Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume I Part 18

Supposed course of the Darling.

Mr. Dixon's survey of the Bogan.

Expedition postponed.

Description of the boat carriage.

Number and description of the party.

Expedition leaves Parramatta.

My departure from Sydney.

Western part of c.u.mberland.

County of Cook.

The Blue Mountains.

Weatherboard Inn.

Mounts Hay and Tomah.

River Grose.

Early attempts to trace it upwards.

Intended Tunnel.

Pa.s.s of Mount Victoria.

Advantages of convict labour.

Country of Mulgoey.

Emu plains.

Township.

General arrangement of towns and villages.

The mountain road.

Vale of Clywd.

Village reserve.

Granite formation.

Farmer's Creek.

River c.o.x and intended bridge.

Mount Walker.

Solitary Creek.

Honeysuckle Hill.

Stony Range.

Plains of Bathurst.

The town.

Inconvenience of want of arrangement in early colonization.

Smallfarmers.

Intended Bridge.

Departure from Bathurst.

Charley Booth.

Road to Buree.

Can.o.bolas.

Arrival at the camp of the party.

SUPPOSED COURSE OF THE DARLING.

On returning to Sydney from the banks of the Karaula my attention was immediately drawn to other duties, and especially to those of the department of roads and bridges, which had also been placed under my direction.

I did however entertain hopes that I should be permitted at a subsequent period to continue my journey towards the north-west.

In May 1833 the local authorities were informed that His Majesty's Government judged it expedient an expedition should be undertaken to explore the course of the River Darling, and that this service should be performed by the survey department.

Until that time I had understood the supposed course of the Darling to have been sufficiently evident, but from the necessity for this survey and circ.u.mstances which I had not, until then, fully considered, I began to entertain doubts on that subject. It seemed probable, from the divergent courses of the Macquarie and Lachlan, that these rivers might belong to separate basins, and that the dividing ridge might be the very elevated range which Mr. Oxley had seen extending westward between them.

It was obvious that this range, if continuous, must separate the basin of the Darling from that of the river Murray.

MR. DIXON'S SURVEY OF THE BOGAN.

As a preliminary step towards the exploration of the Darling, Mr. Dixon was sent, in October 1833, with instructions to trace the ranges between the rivers Lachlan and Macquarie, by proceeding westward from Wellington Valley. Instead however of doing this, Mr. Dixon first followed the Macquarie downwards from Wellington Valley, and then crossing to the Bogan, which flowed at that time bank-high, he followed the course of this river for 67 miles, and finally returned without having seen any of the high land between the Macquarie and the Lachlan which he had been sent to investigate. A season so favourable for exploring that high land did not occur for four years afterwards, but it was within that period, and during a long-continued drought, that the two succeeding expeditions were sent to ascertain the course of the Darling.

EXPEDITION POSTPONED.

Preparations had been made for the departure of the expedition in the month of March following, but my duties as a commissioner to investigate claims to grants of land having been then urgent, the undertaking was deferred until the next season.*

(*Footnote. A report had also been required of me by his Majesty's government on the business of my department generally, and the duties required under a commission for a survey and division of the Colony, etc.)

DESCRIPTION OF THE BOAT CARRIAGE.

In the meantime two light whale boats were built by Mr. Eager of the dockyard at Sydney; and wood was cut for the felloes of wheels which would be required for a boat-carriage and carts, and it was laid up to season in the lumber yard at Parramatta.

In completing the equipment for the journey, in the following year, at the same place, I was much indebted to the zealous a.s.sistance of Mr.

Simpson of the department of roads.

The boat-carriage was constructed according to a model made by my friend Mr. Dunlop, King's Astronomer at Parramatta, and the plan of it will be easily understood by the accompanying figure. One boat was made to fit within the other, the thwarts of the larger, or outer one, being taken out. The double boat thus formed was suspended on belts of canvas which supported it buoyant and clear of the framework. Those parts of the canvas of the carriage most liable to friction were guarded with sheepskin and greased hide. The smaller boat was suspended within the larger, also on canvas, so as to swing clear of the outer boat's sides; and the whole was covered by a tarpaulin thrown over a ridge pole.

NUMBER AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PARTY.

Besides Mr. Richard Cunningham, who was attached to the expedition as botanist, Mr. Larmer, a very young a.s.sistant surveyor, was appointed to accompany me; the services of the other officers of the department being required for duties within the settled districts.

The following men composed the party:

ALEXANDER BURNETT: Overseer.

ROBERT WHITING: Carpenter.

WILLIAM WOODS, JOHN PALMER, THOMAS JONES: Sailors.

JOHN SOUTER: Medical Attendant.

ROBERT MUIRHEAD, Charles Hammond, John Baldwin, Joseph Herbert, William Thomas, Thomas Murray, Edward Gayton, Charles King: Bullock-drivers.

William Baldock: Groom.

JOSEPH JONES: Shepherd.

John Johnston: Blacksmith.

John Bulger: Shoemaker.

ANTHONY BROWN: Servant to Major Mitch.e.l.l.

George Squires: Servant to Mr. Cunningham.

Thomas Reeves: Servant to Mr. Larmer.

Nine of these men (distinguished by italics) had been under my command on my former expedition, and were consequently well acquainted with the service. Their subsequent steady conduct also satisfied me as to their eligibility for the contemplated journey.

EXPEDITION LEAVES PARRAMATTA.

At noon on the 9th March, 1835 I had, at length, the satisfaction of seeing this party leave Parramatta with an equipment fit for the undertaking. The boats appeared to swim very well in their carriage, which was followed by seven carts, and as many packhorses, affording the means of carrying provisions for five months. Two mountain barometers were borne by two men, the only service required of them while travelling. The whole party in motion towards the unknown interior, and prepared for sea or land, was to me a most gratifying spectacle. The cares of preparation were at an end, and I could still count on three weeks of comparative leisure at Sydney, during which time I could arrange the business of my office. The cattle station at Buree, where I intended to commence operations, was distant 170 miles from Sydney, and as it was necessary that the party should travel slowly in crossing the mountains with the boat-carriage, and equally indispensable that the cattle should rest some days after arriving at Buree; I calculated that the expedition could not be ready to advance from that point in less than three weeks from the time at which it left Parramatta.

MY DEPARTURE FROM SYDNEY.

On the 31st of March I quitted Sydney on the important errand of geographical discovery. My horse, which had been in training by Brown for some weeks, seemed impatient of roads, and full of spirit, a pleasant sensation at all times to the rider, and very congenial to the high excitement of such an enterprise.