sight of what he calls Lake Torrens, but which was in reality Lake Eyre. All these minor expeditions of Stuart's may be considered as preparatory to his great struggle to find a pa.s.sage across the continent; for which work these trips gave him a good knowledge of the country he had to face, and its difficulties. Stuart's efforts to cross Australia from south to north, and the expeditions made by others with a like object, will occupy the undivided attention of the reader so much, that in order not to lose the thread of the narrative of this peculiar and marked epoch in Australian history, it may be better to here notice an important journey undertaken in Western Australia, although slightly out of chronological order.

It was an expedition organised partly by the Imperial, and partly by the Colonial Governments, and was also aided by private subscription. Frank Gregory, the successful explorer of the Gascoyne, was put in charge of it. They left Perth in the DOLPHIN for Nickol Bay, on the north-west coast, where they intended to land their horses and commence operations.

This was safely accomplished, and on 25th May, 1861, the party started.

Their first important discovery on a westerly course was a large river coming from the south, which they named the Fortescue. This stream they followed up until impeded by a very narrow, precipitous gorge, when they left the river, and made for a range they had sighted to the south. This range, which was called Hammersley Range, they attempted to cross, without success, so the explorers turned to the north-east, and came again on the Fortescue, above the gorge, and after some difficulty traced it to the range, through which it forced a pa.s.sage. Crossing the range, partly by the aid of the river-bed, and partly by a gap, they came to fair average country stretching away to the southward. On this course the large and important river, the Ashburton, was found, which was traced upwards, flowing through a very large extent of good pastoral country. On the 25th of June, from the top of a sandstone tableland, they sighted Mount Augustus, at the head of the Lyons River. The view was most promising. Open forest and undulating country took the place of the everlasting scrubs and rocks, that had been such common objects with them, and well satisfied with what they saw the explorers turned north.

Mount Samson and Mount Bruce, two most prominent peaks of the Hammersley Range, were named by Gregory on his return; the latter being considered by him the highest point in Western Australia. From here they struck back to the coast, their horses having become terribly foot-sore, and reached the sea forty miles from Nickol Bay, and on the 19th arrived at their rendezvous in that bay, where the ship was awaiting them. After a rest of ten days, Gregory started again, and to the eastward found the Yule River; thence they crossed to the Shaw, and still pushing east they succeeded in penetrating a considerable way into the tableland, where they found good gra.s.s and springs. On the 26th of August a fine stream running to the north was discovered, and named the De Grey; and after crossing ail immense plain they came to another river, which was christened the Oakover. Up this river Gregory went, the men admiring the rich foliage of the drooping ti-trees that bordered the long reaches of water, and the horses appreciating the wide gra.s.sy flats on either bank.

Finding the course of the river trending too much westerly, they crossed to a tributary of the Oakover and thence pa.s.sed easterly through a small range. Here he was confronted by a most unwelcome sight. Before him were the hills of drifted sand, the barren plains and the ominous red haze of the desert. So far he had encountered fewer obstacles and made more encouraging discoveries than had fallen to the lot of any other Western Australian explorer; and now, the desert had drawn its forbidding hand suddenly across his track, and sternly ordered him to halt.

Gregory made one effort of eighteen miles across the red sand dunes, but his 'horses were not equal to the task, and he returned to his camp at the foot of the range.

After resting for a day, he started with two companions for a final attempt, leaving the remainder camped to await his return, with instructions, if the water failed, to fall back on the Oakover. This excursion nearly proved fatal; the heat was something terrible, and when well advanced in the sand ridges, the horses gave in altogether. Afar to the east, a distant range was faintly visible, and a granite range could be seen to the south, about ten miles distant. These granite hills were their only hope, and to them they turned.

Across the sand hills now, instead of running parallel with them, the horses at once gave up, and, leaving his comrades to drive them on as best they could, Gregory pushed towards the goal on foot, but when he reached it no sign of verdure or moisture greeted him. Blasted, scorched, and barren the rocks and rugged ravines lay before him, and all his weary searching resulted only in his completely breaking down with distress and fatigue. When his companions came up with the dying horses there was nothing to do but make preparations to get back as soon as they could to the depot, trusting that the want of water might not have compelled the main party to abandon the camp.

By dawn the wearied men commenced their retreat, but when the heat of the day set in, the poor, thirsty horses of course began to fail; and Gregory, too, was so completely exhausted with his previous day's efforts that he could not keep up with the other two. One of the party, Brown, started on ahead with the horses, the other remaining with Gregory to follow more slowly. Brown had to abandon nearly everything to get the wretched animals on, finally reaching the camp with only one; but fortunately he found the party still there. He started back at once, with fresh horses, to meet the others, and recover the equipment; but two of the horses were never found.

Gregory was now convinced that the sandy tract before him was not to be crossed with the means at his command, so that, reluctantly, he had to give way and turn to the northward, to follow down the Oakover. They found the country fertile, and the river abounding with water; and on the 18th September reached the junction of De Grey with the Oakover. Down the united streams, henceforth bearing the name of the De Grey only, the explorers travelled through fair, open land, the course of the river flowing now to the westward, until the coast was reached on the 25th.

From here the party made back to their rendezvous at Nickol Bay, crossing once more the Yule and the Sherlock, rivers named on their outward journey. On the 17th October the ship was reached, and they were taken on board.

Gregory had thus done good service to the colony during his last two expeditions. The stigma of desolation was at any rate partially removed, and it was with hopeful hearts that the colonists looked forward to the future of the valleys of the Gascoyne, the Ashburton, and the De Grey.

Another party, with less success, had been exploring to the eastward of the settled districts, in the southern part of the colony, and as it will be some time before we shall revisit Western Australia, it will be most convenient to now follow out the fortunes of the little body of colonists with the large territory.

In 1861, whilst Gregory was opening up his new country, Messrs. Dempster, Clarkson, and Harper started from Northam to make one more trial to the east to get through the dense scrubs and the salt-lake country into a more promising region. It was purely a private expedition; one of those that have done so much of the work of discovery in Australia; each member of the party found his own horses and equipment.

They left on the 3rd July, and for many days met with nothing but the usual alternations of scrub and sandy plains dotted with granite hills.

On the 19th, we find in their diary the first mention of the legend amongst the blacks of white men having been murdered on a large lake to the eastward. Their informant was a native who was with them for some time as a guide, and his authority was a great traveller of the name of Boodgin, who must have revelled in the possession of a singularly fertile imagination. The account of Boodgin was to the effect that three white men with horses had many years ago come to a large lake of salt water, a long way to the eastward, and after travelling along the sh.o.r.e for some time, they turned back, and were either killed by the JIMBRAS, or perished from want of water. Thus ran Mr. Boodgin's story, which we shall immediately have to refer to.

Still endeavouring to reach to the east by various detours, on the 24th they came to the largest hill they had yet seen--Mount Kennedy--and at the end of the month found themselves still in the lake district. For sixty miles they had traced the lakes, and from the hills could see a continuation of the low range they were on. On one of them (Lake Grace) they had speech with a few natives, who repeated what they had formerly heard, as to the death of three white men, far away at some interior lake or inland sea. They were also acquainted with the before-mentioned Boodgin, who, unfortunately, had in some way offended them; so he was not present, the others having announced an intention of spearing him on the first opportunity. These men gave an account of the JIMBRA, or JINGRA, a strange animal, male and female, which they described as resembling a monkey, very fierce, and would attack men when it caught one singly. Thinking there might be a confusion of names, the explorers asked if the JIMBRA, or JINGRA, was the same as the GINKA--the native name for devil. This, however, was not so, as the natives a.s.serted that the devil, or GINKA, was never seen, but that the JIMBRA was both seen and felt.

From this point the party returned homeward, having, at any rate, demonstrated the fact that the thickets to the eastward were not impenetrable, and that no insurmountable obstacles existed to further progress.

Whatever may have been the origin of the native tradition about the deaths of three white men, which Forrest afterwards investigated, it must seem strange that the natives should in the JIMBRA have described an animal (the ape) they could not possibly have ever seen. It may be mentioned here that reports about the bones of cattle having been found on the outskirts of Western Australia had been circulated in the Eastern colonies before Leichhardt left.

CHAPTER IX.

Across the continent, from south to north--M'Dowall Stuart's first attempt to reach the north coast--Native warfare--Chambers' Pillar-- Central Mount Stuart--Singular footprint--Sufferings from thirst-- Aboriginal Freemasons--Attack Creek--Return--Stuart's second departure-- The Victorian expedition--Costly equipment--Selection of a leader--Burke, and his qualifications for the post--Wills--Resignation of Landells-- Wright left in charge of the main party--Burke and Wills, with six men, push on to Cooper's Creek--Delay of Wright--Burke's final determination to push on to the north coast--Starts with Wills and two men--Progress across the continent--Arrival at the salt water--Wills'

account--Homeward journey--The depot deserted--Resolve to make for Mount Hopeless--Failure and return--Wills revisits the depot--Kindness of the natives--Burke and King start in search of the blacks--Death of Burke--King finds Wills dead on his return--Wright and Brahe visit the depot--Fail to see traces of Burke's return--Consternation in Melbourne--Immediate dispatch of search parties--Howitt finds King--Narrow escape of trooper Lyons--Stuart in the north--Hedgewood scrub first seen--Discovery of Newcastle waters--All attempts to the north fruitless--Return of Stuart.

We are now about to turn a page in the history of Australia which, however marked by misfortune and disappointment, still embodies some of the most fruitful achievements in the history of discovery. The unfortunate result of one expedition led to so many minor ones, that an immense area of new country was thrown open in a very short time.

An extraordinary craze had seized on the imaginations of the southern colonies to send out expeditions to strive to be the first to cross the continent from the southern sh.o.r.e to the northern one. The South Australian Government had for a time a standing reward of 10,000 offered for the man who should accomplish this gigantic task with private means.

M'Dowall Stuart has been recognised as the one to whom most honour is due for successfully spanning the gap, and there are many reasons for awarding the chief praise to him. He was the first to attempt the feat, and although he was not the first to reach salt water on the north, he was the first to sight the open sea, and actually cross from sea to sea.

Nor in so doing was he aided by the former successes of other explorers.

He also was the one who crossed fairly in the centre of Australia, and his track extends further north, as the others made for the southern sh.o.r.e of the Gulf of Carpentaria, while Stuart came out at the head of Arnhem's Land.

Burke and Wills were, according to the journal of Wills, at the northern coast in February, 1861, so they could claim the honour of first crossing; next came M'Kinlay, in May, 1862. Landsborough reached the Darling from the north in June of the same year, and then Stuart on the north coast comes but a few weeks afterwards in July. On Stuart's track however, has been built the overland telegraph line, an enduring monument to his indomitable perseverance. His was but a small party when he started to reach the spot so ardently longed for by his former leader Sturt. Less than a handful of men, three in all, with thirteen horses, left on this eventful trip, a strange company to contrast with the princely cavalcade that a few months later was to leave Melbourne on a like journey.

The starting point was from Chambers' Creek, but naturally from here their course for a time was over much-trodden ground.

At Beresford Springs there were unmistakable traces of recent native warfare. Lying on his back was the corpse of a tall native, the skull broken, and both feet and hands missing. Near the place was a handful of human hair, and some emu feathers, placed between two charred pieces of wood, as a sign or token of some sort, but nothing to be interpreted by the whites as to the meaning of this strange neglect of burial rites, so unusual amongst the aborigines.

After pa.s.sing the Neale, the little band commenced their march into the unknown. Their journey was, for the most part, through good pastoral country, crossing numerous well-watered creeks, which they named, respectively, the Frew, the Fincke, and the Stevenson, and on the 6th they reached a remarkable hill, which they had observed for some time. It proved to be a pillar of sandstone on a hill about one hundred feet high.

The pillar itself, in addition, is one hundred and fifty feet in height, and twenty feet in width. Stuart christened it Chambers' Pillar. This freak of nature was surrounded by numerous other remarkable bills, resembling ruined castles.

Pa.s.sing through a range, which was called the Waterhouse Range, and again striking a creek, christened the Hugh, they made for one of two remarkable bluffs, first sighted on the 9th of April, and reached the range of which these two bluff cliffs formed the centre on the 12th. This was the highest range Stuart had yet found, and he named it MacDonnell Range, after the then Governor of South Australia; the east bluff was called Brinkley Bluff and the west one Hanson Bluff. Crossing this range, which, although rough, was very well-gra.s.sed, the party got among spinifex and scrub, and, after being two nights without water, made for a high peak in the distance (Mount Freeling), where they found a small supply.

It was evident that they had now reached the limit of the rainfall, and were trespa.s.sing on dry country.

A search for permanent water was made before going on, and a large reservoir found in a ledge of rocks, that promised to supply their wants on their return.

On the 22nd of April, Stuart camped in the centre of Australia, and one of his hopes was accomplished; about two miles and a-half to the N.N.E.

was a tolerable high mount, which he called Central Mount Stuart. The next morning, with his tried companion, Kekwick, he climbed this mount, and on the top erected a cairn of stones, and hoisted the Union Jack.

What must have been his thoughts at having, with such a feeble party, so comparatively easily accomplished what others had striven in vain for?

Surely he must have thought with regret that his old leader, dauntless Sturt, was not standing beside him.

The first night after leaving Mount Stuart, they camped without water, and the next day found a permanent supply under a high peak, which he called Mount Leichhardt; and while mentioning this fact, he notices that he has found no trace of that explorer having ever pa.s.sed to the westward.

On the first of May they came to a small gum creek, which Stuart called the Fisher, and in which the only water they could get was in a native well. Crossing this creek they got into a dead level country, covered with spinifex and stunted gum trees. Here they came across the track of a blackfellow which differed considerably from the ordinary mark made by the foot of a native:--

"The spinifex in many places has been burnt, and the track of the native was peculiar-not broad and flat as they generally are, but long and narrow, with a deep hollow in the foot, and the large toe projecting a good deal; in some respects more like the print of a white man than a native. Had I crossed it the day before, I would have followed it. My horses are now suffering too much from the want of water to allow me to do so. If I did, and we were not to find water to-night, I should lose the whole of the horses and our lives into the bargain."

As it was, they had a hard struggle to get back to the native well at the Fisher.

After a week's interval Stuart tried again to the' east of north, but found things no better; mulga scrub and spinifex again surrounded them, and after travelling twenty-seven miles they had to camp without water.

The next day was the same, Stuart getting a nasty fall, being pulled off by some scrub and dragged for a short distance. There was nothing for it but to retreat once more. Scurvy had now laid its hand upon the leader, and he began to suffer severely.

After much trouble and delay, Stuart, by working to the eastward, at last got forward again, and on the 1st of June found a large creek, the best he had yet seen, which he called the Bonney, and on the second of the month reached the range christened by him the Murchison Range. On the 6th he came to a gum creek, which he called Tennant's Creek, destined to be the site of one of the telegraph stations of the overland line. He now made an effort to the west of north to reach the head waters of the Victoria, and got into a dry strip of country that nearly put an end to the expedition. When they at last, with some losses, got the horses back to water, the animals had travelled one hundred and twelve miles, and been one hundred and one hours without a drink. Some of them had gone mad. "Thus," says Stuart, "ends my last attempt, at present, to make the Victoria River. Three times I have tried it, and been forced to retreat."

After many days' rest, he started again, this time to the eastward of north, and in ten miles came to a well-watered creek, which he named Phillips' Creek. Once more he had another two or three days of useless efforts to force his way through a dry belt, vainly flattering himself that he was approaching the watershed of the Gulf; but had to fall back on the Phillips again. Whilst camping here some natives visited them, two of them wearing a kind of helmet made of net work and feathers, tightly bound together:--

"One was an old man, and seemed to be the father of these two fine young men. He was very talkative, but I could make nothing of him. I have endeavoured, by signs, to get information from him as to where the next water is, but we cannot understand each other. After some time, and having conferred with his two sons, he turned round, and surprised me by giving me one of the Masonic signs. I looked at him steadily; he repeated it; and so did his two sons. I then returned it, which seemed to please them much, the old man patting me on the shoulder and stroking down my beard."

Whether Stuart's imagination here led him astray, it is impossible to say, but very shortly afterwards they encountered a tribe who displayed anything but the friendly feelings that should have been shown by brother masons.