The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 Part 4

CHAPTER II.

The great drought of 1813--The development of country by stocking-- Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth cross the Blue Mountains--Reach the head of coast waters and return--Surveyor Evans sent out--Crosses the watershed and finds the Macquarie River--Construction of road over the range--Settlement of Bathurst--Visit of Governor Macquarie--Second expedition under Evans--Discovery of the Lachlan River--Surveyor-General Oxley explores the Lachlan--Finds the river terminates in swamps--Returns by the Macquarie--His opinion of the interior--Second expedition down the Macquarie--Disappointment again--Evans finds the Castlereagh--Liverpool Plains discovered--Oxley descends the range and finds Port Macquarie-- Returns to Newcastle-Currie and Ovens cross the Morumbidgee--Brisbane Downs and Monaroo--Hume and Hovell cross to Port Phillip--Success of the expedition.

The first ten years of the present century were singularly devoid of excursions inland. The strip of country between the range and the sea, sufficing for the immediate wants of the settlers, and the discovery of the Hunter River having opened so much new country for their use, no actual necessity compelled them at this period to go further a-field.

This lack of urgent need, combined with the bad success that had attended all efforts to penetrate the mountains, had somewhat damped the ardour of the colonists.

But throughout these years the stock steadily increased, and the severe drought in 1813 led some of the settlers to make another attempt to find out new pasture lands.

The victory that at last crowned the struggle may be said to have at once inaugurated a new phase of exploration The days of expeditions on foot, when each man carried his own supply of provisions, and the limit of their journey only extended a little over a hundred miles, were past.

Horses were now destined to play an important part in the outfit of the explorer, and take their share of sacrificing their lives in the cause.

The results gained by these first journeys were far from promising; always hoping to find a navigable river, or rivers, through the interior, the colonists found themselves most unexpectedly baffled. Having discovered the head waters of large streams flowing on a western course, with a sufficient depth of water for boat navigation, it appeared conclusive that to follow them down would in course of time lead the party doing so to the sea; the only probable obstacle which would come in the way would be falls. But the rivers led them into shallow stagnant swamps, with no limit within ken; the outskirts, so they deemed, of an inland sea.

Across here Oxley wrote, DESERT; unfitted ever to sustain settlement, and in doing this he did not err more glaringly than many later pioneers. It must be borne in mind that the characteristics of the inland plain were all new to the travellers who first ventured to enter its confines. They had not won the key of the desert; the fashion in which nature adapted herself to climatic decrees was a lesson still to be learnt. Oxley spoke honestly when, in bitter disappointment, he prophesied the future of the great plain to be that of an unprofitable waste, wherein the work of men's hands and the cunning of their brains would avail nothing; but he spoke hastily and almost thoughtlessly. The great plain had its glorious mission to fulfil, but the secret, like all things worth knowing, was one that took time and labour to solve; not in one or two generations was it to be done.

There was one great factor in the reclamation of the desert that Oxley could not take into his calculations--for he did not know its power--the sure, if gradual change wrought by stocking. Under the ceaseless tread of myriad hoofs, the loose, open soil was to become firm and hard, whilst fresh growths of herb and gra.s.s followed the footsteps of the invading herds. The shaking bogs and mora.s.ses were to become solidified, and the waters that permeated them to retreat into well defined chains of ponds and lagoons. This the first explorer could not foresee, he was disheartened by what he found, and unwitting of the change that was to follow he gave a hostile verdict. But although it did not fall to his lot to trace out the great system of the Murray watershed, he had, at any rate, the proud satisfaction of achieving the first stage.

Governor Macquarie, whose name has been sown broadcast over so much of New South Wales, was a man bent on the development of the colony as rapidly as possible, and although the defects in his administration have been severely criticised, exploration received at his hands every encouragement, and during his tenure of office, the first steps were taken to open up the vast field of inland discovery. We must now remember that the adaptability of the country to pastoral occupation was fully recognised. The days when famine was imminent if the fleet from England did not duly arrive had pa.s.sed away. The future of the colony was a.s.sured, provided fresh outlets could be opened up.

In 1813, the prolonged drought to which the little settlement had been subjected, led to a most serious view being taken of the future. The stock had now attained dimensions, when the yearly increase was something considerable, compared to the narrow strip of grazing lands that supported the herds. It was an evident necessity to find fresh territory speedily, or great loss would inevitably ensue. Three of the settlers interested in stock-breeding, made another attempt to cross the range during this year. They were: William Charles Wentworth, whose name is so familiar to Australians, Lieutenant Lawson, of the Royal Veteran Company, and Mr. Gregory Blaxland. They crossed the Nepean at Emu Plains, and attempted to follow up a main spur forming the watershed of the Grose, and for a time successfully pursued its twists and windings, keeping to the crown of the ridge. At last, like all their predecessors, they began to get entangled in the intricate net-work of deep gullies that rendered straightforward travelling so difficult in this region. Like them, they commenced to think advance impossible, and to speak of turning back.

Pa.s.sages had to be cut through the thick brushwood for their pack horses, circuitous roads found around steeps too precipitous to scale, and the purpose of the journey seemed hopelessly lost. They had succeeded in crossing the first outwork of the mountains, but the Main Range had yet to be won. At length they fortunately hit upon a dividing spur, leading to the westward, and this they perseveringly followed, until they were rewarded by reaching the summit, and seeing below them a comparatively open valley, and beyond, chains of hills, broken it is true, but only trifling compared to what they had pa.s.sed over. It was a work of time and much labour to gain access to this valley. The mountain they had ascended was steep and rugged, and great care had to be exercised in descending.

But fatigue was not much thought of with their hopes so happily fulfilled.

At the bottom of the valley they found a running stream and good pasture, beyond this point they proceeded about six or eight miles in order to ascertain the extent of their discoveries, and then returned, having been absent one month.

The creek found by Blaxland and party was one of the tributaries of the Nepean, so that granted that a range had been crossed, access had been only obtained to the higher waters of a coast river. But although this important journey fell short of one of the great aims of western exploration, namely the discovery of a river flowing to the west, it was the immediate cause of the expedition being undertaken that led to the finding of the Macquarie.

George William Evans, Deputy-Surveyor of Lands, can certainly claim the honour of first discovering an Australian inland river; but Blaxland and his companions led the way across the hardest portion of the course.

As may well be believed, the tidings brought back by the exploring party created great excitement in the small community. No longer would the mountainous barrier frown defiance at them; for over thirty years it had successfully resisted all their attempts, but its time had come; the march to the west had at last commenced. On receipt of the news, Governor Macquarie sent out Mr. Evans with a party to at once follow up this discovery and find out what lay beyond. Evans crossed the Nepean on the 20th of November, and in six days arrived at the spot where the last party had turned back. Striking westward, he found a broken, hilly country, which was, however, well gra.s.sed and watered, presenting little hindrance to his progress, and on the 30th of the month, he struck the head of a stream holding a distinctly western course. Following this down, he found it joined by another from the south, and below the junction he gave the new found river the name of the Macquarie.

So promising was the country that he continued his course until the 18th December, when finding the river, now of a fair magnitude, still flowing steadily north-west, and not being prepared for a very prolonged absence, he turned back and retraced his steps, arriving at the Nepean on the 8th January, 1814. Strange to say, during the whole time of his absence in this. .h.i.therto untrodden waste, the only natives seen by the party were four women and two children.

This most successful termination of the work commenced by Messrs.

Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth, and the confirmation of the hopes that had been entertained, led to more active steps being at once initiated.

Mr. c.o.x was entrusted with the superintendence of the work of constructing a public road across the range, following much the same route as that taken by the first explorers; and this work was completed early in the year 1815, and on the 26th April of the same year the Governor and a large staff set out to visit the new territory, and arrived there on the 4th May.

Meantime, Mr. Evans was again sent out to the south-west, and once more he was successful, returning with tidings of the discovery of the Lachlan River. He was absent nearly a month, and met the Governor and suite on their arrival at Bathurst Plains.

The course of the Lachlan being nearly due west, it was selected as the most likely river of the two to lead immediately to the navigable waters of the interior, which everybody now firmly believed in; but a delay of nearly two years occurred before an expedition was formed to carry into effect the purpose of following it down with boats.

Meantime, the settlers took every advantage of this new outlet for their energies. Cattle and sheep were pushed out, and some of the land put under tillage. Buildings rapidly sprang up, and, favoured by a beautiful site, the township of Bathurst soon presented an orderly appearance.

Private enterprise had also been at work elsewhere, and the early pioneer graziers were now making south from the settlement towards the Shoalhaven River and the intermediate country. It was down here that young Hamilton Hume, the first native-born explorer to take the field, was then gaining his bushcraft. Hume was a son of the Rev. Andrew Hume, who held an appointment in the Commissariat Department, and came to the colony in the LADY JULIAN.

The future explorer was born at Parramatta in 1797, so that he was but seventeen when, in 1814, he made his maiden effort in the country around Berrima, in company with his brother and a black boy; and-in the year following he again made an excursion in this district. In 1816 his father conducted Dr. Throsby to new country that the energy of his sons had discovered; and in March, 1817, at the time when Oxley was about starting on his Lachlan expedition, Hume, at the request of Governor Macquarie, went with Mr. Surveyor Meehan and Mr. Throsby on an expedition as far as the Shoalhaven River. Here, in consequence of some dispute with Mr.

Meehan, Mr. Throsby left the party, and, accompanied by a black boy, made his way to Port Jarvis.

Meehan and Hume continued their journey, and discovered Lake George, Lake Bathurst, and the country called Goulburn Plains.

But the trip undertaken by Mr. Oxley at this time, leading as it did to such unexpected results, claims our first attention. As the party were to take boats with them, boat builders were sent up to Bathurst, thence to proceed to the river and build the necessary craft. A depot having been formed on the Lachlan River, on the 6th of April, 1817, Mr. Oxley left Sydney to join his party there, and arrived at this depot on the 25th of the same month, having been detained a short time at Bathurst. On the 1st of May, Mr. Oxley reached the limit of Mr. Evans' journey in 1815, a small creek which they christened Byrne Creek; from here the work of exploration commenced.

The following is a list of the men comprising, this, the first most important expedition in the annals of exploration:--

"John Oxley, chief of the expedition; George William Evans, second in command; Allan Cunningham, King's botanist; Charles Fraser, colonial botanist; William Parr, mineralogist; George Hubbard, boat builder; James King, 1st boatman and sailor; James King, 2nd horsesh.o.e.r; William Meggs, butcher; Patrick Byrne, guide and horse leader; William Blake, harness mender; George Simpson, for chaining with surveyors; William Warner, servant to Mr. Oxley."

They had with them two boats and fourteen bat (pack) and riding horses.

Following the bank of the river the party met with no obstruction to their progress for twelve days, save the usual accidents and delays incidental to travelling in an unexplored region. Oxley's opinion of the value of the new district had, as is evident from his journal, been steadily decreasing since leaving the depot. The flatness of the country, the numerous branches of the river and the want of height visible in its banks, seemingly depressed him very much. On the 6th of May he writes:--

"I have reason to believe that the whole of the extensive tract of country, named Princess Charlotte's Crescent" (about 130 miles west of Bathurst), "is at times drowned by the overflowing of the river; the marks of floods were observed in all directions, and the waters in the marshes and lagoons were all traced as being derived from the river.

During a course of upwards of seventy miles, not a single running stream emptied itself into the river on either side; and, I am forced to conclude, that in common seasons this whole tract is extremely badly watered, and that it derives its princ.i.p.al, if not only supply, from the river within the bounding ranges of Princess Charlotte's Crescent. There are doubtless many small eminences which might afford a retreat from the inundations, but those which were observed by us were too trifling and distant from each other to stand out distinct from the vast level surface which the crescent presents to the view. The soil of the country we pa.s.sed over was a poor and cold clay; but there are many rich levels which, could they be drained and defended from the inundations of the river, would amply repay the cultivation. These flats are certainly not adapted for cattle; the gra.s.s is too swampy, and the bushes, swamps, and lagoons are too thickly intermingled with the better portions, to render it a safe or desirable grazing country. The timber is universally bad and small; a few misshapen gum trees on the immediate banks of the river may be considered as exceptions."

On the 12th of May, their, as yet, uninterrupted course down the river received an abrupt check.

"We had scarcely proceeded a mile from the last branch before it became evident that it would be impossible to advance farther in the direction in which we were travelling. The stream here overflowed both banks, and its course was lost among marshes, its channel not being distinguishable from the surrounding waters.

"Observing an eminence about half a mile from the south side, we crossed over the horses and baggage" (by aid of the boats) "at a place where the water was level with the banks, and which, when within its usual channel, did not exceed thirty or forty feet in width; its depth even now being only twelve feet.

"We ascended the hill, and had the mortification to perceive the termination of our research, at least down this branch of the river. The whole country from the west, north-west, round to the north, was either a complete marsh or lay under water, and this for a distance of twenty-five or thirty miles in those directions. To the south and south-west the country appeared more elevated, but low, marshy grounds lay between us and it, which rendered it impossible for us to proceed thither from our present situation. I therefore determined to return back to the place where the two branches of the princ.i.p.al river separated, and follow the south-west branch as far as it should be navigable. Our fears were, however, stronger than our hopes, lest it would end in a similar manner to, the one we had already traced, until it became no longer navigable for boats.

"In pursuance of this intention we descended the hill, which was named Farewell Hill, from its being the termination of our journey in a north-west direction, at least for the present, and proceeded up the south bank of the stream."

The investigation of the south-west branch proving equally unsatisfactory, Oxley determined to leave the river and strike for the coast in the neighbourhood of Cape Northumberland, antic.i.p.ating that on this course he would intersect any river rising in these marshes and falling into the sea between Spencer's Gulf and Cape Otway. The boats were hauled up on the south bank and secured, together with such articles as they could not take with them; and at nine o'clock on May 18th, the journey to the coast commenced.

From having too much water the party now found themselves straitened for want of it, and the journey, too, began to tell upon the horses. Thick scrubs of eucalyptus brush, overrun with creepers and p.r.i.c.kly acacia bushes, soon helped to bar the way, and when they at last reached the point of a range, which they named Peel Range, Oxley reluctantly abandoned his idea of making for the coast in a south-west direction, and turned north. Wearily he writes:--

"June 4. Weather as usual fine and clear, which is the greatest comfort we enjoy in these deserts abandoned by every living creature capable of getting out of them. I was obliged to send the horses back to our former halting place for water, a distance of near eight miles this is terrible for the horses, who are in general extremely reduced but two in particular cannot, I think, endure this miserable existence much longer.

"At five o'clock, two men whom I had sent to explore the country to the south-west and see if any water could be found, returned after proceeding six or seven miles; they found it impossible to go any farther in that direction or even south, from the thick bushes that intersected their course on every side; and no water (nor, in fact, the least sign of any) was discovered either by them or by those who were sent in search of it nearer our little camp."

"June 5. From everything I can see of the country to the south-west, it appears, upon the most mature deliberation, highly imprudent to persevere longer in that direction, as the consequences to the horses of want of gra.s.s and water might be most serious; and we are well a.s.sured that within forty miles on that point the country is the same as before pa.s.sed over. In adopting a north-westerly course, it is my intention to be entirely guided by the possibility of procuring subsistence for the horses, that being the main point on which all our ulterior proceedings must hinge. It is, however, to be expected that as the country is certainly lower to the west and north-west than from south-east to south-west, there is a greater probability of finding water in this latter direction. In our present perplexing situation, however, it is impossible to lay down any fixed plan, as (be it what it may) circ.u.mstances after all must guide us. Our horses are unable to go more than eight or ten miles a day, but even then they must be a.s.sured of finding food, of which, in these deserts, the chances are against the existence.

"Yesterday being the King's birthday, Mr. Cunningham planted under Mount Brogden acorns, peach and apricot stones, and quince seeds, with the hope, rather than the expectation, that they would grow and serve to commemorate the day and situation, should these desolate plains be ever again visited by civilised man, of which, however, I think there is very little probability.

"June 6. A mild pleasant morning: set forward on our journey to the westward and north-west, in hopes of finding a better country."

"June 8th. The whole country in these directions, as far as the eye could reach, was one continued thicket of eucalyptus scrub. It was physically impossible to proceed that way, and our situation was too critical to admit of delay; it was therefore resolved to return back to our last station on the 6th, under Peel's Range, if for no other purpose than that of giving the horses water. I felt that by attempting to proceed westerly I should endanger the safety of every man composing the expedition, without any practical good arising from such perseverance, It was therefore deemed more prudent to keep along the base of Peel's Range to its termination, having some chance of finding water in its rocky ravines, whilst there was none at all in attempting to keep the level country."