: Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume I by Sturt Charles - Sturt Charles 1795-1869; New South Wales Discovery and exploration

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OF THE FIRST VOLUME

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.

Purpose of this Chapter--Name of Australia--Impressions of its early Visitors--Character of the Australian rivers--Author's first view of Port Jackson--Extent of the Colony of New South Wales--its rapid advances in prosperity--Erroneous impressions--Commercial importance of Sydney--Growth of fine wool--Mr. M'Arthur's meritorious exertions--Whale-fishery--Other exports--Geographical features--Causes of the large proportion of bad soil--Connection between the geology and vegetation--Geological features--Character of the soil connected with the geological formation--County of Cumberland--Country westward of the Blue Mountains--Disadvantages of the remote settlers--Character of the Eastern coast--Rich tracts in the interior--Periodical droughts--The seasons apparently affected by the interior marshes--Temperature--Fruits--Emigrants: Causes of their success or failure--Moral disadvantages--System of emigration recommended--Hints to emigrants--Progress of inland discovery--Expeditions across the Blue Mountains--Discoveries of Mr. Evans, Mr. Oxley, and others--Conjectures respecting the interior.

EXPEDITION DOWN THE MACQUARIE RIVER, AND INTO THE WESTERN INTERIOR IN 1828 AND 1829.

State of the Colony in 1828-29--Objects of the Expedition--Departure from Sydney--Wellington Valley--Progress down the Macquarie--Arrival at Mount Harris--Stopped by the marshes--Encamp amidst reeds--Excursions down the river--Its termination--Appearance of the marshes--Opthalmic affection of the men--Mr. Hume's successful journey to the northward--Journey across the plain--Second great marsh--Perplexities--Situation of the exploring party--Consequent resolutions.

Prosecution of our course into the interior--Mosquito Brush--Aspect and productions of the country--Hunting party of natives--Courageous conduct of one of them--Mosquitoes--A man missing--Group of hills called New-Year's Range--Journey down New-Year's Creek--Tormenting attack of the kangaroo fly--Dreariness and desolation of the country--Oxley's Table Land--D'Urban's Group--Continue our journey down New-Year's Creek--Extreme Disappointment on finding it salt--Fall in with a tribe of natives--Our course arrested by the want of fresh water--Extraordinary sound--Retreat towards the Macquarie.

Intercourse with the natives--Their appearance and condition--Remarks on the Salt or Darling River--Appearance of the marshes on our return--Alarm for safety of the provision party--Return to Mount Harris--Miserable condition of the natives--Circumstances attending the slaughter of two Irish runaways--Bend our course towards the Castlereagh--Wallis's Ponds--Find the famished natives feeding on gum--Channel of the Castlereagh--Character of the country in its vicinity--Another tribe of natives--Amicable intercourse with them--Morrisset's chain of Ponds--Again reach the Darling River ninety miles higher up than where we first struck upon it.

Perplexity--Trait of honesty in the natives--Excursion on horseback across the Darling--Forced to return--Desolating effects of the drought--Retreat towards the colony--Connection between the Macquarie and the Darling--Return up the banks of the Macquarie--Starving condition of the natives.

General remarks--Result of the expedition--Previous anticipations--Mr. Oxley's remarks--Character of the Rivers flowing westerly--Mr. Cunningham's remarks--Fall of the Macquarie--Mr. Oxley's erroneous conclusions respecting the character of the interior, naturally inferred from the state in which he found the country--The marsh of the Macquarie merely a marsh of the ordinary character--Captain King's observations--Course of the Darling--Character of the low interior plain--The convict Barber's report of rivers traversing the interior--Surveyor-General Mitchell's Report of his recent expedition.

Concluding Remarks--Obstacles that attend travelling into the interior of Australia--Difficulty of carrying supplies--Importance of steady intelligent subordinates--Danger from the natives--Number of men requisite,--and of cattle and carriages--Provisions--Other arrangements--Treatment of the natives--Dimensions of the boat used in the second expedition.

Native Burial Place near Budda Vice Admiral Arthur Phillip Cataract of the Macquarie A Selenite Chrystallized Sulphate of Lime

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER

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