Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume II Part 39

ASCEND GRANITIC RANGES.

We then came upon a hill of granite, and from its summit I perceived that we were already on the northern extremities of the high ranges we had seen from the westward. After travelling some miles along the summits of ridges in order to reach their connection with another range more to the northward, I ascertained, on crossing the highest part of a second ridge, that its northern slopes were very steep and rocky. A hill of considerable height lay before us and therefore, as soon as I had selected a spot for our camp in a little intervening valley, I hastened to it, certainly in doubt how we should extricate the carts from the rocky fastnesses before us. That summit afforded a commanding view of the country beyond the granitic range, and I perceived that it was low to a considerable distance northward, while the ranges beyond that extensive basin seemed of no great elevation to the westward or north-west, and all terminated on the level interior country where the horizon was broken by only one remarkable hill which, as I afterwards learnt, was named Dingee.

In that direction I saw also open plains along which I thought I could trace the line of the Ovens. In the lower country before me I hoped to find the Murray, according to the map of Messrs. Hovell and Hume, which in the two rivers we had recently pa.s.sed seemed wonderfully correct.

LOFTY Ma.s.s NAMED MOUNT ABERDEEN.

I again recognised in the south and south-east some of the snowy peaks formerly noticed, and I named the most lofty ma.s.s Mount Aberdeen. Beyond what I considered to be the course or bed of the Murray there appeared some steep ranges, to avoid which I chose a course more to the northward than I should otherwise have pursued in my way towards Ya.s.s. Before I returned to the camp I sought and succeeded in finding and marking out, a line of route by which the carts could be conducted across these rocky ranges and down to the lower country beyond them. On that range we found a handsome blue flower which I had previously seen growing abundantly on Bowral range near Mittagong within the present colony. We found in these valleys abundance of good gra.s.s.

October 17.

We descended from the higher range without difficulty, and then crossed several low ridges of quartz and clay-slate extending westward; some flats of good land lay between these ridges and, at about 6 miles, we met with a creek or chain of ponds. At 13 1/2 miles we entered a rich plain terminating northward at a low but remarkable hill which I had observed from the mountains.

REACH THE MURRAY.

The gra.s.s grew luxuriantly on this plain and after crossing and pa.s.sing through the forest beyond it I recognised with satisfaction the lofty yarra trees and the low verdant alluvial flats of the Murray. No one could have mistaken this grand feature; for the vast extent of verdant margin with lofty trees and still lakes could belong to no other Australian river we knew of. On descending the berg or outer bank which was sloping and gra.s.sy, I found the still lagoons so numerous that I could not, without very great difficulty and after a ride of nearly an hour, obtain a sight of the flowing river. I found it at length running bank-high and still of greater width than any other known Australian river.

THE RIVER VERY DIFFICULT OF ACCESS.

The water was then just beginning to pour over its borders into the alluvial margins by which I had approached it; and on the opposite side the border consisted of a reedy swamp, evidently impa.s.sable and unfit for a landing-place. In no direction could I find access for our carts to the running stream. Deep and long winding reaches of still water shut me out, either from the high berg or bank at one part, or from the flowing stream at another. Returning from the river in a different direction I found, in a situation where I had nearly gained as I imagined the high bank after riding a mile, that a deep reach still separated me from that high bank which I then saw was beyond it, so that in order to return to the carts I was obliged to retrace my steps for several miles. Having got round at length I ascended the hill before mentioned for the purpose of taking some angles, and I found that it consisted of granite, the component parts being white quartz and felspar and black mica. I named this remarkable feature, probably the lowest hill of granite on the Murray, Mount Ochtertyre. I had sufficient daylight left to conduct the party over part of this hill to a portion of the riverbank accessible then to carts by fording only one lagoon. The velocity of the Murray at the spot where we could thus approach its border exceeded that of any other river we had previously crossed, being at the rate of 2 1/2 miles per hour.

October 18.

At daylight this morning the boat was sent across with Burnett and Piper, who landed to examine the ground within the reeds on that bank; and they ascertained it was so intersected by various deep lagoons that we could no longer hope to pa.s.s that way. I next went down the river in the boat and found at about a mile and a half below our camp a place where I thought we might effect a pa.s.sage. This point was under a steep bank of red earth on the opposite sh.o.r.e where the river seemed to be encroaching.

A CARRIAGE TRACK DISCOVERED.

We landed and endeavoured to ascertain by looking for cattle marks whether any stations were near; and having heard that the flocks of the settlers already extended to the Murray we proceeded northward, eager to discover the tracks of civilised men. The wheels of a gig drawn by one horse and accompanied by others were traced by Piper, but the impressions were several months old. We walked as far as a s.p.a.cious plain at some distance from the river without seeing any more recent tracks; and we were at length convinced that no station extended then in the immediate neighbourhood. The left bank between the spot where our camp then was and the crossing-place which I had selected was low though apparently firm; but on landing and returning along it I met with several narrow channels into which water was then flowing from the river and which afterwards cost us considerable trouble to cross with our carts.

Pa.s.sAGE OF THE RIVER.

That part of the bank which I had selected for driving the cattle into the river, that they might swim over, was soft and boggy, but in the opposite sh.o.r.e where they were to go out we cut in the firm clay at the base of the red cliff before mentioned a landing-place and path with picks and spades, so that the cattle on reaching that side could pa.s.s along the foot of the cliff to a lower part of the bank adjacent. After all other obstacles had been surmounted and the best portion of the day had been spent in conducting the party to within a short distance of this place my horse unexpectedly sunk in what had appeared to be firm ground.

CATTLE.

This impediment the party however overcame by cutting down some brush and small trees, and opening a lane through which we at length contrived to bring the cattle forward to the bank. It was near sunset before they could be driven into the water; yet we finally succeeded in forcing the whole to swim to the other side that evening with the exception of one bullock which, having got bogged, was smothered in the mud on the first rush of the others into the water. The landing of some of these animals on the opposite bank was attended with difficulty for they did not all make for the proper place, some turning towards the bank they had left and endeavouring to re-ascend it much lower down where the banks were either too soft or inaccessible: others swimming straight down the stream turned to parts of the opposite bank which they could not climb. With these last I was prepared to contend, having taken my station in the boat to watch such contingencies; and by dragging the foremost of those who had swum back across the river by the horns, and those which had arrived at the wrong place out with ropes; we succeeded at length in forcing all that had floated too far down to land on the right bank. But the greater number had got out higher up the river upon some fallen portions of the red cliff instead of taking the path we had cut under it; and the footing there was so slight that, as they crowded on each other, groups fell, from time to time, back into the river. The last part of the operation was therefore to row towards these, when Woods, who was in the boat, soon induced one of the bullocks well-known to him to take the path, upon which all the rest followed until they reached the gra.s.sy flat where others more fortunate than themselves were already feeding. At the close of this laborious day I encamped on the right bank, leaving still on the other side however a small party in charge of the horses and carts. The day was extremely hot and the full and flowing river gave an unusual appearance of life and motion to the desert whose wearisome stillness was so unvarying elsewhere. Serpents were numerous and some were seen of a species apparently peculiar to this river. Here they invariably took to it, and one beautiful reptile in particular, being of a golden colour with red streaks, sprang from under my horse's feet and rode upon the strong current of the boiling stream, keeping abreast of us and holding his head erect, as if in defiance and without once attempting to make off, until he died in his glory by a shot from Roach.

HORSES.

October 19.

The first half of this day was required for the pa.s.sage of the horses one by one; and for taking the carts across. We left the boat carriage on the left bank and sunk the boat in a deep lagoon on the right bank, to remain there until the party should return to the spot with a stock of provisions for Mr. Stapylton. Here the last mountain barometer, which had been carried in excellent order throughout the journey, lost mercury so copiously that I could not hope to use it any more, time being then too valuable to admit of delay; and thus my list of observations terminated on the Murray. I supposed that the intense heat of the sun to which the instrument had been exposed when tied to a tree for some hours after the tents had been struck had contracted the leathern bag so much as to loosen it from the edges of the cylinder, and thus formed openings through which the mercury had escaped. The breadth of the Murray was 80 yards at the place where we crossed it and the mean depth was 3 1/2 fathoms. At length I saw with great satisfaction my party on the right bank of this great river; having now no other stream to cross until we reached the Murrumbidgee where we might consider ourselves at home.

PARTY RETURNING TO MEET MR. STAPYLTON.

Just at this time Archibald McKane, a carpenter, came forward and proposed to return with any two of the men and the native Tommy to meet the party coming after us upon the Goulburn; and to construct there such rafts of casks and other gear as might enable Mr. Stapylton to cross that river and the Ovens and so come forward to the Murray; an arrangement which would render it unnecessary for me to send back any cattle or the boat as intended. I was much pleased with the proposal of McKane and, Tommy Came-last being also willing to return, I appointed John Douglas, a sailor and most handy man, and Charles King, a man who feared nothing, to accompany McKane. Full rations were issued to the four and, having given them a letter for Mr. Stapylton, the little party returned towards the houseless wilds, when we left the Murray to continue our journey homewards. Although we did not set off before one o'clock we this day travelled fourteen miles, but did not encamp till long after sunset. The scarcity of water compelled us to travel thus far, for none had been seen except one small muddy pool until I reached the valley where we encamped, and even there we found little more than enough for ourselves and cattle.

October 20.

After travelling five miles over tolerable land we crossed a range of very fine-grained granite consisting of felspar, quartz, and small particles of mica and having a very crystalline aspect. This range was a branch from a higher ma.s.s on our right. At seven miles we crossed the shoulder of a hill whence I intersected others to the right. This also consisted of fine-grained granite, similar to that of the other hill, but it was not so red and had fewer spangles of mica.

A CREEK TERMINATING IN A SWAMP.

At eight miles we came to a chain of deep ponds which seemed a tributary to some greater water, as indicated by the yarra trees and flats before us, apparently covered with verdure. On advancing into these flats however we found them soft and swampy, being so very wet and so covered with dead trees that we were obliged to retrace our steps and turn eastward, thus crossing to a higher bank altogether east of the chain of ponds; and along this we proceeded without seeing any further continuance of the deep serpentine channel, full of water, which appeared to terminate there. That woody swamp seemed very extensive and was the only instance met with in the course of our travels of the termination of a stream in a swamp, although I understood subsequently that this was the fate of various minor brooks descending towards that part of the interior plains. We found there a curious black-headed gra.s.s which proved to be of the carex genus. At 11 1/2 miles we arrived at a running stream, its course being northward; and at 15 1/2 miles we reached a very fine little rivulet flowing between gra.s.sy banks twenty-five feet high, the soil consisting of a red earth similar to that on the interior plains and the banks of the Murray.

MOUNT TRAFALGAR. RUGGED COUNTRY STILL BEFORE US.

October 21.

At five miles we were abreast of a pointed hill which I ascended and named Mount Trafalgar in honour of that memorable day. From it I obtained a view of the country before us, and I perceived in the direction of our intended route some high cone-shaped hills. A ridge extended from them to the westward, but its height seemed gradually to diminish in that direction, although it presented two very abrupt and remarkable hills whose steepest side being towards the north overlooked as I supposed the s.p.a.cious basin of the Murrumbidgee. One solitary mount appeared much farther to the westward and was also steep-sided towards the north. On descending I shaped my course towards the hollow where the ridge could be most easily crossed. At 8 3/4 miles we met with some good ponds of water and beyond them the winding channel of a smaller watercourse falling southward from the range already mentioned. After crossing and recrossing this channel and its various branches we at length gained the crest of the range, and I directed the party to halt while I hastened to a conical summit on the left, apparently the highest and most pointed of those previously observed. It consisted of syenite and from it I obtained a very extensive view to the northward, but yet could not see any favourable opening in the direction in which I wished to reach the Murrumbidgee: on the contrary as we reduced our distance from home the obstacles to our reaching it seemed to increase.

PROVISIONS NEARLY EXHAUSTED.

Our provisions had been counted out to a day, and any delay beyond the time required to cross that country at our usual rate of travelling might have been attended with great inconvenience. Mr. Stapylton's party, then so far behind, were depending upon us for supplies; while a labyrinth of mountains, entirely without roads or inhabitants, was to be crossed in a limited time with carts before any such supplies could be obtained and sent back. Some high and distant mountains appeared to the eastward, and in the west I intersected the hills I had previously seen which were now much nearer to us. On returning from the hill to the party we descended from the range into some flats of good open land where a solitary kangaroo became an object of intense interest now that our provisions were exhausted. The week was out for which the last of our stock had been issued in very small rations; and although most of the men had endeavoured to make this very reduced week's allowance to last them nine days no mutton remained, nor could it well have been preserved during such hot weather. This kangaroo would have been therefore a most welcome addition to our store; but we had no dogs and I was so anxious as to venture a shot at too great a distance and to our great disappointment it escaped. We finally encamped in a valley which fell to the right or eastward, near some good ponds, and after performing a journey of upwards of 15 miles. I found near the hill I first ascended in the morning a new kind of gra.s.s with large seeds.*

(*Footnote. Danthonia eriantha, Lindley ma.n.u.scripts; panicula subcoarctata lanceolata, spiculis sub-4-floris gluma laevi multo brevioribus, palea exteriori laevigata basi apiceque villosissima, aristis lateralibus subulatis debilibus intermedia brevioribus, foliis setaceis vaginisque patentim pilosis, collo barbato.)

October 22.

Soon after we set out this morning we approached a range of barren hills of clay-slate on which grew the gra.s.s tree (xanthorrhoea) and stunted eucalypti. On ascending this range I perceived before me a deep ravine, and beyond it hills less promising than even these which were sufficiently repulsive to travellers with wheel-carriages. Turning therefore from that hopeless prospect towards the eastward, we crossed the head of a valley falling to the right, and after a somewhat tortuous course we gained the highest part of a range beyond it, from which a gra.s.sy vale descended on the opposite side towards the north-east. This vale turned to the left after we had followed it 2 1/4 miles and we next crossed a ridge of quartz rock.

CATTLE TRACKS FOUND.

Beyond the ridge the natives found some old cattle tracks and this intelligence very much pleased and encouraged the men.

BURNETT'S RIVULET.

At two miles farther on we came upon a little rivulet flowing to the westward through a good gra.s.sy valley, and it was joined about the place where we came upon it by one coming from the south. The stream washed the base of a lofty mountain which I ascended while the people were pa.s.sing our carts, cattle, and equipment across the rivulet which I named after my trusty follower Burnett.* The mountain consisted of granite and was so smooth that I could ride to its summit. The weather was boisterous and the country which that height presented to my view seemed quite inaccessible, at least in the direction of the colony where:

Hills upon hills and alps on alps arose.

(Footnote. See figure with the fowling-piece in Plate 17 Volume 1.)

IMPEDIMENTS IN THE ROUTE.

The only valley of any extent which could be seen was that watered by the rivulet below, and this extended, as I have stated, to the westward, a direction in which we could not follow it with any prospect of either getting nearer home or reaching a cattle station. Our provisions were exhausted, while the rocky fastnesses of a mountain region still threatened to shut us out from the Murrumbidgee, a river on whose banks we hoped to meet with civilised people once more and which, according to the map, was almost within our reach. Again and again I examined the mountains with my gla.s.s, and only discovered that they were numerous and all ranging towards the north-west, a direction right across our way to the Murrumbidgee. I could indeed trace among the hills in the north the grand valley through which the river flowed, but the intervening ranges seemed to deny any access to it from this side. I was determined however to find some valley likely to lead us into that of the Murrumbidgee, and although it could only be looked for beyond that mountain range, our route had been so good and so direct thus far, from the very sh.o.r.es of the southern ocean, that I could not despair of crossing the comparatively small s.p.a.ce occupied by these mountains; and I descended the hill firmly resolved to continue our course in the same direction as we best could. I found on reaching the foot that, to the delight of the men, more cattle marks had been discovered in the valley, and in one place Piper pointed out a spot where a bullock had been eaten by the natives. Following the little stream upwards I at length placed our camp in a gra.s.sy valley near its head and then, on riding forward, I found that no obstruction existed to our progress with the carts on the following day for at least several miles.

October 23.

The hills we ascended offered much less impediment than I had reason to apprehend when I surveyed them at a distance, but they became at length so steep-sided and sharp-pointed that to proceed further, even by keeping the crests of a range, seemed a very doubtful undertaking: to cross such ranges was still more difficult while the princ.i.p.al chain, which led to the south-east, appeared equally impracticable even had its direction been more favourable.

AT LENGTH REACH A VALLEY LEADING IN THE DESIRED DIRECTION.

Drizzling rain came on and prevented me from seeing far beyond the point we had reached when I at length halted the party and, taking Piper with me, descended into a valley before us in order to ascertain its general direction and whether the carts might not pa.s.s along it. We found in this valley the tracks not of cattle only but of well shod horses: we also discovered that it opened into extensive green flats and, its direction being northerly, I hastened back and conducted the party into it by the best line of descent I could find, although it was certainly very steep.

Having got safe down with our carts we found excellent pasturage, the cattle marks being very numerous and at length quite fresh, even the print of young calves' feet appeared, and all the traces of a numerous herd.

WILD CATTLE SEEN.

In short cattle tracks resembling roads ran along the banks of the chain of ponds which watered this valley; and at length the welcome sight of the cattle themselves delighted our longing eyes, not to mention our stomachs which were then in the best possible state to a.s.sist our perceptions of the beauty of a foreground of fat cattle. We were soon surrounded by a staring herd consisting of at least 800 head, and I took a shot at one; but my ball only made him jump, upon which the whole body, apparently very wild, made off to the mountains.