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diff --git a/38649-h/38649-h.htm b/38649-h/38649-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1af6f73 --- /dev/null +++ b/38649-h/38649-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10014 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Early Days in North Queensland, by Edward Palmer. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + h1 { text-align:center; line-height:1.5; } + +p.title { text-align:center; text-indent:0; + font-weight:bold; + line-height:1.4; margin-bottom:1em; margin-top: 2em;} + +p.indent {margin-left: 15%} + +small { font-size:60%; } + +h2 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + white-space:nowrap; +} +blockquote { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; + font-size: 90%;} + +p.quotdate { + text-align: right; + } +p.quotsig { + margin-left: 35%; + text-indent: -4em; + } + + + +.gap4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +p.caption { + margin-top: 0; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: center; + font-weight: bold; +} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .7em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + + div.poem {border:none; + text-align:left; + margin: 1em auto; + } + .poem .stanza { + margin-top: 1em; + } + .stanza span + {border:none; + display:block; + line-height: 1.2em; + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; + margin-top: 0; + } + .stanza br { + display: none; + } + + .poem .i0 {display:block; margin-left: 0em;} + .poem .i1 {display:block; margin-left: 1em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Early Days in North Queensland, by Edward Palmer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Early Days in North Queensland + +Author: Edward Palmer + +Release Date: January 23, 2012 [EBook #38649] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY DAYS IN NORTH QUEENSLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Pat McCoy, Nick Wall and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 1]</span></p> + +<h1> +EARLY DAYS<br /> +IN<br /> +NORTH QUEENSLAND</h1> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 2]<br />[Pg 3]<br />[Pg 4]</span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 446px;"> +<img src="images/illus_001.png" width="446" height="600" alt="" title="Edward Palmer" /> +<span class="caption">Edward Palmer<br /><i>From photo, by “Tosca,” Brisbane.</i></span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span></p> + +<h1> +EARLY DAYS<br /> +IN<br /> +NORTH QUEENSLAND<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<small>BY</small><br /> +THE LATE<br /> +EDWARD PALMER</h1> + +<p class="title">SYDNEY<br /> +ANGUS & ROBERTSON<br /> +MELBOURNE: ANGUS, ROBERTSON & SHENSTONE<br /> +1903</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]<br />[Pg 7]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>TO THE NORTH-WEST.</h2> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"><div class="stanza"> +<i><span class="i0">I know the land of the far, far away,</span> +<span class="i0">Where the salt bush glistens in silver-grey;</span> +<span class="i0">Where the emu stalks with her striped brood,</span> +<span class="i0">Searching the plains for her daily food.</span></i> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<i><span class="i0">I know the land of the far, far west,</span> +<span class="i0">Where the bower-bird builds her playhouse nest;</span> +<span class="i0">Where the dusky savage from day to day,</span> +<span class="i0">Hunts with his tribe in their old wild way.</span></i> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<i><span class="i0">’Tis a land of vastness and solitude deep,</span> +<span class="i0">Where the dry hot winds their revels keep;</span> +<span class="i0">The land of mirage that cheats the eye,</span> +<span class="i0">The land of cloudless and burning sky.</span></i> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<i><span class="i0">’Tis a land of drought and pastures grey,</span> +<span class="i0">Where flock-pigeons rise in vast array;</span> +<span class="i0">Where the “nardoo” spreads its silvery sheen</span> +<span class="i0">Over the plains where the floods have been.</span></i> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<i><span class="i0">’Tis a land of gidya and dark boree,</span> +<span class="i0">Extended o’er plains like an inland sea,</span> +<span class="i0">Boundless and vast, where the wild winds pass,</span> +<span class="i0">O’er the long rollers and billows of grass.</span></i> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<i><span class="i0">I made my home in that thirsty land,</span> +<span class="i0">Where rivers for water are filled with sand;</span> +<span class="i0">Where glare and heat and storms sweep by,</span> +<span class="i0">Where the prairie rolls to the western sky.</span></i> +</div></div> +<p class="center">—“<i>Loranthus</i>.”</p> +<p class="indent"><i>Cloncurry, 1897.</i></p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span></p> + +<p class="center gap4"> + +<i>W. C. Penfold & Co., Printers, Sydney.</i><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + +<p>The writer came to Queensland two years before +separation, and shortly afterwards took part in +the work of outside settlement, or pioneering, +looking for new country to settle on with stock. Going +from Bowen out west towards the head of the Flinders +River in 1864, he continued his connection with this +outside life until his death in 1899. Many of the original +explorers and pioneers were known to him personally; +of these but few remain. This little work is merely +a statement of facts and incidents connected with the +work of frontier life, and the progress of pastoral occupation +in the early days. It lays no claim to any +literary style. Whatever faults are found in it, the indulgence +usually accorded to a novice is requested. +It has been a pleasant task collecting the information +from many of the early settlers in order to place on +record a few of the names and incidents connected with +the foundation of the pastoral industry in the far north, +an industry which was the forerunner of all other settlement +there, and still is the main source of the State’s +export trade.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NOTE BY MR. G. PHILLIPS, C.E.</h2> + +<p>The author of this book, the late Edward Palmer, +was himself one of that brave band of pioneer +squatters who in the early sixties swept across +North Queensland with their flocks and herds, settling, +as if by magic, great tracts of hitherto unoccupied +country, and thereby opening several new ports on the +east coast and on the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, +to the commerce of the world. In writing of these +stirring times in the history of Queensland, Mr. Palmer +has dealt with a subject for which he was peculiarly +qualified as an active participant therein.</p> + +<p>Very few of those energetic and indomitable men +are now left—veritable giants they were—great because +they attempted great things, and though few of them +achieved financial success for themselves individually, +they added by their self-denying labours a rich province +to Queensland, which has become the home of +thousands, and will yet furnish homes for ten of thousands +under conditions of settlement and occupation +adapted to the physical and climatic characteristics of +North Queensland.</p> + +<p>Mr. Palmer was a native of Wollongong, in New +South Wales, and came to Queensland in 1857. He +took up and formed his well-known station, Conobie, +on the western bank of the Cloncurry River, situated +about midway between Normanton and Cloncurry, in +1864, first with sheep, but subsequently, like most of<span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span> +the Gulf squatters, he substituted cattle therefor, which +by the year 1893 had grown into a magnificent herd.</p> + +<p>Mr. Palmer also took part in the political life of +Queensland, representing his district, then known as +the Burke, but afterwards as Carpentaria, until the +general election of 1893, when he retired in favour of +Mr. G. Phillips, C.E., who held the seat for three years.</p> + +<p>In the financial crisis of 1893 and subsequent years +when the value of cattle stations in North Queensland +owing to the ravages of ticks and the want of +extraneous markets, gradually dwindled almost to the +vanishing point, Mr. Palmer was a great sufferer, and +he was compelled to leave his old home at Conobie, +which was bound to him by every tie dear to the human +breast, and most dear to the man who had carved that +home out of the wilderness by sheer courage and indomitable +endurance.</p> + +<p>Mr. Palmer’s constitution, originally a very good +one, was undermined partly by a long life of exposure +and hardship under a tropical sun, but chiefly owing +to the misfortunes which latterly overtook him, and +after a few years of service under the State in connection +with the tick plague, he died in harness at +Rockhampton on the 4th day of May, 1899.</p> + +<p>Edward Palmer was essentially a lovable man, +kind-hearted and genial, a great lover of Nature, as his +poems prove, a true comrade, and a right loyal citizen +of Queensland, which he loved so well, and which, in +the truest sense of the word, he helped to found.</p> + +<p class="center">GEO. PHILLIPS.</p> + +<p>Brisbane, February 12, 1903. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]<br />[Pg 13]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left"></td><td align="left"></td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span></td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">I</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#I">Introductory</a></span></td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">II</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#II">The Navigators</a></span></td><td align="right">21</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">III</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#III">Inland Exploration</a></span></td><td align="right">32</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">IV</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#IV">Explorers in North Queensland</a></span></td><td align="right">61</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">V</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#V">Pioneering Work in Queensland</a></span></td><td align="right">85</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">VI</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#VI">The Spread of Pastoral Occupation</a></span></td><td align="right">110</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">VII</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#VII">The Rise of the Northern Towns</a></span></td><td align="right">144</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">VIII</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#VIII">The Mineral Wealth</a></span></td><td align="right">168</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">IX</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#IX">Incidents of the Early Days</a></span></td><td align="right">177</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">X</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#X">The Men of the North</a></span></td><td align="right">185</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">XI</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#XI">Aboriginals of North Queensland</a></span></td><td align="right">208</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">XII</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#XII">Physical Features</a></span></td><td align="right">226</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">XIII</span></td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">—<a href="#XIII">Some Literary Remains</a></span></td><td align="right">260</td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]<br />[Pg 15]<br />[Pg 1]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>CHAPTER I.—INTRODUCTORY.</h2> + +<p>The pioneers of Australian civilisation in the +territory known as North Queensland have +mostly passed away; they were too busy with +other activities and interests and more absorbing local +topics to make notes of the days that are gone. A +record of the work they did, and their march of progress +through the unknown land, was a matter that +no one recognised as of any importance to themselves +or others. “The daily round and common task” took +up most of their time, and sufficient for the day was +the work thereof. If one (however unqualified) +should record a few of those early steps of settlement, +and thus help to preserve the remembrance of events +connected with the occupation of a prosperous country, +the facts would remain, and be available for those +more competent to utilise them in other ways and for +other purposes. It is well that some one should do it, +and one who has experienced the vicissitudes of +Northern pioneer life, with its calls on active endurance +and its ceaseless worries would not be altogether +unfit to note the progress of a great movement, or +to place on record some of those events that helped +to make up the early life of Queensland, however un<span class="pagenum">[Pg 2]</span>qualified +the writer might be, in a literary sense. A +pioneer is one who prepares the path for others to +follow, one who first leads the way. The life of the +pioneer in the early days of Northern settlement, +from want of ready communication with seaports, and +the lack of means of obtaining supplies, was one that +called out all the energy, resource, and bushmanship +of those who had been trained to this life, and who had +pushed far in the van of civilisation to make a living for +themselves, and open the way for others who might follow. +Though the whole country is fitted for settlement +and occupation by European races, such fitness had to +be demonstrated by the residence and work of the pioneers, +some of whom did good service in the way of +exploration and discovery. By living their lives in +the far outside districts and making their homes +therein, they proved the adaptability of the soil and +climate to the wants and civilisation of the European.</p> + +<p>That there were more shadows than lights in those +early days was not so much the fault of the settlers +as of their surroundings, but the best was made of all +circumstances, and the result is satisfactory. Very +few of the pioneers made wealth for themselves, though +they helped to convert the wilderness into prospective +homes for millions of their own race.</p> + +<p>The story of North Queensland’s childhood is +simply one of gradual discovery and advancing +settlement from the Southern districts, where the same +severe course of wresting the land from uselessness<span class="pagenum">[Pg 3]</span> +and sterility had been gone through. The source of +this movement may be traced chiefly to a desire for +pastoral extension by squatters, always on the move +for new pastures, and to the ever roving prospector in +search of fresh mineral discoveries.</p> + +<p>First the navigator outlines the coast with its bays +and islands and openings for ports; such were Cook, +Flinders, Stokes, and others. Then the explorer appears +on the scene, and discovers its rivers and facilities +for establishing the occupation of the country, +and maps out its capabilities. Such were Leichhardt, +Mitchell, Gregory, Landsborough, and many others. +Thus the way is opened up for the pioneer squatter +with his flocks and herds and the attendant business +of forming roads and opening ports for his requirements, +holding his own against many odds, droughts, +floods, outrages by blacks, fevers that follow the +opening up of all new countries, and losses peculiar +to life in the wilderness.</p> + +<p>Following the pioneer (or Crown lessee, as he is +called) in course of time comes a closer settlement, +when the large runs become divided, and the selector +or farmer holds the country under a more permanent +tenure. Cultivation follows, whilst families reside +where the pioneer squatter strove with nature in a +long struggle many years before.</p> + +<p>The development of North Queensland has taken +place since separation from New South Wales; the +period of a single generation covers the time that it<span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span> +has taken to settle this large extent of country. The +continuous discovery of natural wealth, the progress +of settlement, the healthy growth of the great industries, +the establishment of a system of oversea, coastal, +and inland communications, the creation of great +cities, the founding of social and educational institutions, +in fact all that makes the colony of to-day, with +its potentialities of industrial wealth and expansive +settlement, have been covered by the span of a single +life.</p> + +<p>In 1824, Lieutenant Oxley discovered and explored +the Brisbane River. Redcliffe, so named a +quarter of a century before by Flinders, but now +generally known as “Humpy Bong,” was the original +site selected for the first settlement on the shores of +Moreton Bay. Some convicts had been forwarded +there from Sydney to form the settlement, but owing +to attacks by blacks and the unsuitability of site, it was +removed to the present one of Brisbane. Up to 1839, +the dismal cloud of convictism was over this fair land +before it was thrown open to free settlers.</p> + +<p>Over 12 degrees of latitude, and as many of longitude, +through a country previously unknown and untested +as to climate and soil, the course of advancing +occupation went on unchecked, until the land was +filled with the outposts of civilisation, and the potentialities +of the colony were ascertained. Great indeed +are the conquests of peace; much greater than those +of war; more beneficial and more permanent.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span></p> + +<p>The first sale of Brisbane lands took place in +Sydney in 1841, and next year a sale was held in +Brisbane; the third took place in 1843, and there +was not enough land surveyed to meet the demand, +so small was Brisbane in those early days. The upset +price was £100 per acre, although much more was +realised for some lots. Even at those prices, many +buyers suffered a loss, for a commercial crisis occurred +shortly afterwards, and much of the property was forfeited, +or resold at much lower prices.</p> + +<p>For the year 1843, the exports consisted of 150 +tierces of beef, 450 hides, 1,998 bales of wool, 3,458 +sheepskins, and 3,418 feet of pine timber.</p> + +<p>The foundations of trade, so modest at the start, +have developed in one lifetime to a nation’s wealth. +In 1844, in the territory then forming the colony, +there were 650 horses, 13,000 cattle, 184,000 sheep, +and scarcely more than 1,500 of a population, one half +of whom were domiciled in North and South Brisbane. +At the present day, the products of the live stock of +the State furnishes employment for thousands, and +forms a volume of trade that employs the finest lines +of steamers sailing in the Southern Seas.</p> + +<p>It is needless to dwell on the history of the +dark days of bondage and weakly infancy, which has +little to do with the early days of settlement in North +Queensland, except to show the starting point. The +North is free from the stain and drag of convictism. +The real life of the colony began with the first days<span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span> +of free settlers, then immigrants poured in rapidly, +and the occupation of the interior advanced. With +this strong growth of material progress, came also the +desire for self-government, and separation from New +South Wales. This, however, was not obtained without +much exertion, self-sacrifice, and display of patriotic +energy. The history of the separation movement +is long, extending over many years, but it was finally +consummated on 10th December, 1859, when Sir +George Ferguson Bowen was sworn in as the first +Governor of Queensland. The boundary line of the +new colony commenced at Point Danger, near the 28th +parallel of south latitude and ran westward, leaving +the rich districts watered by the Clarence and Richmond +rivers, although much nearer to Brisbane than +to Sydney, still belonging to New South Wales. After +separation and self-government, came the commencement, +in 1865, of the railway from Ipswich towards +the interior. The discovery of gold at Gympie, near +Maryborough, in 1867, and the rapid extension of the +ever-spreading pastoral industry, laid the foundation +of national life in Queensland. From this solid basis, +the settlement of North Queensland commenced in +earnest, with a more rapid extension than had been +seen in any other part of Australia.</p> + +<p>Telegraphic communication was established +between Brisbane and Sydney on November 9th, 1861, +and its inauguration had a marked effect on local +affairs. The immigration induced by Mr. Henry Jor<span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span>dan +was an important factor in the settling of people +on the land in the early days of Queensland.</p> + +<p>In 1869, Townsville was connected by wire with +Brisbane, and in 1872 the line was extended to the +mouth of the Norman River at Kimberly, now known +as “Karumba,” the intention being that the first cable +to connect Australia with Europe should be landed at +the mouth of the Norman River, but, for reasons +which have never been made public, South Australia +was allowed to step in and reap the advantages which +should have belonged to Queensland, although we +carried out our share of the work by constructing, at +great expense, a special land line across the base of +the Cape York Peninsula, from Cardwell, across the +Sea View Range, to Normanton and Kimberly at the +mouth of the river.</p> + +<p>The last service rendered by Walker, the explorer, +was in connection with the selection of the +route of the telegraph line from Cardwell to the Gulf +of Carpentaria. Mr. Walker’s second in command +was a fine young man of the name of Herbert Edward +Young, who was subsequently telegraph master in +Townsville in the year 1871. Mr. Young received an +injury in the service which eventually resulted in his +untimely death very shortly after his marriage.</p> + +<p>Australia was connected with Europe by cable +in 1872. Queensland thus starting on its career so +hopefully was nevertheless subject to periods of depression, +booms, and crises, prosperity and hard<span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span> +times alternated. And then came the “salvation by +gold.” The discovery of gold came as a hope and +help to all, as it came to the North a few years later. +It helped to find markets for stock of all kinds and +employment for thousands, and also to extend the +settlement of the land and open up commerce with +other countries, introducing immigrants or diggers, +many of whom remained and settled in the country. +But the young country had to be opened up and some +degree of settlement established before mining for +gold could be carried on.</p> + +<p>In all parts of Queensland, pastoral settlement +has preceded all others, including mining. Though +the squatter is now, in the more settled districts, becoming +a thing of the past, his work being finished +and his day gone by, at the first enterprise, bush +knowledge and a practical life were the most potent +factors in making known the possibilities of the land +of Queensland.</p> + +<p>The name “squatter” was given in the early days +to the pastoral tenants of the Crown, who rented +pasture lands in their natural state. The first pastoral +occupation took place about 1840, and this may be said +to have commenced the life history of the movement +that made Queensland known to the world. Large +areas were occupied on the banks of rivers and creeks +where the splendid and nutritive indigenous grasses +required no further cultivation. All that the squatters +did was to turn their stock loose on them and exercise<span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span> +some care to prevent them from straying, or being +killed and scattered by the blacks. No country was +ever endowed by Nature with a more permanent, +healthy, and beneficial pasturage than Australia, +though heavy stocking and hot dry seasons have somewhat +diminished the value of this natural wealth in +some of the earlier settled districts. The chief source +of employment in the Colony of Queensland, and the +leading export, is still derived from the stock depastured +on the native grasses that were found when the +State was first explored.</p> + +<p>A company or syndicate was formed in +February, 1859, for the purpose of establishing a new +pastoral settlement in North Australia. The project +was conceived in consequence of the reports of explorers +who had passed through much of the country +to be operated on. These reports were from the +journals of Sir Thomas Mitchell, Dr. Leichhardt, A. C. +Gregory, the Rev. W. B. Clarke, and others. The +prospectus was of a most ambitious and comprehensive +nature, and it showed an intention to overcome, or +make light of, all obstacles, and to march straight on +to glory and wealth, as well as to start a young nation +on its prosperous career. The area of the proposed +new settlement was comprised within the 22nd parallel +of S. latitude, the 137th degree of east longitude on +the west, and on the north and east by the ocean, +practically including what is now known as North +Queensland.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span></p> + +<p>The report of the Rev. W. B. Clarke, which was +favourable to the probability of auriferous country +being discovered, and of rich deposits of gold being +met with on the northern rivers, was a great factor in +promoting the project of founding a settlement which +was to establish a thriving and industrious European +and Oriental mercantile and planting community. +The immediate design was to commence a detailed +exploration of the country reported on by Dr. Leichhardt. +The prospectus dwelt on the advantages of +thoroughly exploring the rivers and country and making +known the capabilities of the soil and climate to +the capitalists of Australia as a field for investment. +The programme mapped out was:—To proceed from +Rockhampton direct to Leichhardt’s camp in the bed +of the Burdekin River at Mount McConnel. To +trace the Burdekin down to the sea in canoes, taking +soundings to establish its navigable capabilities; to +fix its mouth and its qualifications as a seaport. To +fix the probable head of navigation, and a favourable +site for a goods depôt there. To return to Mount +McConnel; thence to explore the lower Suttor, lower +Cape, and Burdekin Valley as far as the Valley of +Lagoons, ascending the river by its western, and returning +by its eastern bank; to fix the most favourable +position as near as possible to water carriage for the +first establishment of pastoral stations, and to trace the +most accessible route from the latter to the former. +To return to the settled districts by a different route,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span> +viz.: to trace up the Cape or Belyando River to its +head in latitude 24 degrees, to cross the great watershed, +and to drop down upon the Maranoa, which was +to be followed to about latitude 26 degrees, where +the course was to be left and a route made down the +River Culgoa, arriving in the settled districts by the +lower Condamine.</p> + +<p>By adopting this route, the whole frontier, from +the Valley of Lagoons to Gregory’s last track down +the Victoria (or Barcoo) would be explored; thus, +without additional outlay, deciding whether Leichhardt +pushed westward by the Victoria according to +Gregory, or what is more probable, from some point +upon the Belyando or Burdekin, according to the +Rev. W. B. Clarke. The person in charge of the +party was to prepare a full report upon the country +traversed, while the surveyor of the party was to draw +out a chart of the region explored, copies of the report +and chart to be furnished to each of the subscribers, +who would then be in a position individually or collectively +to take measures for tendering for and occupying +the country, by sending their stock overland, +and their stores, etc., by water to the depôt at the head +of navigation.</p> + +<p>The cost of the exploration was estimated at about +£1,000, to meet which it was proposed to raise that +sum by subscription; unless that amount were subscribed, +the expedition to be abandoned. The leader +proposed was George Elphinstone Dalrymple. The<span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span> +names of the subscribers of £50 each were:—Captain +J. C. Wickham, R.N., Messrs. J. C. White, John +Douglas, Gilbert Davidson, P. N. Selheim, A. D. +Broughton, George Perry, W. A. Simpson, Ernest +Henry, A. H. Palmer, Garland and Bingham, J. B. +Rundle, Joseph Sharp, D. McDougal, Raymond and +Co., R. Towns and Co., Griffith, Fanning and Co., +How, Walker and Co., Dennison and Rolleston, F. +Bundock, Edwd. Ogilvie, R. G. Watt, and J. R. Radfort.</p> + +<p>It was intended that a committee of these subscribers +should be at once formed in Sydney. The +reasons given for the projection of a party with such +a comprehensive and magnificent scheme before it +were: 1st—Because the supply of butchers’ meat was +even then unequal to the demand, and the latter increased +more rapidly than the former. 2nd—Because +the demand for sheep stations as an investment for +capital was far beyond the capabilities of the settled +districts; and the capital available for speculation in +Melbourne in particular, was seeking new fields for +employment. 3rd—Because the number of small or +moderate capitalists who annually immigrate with a +view to pastoral pursuits could find no field of operations +within the settled districts, had to push northwards, +and in a short time would occupy all available +country within practicable distance of the most remote +existing, or contemplated ports of shipment—Port +Curtis and Broad Sound.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span></p> + +<p>It was anticipated that other ports equal to Moreton +Bay, with its highly-favoured back-ground, Darling +Downs, would be opened up by exploration. The +character of the country reported on by Dr. Leichhardt, +intersected as it was by some very interesting +rivers, such as the Suttor, Burdekin, Mitchell, and +Lynd, warranted such a favourable conclusion.</p> + +<p>The tablelands were high, and possessed of a cool +and healthy climate; the soil on the banks of the rivers +was of a rich nature, suitable for agriculture; the +pasturage was unequalled for stock of all kinds; and +the mineral prospects were favourable towards the +settlement of a mining community. All this undeveloped +natural wealth lay at the disposal of any who +might enter and bring it under the magic influence of +capital and enterprise.</p> + +<p>In their wildest moments of enthusiasm, none of +those enterprising colonists could have foreseen what +a few years would bring forth. None could have expected +to see in the short space of less than thirty years +that, where the mangrove then fringed the shore, +jetties and harbours would be built, and that great +ocean-going steamers and vessels from all parts of the +world would be found discharging valuable cargoes +collected from many lands; that great cities would +arise adjacent to these harbours, that land would be +sold by the foot at high prices; that these thriving +towns would be the termini of many railways reaching +far away into that unknown interior which they were so<span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span> +anxious to explore, bringing in the natural products of +the soil valued at many millions of pounds annually for +shipment to the markets of the world, or that the +mining prospects so modestly alluded to in their prospectus +would be developed to such an extent as to +produce hundreds of tons weight of gold. These men +were the pioneers of a new colony; they looked out +over the wilderness extending northwards to the +Indian Ocean, and laid their plans to conquer and subdue +it to the wants of civilised man. The promoters +of this pioneering enterprise anticipated the probability +of the deep indentation of the Gulf of Carpentaria +enabling direct oceanic communication with the Western +world, as well as with India and China, to be +established, and that the projected telegraphic connection +with Europe by way of Timor and Java might +be extended by way of the level bed of the Gulf, and +along the valley of the Lynd and Burdekin Rivers into +the territory of Moreton Bay, thus bringing North +Queensland and Brisbane nearer to the marts of the +world than any of the sister colonies. The progress +of civilisation has brought all this to pass within the +memory of those now living.</p> + +<p>Our Queensland land policy is a legacy of the old +days of New South Wales, where the first attempt to +confer a right to property in land was by way of grant. +It dates from the time of Governor Phillip, the first +Governor of New South Wales; these grants were +made to any free immigrants on certain conditions.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span></p> + +<p>The system of tenure by occupation began about 1825, +and was the origin of the squatting system; the production +of fine merino wool gave a great impetus to +the occupation of the waste lands. The licenses were +annual, the rate of charge rested with the Governor, +and they were renewable and transferable. But much +dissatisfaction arose with the administration by the +Crown Lands Commissioners who had the disposal of +all disputes connected with the new system. Hence +an agitation was set up for a redress of grievances, and +this led to the passing of the 9th and 10th Victoria c. +104—28th August, 1846. In this act power was +granted to the Crown to lease for any term of years +not exceeding fourteen, to any person, any waste lands, +etc., or license to occupy; such lease or license to be +subject to the regulations thereafter mentioned. On +the 9th of March, 1847, the celebrated orders in +Council, framed under the authority of this act, were +issued. The lands in the Colony of New South Wales +were divided into three classes, “settled,” “intermediate,” +and “unsettled.” As respects Queensland, +the settled districts were confined to very limited areas +within ten miles of the town of Ipswich, and within +three miles of any part of the sea coast. All the rest +of the territory now comprised in the boundaries of +the State was left in the unsettled districts; but +power was given to the Governor to proclaim any +portion as within the intermediate districts when +necessary. The lease gave the right to purchase<span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span> +part of the land within the lease to the lessee and to +him only; other acts dealing with the sale of land +had been passed, and land had been alienated under +them; but the leases and regulations under the +orders in Council forbade the sale of any waste land +to anyone except the lessee. When a run was +forfeited, tenders might be given, stating the term of +years for which the tenderer was willing to take it, +the rent he would give in addition to the minimum +fixed by the act, and the amount of premium he would +pay. In the event of competition, the run was to be +knocked down to the highest bidder.</p> + +<p>Where new runs were tendered for, the tenderer +was to set forth in his tender a clear description of +the run and its boundaries, and also whether he was +willing to give any premium beyond the rent. The +rent was to be proportioned to the number of sheep +or equivalent number of cattle which the run was +estimated to be capable of carrying according to a +scale to be established by the Governor; but no run +was to be capable of carrying less than 4,000 sheep, or +to be let for less than £10 per annum, to which +£2 10s. was added for every additional 1,000 sheep. +The estimated number of sheep or cattle was decided +by a valuator named by the intended lessee and approved +by the Commissioner of Crown Lands, who, +with an umpire chosen by the two, acted as a small +court of arbitration. The scheme was fitted in its +simplicity to encourage exploration on the largest +possible scale.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span></p> + +<p>Proclamations issued by the Government of New +South Wales to give further effect to the “orders,” +authorised an assessment on stock pastured beyond the +settled districts, which was levied at the rate of a halfpenny +for each sheep, three halfpence for every head of +cattle, and threepence for every horse; and returns +were directed to be made by every pastoral lessee +under severe penalties. Under these several acts and +orders, the Executive and the squatters came into collision, +and disputes arose as to the meaning of many +clauses in the various Land Acts; but no material +alteration had been made at the time when Queensland +was separated from New South Wales, although +the Constitution Act of New South Wales, July, 1855, +vested in the local legislature the entire management +and control of the waste lands of the colony. In 1859, +when the Colony of Queensland was separated from +New South Wales, the pastoral interest was in the +ascendant, and this is considered to have been made +evident by the first land legislation of the new colony. +The first consideration of the new Government was +legislation for leasing and selling the land. A very +large number of tenders for Crown Lands had been +accepted by the New South Wales Government, or had +been applied for and were in abeyance, and until a decision +was given on these applications, the land was +lying idle and waste. One-fourth of the entire unoccupied +territory had been applied for, the result of the +energy of pioneering pastoralists, and the prospects<span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span> +opening up for new pastoral settlements. The first bill +presented to the new Parliament on 11th July, 1860, +was introduced by the Colonial Treasurer, an old +squatter, Mr.—afterwards Sir R. R.—Mackenzie. +Some of the provisions of the old orders in Council +were followed; they accepted the unsettled districts as +declared in them. The intermediate were abolished. +Applications for licenses for a year were to be accompanied +by a clear description of runs, to be not less +than 25 nor more than 100 square miles, with a fee of +10s. per square mile. These entitled the lessee to a +lease of 14 years. The land to be stocked at the time of +application to be one-fourth of its grazing capabilities.</p> + +<p>This was fixed by the act at 100 sheep or 20 head of +cattle to the square mile; the rent to be appraised after +four years for the second and third remaining +periods of five years each, at the commencement of +each period. As to the runs tendered for and still unstocked, +the provisions were extended, but lessees +were compelled to stock their land to one-fourth of the +extent fixed by the act. The tide of speculation in +unoccupied land was stayed, there arose a great +demand for stock of all kinds, and those pastoralists +in the south, who had flocks and herds to dispose of, +realised great prices. Afterwards the colony passed +through some troublesome years, and a Relief Act +was required; and as a vast area of the young colony +had still to be occupied, encouragement was held out +to settlers to take up runs. The Pastoral Leases Act<span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span> +of 1869, gave another impetus to the settlement of outside +districts, and acted as a relief to many who had +taken up runs under the previous acts. The new +leases were to be for a term of 21 years, and the new +Act also dealt with leases under existing acts. Where +new country was applied for, a license had to be taken +out, and a declaration made that the country was +stocked to one-fourth of its grazing capabilities, the +rent being 5s. per square mile for the first 7 years; +10s. for the second term, and 15s. for the third term. +Every succeeding Government tried a new Land Bill, +some dealing with selection, land orders to new arrivals +being part of the system; but the tendency of all succeeding +land legislation down to the present day has +been to allow more liberal terms to the prospective +selector. The conditions were made so restrictive in +the first days as to lead one to conclude that land selection +was almost a crime; whereas the genuine selector +in remote districts has enough to contend with in opening +his land for some kind of cultivation and facing the +seasons, etc., without being forced to make improvements +he will not require. The grazing selector is +a coming power in the land; a grade between the old +squatter and the small selector. The discovery of +artesian water will be a factor of the utmost importance +to him as tending to assure his position from loss +by drought. The grazing selector is spreading over +the interior rapidly; and before the expiration of the +leases now in existence, more land legislation is sure<span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span> +to be introduced to liberalise the terms and initiate a +system for obtaining the freehold of parts of these +large grazing farms. The history of our land laws +shows them to have been simply experimental at every +stage, hence the need for repeated alterations.</p> + +<p>It would have been a good thing for Queensland, +I might say for Australia, if a similar policy to that +of the United States of America had been followed, +namely the throwing open of the public estate on the +most liberal terms and the encouragement of private +enterprise in railways.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> + +THE NAVIGATORS.</h2> + +<p>According to historical record, the first part +of Australia discovered by Europeans, was the +northern part of Queensland, and it also bears +the mournful distinction of being the first scene of +their death at the hands of the natives. Nearly three +hundred years ago, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, a boat’s +crew belonging to the “Duyfken,” one of the early +Dutch vessels exploring there, was cut off and killed. +The knowledge of the country obtained in those days +produced no results as regards settlement, and very +little addition was made to geographical knowledge +until Captain Cook discovered and made known the +eastern seaboard of North Queensland. The occupation +and settlement of this large territory was initiated +by the enterprise of pastoralists from the southern districts +in search of new runs for their stock. Thus the +first record of Queensland is of the North; her growth +and settlement comes from the South.</p> + +<p>The Dutch yacht “Duyfken,” despatched from +Bantam in November, 1605, to explore the island of +New Guinea, sailed along what was thought to be the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span> +west side of that country, as far as 14 deg. South +latitude. The furthest point reached was marked on +their maps Cape Keer Weer, or Turnagain, and the +shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria were supposed to be +a part of New Guinea. Torres was the first to sail +between New Guinea and the mainland of Australia; +he commanded the second vessel of an expedition +fitted out by the Spaniards for the purpose of discovery +in 1606. He sailed through from the eastern side, and +he describes the numerous islands lying between New +Guinea and Cape York. It is probable he passed +in view of the mainland, and his name is perpetuated +in that of the Straits. The Gulf of Carpentaria +is supposed to have been named by Tasman after the +Governor of the East India Company; and so little by +little the coast was explored, and the outline of Australia +mapped out, until Captain Cook’s memorable +discoveries of the east coast completed the chart of +Australia and its history commenced. The west coast +had been visited frequently by many Dutch ships, as it +lay in their line of route in sailing to Batavia. Dampier, +in 1688, was the first Englishman to land there, +and his description of the country and the natives was +far from encouraging. He spoke of them as the worst +people he had ever met, and the country as the meanest. +It was not until 1770, when Captain Cook ran +the east coast up from Cape Everard to Cape York, +and took possession of the whole territory in the name +of King George the Third, that the veil began to lift<span class="pagenum">[Pg 23]</span> +from this land of silence and profound mystery. His +voyage furnished the most reliable and scientific information +about the coast line of Australia hitherto +published. Captain Cook had been commissioned by +the English Government to make a scientific expedition +to the island of Otaheite, as it was then called, +to witness the transit of Venus, on June 3rd, 1769. +He was accompanied by Dr. Solander as a botanist, +and Mr. Banks (afterwards Sir Joseph Banks), as a +naturalist. After carrying out his commission, he +sailed in search of the southern continent. He circumnavigated +New Zealand, and thence steered westward +till he sighted the shores of Australia on April +19th, 1770. After landing at Botany Bay on the 28th +of the same month, he sailed north along the east +coast to Torres Straits. He passed and named Moreton +Bay and Wide Bay, and rounded Breaksea Spit +on the north of Great Sandy Island, named Cape +Capricorn, and Keppel Bay, Whitsunday Passage, +Cleveland Bay, and Endeavour River, where he +stayed some time to repair his vessel, the +“Endeavour.” The spot where he beached his ship +is now Cooktown, and a monument stands where +his vessel was careened under Grassy Hill. Many +of the principal headlands, bays, and islands, along +the coast were named by him. Finally, he passed +through Torres Straits, naming Prince of Wales +Island, and Booby Island, and then sailed homeward +by Timor and Sumatra.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 24]</span></p> + +<p>Captain Matthew Flinders, navigator and discoverer, +gave up his whole life to the cause of discovery, +having as a young man in company with Bass, made +trips along the southern coast of Australia in an open +boat, soon after the settlement of Sydney. In 1799, he +sailed from Sydney to explore Moreton and Hervey +Bays in the “Norfolk,” and went as far as Port Curtis, +landing at several places and examining the country. +He was appointed to the command of the “Investigator” +in 1801, and arrived in Sydney in May, 1802; +thence he proceeded up what is now the Queensland +coast, which he examined from Sandy Cape northwards. +He named Mount Larcombe, near Gladstone; +surveyed Keppel Bay and other places, correcting and +adding to Cook’s charts; he sailed into the open ocean +through the Great Barrier Reef in latitude 19 degs. +9 mins., longitude 148 degs., after many narrow +escapes among the shoals and reefs. His destination +was the Gulf of Carpentaria, and on his way he sighted +Murray Island, where he saw large numbers of natives +using well-constructed canoes with sails; from thence +he steered west, anchoring close to one of the Prince +of Wales Islands, where he and his crew mistook the +large anthills for native habitations; then steering +southwards, he found himself in the Gulf of Carpentaria, +of which very little was then known. Flinders +was the first English navigator to sail along its coasts, +where such shallow waters prevail that they were at +times afraid to go within three miles of the low shores,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 25]</span> +and had to be content with merely viewing the +tops of the distant mangroves showing above the +water.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>There is only one tide in the twenty-four hours; +it takes twelve hours for the tide to flow in, and twelve +hours for it to flow out again; and very uninteresting +is the aspect of the coast line sailing down the Gulf. +Flinders anchored near Sweer’s Island, which he +named, and examined Bentinck, Mornington, and +Bountiful Islands adjacent thereto, the whole group +being called Wellesley’s Islands. An inspection made +here of the “Investigator” showed that there was +scarcely a sound timber left in her, and the wonder +was that she had kept afloat so long; however, Flinders +determined to go on with his explorations. One +island was called Bountiful Island from the immense +number of turtles and turtles’ eggs which were there +procured, and when leaving on the continuation of +their course, they took forty-six turtles with them +averaging 300 lbs. each.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>There is at the present day on Sweer’s Island, a +well containing pure fresh water called Flinders’ well, +supposed to have been sunk by him, and near to it +was a tree marked by him. This tree was standing in +1866-8, but as it showed signs of decay, it was removed +in 1888 by Pilot Jones, and sent to the Brisbane +Museum, where it now is. This tree (which is +generally known as the “Investigator” tree) has a<span class="pagenum">[Pg 26]</span> +number of dates and names carved thereon, as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>1.—1781, “Lowy,” name of early Dutch exploring +vessel, commanded by Captain Tasman, +after whom the Island of Tasmania is named.</p> + +<p>2.—1798, and some Chinese characters.</p> + +<p>3.—1802, “Investigator.” “Robert Devine.” +(Devine was the first lieutenant of Flinders’ +ship “Investigator.”)</p> + +<p>4.—1841, “Stokes.” (Captain Stokes commanded +the “Beagle,” surveying ship, which +visited the Gulf in 1841.)</p> + +<p>5.—1856, “Chimmo.” (Lieutenant Chimmo +commanded the “Sandfly,” surveying vessel.)</p> + +<p>6.—“Norman.” (Captain Norman of the “Victoria,” +visited the Gulf in 1861 with Landsborough’s +party in search of Burke and +Wills. The Norman River is named after +Captain Norman.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>In skirting the western shores of the Gulf, Flinders +identified many leading features which were +marked in Tasman’s chart, and which were found quite +correct. On the last day of 1802, the “Investigator” +was in sight of Cape Maria, which was found to be on +an island. To the west was a large bay or bight, called +by the Dutch Limmen’s Bight; and the whole coastal +line seemed to be thickly inhabited by natives. +Flinders mentions seeing many traces of Malay occu<span class="pagenum">[Pg 27]</span>pation +along the shores of the islands of the Gulf—temporary +occupation for the purpose of collecting +<i>beche de mer</i>. Blue Mud Bay was so named by him +on account of the nature of the bottom. This bay was +surveyed. The country beyond was found to be +higher and more interesting than the almost uniformly +low shores of the Gulf they had been skirting for so +many hundreds of miles. Melville Bay completed the +examination of the Gulf of Carpentaria, which had +taken one hundred and five days; the circuit being +twelve hundred miles. Shortly afterwards they fell +in with six Malay proas, held intercourse with the +crews, and learned that the object of their expedition +was to find trepang, or <i>beche de mer</i>; and as they had +been trading for many years on the northern coasts +of Australia, it is evident that they must have been +well acquainted with the seas and shores of the Gulf. +Flinders sailed for Timor, and thence to Sydney, as +his vessel was now utterly unseaworthy, and reached +the harbour in June, 1803.</p> + +<p>His vessel after arrival was condemned, and Flinders +determined to go to England to procure another +ship to continue his surveys of the coast. On his +way home, he was wrecked on a reef, and, returning +to Sydney, obtained a small craft, in which he made +another start, but, touching at Mauritius, was detained +a prisoner for six years by the French, notwithstanding +his passport as an explorer. After his release, +he set about editing his journals and preparing an<span class="pagenum">[Pg 28]</span> +account of his researches. He completed this work, +but died on the very day his book was published. +No navigator or explorer has done more than Flinders +in the matter of accurate surveys, or in the boldness +of his undertakings, and his great work for +Australia was entirely unrewarded. He spent his life +in voyaging and discovery, and suffered many hardships, +besides imprisonment.</p> + +<p>One of the largest and most important rivers +flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria has been named +after him “The Flinders.”</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In 1823, an expedition was sent out from Sydney +under the command of Lieutenant Oxley to survey +Port Curtis, Moreton Bay, and Port Bowen, and to +report upon a site for a penal establishment. The +party went up the Tweed River some miles, and then +went northward to Port Curtis harbour. After landing +in several places, a river was discovered which +was named the Boyne. The vessel employed on this +service was the “Mermaid,” and finding nothing about +Port Curtis suitable for a settlement, Oxley returned +south, and anchored at the mouth of the Bribie Island +passage, which had not been visited by Europeans +since Flinders landed there in 1799, and called it +Pumicestone River. Here they were joined by two +white men, Pamphlet and Finnegan by name, who +had, with one other, been cast away on Moreton +Island a short time previously, and had since been liv<span class="pagenum">[Pg 29]</span>ing +with the blacks. These men piloted Oxley into the +Brisbane River, which was named by him after Sir +Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales. +They pulled up the river a long way above the present +site of the city, and admired the beautiful scenery along +its banks. This discovery led to the occupation of +Moreton Bay as a penal settlement, and the foundation +of the town of Brisbane.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Captain Wickham and Lieutenant Stokes of the +“Beagle” were surveying the coast in that vessel, +from 1838 to 1843, and Lieutenant Stokes afterwards +wrote an account of their journeying. They named +the Adelaide and Victoria Rivers on the north-west +coast, both of which they located and explored. In +1841, the “Beagle” was on the east coast. She passed +Magnetic Island, and sailed through Torres Straits +into the Gulf of Carpentaria on an exploring cruise. +In latitude 17 deg. 36 min., they entered a large river, +which was followed up a long way in the boats, and +was called the Flinders; it is one of the principal +rivers entering the Gulf. Further west, in 1840, they +had discovered and pulled the boats up the Albert +River. Stokes was astonished at the open country +found on the Albert. As far as the eye could reach, +nothing was to be seen but open extensive plains, +which he named “The Plains of Promise.” The +fine stream of the Albert was followed until the boats +were checked by dead timber about fifty miles from<span class="pagenum">[Pg 30]</span> +the entrance. The geography of northern tropical +Australia owes a great deal to Stokes, who wrote most +interesting accounts of his journeys.</p> + +<p>Stokes surveyed and charted the estuaries of the +Albert and Flinders Rivers, and he named Disaster +Inlet, Morning Inlet, Bynoe Inlet, Accident Inlet, +and the Van Diemen River, the latter he also examined +and charted for some miles up from its mouth.</p> + +<p>Mr. G. Phillips, in 1866-8, made the first examinations +and surveys of Morning Inlet, Bynoe Inlet, +(which he found to be a delta of the Flinders), Norman +River, Accident Inlet, and the Gilbert River. +Mr. Phillips was accompanied by the late Mr. W. +Landsborough, the work being done in an open boat +belonging to the Customs Department.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>H.M.S. “Rattlesnake” left Portsmouth in 1846, +under Captain Stanley, on a surveying and scientific +cruise. She reached Queensland waters in 1847, and +visited the Molle Passage, inside of Whitsunday Passage, +where some of the most striking and charming +scenery on the north coast of Queensland is to be +found. They went as far as Cape Upstart, and failing +to find water ashore, returned to Sydney. In +1848, they returned to the northern coasts, bringing +the “Tam o’ Shanter,” barque, on board of which +were all the members and outfit of Kennedy’s exploring +party. Captain Stanley assisted Kennedy to land<span class="pagenum">[Pg 31]</span> +at Rockingham Bay and make a start on his ill-fated +trip to Cape York.</p> + +<p>They found cocoanut trees growing on the Frankland +Islands, the only instance known of their indigenous +growth on the coast of Australia.</p> + +<p>They rescued from Prince of Wales Island a white +woman who had been four and a half years among the +blacks. She was the sole survivor of the crew of a +whaling cutter, the “American,” wrecked on Brampton +Shoal; she had been adopted by the tribe, and +spoke the language fluently; she returned to her +parents in Sydney when the “Rattlesnake” reached +port. Professor Huxley, the scientist, was one of +the party of the “Rattlesnake.”<span class="pagenum">[Pg 32]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> + +INLAND EXPLORATION.</h2> + +<p>The cause of exploration and discovery in +Australia has never lacked enthusiastic volunteers, +whether on sea or land. Like the North +Pole, the hidden secrets of the continent have always +attracted men of enterprise and energy anxious to +penetrate the veil of mystery and silence that has +hung over this vast territory since Creation’s dawn. +Little by little has the land been explored and opened +up for occupation; and those geographical secrets so +long sought after have been unfolded as an open page +for all to study and make use of. The records of some +of the early pioneers, the motives which promoted +their search, their hardships, and their journeyings, +their failures and their endurance, will always remain +an interesting portion of colonial history.</p> + +<p>The explorers were types of the men of a generation +now gone by; they were men who endured a +thousand perils and hardships to solve the mystery +of Australian geography. By their enterprise and +discoveries, they became the forerunners of the early +pastoral pioneers who opened up the vast plains of +the interior to occupation, and settled the towns and<span class="pagenum">[Pg 33]</span> +ports of the coast. The navigators were the first +to make known the outlines of the country, then the +explorers followed, starting from various points to +trace its geographical features, follow the courses of +its rivers, and investigate the suitability of the soil +and herbage for the sustenance of stock. In this +manner was the path opened for the pioneer squatter +or pastoralist with his flocks and herds to settle on +and portion out the land, and turn the wilderness to +profit and occupation. The skeleton map of the +country being traced out, the details were worked in +gradually by the spirit of enterprise and adventure +that has always been ready in these lands for such +work.</p> + +<p>The first land explorer of the territory now called +Queensland, was, in point of time, Allan Cunningham, +botanist, explorer, and collector for the Royal Gardens +at Kew, who arrived in New South Wales in 1816. +After many journeyings on sea along the coasts of +Australia, and inland to the Liverpool Plains through +the Blue Mountains, he left the Hunter River in 1827 +with a party of six men and eleven horses, discovering +the Darling Downs, and thus opening the way +to settlement in Queensland. He named Canning +Downs on this trip, and returned the same +year. In the following year, 1828, he went by sea to +Brisbane, and connected that port with the Darling +Downs by discovering a gap in the coast range, still +known as Cunningham’s Gap. He spent most of his<span class="pagenum">[Pg 34]</span> +life collecting and exploring, and died at the early age +of 48 in Sydney. His brother, Richard Cunningham, +also botanist and collector, accompanied Sir Thomas +Mitchell in one of his early trips; while camped on +the Bogan, he wandered away, lost himself, and was +killed by the blacks.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Of all the explorers who have taken a prominent +part in discovering the inland territory of Australia +in general, and Queensland in particular, Dr. Leichhardt +occupies the most conspicuous position, and +his discoveries have been followed by the most extensive +and advantageous results. He explored all +the country on the east coast inland as far as the +Mitchell River, and on the northern coast as far as +Port Essington. He was a man of considerable +scientific attainments, and his travels had a marked +effect in inducing settlement along his line of march. +His memorable trip from Brisbane to Port Essington +reflects great honour on his memory, and his name +will last as long as colonial history.</p> + +<p>Leichhardt left Sydney in 1844 in the steamer +“Sovereign” for Brisbane; he had with him Calvert, +Roper, Murphy, Phillips, and Harry Broome, an +aboriginal. The party later on was joined by Gilbert, a +naturalist, and one coloured man, a native. They left +Jimbour on the Darling Downs, on October 1st, 1844, +crossed the Dawson on November 6th, and on the 27th +Leichhardt named the Expedition Range. Two days<span class="pagenum">[Pg 35]</span> +after that they came to the Comet River, so named +because a comet was seen there. On December 31st, +the party came across the remains of a camp evidently +made by a white man, consisting of a ridge pole and +forks cut with a sharp iron instrument, probably the +halting place of some adventurous pioneers who +travelled on the outside fringe of all settlement, and +who frequently made long journeys into the unknown +land.</p> + +<p>On January 10th, they reached the Mackenzie +River, and on February 13th were on the Isaacs River, +coming from the north-west, which they named after +F. Isaacs of Darling Downs. Leichhardt’s account of +his journey is very interesting. It gives a description +of the geological formations, of the mountains and +peaks, and also a botanical description of the flora +of the country through which he passed. He describes +the game, some of which they turned to account +to supplement their already scanty fare. The +expedition passed on March 7th from the heads of +the Isaacs to another creek, which they called Suttor +Creek, after Mr. Suttor of New South Wales, who +had contributed four bullocks to the expedition. The +stream enlarging with the additions of other creeks, +eventually merged into the Suttor River, which they +continued to follow down, passing a great number of +native encampments on the way, and observing large +numbers of water fowl and other game. The junction +of the Cape River was passed, and they camped close<span class="pagenum">[Pg 36]</span> +to a mount which they called Mount McConnel, after +Fred McConnel, who had contributed to the expedition. +Near here they discovered the junction of the +Suttor with a large river coming from the north, called +the Burdekin, after Mr. Burdekin of Sydney, who had +also liberally contributed to the expedition. The river +is described by Leichhardt as being here about a mile +wide, with traces of very high floods coming down +its channel; the junction of the two rivers is in +latitude 20 deg. 37 min. 13 sec. On April 22nd, after +following up the Burdekin through fine open country +well grassed, they discovered the Clarke River coming +in from the south-west, called after the Rev. W. B. +Clarke, of Sydney.</p> + +<p>The course of the Burdekin River, which was +closely traced, served the little party through more +than two degrees of latitude and the same of longitude, +with a never failing supply of pure water and good +grass, and then passing over some large fields of +basalt towards the north-west, they arrived on another +watershed, the first river of which they called the +Lynd, after Mr. R. Lynd, a gentleman to whom the +explorer was much indebted. The first camp on the +Lynd was in latitude 17 deg. 58 min.; the country +throughout its course was very rough, consisting +mostly of large granite boulders; its course was generally +north-west, and the adventurous party were now +on waters flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria. The +Lynd was followed to its junction with the Mitchell<span class="pagenum">[Pg 37]</span> +in latitude 16 deg. 30 sec., and a marked tree of +Leichhardt’s is still visible at the junction of the two +streams. Although they were so far from the termination +of their journey, their flour had already been +exhausted for several weeks, their sugar bags were +empty as well, they were also without salt, and +had scarcely any clothes. However, the explorer +speaks in great praise of the congenial climate they +were experiencing, the weather being almost perfect +(this in June). Having followed the course of the +Mitchell River till it took them past the latitude of +the head of the Gulf, it was decided to leave it, and +their first camp thereafter was in latitude 15 deg. +52 min. 38 sec. Three days after leaving the Mitchell, +the party was attacked by the natives early in the +night; Gilbert was killed at once, Calvert and Roper +were badly wounded, and the whole party had a +narrow escape from total destruction. After burying +their companion, they continued their journey towards +the Gulf, where the finding of salt water in the rivers +gave them great encouragement.</p> + +<p>One river they named the Gilbert after their late +companion, and after crossing all the rivers flowing +into the Gulf within tidal influence, the party steered +north-west, naming Beame’s Brook and the Nicholson +River after two of Leichhardt’s benefactors. They +had now crossed Captain Stokes’ Plains of Promise, +and were making their way along the coast to +Port Essington. They travelled through poor, scrub<span class="pagenum">[Pg 38]</span>by, +rough country, crossing many rivers and creeks, +and enduring a thousand hardships, till on September +21st they reached the largest salt water river they had +seen, with islands in it; this they called the Macarthur, +after the Macarthurs of Camden, who had given liberal +support to Leichhardt. Continuing north-west +through poor, scrubby country, on October 9th they +encamped on what was named the Limmen Bight +River on account of its debouching into Limmen +Bight, and about the 19th, the Roper was discovered +and named after a member of the expedition. Here +they had the misfortune to have three of their horses +drowned, and Leichhardt was compelled to leave behind +much of his valuable collection of plants and +stones; a matter that grieved him sorely. A great +quantity of game was obtained here, ducks, geese, and +emus were killed every day, and made a welcome +addition to their fare of dried or jerked bullock meat. +They thickened their soup with green hide, which was +considered a treat; they made coffee from a bean found +growing along the river banks, which Leichhardt +called the “River Bean” of the Mackenzie; and they +were constantly making experiments, sometimes rather +dangerous, as to the value as food of the seeds and +fruits they found on their line of march.</p> + +<p>The South Alligator River was reached, and the +same north-west course, continued through rocky +country, which lamed their two remaining bullocks, +and when they reached what Leichhardt considered<span class="pagenum">[Pg 39]</span> +the East Alligator River over some extensive plain +country in which large numbers of geese and ducks +were seen, they were full of hope on meeting some +friendly natives, who could speak a few words of +English, evidently visitors to the settlement towards +which our way-worn explorers were trying to find +their road. Many tracks of buffaloes were seen, and +one was shot, and made a welcome change from their +usual fare. Eventually they reached Port Essington, +where Captain Macarthur gave them a kindly welcome, +and after a month’s rest they left in the “Heroine,” +arriving in Sydney March 29th, 1846. Their +arrival created great astonishment and delight, as they +had been mourned as dead for a long time. The +Legislative Council granted £1,000, and the public +subscribed £1,578 to the party, which was presented +to them by the Speaker of the Legislative Council +at a large public gathering in the School of Arts in +Sydney.</p> + +<p>Leichhardt’s journey from Moreton Bay to Port +Essington furnished the first knowledge we had of the +capabilities of North Queensland. It was the turning of +its first leaf of history, for his journey was for the +greater part through the territory now comprised within +its boundaries. The record of his trials, hardships, +and endurance, will stand unequalled among all histories +of explorations in any part of Australia.</p> + +<p>Mr. John Roper, who was badly speared in the +night attack by blacks and lost the use of one eye<span class="pagenum">[Pg 40]</span> +afterwards, died a few years ago at Merriwa, New +South Wales, and was the last survivor of Leichhardt’s +first trip to Port Essington.</p> + +<p>On a subsequent exploring trip, in which he intended +to cross Australia from east to west, Leichhardt +and his party disappeared, and no definite information +has ever been forthcoming as to the fate +that overtook them. On this occasion he started from +the Darling Downs, and his companions were Hentig, +Classan, Donald Stuart, Kelly, and two natives, +Womai and Billy. His last letter is dated April 4th, +1848, from Macpherson’s station—Coogoon, beyond +Mount Abundance, situated about six miles west of +the present town of Roma.</p> + +<p>Traces have been discovered of their journey +through a part of the Flinders River country. Two +horses found by Duncan Macintyre on the Dugald, +a branch of the Cloncurry, about 1860, were identified +as having belonged to Leichhardt’s expedition, and +some traces were discovered by A. C. Gregory in latitude +24 deg. south, consisting of a marked tree at one +of his old camps. These form the only records we +possess of the ill-fated travellers. Drought may +have split his party up in the desert interior, and, disorganised +and scattered, they would fall an easy prey +to thirst and delirium, for so soon does extreme thirst +in a hot and dry climate demoralise the strongest men, +that hope is lost even in a few hours, and delirium sets +in. People thus distracted, lie down under the nearest<span class="pagenum">[Pg 41]</span> +bush to die, after having wandered to every point of +the compass in search of water until their strength +fails. On the other hand, the party may have been +destroyed by flood, by hunger, or by the attacks of +hostile natives, a mutiny may have broken out and the +party, split up into fragments, may have wandered by +devious paths and perished in detail.</p> + +<p>Many expeditions were sent out in search of the +lost explorers, and although not able to find any definite +traces of his route, or to account for his disappearance, +they were instrumental in opening up vast tracts +of hitherto unknown territory, and adding largely to +the knowledge of the geography of the interior.</p> + +<p>The following beautiful verses were written by +Lynd, a friend of Leichhardt’s, and have been set to +music:—</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Ye who prepare with pilgrim feet</span> +<span class="i1">Your long and doubtful path to wend.</span> +<span class="i0">If whitening on the waste ye meet</span> +<span class="i1">The relics of my martyred friend.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“His bones with reverence ye shall bear.</span> +<span class="i1">To where some crystal streamlet flows:</span> +<span class="i0">There by its mossy banks prepare</span> +<span class="i1">The pillow of his long repose.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“It shall be by a stream whose tides</span> +<span class="i1">Are drank by birds of every wing,</span> +<span class="i0">Where Nature resting but abides</span> +<span class="i1">The earliest awakening touch of spring.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“But raise no stone to mark the place.</span> +<span class="i1">For faithful to the hopes of man.</span> +<span class="i0">The Being he so loved to trace,</span> +<span class="i1">Shall breathe upon his bones again.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 42]</span> +<span class="i0">“Oh meet that he who so carest,</span> +<span class="i1">All bounteous Nature’s varied charms,</span> +<span class="i0">That he her martyred son should rest</span> +<span class="i1">Within his mother’s fondest arms.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“And there upon the path he trod,</span> +<span class="i1">And bravely led his desert band,</span> +<span class="i0">Shall science like the smile of God</span> +<span class="i1">Come brightening o’er the promised land.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“How will her pilgrims hail the power,</span> +<span class="i1">Beneath the drooping Myall’s gloom.</span> +<span class="i0">To sit at eve and muse an hour,</span> +<span class="i1">And pluck a leaf from Leichhardt’s tomb.”</span> +</div></div> + +<p class="center">—Lynd.</p> + +<p>The following descriptions are taken from a journal +of an expedition into the interior of tropical +Australia in search of a route from Sydney to the Gulf +of Carpentaria by Lieut.-Colonel Sir T. L. Mitchell, +Surveyor-General of New South Wales, in 1845.</p> + +<p>The money for this attempt was found by the +Legislative Council of New South Wales. The Secretary +for the Colonies sanctioned the expedition, which +had been suggested by the leader himself, during a +slack time in his department. This trip, though it +never approached the Gulf, or even its watershed—which +was its main object at starting—nevertheless +discovered such an extent of available country as to +make it one of the most valuable and interesting expeditions +that were ever carried out in North Queensland. +This was Mitchell’s third exploring trip, and it +is referred to now, as it relates to the discovery and +opening up of a large part of western, as well as a part<span class="pagenum">[Pg 43]</span> +of North Queensland. There is no doubt that Mitchell +would have reached the Gulf waters if his equipment +had not been so cumbersome and altogether dependent +on good seasons. An account of his outfit will be +interesting reading in these times when people think +little of moving from the South to the North of +Australia with any kind of a party, and his departure +must have looked like the start of a small army on +the move to conquer a new country. Sir Thomas +Mitchell took with him eight drays drawn by eighty +bullocks, two iron boats, seventeen horses (four being +private property), and three light carts; these were +the modes of conveyance. There were 250 sheep to +travel with the party as a meat supply. Other stores +consisted of gelatine and a small quantity of pork. The +party consisted of thirty persons, most of whom were +prisoners of the Crown in different stages of probation, +whose only incentive to obedience and fidelity was +the prospect of liberty at the end of the journey. +According to the testimony of their leader, they performed +their work throughout creditably; they were +volunteers from among the convicts of Cockatoo +Island, and were eager to be employed on the expedition. +Some of those engaged on a previous trip +were included in this expedition.</p> + +<p>The whole party left Parramatta on November +17th, 1845, and crossed the Bogan on December 23rd, +that country being then settled with stations, the result +of discoveries made in previous years by the same in<span class="pagenum">[Pg 44]</span>trepid +explorer. Their journey led them by St. +George’s Bridge, the present site of the town of St. +George, on to the Maranoa River, then entirely unsettled, +and this river was followed up towards its +source. Touching on the Warrego, discovering Lake +Salvator, and passing the present site of Mantuan +Downs, they reached the head of Belyando. This was +thought at first to be a river likely to lead to the Gulf +country, but after following it down nearly to the latitude +where a river was described by Leichhardt as +joining the Suttor from the westward, Mitchell decided +it was a coast river, and so the party returned on their +tracks to a depôt camp which had been established on +the Maranoa, coming to the conclusion that the rivers +of Carpentaria must be sought for much further to the +westward. Therefore, continuing their travels in this +direction, the Nive River was discovered, and this was +thought for a time to be a water leading to the Gulf, +but after following it towards the south-east, the party +turned northwards, and thus discovered the far-famed +Barcoo River, which they thought was the Victoria of +Wickham and Stokes. Again high hopes were entertained +that at last a river was found that would lead +them to the desired end, and that this was a Gulf River. +They followed the course through all the splendid +downs country, below where the Alice joins it, and +found it was going much too far to the south to be a +Gulf river, being thus again disappointed in their +expectations. Mitchell speaks in glowing terms of<span class="pagenum">[Pg 45]</span> +the country through which they passed, and named +Mount Northampton and Mount Enniskillen, two +prominent landmarks. Returning to his party, he +took the route home by the Barwon and Namoi, and +so back to Sydney, which all reached in safety after +an absence of over twelve months. Mitchell’s discovery +of the Barcoo River was due to a division of +his party, and a light equipment, by which he could +advance as much as twenty or twenty-five miles a day, +and still keep a record of his latitude and progress.</p> + +<p>This trip of Mitchell’s led to the appointment of +his second in command, Mr. E. Kennedy, to return +and discover where the Victoria or Barcoo really went +to, and to obtain further information of the mysterious +interior of the great Australian continent, and its +peculiar river system. Mitchell was famous for his +exploring trips in the southern part of Australia, and +his two volumes of explorations remain a classic +in literature. His account of Australia Felix and the +Werribee are most interesting. Mitchell invariably +traversed his route with compass and chain, so that +his positions can always be verified.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Edward Kennedy, who was second in command +under Sir T. L. Mitchell when the Barcoo was discovered, +was appointed to lead a party to the same +districts in 1847. He followed down the Barcoo to +where a large river came in from the north, which he +named the Thomson, after Sir E. Deas Thomson, of<span class="pagenum">[Pg 46]</span> +Sydney. The Barcoo he identified with Mitchell’s +Victoria, which at a lower stage is called Cooper’s +Creek. Kennedy intended to go to the Gulf of Carpentaria, +but the blacks removed his stock of rations +left at the Barcoo, and so he decided to return to +Sydney by way of the Warrego, Maranoa, Culgoa, and +Barwon Rivers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The Gregory brothers had successfully conducted +several exploring expeditions in West Australia before +entering on those journeys in North Queensland +that have helped to make known its north-eastern +parts. A letter from the Secretary of State for the +Colonies, the Duke of Newcastle, to the Governors in +Australia, was received, in which it was recommended +that an expedition should be organised for the exploration +of the unknown interior of Australia, stating +that a sum of £5,000 had been voted by the Imperial +Government for the purpose, and suggesting that Mr. +A. C. Gregory should be appointed to the command, +and Brisbane be the point of departure. The expedition +was to be conveyed by sea to the mouth of the +Victoria River, on the northern coast of Australia. +It was to be an Imperial expedition, paid for by the +Imperial Government, for the purpose of developing +the vast and unknown resources of the continent. It +was called the North Australian Exploring Expedition. +The preliminary arrangements having been completed, +the stores, equipment, and a portion of the party were<span class="pagenum">[Pg 47]</span> +embarked at Sydney on the barque “Monarch,” and +the schooner “Tom Tough,” and sailed for Moreton +Bay on July 18th, 1855, arriving at the bar of the Brisbane +River on the 22nd. The horses and sheep were +collected at Eagle Farm by Mr. H. C. Gregory, and +shipped on board the “Monarch” on July 31st. After +some difficulties in getting over the bar and obtaining +the necessary supply of water at Moreton Island, the +expedition may be said to have started on its responsible +task on August 12th, 1855.</p> + +<p>The party consisted of eighteen persons, the principal +members being:—Commander, A. C. Gregory; +Assistant Commander, H. C. Gregory; Geologist, +J. S. Wilson; Artist and Storekeeper, J. Baines; +Surveyor and Naturalist, J. R. Elsey; Botanist, +F. von Muller; Collector and Preserver, J. Flood. +The stock consisted of fifty horses and two hundred +sheep; and eighteen months’ supply of rations were +taken.</p> + +<p>They sighted Port Essington on September 1st, +but the next day the “Monarch” grounded at high +water on a reef, and was not worked off for eight days, +during which time the vessel lay on her side, and the +horses suffered very much in consequence, indeed, the +subsequent loss of numbers of them is attributed to +the hardships endured during the period. The horses +were landed at Treachery Bay under great difficulties, +having to swim two miles before reaching the shore. +Three were drowned, one lost in mud, and one went<span class="pagenum">[Pg 48]</span> +mad and rushed away into the bush and was lost. +The “Monarch” sailed for Singapore, while the “Tom +Tough” proceeded up the Victoria River, where Mr. +Gregory and some of the party took the horses by +easy stages to meet them, as they were so weak from +the knocking about on the voyage that they had frequently +to be lifted up. This little trip occupied three +weeks before they joined the party on the schooner. +When they met, it was to learn that mishaps had again +occurred, the vessel had grounded on the rocks, and +much of the provisions had been damaged by salt +water; the vessel had also suffered injury; some of the +sheep had died from want of water, and the rest were +too poor to kill. The record is one continuous +struggle with misfortune, but owing to good general-ship +and patience, progress was made, and the main +objects of the expedition being constantly kept in +view, each step taken was one in advance.</p> + +<p>After the horses had recovered a little from their +journey, Mr. Gregory and a small party made an exploring +trip towards the interior, and to the south to +latitude 20 deg. 16 min. 22 sec., passing through some +inferior country, and touching the Great Sandy Desert +seen by Sturt, red ridges of sand running east and +west, covered with the inhospitable Triodia or Spinifex +grass. As his object was to visit the Gulf country, +he retraced his steps to the camp on the Victoria +River; and after adjusting matters there, dividing his +party and sending the vessel to Coepang for supplies,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 49]</span> +with directions to come to the Albert River, he started +on his journey to the Gulf of Carpentaria on June 21st, +1856. His party comprised the two Gregorys, Dr. +Mueller, Elsey, Bowman, Dean, and Melville, seven +saddle and twenty-seven pack-horses, with five +months’ provisions.</p> + +<p>They followed down the Elsey River to the +Roper, so called by Leichhardt, and passed a camp +of some explorers some six or seven years old, where +trees had been cut with sharp axes. They reached +the Macarthur River on August 4th, after passing +through much poor country covered with inferior +grasses. Their track skirted the tableland, and as the +journal states, the country was barren and inhospitable +in the extreme. The Albert River was reached on +August 30th, 1856, and not finding any traces of the +“Tom Tough” having been there, the explorer started +from that point to Moreton Bay. Coming to a large +river, which Leichhardt thought to be the Albert, +Mr. Gregory named it after the great explorer, and +it is now known as the Leichhardt. This river they +crossed, and travelled east-south-east. After crossing +the Flinders River, where the country consisted +of open plains, the party travelled east-north-east +through a flat ti-tree country, north of what is now +the Croydon goldfield, a barren, flat, and dismal prospect. +Gregory says in his journal, that had the season +been earlier, he would have preferred travelling +up the Flinders, and turning to the Clarke from its<span class="pagenum">[Pg 50]</span> +upper branches. However, they moved on to the +Gilbert River, and followed it up through rocky defiles +and rough granite country till they reached the +Burdekin River on October 16th; the next day they +passed one of Leichhardt’s stopping places, where he +camped on April 26th, 1845, in latitude 19 deg. 37 min. +S. They were living on horseflesh at this time, and +mention is made of a horse that had not carried a pack +since leaving the Gilbert, being killed for food, and its +flesh dried in the sun, forming what is called jerked +meat, an article well known to early pioneers when +salt was absent. They frequently saw the blacks, who +mostly ran away at the sight of the horses, probably the +first they had ever seen; but no casualty happened +during the whole trip, owing to the good management +of the leader, and the caution always shown where +danger was likely. On October 30th they camped +near the Suttor River, with Mount McConnell in +view. After the junction of the Suttor and Burdekin +Rivers had been passed, the Suttor was followed up +past the latitude of Sir Thomas Mitchell’s camp on +the Belyando, and thus his route connected up with +Dr. Leichhardt’s. They left the Belyando, and on +November 8th, killed the eleven months’ old filly, +born on the Victoria River after landing, the flesh +was cured by drying, and the hair scraped off the hide, +which was made into soup. They passed the Mackenzie +River, went on to the Comet, below the junction, +and found a camp of Leichhardt’s party on their<span class="pagenum">[Pg 51]</span> +second journey. They reached the Dawson River, +and following a dray track, they came again in contact +with civilisation at Connor and Fitz’s station, +where they were hospitably received. They then +travelled past Rannes (Hay’s station), Rawbelle, Boondooma, +Tabinga, Nanango, Kilcoy, Durundur, reaching +Brisbane on December 16th, 1856.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mr. A. C. Gregory’s expedition in search of +Leichhardt was equipped by the New South Wales +Government. The objects of this expedition were +primarily to search for traces of Leichhardt and his +party, and secondly the examination of the country in +the intervening spaces between the tracks of previous +explorers. The expedition was organised in Sydney, +and made a start from Juandah, on the Dawson River, +on March 24th, 1857. They crossed the dense scrubs +and basaltic ridge dividing the Dawson waters from +those trending to the west, flowing into the basin of +the Maranoa River. The Maranoa was reached in +latitude 25 deg. 45 min., and they followed it up to +Mount Owen, advanced to the Warrego River, westward +from there to the Nive, and pursued a north-north-west +course to the Barcoo River, then called the +Victoria. As the captain of the “Beagle” had discovered +and named the Victoria River on the north-west +coast first, the name of Sir T. Mitchell’s river +was changed to the Barcoo, a native name. When +Mr. Gregory traversed this fine country, one of those<span class="pagenum">[Pg 52]</span> +devastating periodical droughts that visit this inland +territory now and again, must have been prevailing +for many months, and had left the land a wilderness. +That land Mitchell had described in 1846 in +glowing language as the fairest that the sun shone +on, with pastures and herbage equal to all the wants +of man, and water in abundance covered with wild +fowl. When Gregory passed through it in 1857, it +was bare of all vegetation, there was scarcely any +water in the bed of the river, and that only at long +intervals, nothing but the bare brown earth visible.</p> + +<p>In latitude 24 deg. 35 min. S., longitude 136 deg. +6 min., a Moreton Bay ash tree was discovered with +the letter <b>⏗</b> cut in, and the stumps of some small trees +cut with an axe, evidently one of Leichhardt’s camps, +but no further traces could be discovered, though +both sides of the river were followed down. The +Thomson River was reached and followed up to latitude +23 deg. 47 sec., and here they were compelled +to retrace their steps owing to the terrible state of the +country through drought; it being impossible to travel +either north or west, although at that time the country +was not stocked. The far-reaching plains were devoid +of all vegetation except for drought-resisting +herbage. The principal object of their journey had +to be abandoned and a southerly course taken, as it +was considered madness to travel into the sandy desert +bordering on the river during such a season. So, with +horses weakened by hard living, they followed down<span class="pagenum">[Pg 53]</span> +the Thomson, over dry mud plains that wearied both +man and beast, and across stony desert ridges to +Cooper’s Creek and to Lake Torrens. Before reaching +the branch of Cooper’s Creek called Strezlecki Creek +by Captain Sturt, they saw the tracks of two horses +lost by that explorer in this locality years before. +Their course was continued south-south-west towards +Mount Hopeless at the northern extremity of the +high ranges of South Australia, which had been visible +across the level country at a distance of sixty miles. +Eight miles beyond Mount Hopeless, they came to +a cattle station, recently established by Mr. Baker. +After that they proceeded by easy stages to Adelaide.</p> + +<p>It is, perhaps, with reference to the physical +geography of Australia that the results of the expedition +are most important, as by connecting the explorations +of Sir T. Mitchell, Kennedy, Captain Sturt, +and Eyre, the waters of the tropical interior of the +eastern portion of the continent were proved to flow +towards Spencer’s Gulf, if not actually into it, the +barometrical observations showing that Lake Torrens, +the lowest part of the interior, is decidedly below sea +level.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> There is reason to believe from later and more detailed +surveys that Lake Torrens is not below the level of the sea.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As the people of Victoria were desirous of taking +part in the explorations of Northern Australia, a most +elaborate and expensive expedition was organised to +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 54]</span>travel across Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf +of Carpentaria. Great credit is due to the enterprise +of the people and the Government of Victoria for +this display of public spirit, for, apparently, Victoria +had less to gain than any of the other colonies by +geographical discoveries in the interior. Robert +O’Hara Burke was appointed leader, G. J. Landells +second, and W. J. Wills third in command. Burke +and Wills and two others reached the Gulf, +and named the Cloncurry River; but the notes +of the trip do not give much information as to the +journey or the country travelled through. The expedition +left Melbourne on August 20th, 1860, fifteen +men in all, provided with twelve months’ provisions, +making twenty-one tons of goods. The party was +too large and cumbersome, and the time of year was +badly chosen for a start; there were no bushmen +with them, and the leader was a man unfamiliar with +bush life, though full of devotion to the cause he had +taken in hand. The record of the trip is one full of +disaster, arising from mistakes that could have been +avoided had men competent for the task been chosen. +They started from Cooper’s Creek, where Brahe was +left with a depôt store, while Burke, Wills, King, and +Grey with three months’ provisions set out for the +Gulf on December 16th, 1860. The party that had +been so well equipped in every way on leaving Melbourne, +was reduced to too small a compass when the +critical time for action arrived. They followed the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 55]</span> +edge of the stony desert to the point reached by Sturt +on October 21st, 1845, and then steered for the Gulf +of Carpentaria, at the mouth of the Flinders. After +passing through the Cloncurry Ranges, the little party +followed one of the tributaries of that river, one that +had numerous palm trees on its banks, which must +have been either the Corella or Dugald, to the west of +the Cloncurry River, and on February 11th, 1861, in +the middle of the wet season, Burke and Wills reached +tidal water in the Gulf, on the right bank of the Bynoe +River, which is a delta of the Flinders River. Thus +the object of the expedition was attained. On the +return journey, Grey died through exhaustion and +weakness. The ground was very heavy for walking +owing to the rains, and the only horse had to be +abandoned, while the camel was almost too weak to +travel, even without any load. Burke, Wills, and +King arrived at Cooper’s Creek on April 21st, having +been absent four and a half months on their trip. +They found the depôt had been deserted that morning +by Brahe; he, however, had remained several +weeks beyond the time he was instructed to stay. +Instead of following on his tracks, Burke decided on +starting via Mount Hopeless to Adelaide, but not finding +water, they returned to Cooper’s Creek, growing +weaker every day. Their last camel died, and they +were forced to live on the seeds of the Nardoo (Marsilea +quadrifida), which, however, gave them no +strength. The blacks treated them kindly, but they<span class="pagenum">[Pg 56]</span> +left the creek, and then came the mournful end. +Burke and Wills died, and Howitt’s search party +found King, the only survivor of the little band, wasted +to a shadow in a camp of the blacks. As no proper +record of the journey, or description of the country +was made, and in the diary many gaps occur of several +days together, the expedition was barren of scientific +results. There is merely the fact of visiting the +shores of the Gulf, and returning to Cooper’s Creek, +under the most distressing circumstances and hardships. +Although successful in the main, it is a record +of sorrow, despondency, and a sacrifice of life. On this +expedition camels were used for the first time in Australia. +Until the fate of Burke became known, many +efforts were made to discover what had become of +him, and to this end, there were five exploring parties +sent out in search of him. They were Howitt’s, Walker’s, +Landsborough’s, Norman’s, and McKinlay’s, +and their discoveries led to an important increase in +the knowledge of Australia.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mr. A. W. Howitt’s party proceeded to the spot +where Brahe had kept the depôt, and seeing no traces +there of the missing party (although they had dug +up the stores left), he searched down the river, and +they came on King sitting in a hut which the blacks +had made for him. He presented a melancholy appearance, +wasted to a shadow, and hardly to be recognised +as a civilised being except by the remnants of<span class="pagenum">[Pg 57]</span> +clothes on him; this was on September 15th, 1861. +As soon as King was a little restored, they looked +for Wills’ remains, and having found them, gave +them burial, marking a tree close by; a few days afterwards +Burke’s bones were found and interred. They +called all the blacks around, and presented them with +articles such as tomahawks, knives, necklaces, looking +glasses, combs, etc., and made them very happy indeed. +When the sad story was revealed there was +much sorrow and grief throughout Victoria; and it +was agreed that Mr. Howitt should go back and +bring down the bodies for a public funeral in Melbourne. +A large sum of money was voted to the +nearest relatives of Burke and Wills, and a grant made +to King sufficient to keep him in comfort for life. A +searching inquiry was made into the circumstances +relative to the conduct of some of the officers of the +expedition, and a few of them were severely censured +for neglect of duty in not properly supporting the +leader.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>One of the expeditions in search of Burke and +Wills was led by John McKinlay, who travelled +through a great part of North Queensland, and reported +favourably on its capacity for settlement. He +started from Adelaide in August, 1861, and arrived at +the Albert River in May, 1862, thus crossing the continent +a second time. He was a bushman well fitted for +such an enterprise by experience, endurance, and de<span class="pagenum">[Pg 58]</span>cision. +The second in command was W. O. Hodgkinson, +subsequently Minister for Mines in Queensland. +McKinlay found a grave near Cooper’s Creek +which he examined, and found a European buried +there, which he understood from the natives to be a +white man killed by them, but afterwards it was known +to have been Gray’s burial place. The party made an +excursion into the melancholy desert country described +by Sturt many years before, consisting of dry lakes, +red sand hills, and stones. They travelled through to +the Cloncurry district, and onwards to the Gulf, passing +through country now under occupation, Fort Constantine, +Clonagh, and Conobie being the principal stations +there, and thence over the Leichhardt River to +the Albert, which was reached on May 13th. McKinlay +expected to receive supplies from the “Victoria,” +but she had sailed three months before, and thus short +of provisions and generally hard up, he had to tackle +a long overland journey to the settlements on the +eastern side of North Queensland, a most trying and +harassing undertaking, which, however, he accomplished +successfully. He had first to eat the cattle, +then the horses, then the camels. They killed their +last camel for food—it was called “Siva”—and it +proved a saviour, as they arrived at Harvey and +Somer’s station, on the Bowen, with their last piece +of camel meat, and one horse each left. They +had a hard rough trip from the Gulf, travelling in by +the Burdekin, and McKinlay proved himself a daring<span class="pagenum">[Pg 59]</span> +and most persevering and experienced explorer. The +McKinlay River—a branch of the Cloncurry—and the +township of McKinlay are named after him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Though not pertaining to any exploration or discovery +connected with North Queensland, it will be +interesting to refer shortly to the Horn Exploring +Expedition which was carried out on a scientific basis +to make known the country in the more central part of +the Australian continent. The scientific exploration of +central Australia, or that part known as the Macdonnell +Ranges, had long been desired by the leading +scientific men of Australia. The party consisted of +sixteen in all, with twenty-six camels, and two horses, +and made a final start from Oodnadatta (which is the +northern terminal point of the railway from Adelaide), +on May 6th, 1894.</p> + +<p>In the very centre of the continent there exists +an elevated tract of country known as the Macdonnell +Ranges. These mountains, barren and rugged in the +extreme, rise to an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet above +sea level, while the country surrounding them has an +elevation of about 2,000 feet above the sea level, and +slopes away towards the coast on every side, which at +no point is nearer than 1,000 miles. The mountains +are at the head of the Finke River; the region is +called Larapintine from the native name of the +river. The existence of these ranges saves that portion +of the continent from being an absolute desert, as they<span class="pagenum">[Pg 60]</span> +catch the tropical showers, which flow down the sides +of the mountains, and cause inundations in the low +country, and a spring of grass, which, however, is not +permanent, the rainfall being from five to twelve inches +annually. These ranges measure, from east to west, +about 400 miles, with a width of from twenty to fifty +miles, the entire area covering more than 10,000 square +miles of country. Apart from these ranges, there are +several remarkable isolated masses, about 32 miles +S.S.W. from Lake Amadeus. Rising like an enormous +water-worn boulder, half buried in the surrounding +sea of sand hills, is that remarkable monolith +known as “Ayers’ Rock.” Its summit can be seen more +than forty miles away, as it rises about 1,100 feet above +the surrounding plain. The circumference at its base +is nearly five miles, and its sides are so steep as to be +practically inaccessible, although Mr. W. C. Gosse, +the explorer, succeeded with great difficulty in ascending +it. It is quite bare of vegetation, except a few fig +trees growing in the crevices. Fifteen miles west of +Ayers’ Rock is another remarkable mountain mass +called Mount Olga, rising to 1,500 feet from the plain. +The Finke River flows south from these Macdonnell +Ranges towards Lake Eyre, and water is only found +after floods. Both alluvial gold and quartz reefs are +found in the ranges. Professor Ralph Tate, of the +University of Adelaide, and Mr. J. A. Watt, of the +Sydney University, assisted in drawing up the report.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 61]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> + +EXPLORERS IN NORTH QUEENSLAND.</h2> + +<p>The second journey of Edmund Kennedy, in +1848, was confined to the east coast of North +Queensland, and is one of the most mournful +narratives of disaster and death; only three of the +party returning out of the thirteen that started.</p> + +<p>The party was hampered with an unsuitable outfit +of drays, as well as some undesirable men, unused +to the bush and out of accord with the objects of an +exploring expedition.</p> + +<p>The members of a party going into an unknown +country have to depend on the fidelity of each to all, +and according to the devotion displayed by each, so +will success or failure attend the expedition. Kennedy +had men in his party he had better have left behind.</p> + +<p>His troubles and trials commenced after landing +at Rockingham Bay, near the site of the present town +of Cardwell, in trying to pass over swamps, and then +cutting his way through tangled, dark, vine-scrubs +to the summit of the steepest ranges in North Queensland. +They were obliged to leave their carts and har<span class="pagenum">[Pg 62]</span>ness +behind, and wasted much time in looking for a +place to ascend the ranges. They quarrelled with the +blacks soon after starting, and some of the men took +fever. They reached the Herbert, and went into the +heads of the Mitchell and Palmer Rivers, passing over +the site of the Palmer goldfield. Here the strength +of the party began to fail, and horse flesh was their +main dependence for food. At Weymouth Bay, Carron +and seven men were left, all sick with disappointment +and hardship, and in a low state of health. Kennedy +and Jacky, with three men, pushed on along the coast +northwards to Cape York. One man was wounded +by a gun accident, and he and the other two were +left at Pudding Pan Hill, and were never heard of +again. The leader and Jacky went on, intending to +return to the scattered party. They were followed by +hostile blacks, who speared the horses, and afterwards +mortally wounded Kennedy himself, who died in +Jacky’s arms. Jacky himself was also speared, but +he buried his leader in a grave dug with a tomahawk, +and after many hairbreadth escapes and much privation, +he reached the northern shore, where the “Ariel” +was waiting for the arrival of the party. Only one +man, and he an aboriginal, endured to the end, and +but for his keen bush knowledge, courage, and splendid +devotion, neither of the two other survivors would +have been rescued, nor any tidings of the mournful +fate of the party have been made known to the world. +The “Ariel” sailed to Weymouth Bay, and found the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 63]</span> +two men, Carron and Goddard, barely alive, the only +survivors of the eight left there by Kennedy.</p> + +<p>Kennedy’s papers planted in a tree by Jacky, were +afterwards recovered by him. When the nature of the +country through which Kennedy travelled is understood +and its difficulties known, it is no wonder that +mishaps occurred to him. Stony mountainous country, +thick dark scrubs, long dense grass, with tribes +of fierce blacks ready to throw a spear on every occasion, +were enough to tax the capacity of any leader, +without the accompaniment of sickness, want of +rations and disorganisation.</p> + +<p class="center">E. KENNEDY.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">His task is ended, his journeying o’er.</span> +<span class="i0">He rests in the scrub, by that far northern shore;</span> +<span class="i0">By the long wash of the Coral Sea,</span> +<span class="i0">Brave Kennedy sleeps now quietly.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Not lonely he lies in his last bed,</span> +<span class="i0">For loving memories o’erbrood his head;</span> +<span class="i0">Kindly to him, the tall ferns lean,</span> +<span class="i0">In love, their fellowship of green.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sweetly for him, the bird’s deep song,</span> +<span class="i0">Is sung when summer days are long;</span> +<span class="i0">Soft drips the dew in the morning sun,</span> +<span class="i0">Rest harassed one, thy task is done.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">His native friend, faithful to death,</span> +<span class="i0">Stayed by him to his latest breath;</span> +<span class="i0">Nor thought he had himself to save,</span> +<span class="i0">Till he had made his leader’s grave.</span> +</div></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 64]</span></p> + +<p>Mr. W. Landsborough left Brisbane in the brig +“Firefly” on August 24th, 1861, in company with the +colonial warship “Victoria,” taking the outer passage. +Rough weather on the voyage caused distress and a +loss of seven horses out of thirty, and they were compelled +to seek refuge inside the Barrier Reef at Hardy’s +Island. The brig grounded broadside on the reef; +the masts had to be cut away to save the vessel; and +the horses were landed through a large hole cut in +the side of the ship. After some delay, the “Victoria” +appeared in sight, towed the crippled craft off, and +proceeded with her in tow in order to carry out +the objects of the expedition. Passing through +Torres Straits, they called at Bountiful Island and obtained +a good supply of turtles, anchoring in Investigator +Roads, situated between Bentinck and Sweer’s +Islands. Landing on Sweer’s Island, they found the +wells left by Flinders in 1802, also the “Investigator” +tree. After clearing the sand out of the wells, the +water was found fresh and good. Mr. Landsborough +made a preliminary survey of the Albert River to find +a site for landing his horses and for starting on his +overland journey.</p> + +<p>The Albert had not been surveyed since +Captain Stokes had ascended it as far as Beame’s +Brook in 1842, but being known, it was appointed a +rendezvous for exploring parties. They found no +traces of Burke having visited this spot. The hulk +of the “Firefly” was towed up the Albert, and used<span class="pagenum">[Pg 65]</span> +as a depôt for the expedition, and this was her last +voyage. The writer saw her early in 1865; she was +then in an upright position, close to the left bank of +the river, with the tide flowing in and out where the +side had been cut open for the horses to land on the +reef. The horses soon recruited after landing, the +grass round the depôt being excellent. They now got +ready for a start to Central Mount Stuart, leaving the +“Victoria” to wait ninety days for their return. The +party consisted of Mr. Landsborough, Messrs. Campbell +and Allison, and two blackboys, Jimmy and +Fisherman. Their horses had improved so much that +they gave a lot of trouble at first, throwing their packs +and scattering the gear over the plains, but they soon +quietened down to work. The little expedition followed +mainly the Gregory River towards its source, +and were much surprised to find a beautiful river with +a strongly flowing stream and long reaches of deep +water, overhung by pandanus, cabbage-palm, and +much tropical foliage. They soon discovered the use +of the heart of the palm as a vegetable, though it can +only be obtained by the destruction of the tree. Blacks +were frequently seen, observing their movements, +looking on at a distance, as they usually do at the first +sight of a white man; but they did not attempt to interfere +with them. The Gregory River is distinct from +most of the Gulf rivers. The luxuriant foliage along +its banks, cabbage-palms, Leichhardt trees, cedar and +pandanus, denote the permanency of the running<span class="pagenum">[Pg 66]</span> +water, while level plains, covered with fine pasture +grasses, extend on either side for scores of miles. +They named the Macdam, an anabranch of the Gregory, +and observing a river joining on the right side +of the Gregory, called it the O’Shannassey; the source +of the flowing stream that made the river so useful +and picturesque was shortly afterwards found, where +a large body of clear water fell over some basaltic +rocks, showing that springs caused the flow, and not +summer rains in the interior as was thought at first. +This is not the only instance in North Queensland +where running streams flow from springs bursting +forth from the basaltic table lands. Above +the source of the water, the Gregory partook of the +character of other Gulf rivers, dry sandy channels, +dependent for their supply of water on tropical rains. +They followed up the now dry river, and reached a fine +tableland over 1,000 feet above sea level, which was +called Barkly’s Tableland, after Sir Henry Barkly, +late Governor of Victoria. Open basaltic plains, +covered with the very finest pastures now met them +everywhere, though water was scarce. After journeying +across the open country southwards, a river was +found, which was called the Herbert; it flowed in the +opposite direction to the tributaries of the Gregory. +Following down the Herbert, they spent Christmas +Day on a sheet of water called Many’s Lake, and +lower down Francis Lake was seen; still lower down +grass and water both became so scarce as to induce<span class="pagenum">[Pg 67]</span> +the leader, much against his will, to abandon the project +of reaching Central Mount Stuart. In latitude +20 deg. 17 min., and longitude 138 deg. 20 min., he +was compelled to retrace his steps. It was a season +of drought, no water having come down the Herbert, +and being limited to time to meet Captain Norman +at the Gulf in ninety days, forty-three of which had +already passed, no resource was left but to return by +the route they had come. They followed the right +bank of the Gregory River, and met a large number of +natives, who threatened them on several occasions, +but the little party of five passed through without any +mishap, owing in a great measure to the care taken +by the leader, who was well aware of the good old +bush maxim of always being prepared and never giving +a chance away. In following the Gregory, they ran +Beame’s Brook, which forms the head of the Albert, +down on the right bank. This is an effluent from the +Gregory, and is one of the most remarkable streams +in Queensland. It is very little below the level of the +adjoining plains, and is a clear stream of pure water, +overshadowed by cabbage-palms, pandanus, and ti-trees; +it traverses the plains some fifty or sixty miles +before it flows into the Albert. It is said the blacks +can turn the water out of this channel by blocking +up the exit from the main stream with stiff mud, and +thus catch fish that may be left in the holes. The little +channel is boggy in its course, and the country is subject +to great floods in the wet season. The party came<span class="pagenum">[Pg 68]</span> +to the depôt, and found all well, and there learnt that +Mr. F. Walker, another explorer, had been there and +reported finding Burke’s tracks on the Flinders, about +seventy miles distant; and having restocked himself +with some provisions, had left to follow up the traces. +After three weeks’ detention, and arranging matters +with Captain Norman, Landsborough took his departure +with his party, intending to go right through +to Melbourne. Their supply of rations was of the +most miserable kind, not even as good as prison fare. +The stores provided for the expedition were ample for +all requirements, but they were refused tea, sugar, +and rum. Starting on a long hazardous overland +journey of unknown duration, the inadequate outfit +accorded to these enterprising men from a steam +vessel within a fortnight’s sail of a commercial port, +was unjustifiable, and must be condemned.</p> + +<p>The expedition left the Albert on February 8th, +1862, a party of six, Mr. Landsborough, Mr. Bourne, +and Mr. Gleeson, with three blackboys, Jimmy, +Fisherman, and Jacky, and twenty-one horses, whilst +there was a continent to cross before they could reach +their destination. The tracks of Walker’s party were +just discernible, as they followed a course that took +them to the Leichhardt River, over level plains +covered with flooded box and excæcaria, commonly +called “gutta percha,” one of the Euphorbia family; +these plains are subject to floods, and are very much +water-logged during the rainy seasons on account of<span class="pagenum">[Pg 69]</span> +their being so level. The grass grows in great tussocks, +showing only the tops above the water for many +miles, and these were the “Plains of Promise” of which +so much was expected from the reports of the early +explorers! They crossed at the bar of rocks at what +is now Floraville, and directed their course to the +Flinders River, eastward through Newmayer Valley, +and on past Donor’s Hills, so named in honor of an +anonymous contributor, a Melbourne gentleman, who +gave £1,000 to the exploration fund. In following +the right bank of the Flinders, they passed Fort +Bowen, a small mount rising abruptly from the plains +near the right bank of the river, which was called after +the first Governor of Queensland. Many springs were +met with surrounding the base of the little mountain +forming mounds on the top of which water may be +found. The nature of the ground in places is very +treacherous; the water has a strong taste of soda, and +is quite undrinkable in some of the springs. About +twenty miles south-east from Fort Bowen are two +similar small mountains, Mount Browne, and Mount +Little (now forming part of Taldora run), at which +springs similar to those at Fort Bowen are also to be +met with. These small mountains, the highest of +which is only seventy-five feet above the surrounding +plain, were named by Mr. Landsborough after a firm +of solicitors in Brisbane, the Hon. E. I. C. Browne, +and Robert Little. The latter subsequently became +the first Crown Solicitor of Queensland, but both<span class="pagenum">[Pg 70]</span> +gentlemen are now dead. The ground in places is +dangerous, for under the light crust, that shakes and +bends beneath the weight of a horse, are depths of soft +mud, sometimes of a bluish colour, that would engulf +both horse and rider. One spring is hot, the water +at the surface being 120 deg., evidently a natural +artesian well. Heavy tall ti-trees surround all these +mud springs, and also innumerable small mounds that +are the result of the pressure of water from the great +depths below. The whole extent of country travelled +through consists of open treeless plains, covered with +good pasture grass, and occasionally some small white +wood trees (atalaya hemiglauca). As the river ran +in the direction they were travelling, they followed +it up, and about where Richmond now stands, they +saw the fresh tracks of a steer or cow making south, +supposed to have wandered from some of the newly-formed +stations towards the Burdekin. After this, the +river trending too much to the east, they crossed the +divide, thus leaving the Gulf waters behind them. +The change occurs in an open downs country without +any ranges to cross. A watercourse called Cornish +Creek took them to the Landsborough, and following +it down to the Thomson River, they passed Tower +Hill, where Mr. Landsborough had been exploring +before, and had left his marked trees. Travelling +southwards, they made for the Barcoo, and thence +to the Warrego, and on May 21st they came to a +station of the Messrs. Williams where they were<span class="pagenum">[Pg 71]</span> +received in a most cordial manner. They were now +about eight hundred miles from Melbourne, and +seven hundred from Brisbane, and it was decided +to make for Melbourne by following the Darling.</p> + +<p>McKinlay and Landsborough on their return were +the recipients of a public demonstration by three +thousand people in the Melbourne Exhibition Building, +and had a splendid reception.</p> + +<p>Landsborough died on March 16th, 1886, from an +accident caused by his horse falling with him, and he +is buried close to the north end of Bribie Passage at +Caloundra, where he had resided with his family for +some years previously. Landsborough was a very +honorable and lovable man, of simple tastes, fond of +reading and indefatigable in his love for travelling +about the country.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>F. Walker led a party from Rockhampton in +search of Burke and Wills in 1861. He was a bushman +of varied experience, and he has the credit of +originating the system of native police in Queensland. +He performed the task of exploration with which he +was entrusted creditably and ably. Starting from C. +B. Dutton’s station, Bauhinia Downs, on the Dawson +River, he and his small party went through the Nogoa +country to the Barcoo, where he saw traces of Gregory +and Leichhardt. They then went north-west to the +Alice and on to the Thomson River, and from there<span class="pagenum">[Pg 72]</span> +on to the head of the Flinders, which was called the +Barkly. A marked tree of Walker’s exists near the +town of Hughenden. Instead of following down the +river, he struck across the basaltic ranges and tableland +northwards till he came to the heads of a river +which he called the Norman, but which is more likely +the head of the Saxby River; however, he followed +it down to its junction with the Flinders, where he +saw the tracks of Burke and Wills going down with +four camels and one horse; crossing the river he found +the same traces returning. Walker now went to the +Albert River, where he met Captain Norman of the +colonial warship “Victoria” at the depôt there, and +obtaining fresh supplies, he returned to the Flinders. +And now commenced a painful march through the +ranges and tableland, so hard on the horses’ feet +that they could be traced along the stones by the +tracks of blood from their hoofs. The men suffered +from the seeds of the speargrass, which penetrated +the skin and caused irritation. The Burdekin was +reached, and some fresh supplies were obtained at +Bowen; and then passing through the settled districts +to the south of that town, Walker arrived at Rockhampton +early in June, having been absent about +nine months.</p> + +<p>He had several encounters with the blacks during +his journey—attacks and reprisals. About 1865, Walker +was sent out by the Queensland Government to +report on the best route for an overland telegraph line<span class="pagenum">[Pg 73]</span> +to connect the Gulf with Brisbane. On his recommendation, +the line was taken up the Carron Creek +by way of the Etheridge to the east coast at Cardwell, +through some very poor country. He selected this +route on account of there being timber suitable for +poles; but as the white ants soon destroyed them, the +line had to be rebuilt with iron poles.</p> + +<p>Poor Walker died of Gulf fever in 1866 at a +miserable shanty on the Leichhardt River, close to +Floraville, and is buried there. His second in command +on the telegraph expedition was a Mr. Young, +who was subsequently telegraph master at Townsville +in 1870. Young was a fine honorable man, but, +unfortunately, he received an injury whilst in the +execution of his duty repairing the telegraph line +between Bowen and Townsville, from the effects of +which he subsequently died, only a few days after his +marriage.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>A small private expedition, under the charge of +J. G. Macdonald, started from Bowen, on the east +coast of North Queensland, in 1864, for the purpose +of discovering a practicable route for several mobs of +cattle then being sent towards the Flinders or westward +for the occupation of new country. The party +consisted of Mr. Macdonald, G. Robertson, Robert +Bowman, and Charlie, a native of Brisbane, with +seventeen horses, and two months rations. The +starting point was from Carpentaria Downs, on<span class="pagenum">[Pg 74]</span> +the Einasleigh River, then the farthest out settlement, +the latitude being 18 deg. 37 min. 10 sec. S., +long. 144 deg. 3 min. 30 sec. E. The course +generally was westward, following down the Gilbert +River, and thence to the Flinders and Leichhardt +Rivers. These they crossed, and then travelled on +to the Gregory, which was followed down to the +Albert. The object of the expedition having been +achieved, and the country deemed suitable for stocking, +the party commenced their return journey, crossing +the Leichhardt River at a rocky ford, where the +scenery was beautiful and the site admirably adapted +for a head station. Eventually one was formed there, +but was swept away in the disastrous flood of 1870, +when the waters covered all the surrounding country +to a great depth. The journey home was uneventful, +the only occurrence being the finding of the skeleton +of a horse they had left on their outward journey at +the Gilbert River, and which had been killed by the +blacks and eaten. The stages made were somewhat +astonishing for an exploring party. The time taken +by the journey outwards and the return was fifty-three +days to Carpentaria Downs, and to Bowen seventy-one +days in all; this trip proves what can be done with +a lightly-equipped party, in contrast to many of the +unwieldy expeditions fitted out in the south. Mr. +Macdonald’s favourable report of the country was the +direct means of a good deal of settlement on the Gulf. +Mr. Macdonald, in conjunction with Mr., afterwards<span class="pagenum">[Pg 75]</span> +Sir, John Robertson, and Captain Towns, of Sydney, +took up many stations on the Gulf waters and expended +large sums of money in stocking them. They +also despatched the first vessel with loading to the +Albert, bringing consigned goods to settlers, as well +as supplies for their own consumption. This vessel +was the “Jacmel Packet,” which arrived in the Albert +River from Sydney in 1865, thus leading to the establishment +of Burketown. Sir John Robertson personally +visited the Gulf in 1868, travelling overland from +the east coast as far as Normanton and Burketown, +and returning the same way.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mr. Hann, one of the pioneers of the Burdekin +country, was the leader of a small expedition +sent out by the Queensland Government for exploring +and prospecting purposes through the peninsula +to Cape York. The party started from Fossilbrook +station, in 1872; they named the Tate and Walsh +Rivers, and then went on to the Palmer River, +after crossing the Mitchell, which they found a strong +running stream. On the Palmer gold was discovered, +and the place was called Warner’s Gully, after Frederick +Warner, the surveyor to the party; this being the +first discovery of gold in that country. Travelling still +north, they reached the Coleman River, and visited +Princess Charlotte Bay. They discovered the Kennedy +and Normanby Rivers, taking a few sheep with them +as far as this. They then travelled to the present site of<span class="pagenum">[Pg 76]</span> +Cooktown, and followed up the Endeavour River for +thirty miles, striking south to the Bloomfield River, +where the dense vine scrubs greatly impeded their +progress. On their way back they passed through +some very rough country. So successful an expedition, +made in so short a time, reflects credit on the +leader of the party, who was a thorough bushman, +and well acquainted with the dangers from hostile +blacks in such a country. This expedition resulted +in the development of one of the richest goldfields in +Australia; bands of prospectors soon followed on their +tracks and opened up the great alluvial diggings of +the famous Palmer Goldfields, from which nearly +£5,000,000 worth of alluvial gold was won.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>W. O. Hodgkinson had been a member of the +Burke and Wills expedition in 1860, and crossed +Australia as second in command of McKinlay’s party +in 1862.</p> + +<p>In 1876, he led an expedition sent out by the +Queensland Government to explore the north-west +country from the Cloncurry to the South Australian +boundary. The party was only a small one, but the +work was well carried out, and the results were satisfactory +and justified the expenditure incurred. They +started from Cloncurry, which at that time, 1876, was +already a settled mining township, but the country west +and south was not well mapped out. They crossed<span class="pagenum">[Pg 77]</span> +the rolling plains on the Diamantina River, and in +their reports describe life in the far west in its natural +aspect, the game of the country, the vegetation, the +spinifex, the awful sand ridges, and all the details of +a journey made at the cold time of the year. The +country, according to the vicissitudes of the season, +may be either a desert or a meadow, for the rainfall +is very uncertain. They followed up the Mulligan +River in well-watered country, reaching Mary Lake, +on the Georgina, and then on to Lake Coongi in +South Australia. Mr. Hodgkinson’s expedition was +described in a diction not much used by the old explorers, +whose records were made in a matter-of-fact +style, with little attention to effect. Nevertheless, his +descriptions are eminently interesting and life-like, and +have a charm for all who like to read a traveller’s +report of an unknown land. Hodgkinson’s name is +commemorated by the goldfield named after him, as +well as the river upon which it is situated.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>G. E. Dalrymple led the north-east coast expedition +fitted out by the Queensland Government in 1872. +This was altogether a coasting trip by boats, and led +to much information about the high values of the +rich alluvial lands fringing the banks of the rivers +which run into the sea on the east coast of the northern +part of Queensland. The Johnstone, the Russell, +and Mulgrave Rivers were named by him, as well as +the Mossman and Daintree. Here was found most<span class="pagenum">[Pg 78]</span> +magnificent scenery, and on the Johnstone they discovered +some fine cedar (one tree measuring ten feet +in diameter), besides a vast extent of rich land fit for +sugar growing. All these rivers have since been +opened up for cultivation, and sugar-cane, with other +tropical products, has taken the place of dense scrubs +that then lined the banks of these comparatively unknown +rivers—although the boats of the “Rattlesnake” +had been into the Russell and Mulgrave Rivers +in 1848. The country appeared to Dalrymple to be +inhabited by very large numbers of blacks, and game +was to be found in abundance. The name of Dalrymple +is perpetuated in many places on the map of +Queensland. A township on the Burdekin River, as +well as several mountains and other remarkable features, +have been named after George Elphinstone Dalrymple, +who was a splendid type of man in every sense +of the word. He was at one time treasurer of the +Colony.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>A search expedition for Leichhardt was promoted +by the ladies of Melbourne, and although very little is +recorded of its work, it has a melancholy interest from +the fact that the leader, a man of great promise and +energy, lost his life in endeavouring to carry out the +task entrusted to him, and he now lies in an unmarked +grave on the bank of a lonely billabong near the Cloncurry +River, a few miles from his brother’s station, +Dalgonally.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 79]</span></p> + +<p>The expedition was entrusted to Duncan McIntyre, +who had found on the Dugald River, during a +private expedition in 1861, two horses that belonged +to Leichhardt’s last expedition. Mr. McIntyre went +out with camels and horses, and formed a depôt camp +at Dalgonally station on Julia Creek in 1865. He +went on to Burketown, then just opened, for the purpose +of buying stores; at the time of his visit the Gulf +fever was at its worst, and he took ill and died on his +return to the camp. He is spoken of as a man of high +attainments and of large experience in bushmanship, +and his untimely death was fatal to the objects of the +expedition, the leadership of which was assumed by +Mr. W. F. Barnett. A short trip was undertaken by +him, in company with J. McCalman as second in +charge, Dr. White, a medical man, Colin MacIntyre, +G. Widish, and Myola, a blackboy. They started with +nine camels, six of which were young ones, ten horses, +and stores for five months. They travelled westward +over the Cloncurry to the Dugald to the camp, +marked XLV. of Duncan McIntyre on his first expedition +to the Gulf, the camp where he found the two +horses that Leichhardt lost on his last trip. Near here +is the grave of Davy, one of their blackboys, who died +from fever. After travelling over the country in the +neighbourhood for a few weeks, and not having any +fixed plan or instructions, they returned to the depôt +camp. The expedition, which was well equipped, was +eventually given up and the party dispersed. In con<span class="pagenum">[Pg 80]</span>sequence +of the death of the leader, no notes of his +journey were obtainable. The camels remained on +Dalgonally, the property of Mr. Donald McIntyre, for +years, and increased to quite a herd. The ladies of Melbourne +sent a handsome gravestone suitably inscribed +to be erected over the lonely grave of the explorer, but +for many years it lay unnoticed on the beach at Thursday +Island, and is probably still there.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The trip of Major-General Fielding to Point Parker +is in no sense of the term an exploring trip through +new country, but rather an exploratory survey for +railway purposes through a fairly well settled tract. +Nevertheless, some notes of the journey may be found +of interest.</p> + +<p>In 1881, negotiations were entered into between +the late Mr. (afterwards Sir) Thomas McIlwraith, +then Premier of Queensland, and a syndicate called +Henry Kimber and Co., to construct a railway on +the land grant principle, between Roma and Point +Parker, on the Gulf of Carpentaria. These negotiations +resulted in the formation of a larger syndicate +called the Australian Transcontinental Railway Syndicate, +Limited, which initiated their scheme by making +certain proposals to the Government of Queensland, +and sending out General Fielding to traverse the +proposed route in 1882.</p> + +<p>The party, under General Fielding’s leadership, +started from Roma, and went by way of Victoria<span class="pagenum">[Pg 81]</span> +Downs and Yo Yo to Biddenham, on the Nive, thence +by Lansdowne and Barcaldine Downs to the Aramac, +and on to Mount Cornish, delays occurring along the +route for repairs to waggonettes and harness, and for +the purpose of exchanging horses or buying new ones. +Following down the Upper McKinlay, they reached +the Cloncurry on October 7th, and were joined there +by the Government Geologist, Mr. R. L. Jack. More +delays occurred here for the want of stores, and it was +not until November 1st that all the members of the +expedition reached Kamilaroi station, on the Leichhardt +River; Gregory Downs was reached on the 7th, +and Point Parker on November 15th; the expedition +having camped sixty-seven times. On the night of +their arrival at Point Parker, the natives surrounded +the camp at midnight. There were about a hundred +of them, but they left when three shots were fired over +their heads; no one was hurt on either side, and this +was the only demonstration made by the aboriginals.</p> + +<p>Point Parker is described as having a very limited +area for settlement, only about 7,000 acres being available. +The Government schooner “Pearl” was waiting +here, and after a careful survey of Point Parker and +Point Bayley, they visited Bentinck and Sweer’s +Islands and Kimberley (now called Karumba), at the +mouth of the Norman River. Finally, on November +13th, they sailed up the Batavia River in the “Pearl” +for about forty miles, and explored it still further in +the boats, thence on to Thursday Island on December<span class="pagenum">[Pg 82]</span> +4th, 1882. In General Fielding’s opinion, the country +traversed on his route may be divided into sections; +the first part between Mitchell and Malvern was +neither fitted for pastoral purposes nor for agricultural +settlement; thick scrub, bad soil, and poor timber prevailing. +Between the Ward and the Nive, and thence +to the Barcoo, Thomson, and Diamantina Rivers was +first-class sheep country, requiring a good deal to be +done in the way of providing water to enable the country +to be fully stocked. The country between the +McKinlay and Fullerton Rivers is subject to flood. +Approaching the mining district of Cloncurry, the +country is not so favourable for sheep, and is better +adapted for raising cattle and horses. From the Cloncurry +through the Gregory to the Nicholson River is +all good cattle country, but the grass seed along the +banks of the watercourses, and the flooded nature of +parts of the country in the rainy seasons, render it unfit +for profitable sheep-farming. From the Nicholson to +the Gulf at Point Parker, the country is described as +particularly useless. The formation is desert sandstone +overlaid with nodular ironstone conglomerate; +the vegetation dense, chiefly ti-tree scrubs growing +upon spuey or rotten ground, together with spinifex, +saltpans, and marshes. Such was General Fielding’s +estimate of the country through which the line was to +pass. Captain Pennefather of the “Pearl” schooner +had been surveying the waters between Allan Island +and Point Parker. He was very reticent as to the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 83]</span> +qualifications of the place as a port; but looking at the +soundings, and the open nature of the anchorage, +coupled with the utterly valueless nature of the soil +surrounding the place for over one hundred miles, the +less said about it as a shipping port the better.</p> + +<p>The whole scheme was condemned by Parliament, +and the general election of 1883 returned a majority +against the principle of land grant railways. One of +the first reform acts of the new Parliament was to +repeal the Railway Companies’ Preliminary Act. No +doubt, had the scheme been favoured by the people of +Queensland, a great impetus would have been given +to settlement by the introduction of so much private +capital into the colony, while the large annual payment +of interest on borrowed money would have been +avoided to a great extent. At all events, there is no +transcontinental railway as yet, and when it does +arrive, Point Parker will not be chosen as the terminus. +Mr. Frank Hann, a brother of William Hann, the discoverer +of the Palmer Goldfield, accompanied General +Fielding as pilot. Hann is a first-class bushman, as +hard as nails and full of energy. He was for many +years the owner of Lawn Hill, situated on a western +tributary of the Gregory River, but ticks ruined his +herd. He is now in Western Australia.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The first surveyor appointed by the Queensland +Government in the Gulf was Mr. George Phillips, +lately the member for Carpentaria. He surveyed and<span class="pagenum">[Pg 84]</span> +laid out Burketown, Carnarvon, on Sweer’s Island, +and Normanton, on the Norman River. In company +with W. Landsborough, in 1866, he explored and +named the Diamantina and other western rivers. The +former was named after Lady Bowen, the Governor’s +wife, whose Christian name was Diamantina Roma. +The party passed close by the spot where Winton now +stands, and by Kynuna, and from the head waters of +the Diamantina they struck across via the heads of +Rupert’s and Alick’s Creeks to Minamere (then +Sheaffe’s), thence to the Flinders, and on to Burketown. +There were no signs of settlement between the Thomson +River at Mount Cornish, and where they struck +the Flinders River. Mr. Phillips and Mr. Landsborough +were the first to navigate the Norman River, +and they chose the site for the township.</p> + +<p>The writer met this party coming down the +Flinders on their way to Burketown, in which place +he had been laid up for several weeks with the Gulf +fever; he was then on his way back to Conobie, more +dead than alive. This was in the early part of 1866.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 85]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> + +PIONEERING WORK IN QUEENSLAND.</h2> + +<p>The narrative of the pastoral industry in Queensland +is almost the history of North Queensland +itself. The outward flow of that restless +and progressive industry can be traced from its infancy, +when Mr. Patrick Leslie, of Collaroi, in the +district of Cassilis, New South Wales, moved his stock +northwards, and after first exploring the country by +himself and a man named Peter Murphy, placed +his sheep in June, 1840, and formed the first +station in Queensland on the Darling Downs (discovered +by Allan Cunningham 13 years before). He +called this first station Toolburra, and afterwards +selected Canning Downs station also. The stock consisted +of nearly 6,000 sheep, two teams of bullocks +and drays, one team of horses and dray, ten saddle +horses, and twenty-two men, all ticket-of-leave men, +pronounced by Mr. Leslie to be the best men he ever +had in his life. The town of Warwick is built near +this classic spot, where first the pioneers of the squatting +industry pitched their original camp. The next +to reach the Darling Downs were Hodgson and Elliott,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 86]</span> +who occupied Etonvale in September, 1840. No white +man had settled on Darling Downs previous to +Patrick Leslie in 1840. After Hodgson, King and +Sibley were next to hold Gowrie, and these were followed +by others, until in 1844, there were thirty stations +formed and occupied in that district, the stock mostly +coming from the Hunter River district of New South +Wales.</p> + +<p>In 1843, the first station on the Burnett River +was formed by Russell and Glover who took up Burrandowan, +and they were soon followed by other +settlers, occupying all the beautiful country on the +Upper Burnett and Mary Rivers. Here the soil is +rich, the surface water abundant, the climate equal to +any in Australia; and thus a rich territory was added +to the young colony.</p> + +<p>The names of the early settlers and pioneers of +this country are as well known as the stations they +formed. The Healeys of Tabinga were settled not far +from Burrandowan. Over the Brisbane Range, John +Eales, from the Hunter, was the first settler with stock +in the Wide Bay District. The Jones’, of merchant +fame in Sydney, were also among the first over the +range at or near Nanango. The course they followed +took them down Barambah Creek to Boonara station.</p> + +<p>All the centre of the Burnett district was occupied +by squatters coming by this line, while the upper, or +Auburn portion, from lower down by Burrandowan. +Lawless Bros. took up Boobijan; Anderson and Leslie<span class="pagenum">[Pg 87]</span> +occupied Gigoomgan; whilst McTaggart, H. C. Corfield, +Perrier, Forster, Herbert W. H. Walsh, Dr. +Ramsay, E. B. Uhr, and others followed soon after.</p> + +<p>Following on this, came the occupation of the +runs on the Dawson River, a tributary of the Fitzroy, +and onwards to the north and far out to the great +west, where the downs rolled towards the setting sun. +The Fitzroy River, draining an enormous territory, +equal to any river in Queensland, and surpassed by but +few in Australia, was gradually and successfully occupied. +Through the brigalow and mulga scrubs, dense +and forbidding, over mountain ranges, stony and steep, +across flooded rivers, and over or around all obstacles, +the pioneers still moved on and took up and occupied +runs. Westward to the Maranoa and Warrego, and +northward by the Fitzroy to the Burdekin and Flinders +River, and even over the South Australian +borders to Port Darwin, their mission was carried on, +to fill the land with the outposts of civilisation.</p> + +<p>Before 1853, the Archer family were squatting on +the Burnett River, and in that year Charles and William +Archer went northward on an exploring trip +during which they discovered and named the Fitzroy +River, and rode over the spot where now stands the +city of Rockhampton, with all its wealth, civilisation, +and promise of prosperity. They started from Eidsvold, +on the Burnett, simply with pack horses and +two men, passed from Dalgangal to Rawbelle, and +at the foot of Mount Rannes found the establishment<span class="pagenum">[Pg 88]</span> +of the brothers Leith Hay, then the farthest out +station. They had some very troublesome country to +penetrate. Besides hilly mountainous ranges, brigalow +and vine scrubs surrounded the base of Mount +Spencer, whose thousand feet of height they climbed, +and gave to it its name. They crossed the Dee, and +passed close to the site of the famous Mount Morgan +gold mine. And so on they journeyed to the top of +a range, where the most astounding view lay beneath +them.</p> + +<p>Through a large and apparently open valley, +bounded by table-topped, pyramidal and dominant +mountains, with here and there fantastically-shaped +sandstone peaks, a large river wound its way towards +the sea.</p> + +<p>They supposed this river to be the confluence +of the Dawson and Mackenzie, and the sea before +them to be Keppel Bay. They explored the valley +of the Fitzroy, which they named after Sir Charles +Fitzroy, they being the first to discover it, and then +went on to Gracemere Lake, a magnificent sheet of +fresh water, about two miles long and three quarters +of a mile wide. They rode on till they came to tidal +water in the Fitzroy, and found it a fine navigable +stream, with the tide running strongly up it. Near here +they came upon a large lagoon covered over with a +beautiful pink water-lily (nymphœa), which they called +the Pink Lily Lagoon. In the account of their journey, +they described the cycas palm growing with<span class="pagenum">[Pg 89]</span> +clusters of round smooth nuts encircling the top as a +crown, under the leaves. After inspecting the country +from opposite Yaamba to what is now known as +Archer’s cattle station, and laying it out in blocks, they +returned to the Burnett. These pioneers were looking +for new country, and being perfectly satisfied with the +Fitzroy and its promise of future prosperity, they returned +with stock two years later, in 1855, and took +legal possession. It was on August 10th of that year +that they brought the first stock on to Gracemere and +occupied it as a run.</p> + +<p>In the same year, 1855, the site of the future town +of Rockhampton was examined. The name of the +town was chosen by Mr. Wiseman, Commissioner of +Crown Lands for New South Wales, who had been +sent up from Sydney to confirm the Messrs. Archer +in the possession of their discovery. The rocks +crossing the river situated above the present suspension +bridge and forming the limit of navigation, helped +to the choice of a name for the new northern town. +Gracemere head station is on the south side of the +Fitzroy River, and is distant seven miles from Rockhampton. +Till then, Rannes had been the outer limit +of occupation towards the north, in which direction +settlement was extending. The Archers were a family +of pioneer settlers, several brothers assisting in the +enterprise of opening up country and forming new +stations. They were extremely popular men of high +character and attainments; and the name of Archer<span class="pagenum">[Pg 90]</span> +will be known as long as Rockhampton exists. Archibald +Archer represented the town and district for many +years in the Queensland Assembly, and acted as +Colonial Treasurer in the first McIlwraith Ministry +with credit to himself and much benefit to the young +colony.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> The Archers may justly be said to be the +original discoverers and actual founders of Rockhampton, +for although the town took its great start on the +road to importance from the time of the Canoona +rush in 1858, called in those days the Port Curtis +rush, the site of the town had been made known five +years previously by the Archer Brothers.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> Mr. Archibald Archer died early in 1902, in London, at +the age of 82. Mr. Alexander Archer and his wife (a +daughter of the late Sir R. R. Mackenzie) were both lost +in the “Quetta,” which foundered near Cape York.</p></div> + +<p>Amongst the early settlers in the country about +Gladstone were the Landsboroughs, at Raglan Station, +James Landsborough, a brother of the explorer +William, living there after taking it up. They held a +run in the Wide Bay district, called Monduran, on the +banks of the Kolan River, a beautiful and picturesque +stream of clear flowing water, with varied patches +of dark pine scrubs growing down to the water’s edge.</p> + +<p>William Young, a sturdy self-reliant old pioneer, +took up a run called Mount Larcombe, and held it +with sheep. Mount Larcombe can be seen from the +deck of passing steamers close to Gladstone. Mr. +Young was foremost in opening the country between +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 91]</span>Gladstone and Rockhampton. He obtained a rough +sketch from Mr. Charles Archer of country they had +tendered for, and on going out came across a +large branch of the Calliope which had not been so +taken up. This he chose for his new run, and Mount +Larcombe being at the head of the creek, he named +the station after it. He took his sheep from the Burnett, +and settled on his new country on May 29th, 1855. +The reason for those of the advance guard pushing out +so far was on account of the tendering system for +runs then in force. By this system, those who marked +out country could hold it unstocked, and unless a few +hundred pounds were paid by them for the right of +actual occupation, the pioneers in search of land had +to go out further. Prospecting thus for new country +without any intention of stocking it, but merely of +selling the information and the claim to the country to +any one in search of a run for their stock, became a +regular speculation.</p> + +<p>The Wide Bay district only extended as far as +Little’s station at Baffle’s Creek, and on to Blackman’s. +When separation took place, and a new district was +declared, those who had tendered for new country +for the purpose of reselling, had nine months allowed +them to stock their country in. Otherwise they were +called upon to forfeit it. Mr. Young had a great deal +of trouble from the blacks; they made a raid on his +shepherds, killing several, but afterwards he found +them very useful for minding sheep, etc. At that<span class="pagenum">[Pg 92]</span> +time, two small trading vessels handled the trade to +Sydney, and from this port Mr. Young had to get his +rations, as well as shepherds. Many of the latter sent +to him were found useless for bush life.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> Mr. Young ended his days peacefully in Sandgate in +1899, at an advanced age.</p></div> + +<blockquote><p>No. 55117.</p> + +<p class="quotdate">Crown Lands Office,<br /> +Sydney, 29th January, 1855.</p> + +<p>Nos. 2, 5, 11 and 12 of December.</p> + +<p>Gentlemen, +</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" summary="Letter from Crown Lands Office"> +<tr><td align="left">Rockhill, No. 3.<br />Bugulban, No. 1.<br />Gunyah, No. 2.<br />Borroran, No. 4.</td> +<td align="left">I have the honor to acknowledge +the receipt of your tenders (opened on the 4th +ultimo), for new runs of Crown Lands in the +district of Port Curtis, named in the margin, +and I beg to inform you, that the same now +await the report of the Commissioner of the +district, in accordance with the Regulations of +the 1st January, 1848.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">I have the honor to be, Gentlemen,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center">Your most obedient servant,</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="center">GEO. BARNEY.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="quotsig"> +Messrs. R. & F. BLACKMAN,<br /> +Maryborough, Wide Bay.<br /> +</p></blockquote> + +<p>This copy of the letter from Colonel Barney to +the Messrs. Blackman regarding the tenders of their +runs shows that they were early in the Port Curtis +district, and occupied a run called Warrah, still held +by Mr. F. A. Blackman in 1897. The whole of the +Wide Bay district had become settled with stations, +and the necessity for an outlet for produce and receipt +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 93]</span>of supplies led to the port of Gladstone being opened. +Among the first to establish a business there was +Richard E. Palmer, who built a wharf and a large +wool shed, so that the wool from Rannes and other +stations lately formed could be shipped away. He +then took up Targieni station, near Mount Larcombe, +and lived there for many years. Among the early +settlers in the district about Gladstone were the Bells +of Stowe, father and sons, Mrs. Graham on the Calliope; +and Charles Clarke, James Landsborough, John +Forsyth. Edwin Bloomfield held Miriam Vale; +Robinson and Wood had taken up Caliungal; William +Elliott passed Gracemere with sheep, and took up +Tilpal in 1857. Ramsay and Gaden held Canoona run +when the gold rush took place in 1858. Mr. A. J. +Callan, for some years member of the Legislative Assembly +for Fitzroy, took up Columbra run. All the +surrounding country became parcelled out among the +early arrivals, and settlement began to spread itself into +far-away districts to the north and north-west. Civilisation +was pronounced enough when ladies followed +their husbands on many of the new stations. +Raglan was famous for its hospitality as early as 1860, +when Mrs. James Landsborough presided, and her +numerous family grew up there.</p> + +<p>From Marlborough, a small village on the outward +stock route, the track led out west towards Peak +Downs, a beautiful tableland discovered by Leichhardt. +Mr. Stuart, known as Peak Downs Stuart,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 94]</span> +took up one of the first runs in 1861 with sheep +brought from Victoria. These sheep were destroyed +by order on account of scab breaking out among +them. Mr. P. F. Macdonald and Sydney Davis were +among the earliest settlers on Peak Downs. Mr. +William Kilman, whose name is so well known in the +central districts, was one of the enterprising pioneers +of the north. In 1854, when he was twenty-five years +old, he set out on an exploring trip along the Queensland +coast. On that journey, he came to the river on +which Rockhampton now stands, and, passing up the +coast, went as far as Cleveland Bay, where Townsville +was founded some years later. He returned to New +South Wales from Cleveland Bay, and in 1856 took +up a large tract of country on the upper waters of the +Dawson. It would thus appear that Mr. Kilman +visited the locality of Townsville ten years before Mr. +Andrew Ball came down from Woodstock station to +explore the country.</p> + +<p>Captain John Mackay, explorer and pioneer +settler, as well as navigator, discovered Port Mackay +in 1860. The history of the discovery and settlement +of the district and town of Mackay is of interest, showing +what individual effort in conjunction with large +experience and great physical fortitude and endurance +can accomplish. Captain Mackay left Armidale on +January 16th, 1860, with a party of seven men and +twenty-eight horses, to explore the north country for +runs for stocking purposes; they travelled by Tenter<span class="pagenum">[Pg 95]</span>field, +Darling Downs, Gayndah, and Rockhampton. +After recruiting and refitting here, they started again +on March 16th, passed Yaamba and Princhester, on +to Marlborough, where Mr. Henning was forming a +station. They left civilisation behind them when +leaving this place, and bearing to the north-west +over the range, which was very rugged and broken, +followed the Isaacs and travelled on towards the Burdekin. +Returning towards the coast, they found a +river they called the Mackay, traced it to the coast, +and having marked trees along its course, they decided +to return south, having been successful in the object +of their expedition.</p> + +<p>The party now fell sick of fever and ague, a most +prostrating malady, and were reduced to the utmost +extremity for want of provisions, for the sick men were +for some time unable to travel. In suffering and pain, +hungry and thirsty, and utterly weary, they started +again for civilised parts. The blackboy, their faithful +companion, died on the journey, while some of the +others could scarcely manage to ride. On returning, +they met Mr. Connor, who was forming Collaroy station; +here they remained a few days recruiting, then +crossing the Broadsound Range, they camped with Mr. +John Allingham, who was travelling with stock looking +for country, passed Mr. Macartney at Waverley, and arrived +at Rockhampton after an absence of four months. +They tendered for the country discovered in accordance +with the Crown Lands Regulations, and the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 96]</span> +tenders were accepted by the Queensland Government, +from which date they were allowed nine months for +stocking, failing which, any person putting stock in, +could legally claim the country. In order to obtain +some compensation for the discovery they had made, +Captain Mackay got cattle on terms, and started from +Armidale on July 26th, 1861, with 1,200 cattle, fifty +horses and two teams of bullocks. The stock travelled +by Dalby to the Burnett and Dawson, passing Banana +and Rannes, and thence to Rockhampton on October +27th, where supplies were waiting for them from +Sydney. They then passed northwards through the +Broadsound country, where several stations were then +forming, and arrived at the foot of the coast range, +when by double-banking the teams, that is, putting +two teams on to one dray with only a part of a load on, +they managed, after several days’ hard work, to get +the loads and stock across the terrible barrier. After +great trouble in forcing a way through ranges, scrubs, +and other obstacles, the stock arrived at the spot +selected for the head station on the Mackay River, +now called the Pioneer, on January 11th, 1862. The +station was named Green Mount, and having turned +their weary stock loose on the well-grassed plains, +the party set to work to form a station hut and yards. +All their stores were exhausted, and after waiting long +months for the vessel that was to have come from +Rockhampton, they at last discovered that she was +below Cape Palmerston at anchor; she was brought up<span class="pagenum">[Pg 97]</span> +the river four miles west of where the town now stands, +and landed the stores on the south bank. Captain +Mackay then chartered the vessel at the rate of £8 per +day, and spent a few days in taking soundings, bearings, +etc.; having made a rough chart of the river and +adjacent coast line, it was sent with the correct latitude +and longitude to the Crown Lands Office, Brisbane, +on which report the Mackay River was declared a +port of entry. The name of the river was changed to +the Pioneer, as Commodore Burnett (afterwards +lost in H.M.S. “Orpheus” on the Manakau Bar in +New Zealand), had, in 1863, named a stream flowing +into Rockingham Bay, the Mackay, and recommended +the new discovery should be called after H.M.S. +“Pioneer,” which he commanded. The Queensland +Government not wishing to detract from the merit +of discovery, named the town Mackay. There can be +no manner of doubt but that the honor of discovering +the Pioneer River and the Port of Mackay, and making +that discovery public information, so as to be of service +in opening up the district, rests entirely with Captain +John Mackay.<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> Captain Mackay, in 1902, succeeded the late Captain +Almond as Harbour Master at Brisbane.</p></div> + +<p>The discovery of the fine pastoral country in the +Barcoo by the Mitchell expedition was soon followed +by occupation. On October 12th, 1862, the first mob of +cattle arrived on the Thomson River, for Mount Cornish +and Bowen Downs. The Thomson River was at +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 98]</span>that time supposed to be the Barcoo, but Mr. N. +Buchanan found out that it was the same river that +had been named the Thomson by Kennedy in 1847. +The first station was named Bowen Downs, and the +first stock to arrive on these waters were the cattle +started from Fort Cooper, where they had been depasturing +for some time. The mob consisted of five +thousand head, and the route followed was by Lake +Elphinstone on to Suttor Creek, down that creek to +the Belyando, following that river up a short distance, +then across by Bully Creek, crossing the range at the +Tanks by Lake Buchanan on to Cornish Creek, and +down that creek to their destination.</p> + +<p>Suttor Creek station then belonged to Kirk and +Sutherland, and was the farthest out station in that +direction. On arriving at Bully Creek, a dry stage +ahead of forty-five miles, caused the leader to leave +1,500 head behind him, the balance arriving at their +destination on October 12th, 1862. Mr. R. Kerr was +in charge, with four white stockmen, one blackboy, +three gins, and a white man named Maurice Donohue, +who died before he had been there very long, and was +doubtless the first white man buried in the district. +In the following year, 1863, a drought occurred on the +Thomson, the plains were left destitute of grass, +and the waterhole, on the banks of which the station +was formed, was reduced to two feet in depth. When +full there would be about eighteen feet of water in +it, and it was afterwards found that it took eighteen<span class="pagenum">[Pg 99]</span> +months without rain to bring it down to that level. In +about March of this year, Messrs. Rule and Lacy, as +also Mr. Raven, arrived on Aramac Creek with sheep, +the former taking up and stocking the country now +known as Aramac station. Mr. Raven first settling +down higher up the creek, afterwards returned to +Stainburne, taking up and stocking the present +Stainburne Downs. At the same time that these +sheep arrived at the Aramac, three thousand cows +from the Narran (N.S.W.) arrived on Bowen Downs, +Messrs. Hill and Bloxham in charge; all these stock +went out by the Barcoo, and the cattle suffered severely +from the effects of the drought, one thousand head +being lost en route. Four of the party, Messrs. Hill, +Bloxham, Burkett, and Best, who took out these cows +to Bowen Downs, decided to go upon an exploring +trip on their own account. They went up Landsborough +Creek, and on to the Flinders River, intending +to go to Bowen; after getting over the Range on +the east side of the Flinders, it commenced to rain, and +continued an incessant downpour for four days, making +the country so boggy that they could not travel; +some of their horses died, and some got crippled +by getting bogged among the rocks; so they decided +to return to Bowen Downs. They got down from +the ranges into one of the gorges, and then Mr. Best +was laid up with rheumatic fever, and was unable to +travel. Their supplies ran short, and they had to kill +some of their horses for food; by the time Mr. Best was<span class="pagenum">[Pg 100]</span> +able to move, they had only three horses left; so they +decided to kill one of these, take a portion of the +flesh with them, and walk to Bowen Downs for assistance, +leaving Mr. Best behind, as he was still unfit +to travel. They left the two horses with him, and +the remainder of the horse they had killed, jerking the +meat for him before they started. The three then +began their tramp, Mr. Bloxham being leader and +guide; they promised to be back in twenty-eight days, +and urged Mr. Best to remain where they were leaving +him, but if he did move to be sure to follow their +tracks. They also gave him directions as to the route +to follow to reach Bowen Downs. They got to Bowen +Downs in due course, after surmounting innumerable +difficulties. Mr. Bloxham, who was the oldest of the +party, was very weak on arrival, and suffering severely +from the consequences of subsisting on jerked +horse flesh; they were all wearing horse hide +sandals, their boots being worn out. After several +days spell, Mr. Bloxham made up a party and went +to the rescue of the man left behind. The other two +left for civilisation. The rescue party met Mr. Best +on the twenty-ninth day from leaving him, a few miles +from his camp. He had stayed the twenty-eight days +as agreed, and started in on the twenty-ninth. They, +of course, were very glad to find him, and the meeting +was mutually satisfactory. During his sojourn in the +gorge, Mr. Best only saw the blacks once; and then +he fired his gun off to attract their attention, but they<span class="pagenum">[Pg 101]</span> +took no notice of him. Another report said that as he +had been using his gun as a crutch, the muzzle had got +blocked up with mud, and when he fired it off to scare +the blacks away the gun burst with such a terrible roar +that they never ventured near him again.</p> + +<p>The first pioneer to stock country on the Flinders +was James Gibson, who took up a run called the +Prairie, in 1861. He also stocked several runs in the +neighbourhood and on the Clarke River. He started +two lots of cattle from the Barwon (N.S.W.), one in +charge of Mr. E. R. Edkins, now of Mount Cornish, +the other mob in charge of Mr. George Sautelle, now +long settled at Byrimine station, near Cloncurry. +These cattle passed by Goondiwindi, through the +Downs country, by Yandilla, to the Dawson, by Rockhampton, +and then by Fort Cooper and Bowen on +to the Clarke River. These, according to the Land +Office records, were the first runs taken up in the +pastoral district of Burke. Their cattle were supplemented +by other large mobs, all destined to form new +stations in the far north, in connection with Mr. W. +Glen Walker, of Sydney, an enterprising and speculative +merchant. In 1864 the country first taken up by +this firm was sold or transferred, and the cattle (as +many as ten thousand head), were removed to the +Lower Flinders then quite unoccupied. They travelled +through Betts’ Gorge, a creek forcing its way through +the basalt to join the Flinders. A large stretch of well-watered +country on the Saxby Creek, known as Tal<span class="pagenum">[Pg 102]</span>dora +and Millungerra was taken up by James Gibson +in 1864.</p> + +<p>The first man to open the way to the Albert at +Burketown was Mr. N. Buchanan, with cattle from +Mount Cornish and Bowen Downs on the Thomson +River; he selected Beame’s Brook station on the +Albert, eighteen miles above the present site of Burketown, +and also occupied another run on the Landsborough +River, a tributary of the Leichhardt, on a +waterhole about twelve miles long. Following him in +order of succession came Mr. J. G. Macdonald’s cattle +from the Burdekin. These travelled by a different +route via the Einasleigh and Etheridge Rivers, the +latter called after Mr. D. O. Etheridge, one of the +overlanders, a man long resident there afterwards, and +well known. They followed the route opened up by +Mr. J. G. Macdonald when on his private exploring +expedition to the Gulf country a year or two before. +The country this stock occupied was on the Leichhardt +River, at a place called Floraville, situated where +a great bar of rocks crosses the river above all tidal +waters, the falls being about twenty feet in height. +Another run this firm took up at the same time was +situated on the Gregory River, and called Gregory +Downs; but this country was abandoned later on, +and is now held by Watson Bros.; it is an excellent +piece of well-grassed cattle country, watered by the +finest perennial river in North Queensland, a clear, +flowing stream of water, shaded by palms, pandanus,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 103]</span> +and ti-trees. The Gregory River, named by the +late Mr. W. Landsborough in honor of the Honorable +A. C. Gregory, M.L.C., C.M.G., the well-known +explorer and scientist, has never been known to +go dry. In March, 1896, Mr. G. Phillips, C.E., +estimated the flow of the river—which was then +low—at 133 millions of gallons per day at Gregory +Downs. There can be no doubt that the discharge +is due to a leak from the great artesian beds +underlying the Barkly Tableland, on which the +town of Camooweal is situated, on the head waters +of the Georgina River.</p> + +<p>The Barkly Tableland was also named by Mr. +Landsborough in honor of Sir Henry Barkly, Governor +of Victoria, 1856-1863.</p> + +<p>Donor’s Hills station was settled by the Brodie +Bros., who came from Murrurundi, in New South +Wales early in 1865. They travelled by Bowen River +and along the Cape River route, and took up the +country about the junction of the Cloncurry and the +Flinders Rivers, near some peculiar isolated ironstone +hills, which were named Donor’s Hills. It was considered +a good run and well watered, and is now held +by Mr. Chirnside, of Victoria, being still stocked with +sheep. Among the last wave of pioneers was Mr. +Atticus Tooth, who brought cattle from the Broken +River, near Bowen, and took up a run on the lower +Cloncurry, which he called Seaward Downs; the stock +belonged to a business firm in Bowen called Seaward,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 104]</span> +Marsh and Co. It now forms part of Conobie run, +taken up by Messrs. Palmer and Shewring, who +brought sheep and cattle from Pelican Creek, in 1864. +The cattle were driven from Eureka, in the Wide +Bay district, by Edward Palmer, one of the firm who +from that time resided on the station, and who is the +author of these notes. The stock followed the route +up the Cape River, and were detained in the desert +at Billy Webb’s Lake nearly two months waiting for +rain to take them through. After the usual vicissitudes +of travelling stock down the Flinders, and +searching for country all round the Gulf it was +decided to occupy Conobie, where the Dugald, Corella, +and Cloncurry Rivers form a junction. The sheep +were placed on the run in May, 1865, and then the trip +back to Brisbane had to be undertaken in order to +apply for the lease of the country.</p> + +<p>One of the partners, Mr. W. Shewring, died about +a year afterwards from the effects of the Gulf fever, +and also several of the men. They were all buried on +the bank of the large lagoon, near which the head +station was formed.</p> + +<p>Supplies to this place were carried from Port +Denison by bullock dray, but the first wool was shipped +for Sydney from the new port, Burketown. The +price of everything was extremely high, flour and +sugar often selling at one shilling per pound, while +wages for ordinary hands ranged from thirty-five shil<span class="pagenum">[Pg 105]</span>lings +to fifty shillings a week, and men were scarce +even at that.</p> + +<p>Pioneers as well as explorers, the settlement of +Cape York Peninsula will always be associated with +the names of the Jardines. The account of their trip +from Bowen with cattle and horses through the most +troublesome country ever traversed by stock, will stand +as a lasting monument to their superior bushmanship +and hardihood. The narrative of the journey adds +a most interesting page to the records of Australian +exploration, as it was conducted throughout without +any mishap, although surrounded with many dangers, +through a country almost unknown and during a +season when the risks were much increased by reason +of the advent of the annual heavy rains. The uncommon +task of taking a mob of cattle such a distance +with success, reflects the highest credit on the Jardine +Brothers.</p> + +<p>The origin of the trip was a report made by the +first governor, Sir G. Bowen, in 1862, to the Imperial +Government recommending Somerset, Cape York, as +a harbour of refuge, coaling station and entrepôt for +the trade of Torres Straits and islands of the North +Pacific. The task of establishing the new settlement +was confided to Mr. Jardine, Police Magistrate at +Rockhampton, who was qualified by experience and +judgment to carry out the work. Mr. Jardine proposed +to establish a cattle station there, by sending +cattle in charge of his two sons through the Peninsula,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 106]</span> +in order to supply the requirements of trade with fresh +beef. Frank and Alick Jardine, aged respectively 22 +and 20, carried out the task of overlanding very creditably, +being strong, active, and hardy young men, full +of resource and inured to bush work and discomforts.</p> + +<p>Those who know by experience what a wet season +means in the Peninsula, with flooded creeks and rivers, +poison plants killing the horses and cattle, and hostile +blacks always on the alert to damage anything in +their way, will understand the full meaning of the +successful issue of such a trip. The writer settled a +cattle station on the Mitchell River in 1879, and can +thus enter fully into all the troubles of these young +overlanders, and appreciate the magnitude of their +task.</p> + +<p>The party, consisting of ten persons and twenty-one +horses, left Rockhampton in May, 1864; they +travelled overland to Bowen, where they obtained +cattle from Mr. William Stenhouse, of the Clarke +River. The furthest out station then was Carpentaria +Downs, to the north-west, held by J. G. Macdonald, +supposed to be on the Lynd River, but afterwards +proved to be on the Einasleigh, a branch of the Gilbert +River. On October 10th they were ready for a final +start with the cattle from Carpentaria Downs. The +party were composed of the following:—F. L. Jardine, +leader; A. Jardine; A. J. Richardson, surveyor; C. +Scrutton; R. N. Binney; A. Cowderoy; and four blackboys, +Eulah, Peter, Sambo, and Barney, natives of<span class="pagenum">[Pg 107]</span> +Wide Bay and Rockhampton; also forty-one horses, +one mule, and 250 cattle, with provisions to last for four +months. They started under the impression they were +following down the Lynd of Leichhardt, that led to the +Mitchell River, hence the troubles and doubts about +their journey were much increased, and it was a considerable +time before the mistake was discovered. Not +long after getting into the wilderness, a fire burnt one +half of their camp gear and rations, which was a loss +they felt throughout their journey.</p> + +<p>Travelling through poor, flat ti-tree country, +covered with spinifex and wire grass that no stock +would look at, they encountered the further misfortunes +of the loss of horses and cattle by poison and +delay owing to their being hunted by blacks. In addition +to the loss of cattle, travelling was excessively +heavy in consequence of the rains. But the journey +was prosecuted in spite of all troubles and risks. The +blacks soon commenced to attack them, and had to be +checked, although they never ceased all through the +journey to harass them. The party struck salt water +when following down the Staaten, and then knew that +they were out of their course, and not near the Mitchell +River of Leichhardt. They saw the marine plains extending +along the coast, and finally, about December +18th, crossed the long-looked for Mitchell River, +covered here with dense vine scrubs, and having +numerous wide channels. They lost some horses that +went mad through drinking salt water, and at the cros<span class="pagenum">[Pg 108]</span>sing +had a severe contest with the blacks, who had been +daring and mischievous all the time. After crossing +the Mitchell, they followed a course along the coast +line of the Gulf, meeting with disasters all the way, +their cattle being poisoned, their horses failing, their +rations exhausted, and hardships accumulating. They +finally left the Mitchell and made straight running for +Cape York on December 22nd; the wet season came +on them then, and nothing but rain was recorded +while going through a most dismal, miserable country, +poor in grass, and full of obstacles, such as scrub, +etc. Heavy storms of rain and wind passed over them +frequently, from which they had no shelter, the tents +being blown to pieces. They had no salt, and the +weather was too muggy to dry or jerk the meat when +a beast was killed. In this way they crept along the +coast line, crossing all the rivers and creeks in full +flood, and by the time they reached the Batavia River +they had to do most of the travelling on foot, so many +horses having died from the fatal effects of the poison +plants common in this despicable country. As all the +creeks were lined with vine scrubs, they were compelled +to cut tracks through every one of them for the +cattle and to swim creeks every day, while the prickles +of the pandanus leaves gave them special discomfort.</p> + +<p>Several attempts were made to search for the +settlement at Cape York by advance parties, but it was +not until March 2nd that the brothers, having met +some friendly natives, were piloted into the settlement,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 109]</span> +and thus this most wonderful trip was concluded, +having taken over five months to get through about +1,600 miles, the last two or three hundred being done +on foot, and without even boots to their feet. The +country passed through was mostly of a forbidding and +sterile character, except on the Einasleigh River banks, +and in consequence of their report, no occupation of +runs followed. As the Peninsula became more explored, +better country was discovered near the heads +of the rivers flowing into the Gulf; and in after years +a few stations were stocked with cattle.</p> + +<p>Frank Jardine, the elder brother, has lived at +Somerset ever since, and his house is seen when passing +through the beautiful Albany Pass. Alick Jardine +became a surveyor and engineer, and for many years +was employed by the Government of Queensland. +He attained the position of Engineer for Harbours +and Rivers, but was among the officers retrenched +in 1893.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 110]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> + +THE SPREAD OF PASTORAL OCCUPATION.</h2> + +<p>After the Canoona rush in 1858 and 1859, the +tide of pastoral run hunting set in; the route +northwards followed by stock going out to occupy +new country led by Princhester and through +Marlborough. Here the route turned off westwards +towards the Peak Downs, and extended still further to +the interior where the Barcoo, Thomson, and Alice +Rivers flowed into a mysterious land. The northern +road led on to Broad Sound, where Connor’s Range +had to be passed; this spur of the main coast range +comes close in to the coast. Overlanders could +not avoid crossing it, and this was an undertaking. +It was reckoned to be two miles from the first rise +to the summit, and to get drays and stock across +sometimes took several days, as they had to unload +some of their goods at the steep pinches and return +empty for the balance of the loading. The road was +in a state of nature, and wound round gullies and +sidings through the forest trees that grew on the steep +sides of the mountain; many a curse was wasted on its +stony, dusty inclines ere the long looked for summit<span class="pagenum">[Pg 111]</span> +was reached. After crossing the range, the first settlement +in those early days, about 1860, was Lotus Creek +station. From Lotus Creek the road led on to Fort +Cooper station, considered one of the best coast stations +then discovered. As early as 1863, Nebo Creek, +west of Mackay, was made a recruiting centre, where +stores could be obtained from a firm named Kemmis +and Bovey. Passing along Funnel Creek, still going +northwards, the head of the Bowen River was reached.</p> + +<p>The Bowen River country was soon occupied with +runs and stock from the south, passing along the coast +route that led by Rockhampton, Marlborough, and +Nebo. The roads were lined with flocks and herds of +those entering on the pioneering work of the North +of Queensland, and business men were following in the +wake of the early stock settlers to commence a trade +wherever an opportunity offered. The settlement was +bona fide and genuine; men with means, energy and +experience were entering on it with great enthusiasm +and high hopes of the future of the new country. The +wave of occupation passed on to the Burdekin River, +causing a great demand for sheep and cattle for the +purpose of stocking new country in the north and +west. The requirements of this great augmentation +of the stock northwards led to the opening of Bowen +or Port Denison as a port of shipment for supplies. +The discovery and opening of Port Denison will be +treated of elsewhere; its opening to commerce was a +boon to those who were occupying the country im<span class="pagenum">[Pg 112]</span>mediately +at the rear of the port. Many overlanders +took advantage of the port by shearing or lambing +their sheep wherever a chance offered, and after obtaining +supplies for the road, were prepared to extend +their search for new country still further away. The +Bowen River country is very interesting and its +scenery most picturesque; it has first-class grazing +qualities, small open plains, with patches of brigalow +scrub scattered over black-soil country. Sandstone +ranges bound the creeks on the coast side, whence they +come down to the main stream. The river is a fine +stream, with long and deep reaches, in which are +found alligators of large size that have come up from +the Burdekin River. Among the early settlers to take +up country was Mr. J. G. Macdonald, afterwards an +early pioneer in the Gulf country, though not a resident +there. He took up, in conjunction with others, +a large area of country in the Bowen district, afterwards +known as Dalrymple, Inkermann, Strathbogie, +and Ravenswood. His residence at Adelaide Point +was at one period the show place of the North, where +Mrs. Macdonald (after whom Adelaide Point was +named) dispensed hospitality with a kindly grace which +won all hearts. Of all this, nothing now remains but +a memory. The house is gone; Mr. Macdonald is +dead, and the family dispersed. Carpentaria Downs +was also taken up by J. G. Macdonald, on the head of +the Einasleigh River, for a long time the outside +settlement.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 113]</span></p> + +<p>One of the early sheep stations held by Mr. Henning +was located on the Bowen River, while lower down +a fine piece of country called Havilah was held with +sheep by Hillfling and Petersen—this was before 1862. +Other stations occupied somewhere about this time, +or even earlier, were Strathmore and Sonoma, held by +Sellheim and Touissaint, with stock from Canning +Downs. These stations were a stage still further north, +the surrounding country being fine open forest land, +very well grassed and watered. These runs were the +first taken up in the pastoral district called Kennedy.</p> + +<p>The main stock route northward followed the +Bowen River settlements crossing Pelican Creek, a +tributary of the Bowen, through Sonoma run, then +to the Bogie, and across to the Burdekin River, following +up that stream to the Clarke and Lynd Rivers. +Knowledge of a great pastoral country away to the +shores of the Gulf and extending far up the Burdekin +River was in the possession of many pioneer explorers +whose names are unrecorded, and the tide of advancing +settlement followed on as fast as was possible, +stations being formed to the right and left of the main +routes, while others moved forward with a restless +energy that nothing would satisfy but the best country +for their stock. One route turned on the Bowen River +to the west, and crossed the Suttor River above Mount +McConnel near the junction of the Cape River +that came in from the westward. This stock track +soon became a main road owing to the traffic which<span class="pagenum">[Pg 114]</span> +was carried on from the newly-opened port of Bowen +or Port Denison to the western settlements, even to +Bowen Downs station. The road led across the +Leichhardt Range—another heavy piece for teams, +equal to Connor’s Range, the sharp stones laming the +bullocks, and making the ascent a trial of patience +and endurance to man and beast. A station called +Natal Downs was held by Kellet and Spry on the Cape +River, and by this route a great many of the early +settlers in the far west travelled their stock during +1864-65. The blacks were aggressive in those days +on Natal Downs, and were in the habit of cutting off +the shepherds at outstations; it was reported and +believed that as many as eighteen shepherds were +killed at various outstations in the first few years of +settlement there.</p> + +<p>Onward and westward went the movement of +stock. The principal topic of conversation turned +always upon new country, the latest discoveries of +good grazing lands, and the men who were following +with sheep and cattle. The way out west in those +first days led up the Cape River through poor country, +with a good deal of spinifex grass and patches of +poison bush. On the flat tableland dividing the Gulf +waters from those flowing towards the Thomson, were +a series of large shallow swamps, known as Billy +Webb’s Lake, a kind of halting place for stock. Between +this and the Flinders waters lies a tract of country +nearly two hundred miles in width, called the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 115]</span> +Desert—and the name is a well-deserved one. The +Desert consists of spinifex ridges and sandy sterile +country, covered in large patches with the desert +poison shrub botanically known as “Gastrolobium +grandiflora.” This dangerous plant grows to a height +of six to eight feet in separate bushes, and exhibits a +bluish-silvery sheen conspicuous afar off. It bears a +scarlet blossom like a vetch, and the leaf is indented at +the outer end. Its poisonous nature was soon proved +by the first stock that attempted the passage. Many +of the early drovers lost large numbers of both cattle +and sheep from its deadly effects. In one camp, +Halloran’s and Alexander’s, as many as 1,500 sheep +died in one night from eating it. All the stock passing +through this belt of desert country paid some tribute +to its evil properties. This poison plant is peculiar +to the strip of desert country that extends along the +dividing watershed for many hundreds of miles, from +the Alice River reaching north as far as the Lynd.</p> + +<p>The symptoms of poisoning from this plant are +a kind of madness, causing animals to rush about +furiously, and then, becoming paralysed, to fall helpless +to the ground, and soon expire. There are but one +or two varieties of the plant in Queensland, though in +Western Australia twelve or fourteen varieties of +Gastrolobium are found.</p> + +<p>Besides the destructive poison plant, there is the +evil-smelling repellant spinifex growing through this +strip of vile country, as well as a low, close scrub,<span class="pagenum">>[Pg 116]</span> +through all of which stock has to be got before the +open plain country is reached. A great scarcity of +surface water, and low stony ridges with heavy patches +of red sand, are characteristic of poison country. +Glad indeed were the pioneers to leave it behind, and +with great satisfaction to stand on the rocky eminence +that bounded it on the western side, whence they +looked down the open valley of the Jardine, and beheld +the downs and the grassy plains of the Flinders spreading +out before them for many miles. The sight came +as a surprise and relief after so much disagreeable +travelling through the worst portion of North Queensland, +especially should a thunderstorm have passed +over the country recently and caused a spring in the +herbage. The Flinders River flowing to the west and +north-west towards the Gulf of Carpentaria, through +most extensive plains and downs, traverses a different +geological formation to that which the pioneers crossed +when coming from the east coast. The edge of the +great cretaceous formation which forms the major +portion of the western country, is here entered on for +the first time, and a new strange world seems to open +up. A new fauna and flora is evident on the very +first entrance into the new region; the birds are different +and more numerous; galas, parrots, and pigeons +abound, and assure the newcomer that he has found a +new pastoral country, the grasses and herbage of which +are more permanent, enduring and nutritive than +those he has hitherto met with. The downs, covered<span class="pagenum">[Pg 117]</span> +with the Mitchell grass, with scarcely a bush or shrub +to break the monotony, stretch away as far as the +eye can see; while the heavy timber along the creeks +and rivers indicates their course. A dreary monotony +prevails on the western rivers, the same everlasting +plains, the same great grassy waste of downs like an +ocean without its interesting motion. Far ahead can be +seen the river timber winding through the brown +plains, so that the traveller can see a whole day’s stage +ahead. For over a hundred of miles along the north-eastern, +or right bank of the Flinders River, is a tableland +of basaltic formation, near which the river winds +its course; a dark fringe of rocks rises abruptly, +broken here and there by indentations through which +flow creeks to join the main channel. The cone of +eruption for this vast overflow of lava is said to be +somewhere about Mount Sturgeon, to the eastward. +The lava has flowed over the original sandstone formation, +and formed a level tableland now broken and +covered with black, porous blocks of lava of every +size. It is utilised for pasture purposes, notwithstanding +its forbidding aspect.</p> + +<p>Some time after Rule and Lacy stocked the +Aramac, Mr. Hodgson arrived on it with sheep and +took up and stocked Rodney Downs; he crossed the +spinifex country from the Belyando to the Alice River, +and lost about six thousand sheep on this track by +poison bush, the Gastrolobium grandiflora. Mr. Meredith +arrived in May of the same year on the Thom<span class="pagenum">[Pg 118]</span>son, +and took up and stocked Tower Hill station. +During June of this year the Thomson and Aramac +Creek were in high flood; Rule and Lacy were flooded +out of their first camp, and removed to where Aramac +station now is. Some stockmen looking after the +company’s cattle on an anabranch of Cornish Creek, +were surrounded by water, and lived on jerked beef +for a month. About July the head station was shifted +up to Cornish Creek, taking the name of Bowen +Downs with it, which name it has since retained. In +1872 the cattle station was formed into a separate +establishment under the management of Mr. E. R. +Edkins, who called it Mount Cornish, in honor of the +late E. B. Cornish, of Sydney. This year wound up +with a wet Christmas. Wages in those days were +very high, stockmen getting as much as 40s. a week, +and cooks 30s.; any old horse would bring £25. The +year 1864 may be styled the year of Hegira or flight +of stock outwards to settle new country; they came +from all parts, and helped to fill the land everywhere +with the beginning of civilisation. A boom had set +in for pastoral occupation; the reports of recent explorations +told of enormous tracts of grand open country +waiting for stock to utilise it, and each one was +anxious to be the first to secure some of it for his +sheep or cattle. The head of the Flinders River was +occupied by a few settlers, and two lots of sheep passed +Bowen Downs, en route to the Flinders. They belonged +to Kirk and Sutherland, and Mr. J. L. Ranken,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 119]</span> +and came from Fort Cooper way, losing heavily in +crossing the range between Bully Creek and Lake +Buchanan, between eight and ten thousand sheep +perishing through eating the desert poison bush. They +discovered what was the cause of such losses by +feeding some sheep on the suspected plant when +they died with all the symptoms of the victims in the +desert track. The first white man known to have +been killed by the blacks on the Thomson was one +of the shepherds with Kirk and Sutherland’s sheep. +He was killed on Duck Pond Creek, a tributary of +Cornish Creek. After he was buried, the blacks dug +the body up at night and drove a stake through it, +pinning it to the ground. Kirk and Sutherland must +have reached the Flinders about April, and then occupied +and stocked Marathon. Mr. J. L. Ranken occupied +Afton Downs, but was dried out the following +year, and he lost a number of his sheep in consequence +of having to remove them lower down the Flinders. +In March of this year Mr. Meredith, of Tower Hill, +formed a station on the east side of Landsborough +Creek, naming it Eversleigh, and stocked it with cattle. +In March also Bowen Downs sent cattle up the Landsborough +for the purpose of stocking the west side of +the creek. The men with the cattle had a very rough +trip, as there was incessant rain, and the country became +one vast quagmire; all their rations and ammunition +were spoilt, and they had to live on young calf, +“staggering bob,” as they called it. Mr. E. H. Butler<span class="pagenum">[Pg 120]</span> +was in charge, and after leaving the cattle, started for +home at the Mud Hut, when a thunderstorm occurred +that put out their fire and wet all their matches. The +river branches were flooded, and during the next two +days they had nothing to eat, and no fire, and were +drenched to the skin by thunderstorms; their pack-horse +with all their blankets had knocked up, and +they passed the night without sleep, being wet and +cold and hungry; next morning they had to swim the +main branch of the river, and then walk four miles +to the station, leaving behind one of their mates +knocked up on an island in the river. About September +of this year (1864), Bowen Downs despatched +about fifteen hundred head of cattle in charge of Mr. +Donald McGlashen to the Gulf of Carpentaria for the +purpose of taking up country and stocking it. These +cattle travelled up the Landsborough, crossed the +watershed on to Walker’s Creek, followed it down to +the Flinders, and down that river to the turn off to +Sackey’s Lagoon, and down the Alexandra to the +Leichhardt, then across by Miller’s Waterhole to +Beame’s Brook, where the first station was formed +called the Brook, about sixteen miles above where +Burketown now stands; they arrived there before the +end of 1864, and were the first stock to occupy the +Gulf country. When Mr. Landsborough left the +Albert River on his trip in search of Burke and Wills, +he left a four hundred gallon tank there with a lot of +rations in it for the use of any distressed explorers or<span class="pagenum">[Pg 121]</span> +others, and fastened the lid in such a way that he +thought the blacks would be unable to open it; but +when Mr. McGlashen found the tank, he discovered +that the blacks had solved the problem, and the rations +were not there. When they were mustering these +cattle before starting, the boss, Mr. A. Scott Holmes, +riding along with a stockman, met a blackfellow whose +gin had two half-caste children with her, aged about +nine and seven years; the blackfellow evidently wanted +them to see the children, as he kept pointing to them. +Some years after this it was reported that two half-castes +were with the blacks out to the west of the +Thomson, but nothing more was heard of them.</p> + +<p>It was during this year of 1864 that the first +settlers found their way to the Barcoo, although the +fame of its pastures had been known years before from +the reports of Sir Thomas Mitchell and others explorers. +Among the first to settle there was J. T. Allen, +who took up Enniskillen in 1862, and who still resides +there. Bell and Dutton took up Tambo station, close +to where the township of the same name sprang up +afterwards. Govett and Parsons took up Terrick, and +Yaldwyn occupied Ravensbourne, while Moor and +Reid held Moorsland, now called Lorne. Henry +Edwards, from the Burnett, took up Malvern, which +was sold the same year to the Ellis Bros., who then +occupied Portland.</p> + +<p>In 1865, C. Lumley Hill, with Allen and Holberton, +took up Isis Downs. Then a pause ensued in<span class="pagenum">[Pg 122]</span> +occupying new runs, and progress was checked; but +after the passing of the Pastoral Leases Act of 1869, +which gave greater facilities for the occupation of new +country, and more liberal terms, many runs were occupied; +among them, Mr. Hill held Westlands. A. B. +Buchanan took up Wellshot, while Welford took up +Welford Downs, and was killed by the blacks in 1872. +Among the runs opened in those days were Tocal, +Bimerah, Mount Marlow, and Louisa Downs. The +stock to occupy all these runs in those early days +mainly came from the Darling Downs and Burnett, as +in the first days of the Queensland Parliament an Act +was passed excluding New South Wales stock. Mr. +Hill, in 1874, sold Isis Downs, which was divided into +three runs called Albilbah, Ruthven, and Isis Downs. +A great deal of the western plain country was occupied +during the years between 1865 and 1870, and a great +deal of interest and energy was exhibited in taking up +and selling large blocks of fine pastoral country. +Sheep for stocking country rose to high prices, but +when the crisis occurred, there was a collapse in values, +and many abandoned a good deal of the country and +disappeared from the scene.</p> + +<p>Berkelman and Lambert discovered and settled +Elizabeth Creek and Listowel Downs. Mr. H. E. +King was the first Land Commissioner, and superintended +the laying out of Tambo, the first town on +the Barcoo. The price of carriage for supplies in those +day was £46 per ton. Cameron and Crombie took<span class="pagenum">[Pg 123]</span> +up Barcaldine in 1864 with sheep from New England, +and, in conjunction with Mr. Allen, they also took up +Home Creek, Enniskillen, Minnie Downs, Vergemont, +and Evesham. They brought their stock by the Burnett, +the Dawson, and Springsure, over the Expedition +Range. There was the usual trouble with the blacks +after settling down. The natives killed the shepherds +and robbed the huts of rations and cooking utensils +that were very difficult to replace in those days. The +Peak Downs was first reported on by Dr. Leichhardt, +but many years elapsed before occupation set in. +Among those who were prominent in the opening up +and early settlement of the fine tableland of Peak +Downs, with its rich soil, were De Satge and Milford, +of Wolfang; Mackay, of Huntley; Gordon Sandeman, +of Gordon Downs; Hood, of Hood and Manning; +and Lamb and Black, of Yamala.</p> + +<p>As the character of the new country became +known, many other runs near Hughenden were occupied +by overlanders struggling along with stock, +among them was Fairlight, on the basalt ridge, +held with sheep by Henry Betts. Afton Downs, +as has already been mentioned, was taken up +with sheep by Mr. Ranken, who deserted it later +with a considerable loss of stock owing to drought. +Kirk and Sutherland, who had come from Suttor +Creek with sheep in 1863 were also dried out from +Marathon, and suffered great losses. Both of these +runs now possess flowing streams in every direction,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 124]</span> +formed by artesian bores. Notable among the early +settlers was the family of the Annings, father and sons, +from Victoria. They held Reedy Springs, on the head +waters of the Flinders, Charlotte Plains, and several +other stations formed by their enterprise; the sons still +occupy the same country, and have grown gray in +pioneering. Another Victorian firm, Muirson, Jamieson +and Thompson, occupied Mount Emu with sheep +in 1862, after much travelling about in search of suitable +country. Mrs. Thompson, with a young family, +accompanied her husband in those early pioneering +days of roughness and privation, and lived at Mount +Emu for many years, where her large family grew up, +and her sons are now occupying runs throughout the +district. The hospitality of Mount Emu was proverbial, +and the refinement that prevailed in all the +arrangements at the head station gave additional value +to the welcome that was extended to all travellers. +On the Burdekin country, the family of the Hanns, +father and sons, possessed themselves of Maryvale, a +splendid piece of country.</p> + +<p>The farthest outstation north in 1860-61 was that +of W. Stenhouse, on the Clarke, a tributary of the +Burdekin. Seventy miles nearer Bowen, was the +station of Allingham Bros., and thirty-five miles still +nearer port were located the Messrs Cunningham. +Ernest Henry very early took up Mount McConnel, +at the junction of the Suttor and Selheim Rivers; +this is one of the old landmarks of Leichhardt when<span class="pagenum">[Pg 125]</span> +on his trip to Port Essington in 1844-45. Stock were +taken there from Baroondah, on the Dawson, in 1860; +and later on Hughenden station was settled with stock +taken from Mount McConnel. Hughenden is situated +at the beginning of the open plain country on the +Flinders; it was one of the first stations settled there +in 1864. The present head station is on the exact spot +taken up so long ago, but is somewhat different in style +to the original slab hut on the ridge in which Mr. R. R. +Morrissett and his hutkeeper, old Jack Ryan, dwelt in +1864, when water for the use of the head station was +drawn from the junction of the creek with the river, +that being the only surface water within miles. Mr. +Ernest Henry, a most energetic and indefatigable pioneer +carried on a good deal of prospecting on the Cloncurry, +and was the earliest discoverer of the mineral +wealth of the district. A company was formed in 1868 +to work the copper lodes discovered by Mr. Henry, but +after expending large sums of money on smelting +works, etc., they were obliged to cease operations on +account of the expense of carriage and the low price of +copper. H. Devilin was one of the most active and +venturesome pioneers in discovering and making +known to others the country on the Flinders. He +opened the way for several stockowners in that extensive +district, though he himself does not appear to have +had much personal interest in any of the speculations.</p> + +<p>In opening up the highway through the head of +the Flinders to the far west, these pioneers were the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 126]</span> +forerunners of the great wave of settlement that followed +on immediately afterwards, notwithstanding the +deterrent features of the desert and the poison bush, +through which they had to pass with their stock. Up +to 1864 the runs that had been stocked on the Upper +Flinders downs were Fairlight, by Betts and Oxley +with sheep, and Telemon station by Collins and Walpole. +This last property is now owned by J. L. Currie, +of Melbourne, is mostly freehold, and with the discovery +of artesian water, and the introduction of fine +wooled sheep, has become a most valuable estate. It +consists of open rolling downs, with patches of gidya, +a species of acacia. Marathon, on the Upper Flinders, +was taken up by R. H. Sheaffe, who for five years +represented the Burke district in the Legislative Assembly. +The run was sold by him to Kirk and Sutherland, +who were in search of grass for their sheep. +Marathon is now owned by a Melbourne firm, and by +means of artesian wells, carries 200,000 sheep. After +being dried out from Afton Downs, John Ranken, a +member of a very old colonial family in New South +Wales, eventually found his way to Barkly Tableland, +where he settled for a time. Afton Downs is situated +on Walker’s Creek, a tributary of the Flinders on +the western side, and is of the usual open rolling +downs formation. All these runs, as previously mentioned, +were occupied before the discovery of artesian +springs, and therefore subject to being periodically +dried out. At the present day, with judicious expen<span class="pagenum">[Pg 127]</span>diture +on artesian wells, and other improvements, +this run annually shears close on 100,000 sheep. +Following down the Flinders through the great +plain country, the next station occupied was +Richmond Downs, where a struggling township +named Richmond now stands; this was held in +1864 by Bundock and Hays, with cattle from +the Clarence River, in New South Wales. They +lost many on their way out by pleuro-pneumonia +and the desert poison bush already described. Opposite +to Richmond Downs, across the Flinders River, +Kennedy and Macdonald took up about the same time +a run which they called Cambridge Downs, now a +large sheep station. All these runs on the Upper +Flinders were first settled in 1864, and formed an outpost +of settlement by which other pioneers directed +their course lower down the river. During 1865 and +the following year, another wave of occupation flowed +on past these outside stations, and the new pioneers +finding country further on, became in their turn a +starting point for others, and still the tide flowed outwards +and westwards till all available country was +taken up. Those who came out during 1864 and 1865 +had a serious difficulty to contend with in facing a +drier season than has since been experienced up to +1897. The pioneers with their stock were compelled +to follow the course of the river, as it was almost certain +death to go far to the west looking for water or +country. All the tributary creeks of the Flinders were<span class="pagenum">[Pg 128]</span> +dry, and those who ventured out had soon to return +to the main watercourse. The native dogs crowded in +on the Flinders in thousands, and the blacks themselves +had also to resort to it. During that trying season, +none of the rivers ran in their channels, and even most +of the large waterholes in the bed of the Flinders +dried up, while stages of thirty or forty miles without +water were frequent. Notwithstanding these drawbacks +to stockowners who were on the search for some +unfrequented nook to unharness on, the crowd pressed +on in the hope of better country ahead, some Canaan +far beyond, where hills were always green and water +abundant. These men followed each other in quick +succession and took up runs on the Lower Flinders +and all over the Gulf country, wherever water could be +found.</p> + +<p>This settlement, carried out in those early years, +was most extensive and comprehensive, and during the +time the western country was being sought out and +utilised the Burdekin was being stocked in every part. +One of the pioneers was Mr. Robert Stewart, of Southwick +station, on Fletcher’s Creek, a stream of pure, +clear water, flowing from the great basaltic wall into +the Burdekin. Reedy Lake station was stocked with +sheep by O’Reilly and Reeve, near Dalrymple, where +the main route from Bowen to the Gulf crossed the +Burdekin River. Many other runs were taken up on +the Burdekin and towards the coast, and many +soon changed hands, the first settlers passing on to<span class="pagenum">[Pg 129]</span> +occupy country in the interior. Several of these first-comers +took up coast runs and stocked them with +sheep, believing they would thrive there. This was +found to be a mistake, and from Wide Bay to the north +scarcely any sheep are now to be met with on coastal +runs. For a few years in some places they did well +enough, but they soon began to die from fluke, worms, +and grass seeds, and they were accordingly replaced +by cattle. The sheep on being removed to western +pastures throve well, and soon recovered health. The +seeds of the spear grass (Andropogon contortus) were +a terrible scourge—they are finely barbed and intensely +sharp and hard; once entered they pass right +through the skin of the sheep, even into the flesh, +causing great annoyance and leading to poverty and +death. The soil in which this grass thrives best is in the +sandy strips along the banks of creeks. After seeding, +the heads bunch together, in tangled masses, and +shower the seeds on to sheep passing through. It is of +use as a fodder grass only when young and green, +although cattle thrive fairly well upon it, and its presence +in any quantity at once determines whether the +pasturage is favourable to sheep or not. The cattle that +were brought from Bowen Downs to stock the runs +taken up on the Gulf, were brought to their northern +starting point from Fort Cooper and further south +during 1860 by N. Buchanan and W. Landsborough, +who were both very active and enterprising in opening +up new country. This splendid property (Bowen<span class="pagenum">[Pg 130]</span> +Downs) was settled by the Landsborough River Company, +held in shares by Messrs. N. Buchanan, W. +Landsborough, Cornish, and W. Glen Walker, with +Messrs. Morehead and Young, of Sydney. The first +four went out of the company shortly afterwards, and +Mr. Cornish, after visiting the Gulf country, fell a victim +to maladies contracted during the journey. Mount +Cornish was known in the early days as the Mud Hut. +Mr. E. R. Edkins, who has now been the manager for +many years, was among the very early drovers of +stock to the Gulf. He left the Murray in 1861, and +started from the Gil-gil in January, 1862, passed Rockhampton, +took in charge Mr. R. Stewart’s cattle, and +brought them to Fletcher’s Creek, now Southwick, +on the Lower Burdekin, and reached Maryvale in September +of that year. He then returned to the Murray, +and brought out another lot of cattle, passing Bowen +in April, 1864. Here the cattle were placed in quarantine. +After being inoculated for pleuro, they travelled +on to Mount Emu, in September, 1864. James Gibson +also took up a run on Junction Creek, also Wanda +Vale and Cargoon stations.</p> + +<p>Among the settlers who were first in the new +country on the Flinders were Messrs. Little and +Hetzer, who took up a run called Uralla, near the +junction of the Saxby and Flinders Rivers. Their +stock consisting of cattle and sheep came by Bowen +Downs to the head of the Flinders, and then followed +the usual route. The blacks made some trouble at<span class="pagenum">[Pg 131]</span> +the station and several lives were sacrificed. Others +of the pioneers to try their fortune in the general rush +for new country were the Earle Brothers, who had a +station near Bowen; one of them, Mr. Thomas Earle, +took up country on Spear Creek, the head of the Norman +River, in 1865, and called the station Iffley. The +season was so uncommonly dry, that permanent water +was the chief attraction, and the splendid waterhole +at Iffley, more than two miles long, and very deep, +decided the Earles to fix themselves there with their +cattle and drays. There was at the time a vast extent +of country open for settlement; the terms were fairly +liberal, and the prospects good for those in search of +new runs. The settlers were like a great advancing +army, confident in their numbers and strength; and so +they advanced into the unknown land, and left the rest +to fortune. They came from all the settled parts of +Australia; that was what induced Mr. H. F. Smith, of +Barnes and Smith, to bring cattle from Lyndhurst and +take up a run on the Lower Flinders, called Tempe +Downs, on L Creek, so called from a tree marked L, +one of Leichhardt’s marked trees when on his expedition +to Port Essington, 1844-5. In 1865 James Kennedy +took stock from Cambridge Downs, and held a +fine run on the Upper Leichhardt River, calling it +Pentland Downs. In the same year, James Cassidy +occupied country lower down on the same river with +sheep. One of the pioneers who went through much +personal privation and hardship in the general forward<span class="pagenum">[Pg 132]</span> +march to discover new country, was Mr. Reginald +Halloran, associated with his brother-in-law, Mr. +Robert Alexander, of Proston, on the Burnett. They +suffered heavy losses among the sheep while going +through the desert, from the poison plant, and also +from want of water. With the party was a young fellow +named Briggs, who was killed by the blacks on +Skeleton Creek before reaching Hughenden while a +detachment of the party was camped there. The remnant +of the stock that survived the trip were placed on a +piece of country on the Lower Flinders, which they +named Home Creek, but which was soon deserted by +this firm, though held as a station years afterwards. +Mr. Halloran was a man conspicuous for his utter +disregard of personal comfort; he would start on a +ride of a hundred miles without rations or blanket, +trusting to the chapter of accidents for food, and to +his saddle cloth for covering for the night, and he was +always welcome at any camp owing to his geniality +and fund of humour. The young fellow, Briggs, who +met with an untimely death, had arrived at the advance +camp only the night before for rations, and while +alone in the tent next morning, the other man being +absent horse-hunting, a party of blacks visited the +camp. The white man showed fight, breaking a gun +over the head of one of the blacks, but was soon +killed, and when the horse-hunter returned, he found +Briggs dead and the camp looted.</p> + +<p>A place called Sorghum Downs, on the Lower<span class="pagenum">[Pg 133]</span> +Cloncurry, now part of Conobie, was claimed by an +old colonist and pioneer named Murdoch Campbell; +he and his wife (a Devonshire woman), had camped +on the Bowen River in 1863, but it was a long time +before they found their way out so far west. Mrs. +Campbell’s hospitality and kindness to all travellers +was one of the pleasant remembrances of those early +hard times. Campbell died in 1867, and Mrs. Campbell +ultimately went to New Zealand, where she had +friends. A small firm of two men, Anderson and +Trimble, successful diggers from the Snowy River, +in New South Wales, joined the rest of the pushing +crowd, and held a good run on the Saxby River with +sheep.</p> + +<p>Still the tide of occupation flowed on, and when +all the available watered runs around the Gulf were +occupied in 1865 and the following year, those remaining +unsatisfied, marched on, restless as the surges +that beat on the shore. Several of those in charge of +stock travelled up the Gregory River southwards, and +out far away on to Barkly Tableland, discovered by Mr. +W. Landsborough. These were among the first to +make known the capabilities of this splendid district. +The Stieglitz Brothers held country far away to the +south on the Herbert River, called now the Georgina, +having passed through all the Flinders and Gulf country +unrewarded.</p> + +<p>Gregg and Nash, with sheep for the Messrs. +J. and E. Brown, of Newcastle, followed on the far<span class="pagenum">[Pg 134]</span>-away +track to the inland Never-Never, Mrs. Gregg +and her daughter accompanying the party in all their +wanderings. The attention and hospitality of this lady +to all travellers was as conspicuous as it was highly +prized, and it will not be easily forgotten. Several other +pioneers occupied runs on the Barkly tablelands, which +was recognised as some of the finest pastoral land in +Queensland. In after years, when this country came +to be restocked by a new generation from the south, +after being deserted and forsaken by the original +pioneers, the new settlers were surprised to find evidences +of a previous occupation. Where the early +settlers had come from, where they had gone to, and +who they were, were matters of curiosity; sheets of +galvanised iron they well knew did not grow like the +gidya trees, neither were old sheepyards (built of +basaltic stones) the work of blacks. But who those +early pioneers were, and what their fate, was utterly +unknown, and caused much speculation.</p> + +<p>All the country bordering on the Gulf suitable +for grazing purposes was portioned out and occupied +between the years 1864 and 1868. Though in most +cases the number of stock on each run was small, +the runs were numerous, and most of the owners were +resident. It was recognised that a great future was +in store for this vast new territory just opening up +to enterprise and capital. The Plains of Promise, +named by one of the early navigators (Captain Stokes, +of the “Beagle,” in 1842), had been much talked of<span class="pagenum">[Pg 135]</span> +for years, but when they were stocked, the distant +fields lost much of their interest. The fine rivers +flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria, through hundreds +of miles of open plains and rolling downs, +covered with permanent and valuable pasturage, gave +to the early settlers good reasons for believing they +were the pioneers in opening up a grand and wealth-producing +territory.</p> + +<p>Stations were formed, stock brought out, improvements +made, and the way opened for permanent +occupation. The high hopes entertained seemed +likely to be realised, until a change came over the +aspect of things—a change brought about by influences +far removed from the local scene, and in which +the settlers had no voice—a change in which no +amount of energy or sacrifice on their part could avail +aught. The days of commercial panic set in, culminating +in the crisis of 1868-69, the march of settlement +was instantly checked, and the outward flow of +civilisation turned backwards. The financial crisis +was felt all over the mercantile world; banks of old +standing collapsed, and low prices for wool and stock, +and all station produce, brought the pastoral industry +to a low ebb.</p> + +<p>In consequence of these monetary disturbances, +agents declined to find money to carry on places so +far distant as the Gulf stations—even the little required +for current expenses. All credit was stopped, and +supplies also, and as the newly-formed stations could<span class="pagenum">[Pg 136]</span> +not be made self-supporting in the absence of local +markets, the stock had to be abandoned or removed. +The tide began to ebb at a greater rate than it had +risen; some of the stock were sent south, while the +rest were boiled down, scarcely clearing expenses in +either case; the improvements were abandoned as well +as the runs. The sheep came in from Barkly +Tableland, the Gregory, and the Leichhardt, and by +the year 1871, there were but few runs occupied. +The great flood of 1869-70 helped to fill the cup of +misfortune for the Gulf residents; no such flood was +ever dreamt of, or has ever been seen since; it rained +all January, February, and most of March, and the +rivers covered all the plain country, though the loss +of stock was small. A few runs on the Flinders and +Cloncurry were still kept in occupation, but they were +not many, and these only struggled along, hoping for +better times. No value was attached to runs or stock +in any of the Gulf country then, as runs could be +obtained much nearer settlement for next to nothing, +many being thrown up through the general depression. +It seemed as if the bottom had fallen out of +the pastoral industry, and hope had gone, but relief +came sooner than was expected. The Etheridge goldfield +was opened, and served to employ a good deal +of the floating population. This field is situated to +the east of Normanton on the Delany and Etheridge +Rivers, about 250 miles towards the east coast. The +discovery of auriferous reefs there, as well as some<span class="pagenum">[Pg 137]</span> +alluvial gold, helped to keep trade alive, until the +discovery of the rich fields on the Palmer in 1873, when +a great demand set in for cattle. The financial depression +lifted, the price of wool went up 100 per cent., +and a demand again arose for runs to stock; the old +ones were all taken up, new country was applied for, +and the voice of the man with money was heard again +in the land. In the years following, up to 1884, much +speculation was carried on in buying and selling runs +and stock, and country for occupation was as eagerly +sought after as in the early days.</p> + +<p>Advantage was taken of the liberal provisions +of the Pastoral Leases Act of 1869, to take up +unoccupied country, even if it was dry. Cattle were +selling on the Palmer diggings at £10 and £12 a +head cash, and the supply of bullocks was not equal +to the demand, because the runs had been so thinned +by the exodus of stock south to clear expenses, that +no surplus was available to meet such a sudden demand +as that caused by the arrival of 20,000 diggers +in the north. Then the tide flowed again, and became +the flood that helped to fill the country with work and +life. Cattle came out in large numbers, and passed on +to occupy country in the northern territory of South +Australia, and even in Western Australia. As many +as 30,000 head passed over the border in one year at +Burketown, for the purpose of stocking country +around Port Darwin.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 138]</span></p> + +<p>For several years travelling stock went out to the +far north-west, and all had to pass through the Gulf +country. The route followed from the borders of +Queensland was by the track that Leichhardt took +on his journey to Port Essington, between the tableland +and salt water, crossing the Macarthur, Roper, +Calvert, and other rivers. Stations were occupied +on the Orde and Victoria Rivers on the Cambridge +Gulf side with stock from North Queensland. In +those districts some very fine open downs country +had recently been discovered. Fisher and Lyons had +20,000 head of cattle sent out to their country in the +north-west. Osman and Panton also had large numbers +of cattle from Queensland. Dr. Brown is reported +to have expended £100,000 is sending sheep +and cattle from the Adelaide side to the northern +territory. The stocking of this far away country was +extremely expensive owing to the distance the cattle +had to travel, and the unusually high percentage of +losses on the way. Some of the stock were two years +on the road, and a new disease called red water attacked +them when passing the Roper River. This +disease is supposed to be due to cattle ticks (Ixodes +Bovis), and has since carried disaster into many herds +in Queensland. The average cost of some of the +cattle when arrived on their country was equal to £7 +a head, in consequence of losses and expenses. The +Gordon Brothers were among the early drovers to +take stock over the borders to West Australia, and<span class="pagenum">[Pg 139]</span> +they made several trips. The Duracks are another +family of pioneer settlers in the northern territory, and +held extensive possessions. The country bordering +the rivers that flow into the Cambridge Gulf was reported +to be of a superior description and of a fattening +nature. Though much of the country in the northern +territory was reckoned of an inferior description +for grazing, the encouraging terms of leasing +offered by the South Australian Government induced +many to venture on the hazardous undertaking. The +markets opened up by the goldfields of Port Darwin +repaid some of their enterprise. Bullocks were sold +at from £17 to £20 cash for butchering purposes. +Eventually a shipping trade in cattle was opened up +with Singapore from Port Darwin; a company built +special steamers for carrying stock and passengers +to the northern ports. The results have proved satisfactory, +as the s.s. “Darwin” lately (1897) took a cargo +of 190 head of fat bullocks on board, this being her +forty-second trip.</p> + +<p>The Cape York Peninsula, within which was +found the rich Palmer diggings, came in for a share +of settlement between 1875 and 1880. The first of the +early pioneers to take up a cattle run on the Mitchell +River was Mr. A. C. Grant, now of Messrs. B. D. +Morehead and Co. He left the Bowen River with +three hundred fat cattle from Havilah station for +Messrs. Skene and Henderson, and took up Wrotham +Park in 1873, situated between the Mitchell and Walsh<span class="pagenum">[Pg 140]</span> +Rivers, on Elizabeth Creek, 120 miles N.N.E. from +Georgetown, a nice open piece of country, consisting +of black soil flats and ridges. The cattle he took up +realised £11 5s. per head cash all round; beef was +then selling on the field at 1s. per lb. Mr. Patrick +Callaghan held a few blocks of country along the +Mitchell River, chiefly as a depôt for bullocks for sale +on the various diggings, as he became a large buyer +of cattle from the local market in conjunction with +F. Leslie, J. Edwards, and J. Duff. The transactions +and profits of this enterprising firm were on a very +large scale, one partner travelling outside buying +cattle, another superintending the supply to local +butchers, and the other two attending to the gold buying, +slaughtering, and financial business of the concern. +The next to take up country for pastoral purposes +on the Mitchell water was Edward Palmer (the +author of these notes), who, in conjunction with John +Stevenson and Walter Reid, took up and stocked Gamboola +in 1879 with cattle from Ravenswood and Mount +McConnel runs. The extent of good pasture land +on the Mitchell waters, or anywhere on the Peninsula, +further north, is limited. When the Palmer goldfield +was opened the farthest outstation stocked on the +overland route was Mount Surprise, on Junction +Creek, held by the Firths, and this was over 200 miles +from the diggings by the nearest practicable road. +The road was opened by drovers taking stock, and +carriers and miners passing northwards with their<span class="pagenum">[Pg 141]</span> +faces set direct to the wonderful land of gold. The +road crossed the Tate, the Walsh, and the Mitchell +Rivers, and then followed up the Palmer River +through some of the roughest country in North +Queensland. When Cooktown was opened as a port +for the diggings, the overland route was abandoned +for dray traffic, and droving stock alone used it. The +consumption of beef on the field for several years +demanded an average annual supply of from 15,000 +to 20,000 head, most of the cattle realising from £7 +to £10 each. The stock came from coastal runs +mostly, Dotswood and the Burdekin country supplying +much of it, Bowen Downs and Aramac<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a> also +sending in many large mobs. Very few breeding +cattle were brought out, but some small runs towards +Cooktown were occupied with cattle, the country consisting +of open timbered ridges of only a second-class +description, but fairly well watered. The Mitchell +River was named by Dr. Leichhardt in memory of +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 142]</span>another explorer, Sir Thomas Mitchell. Leichhardt +saw this river where it junctioned with the Lynd, and +one of his old camps is still to be seen on the Lynd a +little above this junction. It is really a beautiful river, +with a clear running stream all the year round, and +some deep reaches of still water; the banks are covered +with scrubs of pencil cedar and a great variety of +hanging vines and thick shrubs. The principal source +of the river is near Port Douglas on the east coast, +within six miles of the township, on the top of the +range, from whence the water flows north-west, and +continues its course to the Gulf of Carpentaria, where +it empties itself in latitude 15 deg. 10 sec. In its +course, it receives the waters of the Walsh, Lynd, and +Palmer Rivers, as well as the Hodgkinson, and becomes +a mighty stream. Indeed it is one of the most +picturesque and interesting rivers in Queensland. +The upper parts of this stream were explored by J. +V. Mulligan and his party of prospectors in 1875. +Leichhardt followed it below the junction of the Lynd +when on his trip to Port Essington, before leaving it +to cross to the Gulf country. The Mitchell River +country is famous for its native game; the scrubs +abound with wallaby, turkeys, and pigeons; the river +and lagoons teem with fish of every variety, and waterfowl +cover the shallow waters where the alligators +are unable to reach them. The open country surrounding +has the large kangaroo and the common +bustard (plain turkey) in abundance. The country<span class="pagenum">[Pg 143]</span> +fattens stock, and is well watered. It consists of +alluvial soil and open ridges of a sandy nature, where +the grass is coarse and is covered with a low mimosa +scrub.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> The word “Aramac” was coined by the late Mr. W. +Landsborough, the well-known explorer, and is an +euphonious abbreviation of the name of the late Sir Robert +Ramsey Mackenzie, who was Colonial Secretary in the first +Macalister Ministry (1866) and Colonial Treasurer and +Premier 1867-8. Mr. Landsborough was fond of coining +words by joining the first syllable of one name to the first +syllable of another name—thus the run known as “Willandspey,” +on Vine Creek, near Mount Hope, just below the +junction of the Belyando and Suttor Rivers, is a combination +of the names of William Landsborough and Peyton, the first +lessee of the run.</p></div> + +<p>Among the many other disabilities that cattle were +subject to in this new country was a poison bush or +tree, growing along the banks of creeks and rivers, +called the peach tree (Cannabis sp.) It is said to have +been the cause of many deaths, for hundreds of cattle +that were unused to the plant died along the bends +of the rivers, though young stock bred in the country +appeared to be immune to its evil effects. Notwithstanding +all these drawbacks and discouragements, +runs were taken up on the Archer and other rivers +in the Peninsula as far as Cape York, and the rivers +flowing into Princess Charlotte’s Bay were all occupied +by the pioneers of settlement in face of all opposition +and discouragement.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 144]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> + +THE RISE OF THE NORTHERN TOWNS.</h2> + +<p>The site of Rockhampton, now the principal city +of Central Queensland, was chosen in 1855 by +Mr. Wiseman, a Land Commissioner of New +South Wales who had been despatched from Sydney +to confirm the Archer Brothers in the possession of +their Gracemere run. The town received its name +from the bar of rocks running across the river at the +head of navigation. Its first expansion dates from +the rush to the Canoona diggings, then called Port +Curtis rush, which took place in 1858, as it was +then the nearest port to the field, and therefore handled +all the trade to and from the diggings. When the +field was declared a “duffer,” and the miners departed +in disgust, they left the nucleus of a settlement behind +which was subsequently to become the seaport and +distributing centre for all the rich pastoral country now +comprised in the Central District.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Among the first settlers to open up Gladstone was +R. E. Palmer, who built a large wool store and wharf +so that the wool from Rannes and other stations lately<span class="pagenum">[Pg 145]</span> +formed could be shipped from there. He then took +up Targinie cattle station over the harbour on the +north side. The town is now noted for its healthiness +and pleasant climate, and the beautiful view of the +harbour, studded with islands. A North Australian +settlement was attempted here when the Gladstone +Government was in power, in January, 1847. Colonel +Barney was head of the colonising party in the “Lord +Auckland.” Both these names are perpetuated in +Barney Point, and Auckland Creek. The party were +recalled after three months stay, and the locality was +left alone until 1854, when Captain (afterwards Sir) +Maurice O’Connell was sent up as Government Resident.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The first to discover and report on the grand +harbour of Port Denison was Captain Sinclair, in the +schooner “Santa Barbara.” An expectation had been +held out by the New South Wales Government that a +handsome reward would be given to anyone who discovered +a good harbour north of Port Curtis.</p> + +<p>In hope of obtaining this reward, this little craft +of only nine tons was fitted out at private expense, +and sailed from Rockhampton on September 1st, 1859. +The party consisted of Captain Sinclair, master; W. +H. Thomas, seaman; and Messrs. James Gordon and +Benjamin Poole, passengers. After piloting their way +through islands and reefs and heavy storms, besides +unknown dangers from the natives, they sailed into<span class="pagenum">[Pg 146]</span> +Port Denison on October 17th, 1859, and were gratified +and surprised to find such a capacious and +secure harbour. They landed and examined the +bay, surveying and sketching some parts of it, +but owing to the hostility and treachery of the +natives, who were very numerous both on the +islands and the mainland, they were not permitted +to extend their knowledge of the port. The +“Santa Barbara” left Port Denison on October 19th, +and after boxing about for some time among the +Cumberland Islands, reached Keppel Bay on her return +on October 31st. The harbour is of an oval +form, probably some ten miles in extreme length, and +about four miles across from Station Island to the +mainland; it is formed partly by an indentation in the +coast, and partly by two islands running across it. +Here at last was a port that would be a starting +point for further settlement in the interior, a +most suitable and secure harbour, discovered and +opened up without any expense to the Government, +and with such small means and outfit that the journal +of those enterprising and heroic voyagers reads like +a tale of romance. Although successful in this matter, +they were not able to obtain the promised reward, +for just at that time the separation of the new colony +took place, and their claim was handed over to the +new Government. A petition presented to the +Queensland Parliament procured no further recognition +than that Captain Sinclair was made Harbour<span class="pagenum">[Pg 147]</span> +Master, and Mr. James Gordon the first customs +officer in Townsville.</p> + +<p>Very little was at that time known of the interior +comprising the Kennedy district, which was thrown +open to pastoral occupation on November 17th, 1859, +by proclamation of the New South Wales Government, +it being then part of that colony. Leichhardt had +passed through it down the Suttor; Mitchell just +touched its southern extremity; Landsborough penetrated +from the direction of Fort Cooper, into the +upper waters of the Bowen, which river he discovered +and called the Bonnar.</p> + +<p>Bowen was settled by George Elphinstone Dalrymple, +Police Magistrate and Commissioner of +Crown Lands, and several squatters who had come +overland with him, and also by a number of persons, +including Mr. James Gordon, who arrived at Bowen +from Rockhampton per schooner “Jeannie Dove” with +stores, a few days before Mr. Dalrymple.</p> + +<p>On the organisation of the new Queensland +Government, a proclamation was issued withdrawing +the Kennedy district from occupation, and the tenders +previously received were returned to the tenderers.</p> + +<p>These explorers of a new port and future city were +deserving of a much higher and better recognition +than was accorded them by either Government.</p> + +<p>The first sale of Bowen town lands was held in +Brisbane on October 7th, 1861, when eighty-nine lots<span class="pagenum">[Pg 148]</span> +were sold, realising £2,083. Many of those early investors +were Brisbane men, well known in business +and the professions. The lots were mostly half-acres in +area, and averaged about £25 to £50 per acre, the +first Bishop of Brisbane (Tuffnell) figuring largely +among the land buyers. In 1863 the demand for land +called for several sales, as the town was progressing +on account of the large overlanding of stock and the +shipments of supplies for parties taking up country +to the north and west.</p> + +<p>A land sale on April 20th, 1863, was held in +Bowen, when seventy-nine lots were sold, realising +£1,718; all the lots went above the upset price. On +June 8th, 1863, another land sale took place in Bowen, +when seventy-four lots were sold, realising £1,135; +among these were some country lands in ten-acre lots, +which realised the upset price, £3 7s. 6d. per acre. +For town lots the upset price was £20 per acre; the +competition for fancy lots was keen enough to run +them up to as much as £100 per lot. Still another +land sale had to be held to keep pace with the growing +town, and the demands of speculators. This was +held in Bowen on August 3rd, 1863, when seventy-three +lots found purchasers, realising £2,643. This +sale consisted mostly of country lands, put up in lots +of from seventeen to fifty acres, at the upset price of +£1 per acre; 1,518 acres were sold at this last land +sale. These figures from official sources testify to +the rapidity of the expansion of the new town, and to<span class="pagenum">[Pg 149]</span> +the high expectations that were formed as to its future +rise and progress. Many familiar names occur in the +annals of the official register, but most of the purchasers +are now dead. Seaward, Marsh, and Genge, +who had a large business as storekeepers, figure extensively +as buyers, also Mr. J. G. Macdonald, James +Hall Scott, Korah H. Willis, Thomas Cavanagh—a +well-known celebrity of Bowen—and many other old +identities are called to mind by looking through the +list of the first land buyers in Bowen. Few now remain +of those early speculators. The treasury of the +young colony benefited by their ambition to hold land +in the future capital of the north by the sum of £7,579.</p> + +<p>The town wore gay and holiday aspect when the +Governor, Sir G. F. Bowen, landed in 1865. The jetty +at that time was being built, and the town was filled +with squatters from all parts of the north, getting supplies +or tendering for new country. Flags were flying, +addresses of welcome were presented, a bullock +was roasted whole on the beach, barrels of beer were +on tap alongside the bullock, tons of bread were there +to go with it, and an assorted crowd was ready to do +justice to both bullock and beer. A levee was held, +an undress one, of course, as evening dress had not +reached so far north at that time, but coats were found +for every one in which to make a bow to the Governor. +The only block hat that had reached the latitude of +Bowen was worn by Mr. R. H. Smith, afterwards +member for the district, who had the honor of escort<span class="pagenum">[Pg 150]</span>ing +His Excellency up to the town. A ball was held +in the evening in honor of the event, and many other +things took place that this chronicle will pass over.</p> + +<p>Frederick Bode, at Strathdon, W. Powell, of Salisbury +Plains, J. G. Macdonald, of Inkermann, Collings, +at Eton Vale, A. C. Grant, at Dartmoor, all were +settlers in Bowen district in the early days.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Townsville was named after Captain Robert +Towns, of Sydney, of the firm of R. Towns and Co., +who held stations inland from Cleveland Bay, and as +it became necessary to open some other port north of +Bowen, which had hitherto been the distributing +centre, explorations were made by some of the +managers of these stations, foremost among whom +was Mr. Ball, the result being the discovery of the +site of the present town, which was gazetted as a port +of entry in October, 1865. On the 10th of that +month, Mr. James Gordon arrived to perform the +duties of Sub-Collector of Customs, and a great number +of other official duties as well.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Cardwell is situated near the head of Rockingham +Bay, opposite the north end of Hinchinbrook Island, +and distant north-west from Brisbane about 950 miles, +in latitude 18 deg. 16 sec. S., longitude 146 deg. 4 sec. +E. Population of district and town, 3,435. The first +settlement in the locality took place in 1863, and it +became a place of considerable importance, being the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 151]</span> +nearest port on the east coast to the Gulf of Carpentaria, +but since then other ports have been opened, +offering greater facilities for shipping.</p> + +<p>The first telegraph line from the east coast to the +Gulf of Carpentaria commenced at Cardwell, but the +expense connected with keeping the line open across +the Sea View Range and through the dense jungle +on the coast side thereof, proved too great, and the +route was finally abandoned. Up to 1873, Cardwell +was the most northern port on the east coast of Australia, +and the port of entry for the Herbert River +district. The town is now in a languishing state, but +the excellence of the port may yet redeem it from +obscurity.</p> + +<p>It was from here that Kennedy’s expedition took +its final departure for the north early in June, 1848, +and in connection with that memorable event, we may +quote a paragraph recently appearing in a Queensland +journal:—</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center">“A SAD REMEMBRANCE BRINGS.”</p> + +<p>Recently a remarkable discovery was made at the foot +of the Coast Range to the north of Cardwell—relics of the +vehicles left by Kennedy, the explorer, when on his ill-fated +journey up York Peninsula. It may be remembered that +the party landed at Tam O’Shanter Point, Rockingham Bay, +on May 30th, 1848, and that on July 18th the carts were +abandoned, the party going on with twenty-six pack horses +and fifty sheep. The story of the fate of Kennedy and nearly +all of those who accompanied him has been frequently told, +and the discovery of the remains of the carts, which have lain +for nearly half a century in the jungle, revives interest in one<span class="pagenum">[Pg 152]</span> +of the saddest episodes in Australian exploration. The exact +locality of the relics is kept a strict secret, the possessor of +the secret being of opinion that he should profit by it. +No doubt the Government would be glad to secure information +which would enable it to establish the authenticity of +statements which have been made on the subject.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The first intimation the southern parts had of the +existence of gold in the north was a telegram from +Cardwell dated September 9th, 1873. It ran as follows:—“Prospectors +Mulligan, Brown, Dowdall, A. +Watson, and D. Robertson, got one hundred and five +ounces on the Palmer River, which they prospected +for twenty miles. They say nothing of the country +outside the river. Nearly all are leaving here.” This +news spread like wild-fire and created a great +sensation all over Australia; the difficulty was to get +to the Palmer quick enough. The Government sent +Mr. Bartley Fahey, Sub-Collector of Customs at Normanton, +to explore the Mitchell River in order to open +communication from Normanton towards the new +field. Mr. G. E. Dalrymple, leader of the north coast +expedition, was ordered to proceed to the Endeavour +River, and he arrived at Cook’s Landing on October +24th, 1873, but the expedition was recalled. In the +meantime, the A. S. N. Co.’s steamer, the “Leichhardt” +(Captain Saunders), left Brisbane on October +15th with some members of the Endeavour River +expedition on board. Mr. A. C. MacMillan and his +party were taken on at Bowen. The “Leichhardt” +arrived at Townsville on October 20th, and took on all<span class="pagenum">[Pg 153]</span> +the horses, forty-six in number, and one hundred and +fifty diggers, all for the new Palmer rush. Mr. +Howard St. George and party embarked at Cardwell, +and on Saturday, October 25th, 1873, the “Leichhardt” +was made fast to the mangroves on the Endeavour +River, in sixteen feet of water, and the new +township began its existence on the site where the +famous navigator, Captain Cook, on June 17th, +1770; beached his damaged vessel for repairs. +The gold fever was irresistible, and helped to +lift the town into prominence at once, drawing people +from all parts of Australia. Four months after the +landing of Mr. St. George, J. V. Mulligan, arriving +from the Palmer field, described Cooktown as a large +progressing township, about half a mile long, with +stores, public houses, and shops of all sorts, with +steamers and other boats coming in and going out +every few days, and containing not less than two +thousand people, though some estimated the numbers +at a much higher figure. Cooktown dates its existence +from the landing of the passengers by the steamer +“Leichhardt” in 1873. The first Police Magistrate +appointed was Mr. Thomas Hamilton, who also acted +as Sub-Collector of Customs. Mr. James Pryde was +the first Clerk of Petty Sessions. When the first court +was held on December 27th, 1873, it was to deal with +the charge of stealing a goat from Townsville.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gold, Commissioner St. George, and Mr. A. +C. MacMillan, soon started on their expedition after<span class="pagenum">[Pg 154]</span> +landing at Cooktown, accompanied by eighty-six +diggers, the command being one hundred and eight +strong. They reported finding a good track to the +Palmer. One reminiscence of their journey remains +in the name of the original track, which is now known +as Battle Camp, because the natives came down from +the adjoining hills to dispute the right of the white +men to travel through their country. Things in +Cooktown kept booming along, and in April, 1874, +there were from three to four thousand people camped +between Grassy Hill and the outside boundary of +Cooktown. During that month, sixty-five publicans’ +licenses were issued, and thirty more applied for; +there were also twenty eating houses, twelve large +stores, twenty small ones, six butchers, five bakers, +three tinsmiths, four tent makers, six hairdressers, +seven blacksmiths, besides doctors, chemists, fancy +shops, watchmakers, bootmakers, saddlers, etc., in +proportion, and all going full speed ahead. Until +the discovery of the Palmer field, and the opening +of Cooktown, Cardwell was the most northern +port of call on the Queensland eastern coast, +and was the telegraphic centre of news from the +Etheridge and Gilbert goldfields. The golden news +from these far northern diggings was of a most glittering +nature, but there was a reverse side of the picture +in the hardships and privations endured.</p> + +<p>In 1874, the Cooktown “Courier” was started, +and shortly afterwards the “Herald.” The journal<span class="pagenum">[Pg 155]</span>istic +standard of the early days of Cooktown was +esteemed, comparatively speaking, brilliant. The +Queensland National Bank opened a branch there in +1874, followed by the Bank of New South Wales and +The Australian Joint Stock Bank. Religion was not +neglected either. In 1876, Cooktown was proclaimed +a municipality, and from thence to 1878, it prospered +mightily. Gold was plentiful, and its export was +measured by the ton. The official returns in 1878 +showed something over forty tons as having passed +through the Customs, but that did not represent the +measure of the enormous richness of the Palmer, as +thousands upon thousands of ounces of gold were +secretly taken away to China. Since then the goldfields +have gradually dwindled down in their returns, +and the Palmer of to-day, or even the Palmer of a few +years ago, was not the grand and glorious field that +made Cooktown rise like magic by the side of its +splendid harbour. The later discovery of tin on +Cannibal Creek, and the Annan River, again caused +some stir in business, but of a much quieter description +than in the halcyon days of golden light. The +beche de mer industry has also been a great help +to business people in Cooktown. The great red-letter +day in Cooktown was the turning of the first sod for +the Cooktown-Maytown Railway, on April 3rd, 1884, +by the Mayor, Mr. Edward D’Arcy, when a tremendous +public demonstration took place. Mr. George +Bashford was the contractor for the first section, and<span class="pagenum">[Pg 156]</span> +he gave a great banquet on the occasion, inviting +people from all parts of Queensland to be present. +Like many other towns in Queensland, Cooktown in +recent years has suffered from depression, but there is +a solid future before it still. With one of the finest +harbours on the east coast, it is the key to the Torres +Strait route and to New Guinea. The reef-bearing +country on the Palmer has still to be developed, and +the great extent of this mineral wealth is as yet quite +under-rated. Besides containing tin and coal in abundance, +North Queensland has other grand resources +in its back pastoral and agricultural country.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The town of Normanton was opened by the +settlers as a better port for shipping for the Lower +Flinders stations than Burketown, which was inconvenient, +being too far to the west, and difficult of +access. The Norman River, so called by Landsborough +after the captain of the Victorian Government +ship “Victoria,” is a fine and deep river.</p> + +<p>Messrs. W. Landsborough and G. Phillips were +the first to navigate the Norman, in January, 1867. +They chose the site for the township on the left side +of the river, where some high ironstone ridges come +close in on the river bank. Here was room for the +extension of a large city, naturally drained, and free +from the possibility of floods, with ready access to the +back country. Unfortunately, the upper reaches of +the river are obstructed by bands of rocks running<span class="pagenum">[Pg 157]</span> +across from bank to bank, that hinder navigation. +These, however, could be removed at small cost.</p> + +<p>Among the first to settle in the town was +Dr. Borck, a popular medical man; his brother +still keeps a store in the town. Another hotel built +in the first days was that of Mr. A. McLennan, who +had been concerned in the first occupation of Burketown. +Ellis Read, trading for R. Towns and Co., +soon had a fine store established, and carried on a +large business with the stations, and also with the +diggings opening on the Etheridge River. The first +team to arrive in the town was driven in down Spear +Creek by George Trimble from his station on the +Saxby, at the head of the Norman River. Then wool +commenced to arrive from Donor’s Hills and other +stations on the Flinders, even as early as 1868, and +was shipped away to Sydney by any chance vessel +offering. One of the early traders to the Norman +was a well-known skipper on the east coast, Captain +Till, of the “Policeman,” schooner, who made several +voyages there. Normanton was never affected by +sickness as Burketown had been, and its progress was +steady, though slow. The country around was well +watered, but not adapted to agriculture. Lagoons +of fresh water fringed the river, and were well supplied +with game, the river full of splendid fish, some of +which ranged up to twenty pounds in weight. +Alligators abounded in all the brackish waters, +as they do in all tidal rivers in the Gulf,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 158]</span> +while the crocodile (so called), a smaller but quite +harmless creature, is found in fresh water only. +Being amphibious in its nature, it can adapt itself +to pools and rivers a long way inland, and is +found wherever there are deep lagoons, and in +all the waters flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria.</p> + +<p>In the early times, when one of R. Towns and +Co.’s vessels was unloading at the bank of the river, +one of the Kanakas employed was seized by an alligator. +The man held on to a mangrove tree, and his +mates beat the alligator over the head until he let go, +but not before he had so torn the flesh from the man’s +leg that he bled to death.</p> + +<p>Among those who are to be reckoned as +the oldest inhabitants of the Gulf country, was John +Harrix, who came over with the first cattle of +Mr. J. G. Macdonald from Bowen in 1864, and who +owned some teams and a small station near Normanton. +A partner of his named Macdonald came down +the Flinders early in 1865. Percival E. Walsh, a +nephew of Mr. W. H. Walsh, of Degilbo, helped to +settle some runs in the Gulf country. He took up a +run on the Dugald, naming it Granada, which was +sold afterwards to Messrs. Hopkins Brothers. He +also restocked Iffley after its desertion by its first +owners, the Earle Bros., now of Yacamunda, on the +Suttor River. The early citizens of Normanton include +the names of Peter Armstrong, David Swan,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 159]</span> +Charles B. Hely, Charles Borck, John Edgar Byrne, +for many years proprietor of “Figaro,” and a hundred +others who more or less helped to form this city of +the Gulf. Many of them are now resting in the cemetery +outside the town.</p> + +<p>R. Towns and Co. had forty thousand sheep on +the Leichhardt, near Floraville, and a shearing shed +near tidal water lower down the river, where a small +steamer (the old “Pioneer,” the remains of which are +still to be seen at Sweer’s Island), came for the wool. +The country proving subject to terrible floods and +unsuitable for sheep, the numbers gradually decreased +until the remnant were finally removed.</p> + +<p>The Etheridge goldfield was opened in the early +days of Normanton, and found occupation for many +teams and much labour.</p> + +<p>Prices in the early days were at a really famine +level; flour was often sold at £40 a ton, and other +goods at a corresponding rate. The writer had experience +of these prices when loading his own team in +those early days.</p> + +<p>Normanton had many advantages over her sister +settlement, Burketown, and when the port became +known, all the station trade drifted there, and Burketown +declined in consequence.</p> + +<p>Normanton was, in 1891, connected with +Croydon by a railway ninety-four miles in length, +which cost £211,000, and was constructed by +Mr. G. Phillips, C.E., on a principle new to<span class="pagenum">[Pg 160]</span> +Queensland, the sleepers being of mild steel, instead +of wood, on account of the ravages of the white +ants. The line between Croydon and Normanton +passes through a perfectly level and very uninteresting +country, a melancholy sandy waste of ti-tree flats, +covered with the innumerable pinnacles and mounds +made by white ants; the pasturage is as poor as the +country looks.</p> + +<p>From Normanton a number of carriers are employed +to carry goods to Cloncurry and the many +stations trading therewith. Many teams are found +carrying loading by the side of the railway line to +Georgetown and the Etheridge past Croydon, ignoring +the services of the railway. A punt service connects +the town with the carrier’s camp on the opposite +side of the river, where loading starts for the Etheridge. +The carrier’s waggon is loaded fully up to its +carrying capacity of from six to seven tons, and is +drawn on to the punt by the team; on its arrival on +the opposite side, the team draws the load on to the +bank ready to depart on its journey. The country to +Georgetown is generally of an inferior description. +Towards the Cloncurry (southwards) for the first +twenty miles, the road passes through timbered country, +bloodwood and messmate of a poor class, then it +opens out after passing Reaphook Range into open +treeless plains and black soil, with excellent pasturage, +and this extends for hundreds of miles to the +interior, the whole of which is occupied by cattle and<span class="pagenum">[Pg 161]</span> +sheep stations that draw their supplies from Normanton +up to a certain point, when the trade is induced by +special arrangements of rebates on traffic rates, to diverge +to Townsville, at the expense of the Gulf ports.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>About the same time that Townsville was +opened as a port in order to meet the requirements +of the new movements in stock on the country surrounding +the Gulf, Burketown commenced its rather +chequered career as a commercial port in 1865.</p> + +<p>The first supplies were brought by the “Jacmel +Packet,” chartered and loaded by R. Towns and Co., +from Sydney. She was the second vessel in the Albert +River, the first being the brig “Firefly,” in which Mr. +Landsborough brought his horses, which were landed +a mile below the site of the town. The old vessel +afterwards went to pieces in the river. The manifest +of the “Jacmel Packet” was perhaps the most varied +and strangely assorted that a trading vessel ever carried; +the general cargo included pigs, dogs, fowls, +houses, building materials, outfits of every kind, +drays, rations, rum, and other spirits. In such fashion +was the mercantile trade of Carpentaria commenced. +On the opening of the goods, a saturnalia ensued, and +the times were lively. The overlanders having money +to spend, and not having indulged in a “spree” for +years, took advantage of the absence of all control, +and thoroughly enjoyed themselves in bush fashion; +a fight every half hour, horse racing on the plain, or<span class="pagenum">[Pg 162]</span> +in “the street” as it was called, and strong rum for +everyone. Other vessels quickly followed the first +venture with more supplies. One of them, the +“Gazelle,” from Sydney, made a very quick trip of +sixteen days to the mouth of the river, where she +broke her back on a sandbank; the hulk was towed +up the river, and gradually mouldered away just opposite +the town. In 1866 the first wool was shipped +to Sydney from the Gulf; the first load of wool taken +into Burketown being from Conobie station, shorn +in November, 1865, on the Cloncurry, about 200 miles +distant. The assistance the first settlers received from +the Government amounted to little or nothing; the administration +situated nearly two thousand miles away, +had little care or thought for the struggling outsiders +in the far-away Gulf country. The settlers had to +protect themselves from blacks as well as from whites, +and as it was some years before Burketown was made +a port of entry, goods had to be cleared at Brisbane +before sailing for Burketown. When the port was +opened, the Customs Officer, Mr. Sandrock, was kept +at Sweer’s Island, where supplies had to be cleared before +going on to the mainland. This meant a great loss +of time to those who brought in teams for loading. +All departmental work had to be done in Brisbane, +and there also the first applications for runs and declarations +of stocking had to be made.</p> + +<p>The tide of settlement had been too swift and too +strong for the authorities to keep pace with, and<span class="pagenum">[Pg 163]</span> +although a Land Commissioner, in the person of Mr. +J. P. Sharkey was sent out in 1866, and the Government +were represented the same year by Mr. W. +Landsborough in Burketown, the fact was evident that +people were pretty well left to do as they liked. +Burketown in 1866, and for the two or three following +years, made some little progress, or appeared to do so. +The drovers and shepherds, paid off after long trips +with stock, had good cheques to spend, and their +money was laid out in the lavish way peculiar to the old +bush hand. Wages were high for all sorts of employment, +35s. to 45s. a week being the lowest. Everything +was dear in the new town, but that made little +difference to men who had not been in a town for +years and had money to spare.</p> + +<p>One of the first vessels to arrive in the Albert +River in 1866 was the “Margaret and Mary.” She +was said to have touched at some infected port in +Java, and after arrival a fatal sickness broke out in +Burketown that nearly carried off all the population. +All hands that came in the ship died except the +captain, his wife also falling a victim. A new crew +had to be engaged to work the vessel before she could +get away. There is little doubt but that the great +mortality among the residents of Burketown during +1866 was traceable to the infection brought by this +vessel. It was the wet season at the time, and this, +in conjunction with the reckless life led by most of the +people, and the want of medical assistance, increased<span class="pagenum">[Pg 164]</span> +the danger of the disease, and scores of strong men succumbed +to its malign influence.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It would be difficult to say how many men fell +victims to the epidemic, but there must have been at +least a hundred, besides those who died on the surrounding +stations. The disease, which ended in fever +and delirium, was as fatal to the strong as to the weak, +and the little cemetery soon looked like that of an old +established town, so numerous were the graves. This +outbreak gave Burketown an evil name. People began +to leave it, and when Normanton was opened in +1867 with the prospect of becoming a more suitable +port for the district, many removed there to carry on +their business. Shortly after this, Burketown was +absolutely deserted, not a living soul remained, and +nothing was left to mark the spot except heaps of +empty bottles and jam tins, and some large iron pots +belonging to a boiling-down plant. A few stumps +remained standing on the open plains where once +had been buildings. The hulls of the “Gazelle” and +“Firefly” lay falling to pieces in the river, and none +were left to sigh over Burketown’s fallen fortunes, or +sing a dirge in memory of its history; its short and +merry life was over, and none lamented.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In these early days, Sweer’s Island was a kind of +marine suburb belonging to Burketown, a sanatorium +about thirty-five miles from the mouth of the Albert, +where the fever-stricken people were taken to recover.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 165]</span> +Mr. W. Landsborough, the Police Magistrate, or +Government resident, lived there with his family. +Mr. J. P. Sharkey, the first Land Commissioner, and +Mr. Ellis Read, in charge of R. Towns and Co.’s +stores, also resided on the island. Life was much +pleasanter there than on the dead plains surrounding +Burketown, and the sea breezes were constant and +refreshing. On Sweer’s Island, which is only about +nine miles long, and from half a mile to three miles +in width, vegetables and watermelons grow in profusion. +A township was surveyed called Carnarvon, +after the Earl of Carnarvon, allotments were sold +and buildings erected. The first Customs House in +the Gulf was here, and Mr. Sandrock was the first +officer. The soil on Sweer’s Island is sandy, and the +grass thick in places. The turtle ponds made there +by Captain Norman of the “Victoria” in 1861-2, were +still to be seen in 1866, as also was the well sunk by +Flinders in 1803, from which fresh water was still +obtainable. Opposite the island, towards the west, +lay Bentinck Island, much larger than Sweer’s, though +unoccupied, except by the natives, whose fires could +be seen every evening after dark. About forty miles +north-east of Sweer’s Island is Bountiful Island, noted +for its oysters, and also for turtles, large numbers +resorting there at certain seasons. Sweer’s Island has +been deserted for many years, and is no longer a +health resort. The buildings are gone, and the people +also. The only residents now (1897), are a family of<span class="pagenum">[Pg 166]</span> +the name of Creffield, who keep some cattle, goats and +sheep on the island.</p> + +<p>To the south-west of Burketown is a fine run +called Lawn Hill, comprising a lot of good country +surrounded by mountains, and well watered. This +property was taken up by Mr. Frank Hann and Mr. +E. R. Edkins in 1875. The former bought up many +of the brands of cattle left in the district by former +occupiers, and also travelled stock from Lolsworth +on the Burdekin, and by this means a large herd was +soon raised. At the same time the Watson Brothers +stocked Gregory Downs, which is only ninety miles +from Burketown. Then Mr. F. H. Shadforth, who +had come all the way from Victoria overland with his +family, took up Lilydale, next to Lawn Hill. In +those days the supplies had to be obtained from Normanton, +so Hann, Watson, and Shadforth chartered +a schooner, loaded her with station supplies and +material for a store for Foulkes and Harris to start +business. The schooner arrived, and the store was +erected on the site of old Burketown, but disaster followed. +Foulkes was drowned, and Harris was killed +by his team of horses bolting and dragging the waggon +over him. Then Watson Brothers ran the store +for a time, Mr. P. S. Watson taking charge and enlarging +it in every way. Shortly afterwards Mr. Michael +Kelly opened a public house, and the town commenced +its second term of existence. Mr. Jack Reid soon +opened another public house, and Burns, Philp and<span class="pagenum">[Pg 167]</span> +Co. began another store under the management of +Mr. Theodore C. Amsden. Then police protection +under Senior-constable Synnott, arrived, as the people +were becoming rather lawless. Mr. P. Macarthur +was appointed Customs Officer, and in conjunction +with this appointment held many other offices. +Finally the Queensland National Bank opened a +branch. The town now progressed quickly owing to +the great number of cattle passing through to the +northern territory and the reoccupation of all the deserted +runs. A Divisional Board was formed in 1884, and +the population of the town rose to three hundred and +fifty. Burketown resumed her old activity in business +matters, and the evil name died out with the memories +of the old days. So mote it be!<span class="pagenum">[Pg 168]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> + +THE MINERAL WEALTH.</h2> + +<p>An expedition under the leadership of William +Hann, sent out by the Queensland Government +left Fossilbrook station on June 26th, 1872, and +on August 5th, reached the Palmer River, named after +the then Premier of Queensland, Sir A. H. Palmer. +They found traces of gold in the ravines, and on +both sides of the river, so that it was Hann’s party +who first discovered the existence of gold on the +Palmer. This expedition went right through to where +Cooktown now stands, and on to the Bloomfield River. +From the description of the country given in Hann’s +journal, one of the well-known old northern prospectors +named James V. Mulligan, concluded that gold +would be found in quantities, and with the restlessness +proverbial among his class, formed a party to go out +and prospect the Palmer country. His expedition +consisted of himself, James Dowdal, Alexander Watson +(these two miners leaving Charters Towers with +him), David Robertson, Peter Brown, and Albert +Brandt, who joined him at Georgetown. Mulligan +and his party left the Etheridge on June 5th 1873,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 169]</span> +passed Mount Surprise and Fossilbrook, the farthest +out station in those days, and went on to the Tate +River, through poor, rough country, only obtaining +colours. They proceeded northwards to the Walsh +River, and saw one of W. Hann’s camps on their way. +After travelling down the Walsh a few days, they +crossed Elizabeth Creek to the Mitchell River, where +they had some trouble in finding a ford, the river +being quite six hundred yards wide, with high and +scrubby banks on either side, and a strong flowing +stream. After effecting a crossing with their packs, +rations, etc., they passed on to Mount Mulgrave, +fifteen miles further north. This well-known landmark +is a precipitous bare rock dominating the surrounding +country, and visible for many miles. They +soon reached the Palmer River, where they continued +prospecting, and obtained a good show of gold in the +river and tributary creeks. Blacks were very numerous +along the main river, necessitating guard being +continually kept; they caught abundance of fish while +camped on the river, where they spent a month, finding +gold almost everywhere, some of it coarse, and +some very fine. The party started back for the Etheridge, +following the same route by which they had +come. The scene of their operations was a little above +Palmerville, and they prospected thence to Maytown. +They were absent from Georgetown three months, and +procured one hundred and two ounces of gold, valued<span class="pagenum">[Pg 170]</span> +at £4 an ounce. It was a prosperous trip, and all the +party returned in good health.</p> + +<p>In 1874, J. V. Mulligan went on another prospecting +expedition from Cooktown. He named the +St. George, a tributary of the Mitchell River, and the +party did a lot of prospecting and exploring in the +country on the Upper Mitchell, where some fine pastoral +country was discovered. While on this trip they +made the discovery of the hot boiling springs at the +head of the Walsh, mistaking the steam of it for the +smoke of a blackfellows’ fire.</p> + +<p>Before the end of 1873, there were over five hundred +diggers on the Palmer, and the escort left in +December with 5,058 ounces of gold, leaving a balance +of 3,000 ounces in the banks. The first warden on the +Palmer was Howard St. George, and the field developed +at a furious rate. In the course of two years +there were over fifteen thousand white men and twenty +thousand Chinese located in and about the Palmer. +The discovery of the field came as salvation to the +north after the stagnation following upon the low +prices and depression ruling since 1867. The price of +cattle went up enormously, and horses could be sold +anywhere at good prices. The workings were along +the creeks and rivers where water was plentiful, and the +gold was obtained in quantities on the bars or ledges +crossing the river. Rations were dear in the early +days; carriage to Maytown was up to £120 a ton, +beef was selling at 1s. per lb. A great deal of the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 171]</span> +loading was carried by pack horses from Cooktown, +the diggings being situated among the highest +tablelands in North Queensland, and scattered over +a large extent of mountainous country. Byerstown, +near the source of the Palmer is about fifty-five +miles south-west from Cooktown. The situation +is elevated, being near the culminating line of the +Great Dividing Chain. Tin occurs in the low ranges +to the south that separate the Mitchell from the +Palmer, and also in the valley of the Bloomfield to the +east. The blacks were dangerous, the wet seasons +severe on the Palmer, and the first diggers had many +and bitter trials. Early in 1874, the last of the flour +was selling at 3s. 6d. per pannikinful, and even an old +working bullock when killed was eagerly bought up +at 1s. per pound; the last pairs of Blucher boots were +sold at 38s. Horseshoe nails were exchanged for +their weight in gold, and old horseshoes were eagerly +sought after. As early as April, 1874, a riot occurred +in Cooktown, when the dissatisfied diggers +rushed the “Florence Irving,” steamer, for free passages. +It was said there were three thousand people +waiting to get away, and the police and miners had +a fierce fight for the upper hand. Then other rushes +took place on the goldfield as new discoveries were +made, and the “Palmer fever” became bad again.</p> + +<p>In 1871 the following party of prospectors had +been in the vicinity of the country that afterwards became +so famous for its golden produce, but they<span class="pagenum">[Pg 172]</span> +missed the rich deposits, and kept a lower course down +in the level country towards the Gulf of Carpentaria, +namely, Messrs. T. Leslie, J. Edwards, Charles Ross, +T. Hackett, and J. Duff. Some of these men became +wealthy afterwards through buying cattle and retailing +them and by buying gold. Leslie, Duff, Edwards, and +Callaghan joined in a company and fairly coined +money on the Palmer goldfield; all were extremely +popular men. Maytown was called Edwardstown for +some time after it was opened, and the name was so +printed on the bank’s cheque forms. Another of these +early prospectors was W. T. Baird, known as Bill Baird, +who had led a most adventurous life and had amassed +several small fortunes; the last one he made was at +Mount Romeo tin mines; he led a rough knockabout +life, doing bush work or cattle droving when hard +up, etc.; he was killed by the natives of Batavia River +while prospecting there; he was a general favourite +for his good humour and kindheartedness.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Croydon, a reefing field on the waters of the Norman +River was discovered about 1886 by W. C. Brown +and Aldridge, who obtained the reward of £1,000. +The field comprises several mining centres scattered +about in the hill country, which commences here and +extends away to the east. No alluvial gold has been +discovered on this field; reefing has been the only way +of working the gold, which is more or less connected +with refractory ores. The future of this field is well<span class="pagenum">[Pg 173]</span> +assured, as the reefs maintain their character at all +depths reached, and the place is decidedly businesslike +and stirring. The absence of good timber adds +to the cost of working the reefs, but the extension of +the railway to Georgetown, which is contemplated, will +add to the facilities for obtaining supplies, and will +also increase the traffic in other ways.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Georgetown is on the left bank of the Etheridge +River, so called after D. O. Etheridge, one of Mr. J. +G. Macdonald’s drovers who came out to the Gulf +with the first lot of cattle through this country. It is +about one hundred and sixty miles west, in a straight +line from Cardwell. The surrounding country is gold-bearing, +and known as the Etheridge goldfield; silver, +copper, tin, and lead are also among its mineral products. +This was one of the first reefing districts +opened in the North of Queensland, but owing to the +expense of carrying on the mines on account of the +cost of carriage, labour, and mining appliances, none +but the best mines have been worked. The formation +is granite, and pyrites with the stone has helped +to increase the cost of working. The field is very extensive, +and embraces a large number of small mining +centres covering an enormous area of gold-bearing +country. In the first days, alluvial gold was sought +for over large portions of the field. A specimen +nugget found in June, 1896, at Mount Macdonald, +weighing 151 ounces was dollied and smelted, yielding<span class="pagenum">[Pg 174]</span> +85 ounces of gold, valued at £3 5s. per ounce. Other +large specimens were found recently in the same locality.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Cloncurry is the commercial centre of a district +rich in various minerals. It is situated on the right +bank of the Cloncurry River, a tributary of the Flinders, +and is about 430 miles west-south-west, in a +straight line from Townsville, and about 240 miles +south from Normanton. The copper deposits are very +extensive, the whole surrounding mountainous district +being more or less copper-bearing. Lodes of gray +ore and blue carbonates are numerous, and virgin +copper and malleable ore have also been found. The +difficulty and expense of carriage has prevented the +field from taking that position as a mining centre to +which it is entitled; other metals found are gold, silver, +lead, iron, and bismuth. The Cloncurry goldfield includes +a large tract of country, extending eastwards +to the Williams River, and southwards to an equal +extent. Reefing has been carried on of late, but not +to any great extent. In the early days of gold discovery, +alluvial sinking attracted a large population, +and some splendid nuggets were found (mostly on +Sharkey’s Flat), weighing from five to forty ounces, the +gold being of the highest Mint value, £4 3s. 6d. per +ounce. Gold is still produced at some of the outlying +diggings, extending over to the Leichhardt River in +the west, where the whole country is mineral-bearing.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 175]</span> +The Cloncurry Copper Company expended large sums +of money in machinery and sinking shafts and prospecting +in opening up some of the lodes of copper +so abundant there, but owing to the depreciation in the +value of the mineral and the great expense of mining +and carriage to port, the operations had to be entirely +suspended. The first to discover copper and make use +of it was Mr. Ernest Henry, in 1865. Henry discovered +lodes of copper on the Leichhardt and in several other +places, and has distinguished himself not alone as an +enterprising pioneer squatter and settler, but also as +an early and most indefatigable prospector for +minerals. In conjunction with Mr. R. K. Sheaffe, at +one time member for the district, and subsequently +Mayor of Sandgate, he helped to open much of the +Gulf country, and has spent a fortune and a lifetime +in pioneering in outside districts.</p> + +<p>The Black Mountain is on the opposite side from +the town across the river, and is, as its name denotes, +a real black mountain. It is a most extensive outcrop +of nearly pure metallic iron ore, and it is calculated +the amount in sight is over thirteen millions of +tons: great masses of the ore are lying all round the +base of this enormous outcrop.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Clermont is situated on a tributary of the Nogoa +River, about two hundred and twenty-seven miles distant +by railway from Rockhampton, and well known +for its mineral resources. Since 1862 large quantities<span class="pagenum">[Pg 176]</span> +of copper have been obtained, and the surrounding +country is also auriferous, alluvial mining having been +carried on with more or less success. Four miles from +Clermont are the ruins of old Copperfield, a township +prosperous from 1864 to 1870, in the palmy days of +the Peak Downs Copper Company, which paid dividends +of eighty per cent., and in 1867 sold copper to +the amount of £120,000. Owing to a great fall in +the value of copper, the property was sold for £3,000, +and this mining enterprise collapsed.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 177]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> + +INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY DAYS.</h2> + +<p>The early arrivals with stock in the Gulf country +were obliged to obtain rations and supplies +from Bowen, on the east coast, as that was the +only port then opened in the North of Queensland. +The distance was from five to seven hundred miles +through the desert country and down the Flinders, +and as the old-fashioned pole bullock-dray with only +two wheels was then in vogue, no great quantity +could be carried in one dray load. The opening of +Burketown in 1865 as the second port after Bowen +in North Queensland, enabled the early settlers to +obtain supplies more easily, although the cost was still +excessive. But the rations were fresher than those +the overlanders had been used to. Some of the flour +that had come out with the parties had been years on +the road, and was very much the worse for the long +journey. This flour could only be used after much +sifting and airing; it was made into small thin cakes +called Johnny cakes, which were cooked in the ashes +and eaten hot; even then it was bitter and nearly +brown in colour. The grubs and worms had long<span class="pagenum">[Pg 178]</span> +since left it, or died in it from old age. It was said +that some flour from Bowen Downs that had left +Sydney years before and come out to the Gulf stations +just formed, being too strong to use, was thrown out, +and the dingoes and crows were found lying dead +round it. The sugar in those days was the dark, +treacly kind, that left a stain on the floor like blood; +it came in casks. However, people were not very +particular as to the quality of the supplies, provided +there was anything at all to eat. Pig weed (portulacca), +boiled or roasted on a shovel was one of the +changes open to travellers; tea was made from the +marjoram bush; and very fair coffee was made from +the scrapings of the burnt edges of dampers, and was +called Scotch coffee. When Burketown was opened, +the fresh supply of flour and stores was very welcome +to the early settlers.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>For the first year or two of Burketown’s existence, +a saturnalia of a most original and determined +fashion set in. There were only two or three women +in the town, and no police, and the crowd enjoyed +themselves in their own breezy, sunshiny way. Burketown +was the haven of refuge for all the outsiders and +outlaws from the settled districts when they had made +other places too warm to hold them any longer.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"> +<span class="i0">“God forsaken, devil may care,</span> +<span class="i0">Every one with his sins to bear;</span> +<span class="i0">From East, from West, they are camping there;</span> +<span class="i0">Where all the bad lots go.“</span> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 179]</span></p> + +<p>All kinds of characters made their way out to the +Gulf in those early days. Men went there who had +been wanted by the police for years. Horse stealing +and forging cheques were very common pastimes +among the fancy, and Burketown society, in its first +efforts to establish itself, was of a kind peculiarly its +own.</p> + +<p>An ex police officer (O’Connor), who started business +in Burketown, and who hailed from the land of +the shamrock, knew many of the “boys,” as he called +them. One noted character broke out of the lock-up, +swam the Albert River, swarming with alligators, got +a horse somewhere or somehow, and was followed by +Mr. W. D’Arcy Uhr far into New South Wales, and +brought back to Burketown, only to be discharged, +whilst Mr. Uhr, who was one of the smartest officers +of the police was asked for an explanation for leaving +his district without permission.</p> + +<p>The following case of horse-stealing will serve to +show the lawless state of things prevailing in the +outside regions when the borders of civilisation were +undefined, and no laws could be enforced.</p> + +<p>Three men were implicated, all notorious characters, +even for those days. They were called Dublin +Bob, Firearm Jack, and One-armed Scotty. They had +spent some time mustering the horses and in building +yards to hold them, on Bowen Downs run. As soon +as the theft was discovered, they were followed by +Mr. J. T. C. Ranken, the manager, Mr. J. Moffat,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 180]</span> +Junior, a blackfellow, Jacky, and another man. They +overtook the horse-stealers on the range near Betts’ +Gorge, took possession of the horses, and arrested the +thieves, as Mr. Ranken and the other white men +had been sworn in as specials before starting. As +they were riding along, Mr. Ranken saw a horse down +a gorge that he thought he recognised, and leaving +the prisoners in charge of the others, giving them strict +instructions to guard them carefully, he went to look +at the horse. On returning, he found the men had +escaped, and no satisfactory explanation was ever +given as to their departure. This was in the year 1866, +when there was a great demand for horses in +consequence of so much stock being driven to take up +new country. In the previous year, 1865, the first +sheep were brought on to Bowen Downs, and another +mob of cattle was sent out to the Gulf country in charge +of J. Neil, who stocked the country on the Alexandra, +a tributary of the Leichhardt River, where +there was a large waterhole ten or twelve miles long. +The Mud Hut on the Thomson had to be abandoned +owing to the scarcity of grass and the waterhole drying +up before the end of the year. The year 1865 +was a very dry one on the Thomson, the Barcoo, +and the Flinders—waterholes went dry that year that +have never gone dry in the thirty-five years that have +followed. Law and order in those days was a +“go-as-you-please” sort of arrangement. At a shanty +about twenty-five miles from Burketown, a man was<span class="pagenum">[Pg 181]</span> +shot by the keeper of the shanty, and died. The man +was prosecuted, but owing to his detention waiting +trial, and his long sea voyage west about the +Leeuwin, and other extenuating circumstances in +the case, the man being compelled to keep order +in a lonely place amongst a very disorderly crowd, +he got off.</p> + +<p>During the year 1864, a man named G. Nicol, and +his wife, both of whom had been employed at Bowen +Downs, and had left with the intention of going to +Rockhampton, were found dead between Bowen +Downs and Stainbourne. They had been offered quiet +horses for the journey, but they preferred to walk. +As they did not turn up at Stainbourne, a search was +instituted, and they were found on one of the branches +of Bullock Creek, both dead. The woman had been +dead much longer than the man, as portions of her +corpse were missing, while the body of the man was +whole; the woman had a hole in her skull; the man +had a revolver with two chambers empty. She was +the first white woman on the Thomson, and was a very +kind decent little body. The story remains one of +the mysteries of the bush that will never be solved. +Another tragedy that marked this year was the murder +of Mr. Meredith, of Tower Hill station, and his +overseer by the blacks. Mr. Meredith had been away +from his station on a visit, and when returning passed +his teams loaded with rations on the road somewhere +between Bully and Cornish Creeks. In passing them<span class="pagenum">[Pg 182]</span> +he promised either to meet them himself or to send +someone else. When he got to Cornish Creek, he saw +so many blacks that he decided to meet them himself; +therefore, on arrival at the station, he obtained fresh +horses, and started back, taking his overseer, Mr. +Robert McNeely, with him. He intended to stay +with the teams until they were past all danger, but he +never reached them. Both men were killed on Cornish +Creek, about fifty miles above Bowen Downs. +The exact spot was unknown, nor were the bodies ever +recovered; but their clothes, watches, etc., were found +in the blacks’ camp. The men with the teams were the +first to find out that something was wrong, for on +bringing up their horses one morning, they found some +of the Tower Hill station horses among them, one +in particular that Mr. Meredith always rode himself. +Suspecting trouble, they went on to the Bowen Downs +teams, a few miles ahead, and the teamsters went back +with them to search, and in the blacks’ camp articles +were found which left no doubt that both Mr. Meredith +and his overseer had been killed. No doubt there +had been a night attack when the two pioneers were +asleep in their camp, unaware of the approach of the +observant enemy. Blacks seldom attacked during the +day, but preferred to steal stealthily upon their victims +and kill them in their sleep. Numerous cases of +this description might be mentioned, and it was the +rule among experienced bushmen to either keep watch +at night, or else to shift camp after dark.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 183]</span></p> + +<p>In the early days, the blacks of North Queensland, +and especially of the Peninsula, used to be +troublesome to stock, and never failed to kill horses +and cattle whenever a chance offered, cutting up and +carrying away the carcase to the scrubs or ridgy +country. Great numbers of stock were killed by them +in the early days of settlement all over the Cook district. +Even teamsters’ horses have been known to be +killed close to the road during the night, cut up, and +carried away, or skinned of the flesh and the skeleton +left entire. Not alone to stock did they confine their +attacks, for many a white man and Chinaman, of whose +death there is no record, fell before their spears, and +it is maintained they ate their victims on many occasions. +The usual war of reprisals went on between +the intruders and the native race, and the latter soon +went under, although the tribes inhabiting the country +around the main rivers were numerous. In no district +in Queensland have the blacks shown themselves more +hostile to the settlers than in the Peninsula. The Jardine +Brothers’ journal of their trip to Cape York is +a record of continued and unprovoked attacks by +blacks on their little party. One of the early settlers, +a Mr. Watson, was killed on his own verandah at his +station on the Archer, and Gilbert, the naturalist belonging +to Leichhardt’s party, was killed in a night +attack by blacks, not far from the Mitchell River. +The lonely gullies about the Palmer hide the record of +many a lost prospector done to death by the savages;<span class="pagenum">[Pg 184]</span> +while the sight of one of them was enough to cause +a stampede among a camp of a hundred Chinese, for +the poor Chinamen always fell easy victims to the +blacks, as they would never show fight, and seldom +carried firearms. It was a very common occurrence +for the early settlers to bring in cattle to the yard for +the purpose of drawing broken spears out of their +sides. Horses were hunted down as readily as cattle, +and this in a district noted for its native game.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 185]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /> + +THE MEN OF THE NORTH.</h2> + +<p>There were never lacking men ready for the +enterprise and hardship of pioneering when +there was such a field of profitable work open +before them, work that was for those trained in bush +experience, hardy and acclimatised as they were. The +life, in spite of hardships, was not without attraction +and satisfaction to many who took part in it. There +was a kind of fascination to many bushmen in the idea +of being the first to enter upon new and unknown +scenes; to note the surprise of native game beholding +for the first time the presence of the stranger, and to +observe the terrified astonishment of the aborigines +when first they saw the white intruders; all this tended +to add to the romance and interest of helping to open +a new district. But outside pioneer life in early days +had a reverse side; there was little or nothing of comfort +or relaxation; there was always hardship and exposure; +there was no Sunday for rest, no holiday, no +Eight Hour Day, nothing but constant movement +and watching. The duties were shared by all alike; +each had to take a turn at anything and everything,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 186]</span> +cooking one time, driving a team another, shepherding +sheep occasionally, herding cattle sometimes, cutting +timber, making bough-yards for sheep, lambing +down a flock of ewes, shifting hurdles, and poisoning +dingoes, killing and salting beef, ear-marking, washing +and shearing sheep, looking for stragglers, yoking +bullocks, building huts, tracking and hunting stock, +all little duties that made up the routine life of the outside +grazier. They all took their turn, and generally +there was one dish and one table. Where the ways +and customs consequent on the life brought all on a +partial level, the man who could turn his hand to +anything from shoeing a horse to weighing out a dose +of quinine or driving a bullock team, was the most +valuable.</p> + +<p class="title">THE STOCKMAN, OR STOCKRIDER.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"> +<span class="i0">He was native to the soil and bred,</span> +<span class="i0">Merely a cowboy he;</span> +<span class="i0">A nomad’s life was what he led.</span> +<span class="i0">And all he wished to be.</span> +</div> + +<p>He is a class of his own, and is a man of some +importance in the daily life of a station. The term +may mean to many any man who can climb into a +saddle; but a good stockman is not so easily picked +up, nor is he made out of any material to hand. A +good and experienced stockman, one who knows his +work thoroughly, is active, and can ride well, can command +wages all the year round. His work is not by +any means easy; there are long hours, in fact all hours,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 187]</span> +hard fare, and often no lodging but the bare ground; +he must endure hunger and thirst, cold, heat, and wet, +and often has to take a watch at night. When at work +in the yard branding and drafting, he has either to +endure tremendous dust, or else he is covered with +mud. But the trained stockrider makes light of +all these discomforts, in fact he looks on them as all +in the bill of fare, and belonging to the day’s work. +He is hardy, wiry, as well as possessed of a good deal +of endurance and pluck, and like all men who ride +much, is nearly always lean in condition. He is generally +the owner of a couple of horses and an outfit of +saddle, swag, stock whip, and spurs, and takes an +interest in all racing and sporting matters. As a rule, +he is not a saving man, although some may lay up +enough money to start a small store. The native +youth makes the best all-round stockman; many follow +horse-breaking at times, or take a turn at droving. +To draft on horseback in the cattle yard, or in the +yard on foot, to castrate and brand horses and calves, +to ride a young horse, to make a leg or head rope +out of green hide, or a pair of hobbles, to counterline +a saddle, to cook a damper, all comes within the province +of the stockman. Towns and townspeople are +not much in his way, any more than the customs of the +city are congenial to his free-and-easy style of +associations. Moleskin trousers, Crimean shirt, +cossack boots, and felt hat, are his rig out. The +modern type is less pronounced than he of the ancient<span class="pagenum">[Pg 188]</span> +school, the flash, hard-riding, tearing, loud-swearing, +rowdy stockman of olden days, with a stockwhip sixteen +feet long, sporting breeches and leggings, and a +loud red shirt. Stockmen have very little to do with +unions, but are seldom without employment on stations +or on the road.</p> + +<p class="title">THE COOK.</p> + +<p>Bush cooks are of every shade of colour, complexion, +and social standing, from the foreign count +who has been expatriated for political leanings, to the +squalid shuffling Chinee, or the wily, treacherous Cingalee. +Hut keeper was the term employed in the +olden days when two shepherds had each a flock of +sheep folded for the night inside a yard made of +movable hurdles, and a hut keeper was joined to them +to do a bit of cooking, as well as to shift one set of +hurdles each day. He was supposed also to watch +at night against native dogs, strychnine not being so +much in use then to reduce the numbers of these pests. +They were men of dirty, lazy habits; their cooking was +fearful, consisting simply of boiling a bit of beef or +mutton, making a damper, and rinsing out a tin +pannikin. Greasy-looking, growling, and drunken +they were, with scarcely energy enough to fetch a little +wood or water; to wash their clothes was an unheard-of +thing. Those who cook for drovers on the road +have to be more alert; a good man on the road is a +great consideration, and it is no sinecure to cater for a +party while travelling with stock. The cook is exempt<span class="pagenum">[Pg 189]</span> +from watching, as he has to be up during the night +to get breakfast ready by daylight for the men to +start on with their cattle. Some good cooks will provide +hot suppers for the men in all weathers. The +shearers’ cook is quite another variety. He is often +a boss man employs one or two others under him, +and gets top wages, but he has to be up to the mark, +for our shearer is a fine specimen of an inflated +growler, and will have nothing but of the best, and up +to time, tea and cake between meals, duff and all the +luxuries for dinner; in any case he comes in for +a full share of the shearer’s arrogance and abuse. +Station cooks comprise all sorts, good, bad, and indifferent, +clean and unclean; but one who can make +real good bread is a rarity, and all are self-taught. +They frequently get good wages, but soon become +lazy and dirty, and often a Chinaman has to be put on +to do the kitchen cooking. About the towns it is +notorious that European cooks cannot be relied on +for any time on account of their drinking habits, and +once again the Chinaman has to be resorted to.</p> + +<p class="title">THE SHEARER.</p> + +<p>This class of labourer has been very much in +evidence of late years in Queensland on account of +the numerous strikes that have taken place, brought +about by them or their leaders, although it is the best +paid of all unskilled work in the colony. The +Shearers’ Union attempted to rule all labour and +labour interests throughout the whole colony, and<span class="pagenum">[Pg 190]</span> +succeeded for a long time in keeping things in a very +disorganised state. There is nothing in shearing that +any man could not master in a few days, although the +work may be laborious when long continued. The +money earned is out of all proportion to what other +classes of labour receive, nevertheless the shearer is +the most discontented and turbulent of all classes, and +very decidedly aggressive. He can earn in a few +months enough to keep him for the rest of the year +without work, he is gregarious in his habits, and travels +about in mounted groups, generally armed. He may +be said to be a flash man, given to gambling, dicing, +and other sports, and a good deal of his money is +spent at roadside shanties. When at work, however, +he is sober and industrious, as most of them are desirous +of making a good tally at the end of the shearing, +and the rules of the shed forbid any latitude for +loafing or mischief. Shearing by machine instead of by +hand will tend to modify the aspects of the work, and +allow more men to learn the art. Shearers travel +from shed to shed during the season, and sometimes +earn from four to six pounds a week. They live on +the best that can be got. Instances are common of +men shearing over two hundred sheep per day for days +running. Amongst the shearers will be found many +respectable men, who have homes or selections of their +own on which their families reside, and who travel +round a few large sheds to earn enough money to +carry on with and support their homes.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 191]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE BULLOCK DRIVER.</p> + +<p>The man of strong body, and of stronger language, +the old “bull-puncher,” is going out. He was +an institution of early days when the pole-dray was +in vogue, a fearful kind of vehicle that tipped up going +out of a steep creek with a load on, and going down +would bear on the polers fit to break their necks. The +four-wheeled waggon has for a long time superseded +the old bullock-killing dray, but the driver remains +much the same. Instead of driving ten bullocks in a +pole-dray, he yokes up eighteen or twenty to a waggon +and draws instead of three and a half tons, about +seven or eight tons.</p> + +<p>His whip is a terrible long plaited thong with a +strip of green hide attached, and a handle like a flail, +with it he wakes the echoes and his oxen at the same +time. The crack of the whip is accompanied by a +voice as deep and hoarse as the bellow of one of his +own long-suffering yoked-up slaves, and his lurid +language makes even his bullocks shudder. To see +the “bullocky” at his best is only given to those who +travel with him for a whole trip, and observe his style +of getting out of difficulties that would dishearten +many another man. He is full of resource, and not +lacking in energy, and when his team is bogged in a +creek in a seemingly hopeless mess, and beyond all +appearance of ever being extricated, after exhausting +his ample stock of dire profanity, he proceeds in a +methodical manner to dig under his wheels and cordu<span class="pagenum">[Pg 192]</span>roy +the track with branches and limbs of trees, weeds +out his jibbing bullocks, and with renewed energy and +awful voice, he calls on his patient and weary team for +a big effort, and out they walk with their load on to +the bank. The “bullocky” was a great factor in the +early days of settlement, where there were no roads +and loading had to be dragged over mountains and +through steep creeks and over all obstacles. His +bodily strength, great experience, and energy, came +in to help in no small degree to keep settlement alive. +The arrival of the bullock teams was quite an event, +perhaps after being months on the road, and when +all supplies had run short—not that the fact of supplies +being short on the station would induce them to hasten +their progress, for no bullock driver was ever known +to hurry or go out of his slow, crawling pace for any +inducement whatever. The “bullocky” could drink +rum in buckets, and was always given to use his fists. +Take him all round, he was about as rough a specimen +of a bush artist as could be found; but he was hospitable +in his camp; it was always “Come and have a pot +of tea, mate,” to any traveller. The quicker-moving +horse teams and the railways, are elbowing the bullock +driver out into the never-never, where there are still +opportunities for his special faculties, and it is not often +that bullock teams, with their wood and iron yokes, +and dusty, hairy drivers, are seen on any roads coming +into railway stations. To ask a bullock driver where +he got his beef from was not always a safe or prudent<span class="pagenum">[Pg 193]</span> +question; it was looked upon as a piece of wanton impertinence +that would require suppression. After +putting down so much on the debit side, something +should be said to the credit of the carrier. He must +have been hard-working and thrifty to have acquired +the necessary capital to purchase his waggon and team. +Physically, he must be exceptionally strong to stand +the life he leads. Mentally, he must be full of resource +to overcome the obstacles he meets with on unformed +and often uncleared roads. Morally, he must be passing +honest, for he often carries loads of great value, +for the safety of which he alone is responsible for +weeks and often months. These men take up the +work of distributing goods where the railways end. +Their duties are arduous and responsible, and they +deserve more consideration than they generally receive.</p> + +<p class="title">THE TRAMP.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"> +<span class="i0">“My life is a failure, the weary one said,</span> +<span class="i1">And the days of my youth are past;</span> +<span class="i0">But I still tramp along, and am not afraid,</span> +<span class="i1">While grub in the bush shall last.</span> +<span class="i0">“My shirt is patched, and my trousers are torn,</span> +<span class="i1">My hat is a sight to see,</span> +<span class="i0">The nap of my blanket has long been worn,</span> +<span class="i1">And is patched with an old soogee.”</span> +</div> + +<p>The tramp is found everywhere in the world. The +bush tramp is only another variety, and since the big +strikes took place in Queensland some years ago, the +tribe has multiplied, as it taught them to loaf on the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 194]</span> +stations for rations. Now they make a practice of +getting all their supplies for the road from the station +stores, pleading they have no money, and from policy +rations are given them, and no questions asked. +Many men carrying their swags on their backs are +really looking for work, and deserve encouragement +by the gratuity of a little rations to help them along, +as stations are far apart in the outlying districts. +As station owners are dependent on these same swagmen +for the extra labour they require from time to +time, it is policy to keep on good terms with a +class that can work incalculable damage to station +men that have miles of grass in sheep paddocks to +burn, woolsheds to demolish, and gates on the main +road to be left open, with no evidence forthcoming +as to how fires were started, etc., and no police to +supervise or control the actions of these irresponsible +wanderers. But the tribe of “whalers,” as they were +called in New South Wales, men who tramped up +one side of the Darling River, and tramped down on +the other side, never betraying any desire to find work, +these can be found in the Queensland bush too, but +not far out, where there are long dry stages between +the stations, and a shortness of water which terrifies +these old “bummers.” There are men who have +tramped all over the colonies—every colony in +Australia they have been through, and know all the +tracks. They come up to a station and ask for work +in a sort of a way, and then ask for rations to carry<span class="pagenum">[Pg 195]</span> +them on, even asking for a bit of tobacco; they say +they have no money (and their appearance confirms all +they say), and have done no work, for six months past, +or longer, tramping all the way, and never a job. +Their rags and swag betray dire poverty; their clothes +patched in every colour, so that a blackfellow would +hardly wear them, and they are dirty in the extreme. +These men are not decrepid or weak, but are simply +lazy, whilst the fine dry climate enables them to live +without hard work. Occasionally, in order to procure +some tobacco or a little money for a spree at a shanty, +they will take a job for a time as rouseabout or wood-chopper, +but they are soon off on the “wallaby track” +again. It is a recognised custom now among stations +in the west and north-west to ration the swagmen as +they pass along, and the cost to some stations during +the year is very considerable; they just bring up their +ration bags and get them filled, and go to the creek +to camp and cook the evening meal they have walked +perhaps twenty miles to obtain, but which cost them +nothing but the exercise. Poverty is the inheritance +of some, but many of these wanderers are poor because +as soon as they do earn a few pounds at odd jobs +during shearing time, they march at once to the +nearest bush shanty and drink what they have earned +until turned away, and then tramp back to the stations, +begging rations as they go along, and at the same time +regarding the donors with a consuming and persistent +malice. The professional tramp is not a nice character,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 196]</span> +there can be no mistaking him, with his swag done up +in a long roll, and hung round his shoulder and down +his side, a billycan and water-bag in his hand. He +creeps along slowly with sore feet and shuffling steps, +camping in the shade when he can to rest; he has no +companions generally, and his life is a joyless and +miserable one; but there he is, and there he will remain, +for his tribe will not die out, because no one will +refuse to give a little rations to a wayfarer because he +is hard up, ragged, and penniless.</p> + +<p class="title">THE DROVER.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"> +<span class="i0">He knew of every drover’s way,</span> +<span class="i1">From Normanton to Bourke;</span> +<span class="i0">From far Port Darwin’s ample bay,</span> +<span class="i1">Right through to Muswellbrook.</span> +<span class="i0">The desert plains he knew full well,</span> +<span class="i1">Where duststorms blind the eye;</span> +<span class="i0">And oft he had come from Camooweal,</span> +<span class="i1">Drivin’ stock to Narrabri.</span> +</div> + +<p>The life of a drover, under the most favourable +circumstances, is the reverse of a pleasant one, but +like all nomadic occupations, it has a fascination for +many bushmen. The drover would appear to be regarded +as the common enemy of every owner or +superintendent through whose run he passes, although +in many cases it is a fact that roads are fenced off so +that a drover cannot leave them without breaking +down the fences. In many instances the only permanent +water on the stock routes has been fenced in by +the owner of the run. The principal wealth of Aus<span class="pagenum">[Pg 197]</span>tralia +is stock, and these, both sheep and cattle, to be +marketed need bringing down to some seaport or market, +either as stores or fats. Sometimes long distances +are travelled, from one end of Australia to the other, +the journey occupying months. At starting, the stock +are counted and handed over to the charge of a competent +drover, who delivers them at the end of the +journey, and is paid either by contract at so much per +head, with an allowance for losses, or else by weekly +wages, the owner finding the whole plant and money. +Overlanding is a constant source of anxiety from start +to finish of the journey. The varying items, such as +floods, droughts, disease, incompetent hands, lost +stock, and the surveillance from the owners of runs +through which they pass, make up the daily routine of +a drover’s life. Stormy nights, when cattle become +very restless, keep the drover awake and anxious. His +duties are of a responsible nature, and he requires a +good deal of tact and patience to manage his men +properly, for he may have over a dozen employed +with him on a droving job. With sheep the anxiety is +not so great as with cattle or horses, as sheep are much +easier to manage. The law provides that unless detained +by flood, stock shall be driven not less than six +miles every twenty-four hours. In most instances +this distance is exceeded, but should the drover fail +to travel the prescribed distance, through any accident, +the owner or manager of the run turns up at the camp +and gives the drover the option of either moving his<span class="pagenum">[Pg 198]</span> +stock on the proper distance, if it is only one mile +ahead, or of appearing at the nearest police court, +perhaps a hundred miles away, to answer an information +for a breach of the Pastoral Leases Act or the +Crown Lands Act. Although, perhaps only a nominal +fine may be imposed, the vexatious delay, loss, and inconvenience +of attending at the court, induce the +drover to avoid any needless infringements of the Act. +Some managers of runs are ever ready to pounce on +any unfortunate drover who may deviate a few yards +from the regulated half mile on each side of the road, +and then it will be so arranged that the drover will not +get a summons until he is a hundred miles away from +where the offence was committed, when he has to leave +his stock in the hands of the men, while he returns +to answer the trivial charge; he is always fined, as he +cannot well defend his case, and he is anxious to return +to his duties.</p> + +<p>As a rule, the drovers in Queensland are a trustworthy +and respectable class of men—of course there +are exceptions, but these are soon found out. Cases +have come to light where cattle sold on the road have +been returned as knocked up lame, or dead from +pleuro, and grog has been entered in the accounts as +stores supplied. The owner is a good deal at the +mercy of the drover after the latter has taken charge +of the stock, as he has then very little control over +them until they reach their destination. Some drovers +have a plant of their own, twenty or thirty good horses,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 199]</span> +a dray or waggonette, and saddles, and make contracts +to shift cattle or sheep at so much per head, +paying their own men, and finding everything. The +wages of drovers are always high, but not too high +when the care and constant work are taken into consideration. +Sundays and week days alike, rain or fine, +grass or no grass, whatever turns up, it all means that +the drover, or man in charge has to be on hand and +see to things himself. The life is monotonous, wearying +and fatiguing in the extreme. Man and boss alike +have to rise before dawn, roll up blankets or swag, +get breakfast, catch horses, and move the cattle off +the night camp as soon as it is light, then ride all day +with them, keep them moving slowly along feeding on +any grass to be found, watering them when a chance +offers, carrying a bit of lunch on the saddle, and a +quart pot to boil some tea in. After the day’s journey +is over, the cattle have to be rounded up on the camp +at sundown and then each takes his turn at watching +during the night, which means three hours solitary +riding round in the darkness, turning in any cattle +inclined to stray out from the camp, and keeping up +one’s spirits by calculating how long the trip will last. +When the weather is fine, the life is bearable, if +monotonous, but when it rains, especially in cold rain +and wind, the pleasures of droving are limited; with +wet ground to lie on, wet clothes to ride in, and scarcely +fire enough to cook at, with stock restless and +troublesome at night, the drover will sometimes think<span class="pagenum">[Pg 200]</span> +longingly of the home and the comforts he once despised. +Still, droving is a popular calling, and men +have followed it constantly for years, procuring a long +droving job during the season, and spelling their +horses when work is scarce.</p> + +<p>More provision should be made for regular stock +routes throughout the country, and the area of these +should not be included in the runs on which lessees +have to pay rent, as the case is now. The drover’s +calling is a necessary one, and he should have more +protection and greater facilities for getting his stock +to market, and not a continual fight for the rights of +the road as he has now.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"> +<span class="i0">“In my wild erratic fancy, visions come to me of Clancy,</span> +<span class="i1">Gone a-droving down the Cooper, where the western drovers go;</span> +<span class="i0">As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,</span> +<span class="i1">For the drover’s life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.”</span> +</div> +<p class="center">—“Banjo.”</p> + +<p class="title">A. S. N. CO.</p> + +<p>Not least among the forces that worked for the +settlement of the north, may be reckoned the steamer +services. In this respect, the old A. S. N. Co. held the +premier position, as their steamers were the first in +all the ports of Queensland, and the colony is much +indebted to the energy and enterprise of that Company. +From Brisbane to Cooktown, their steamers +were the first to cast anchor in the new harbours and +help to develope the trade of the coast. Although not<span class="pagenum">[Pg 201]</span> +always very popular, for the public complained often +at the charges made for freight and passages, the Company +gave a good helping hand towards the opening +up of the young country.</p> + +<p>A few notes about the history of this pioneering +Company, obtained through the agency of their secretary, +Mr. F. Phillips, may be of interest to some. It +was originally established under the name of the Hunter +River Steam Navigation Company, in August, +1839, with a capital of £40,000, and premises at the +foot of Margaret Street, Sydney. In April, 1841, the +“Rose,” steamer, arrived from England, 172 tons burden. +In October of the same year, the “Shamrock” +arrived from England, under Captain Gilmore, being +123 days out. The “Thistle” had previously arrived. +In 1841, the Company advertised their intention of +sending one of their steamers to Moreton Bay, and the +“Shamrock” sailed thither in December of that year. +The fares were £8, £6, and £4; freight, 20s. wool, +20s. per bale. After five months, the steamer was +withdrawn, as the trade was not remunerative. In +September, 1842, the “Tamar,” and “Sovereign,” +steamers, were purchased by the Company from Mr. +Grose for £12,000; they were then carrying on a +trade with Twofold Bay, Melbourne, and Launceston. +In July, 1844, two water frontage allotments in Brisbane +were secured for £50, and Mr. James Paterson +was appointed manager in October, 1845. The Company’s +engineering works were established at Pyr<span class="pagenum">[Pg 202]</span>mont +in February, 1846, the land being leased for that +purpose. The “Eagle,” steamer, a well-known old +northerner, was built for the Company at their Pyrmont +works. On March 11th, 1847, their steamer, +the “Sovereign” was wrecked in the south passage in +Moreton Bay, and forty-four lives lost. In March, +1851, the Company’s name was changed to the Australian +Steam Navigation Company, it was incorporated, +and its scope enlarged. The capital of the Company +was £320,000, divided into 16,000 shares of £20 +each, and the opposition of the Melbourne Steamship +Company, which had been carried on at a great loss +to both, ceased. In May, 1858, the Company offered +the colonies a mail service to Galle, and in September +of the same year the rush to the Port Curtis diggings +set in, and land was purchased by the Company at +Rockhampton in 1860. Their steam service was extended +to Bowen, a port which was just then opening a +way to inland settlers to obtain their supplies from, +and the Company obtained a contract for a mail +service between Adelaide and King George’s Sound. +In February, 1863, a new opposition was started by the +inauguration of the Queensland Steamship Company. +The following year the A. S. N. Co. had extensive +wharves and stores built for themselves both in Brisbane +and Rockhampton. The “Leichhardt,” steamer, +was built at their works for the northern trade, and +the Company’s operations were extended to Townsville +in 1865, Captain Trouton being appointed<span class="pagenum">[Pg 203]</span> +manager the next year. In January, 1868, the Queensland +Steamship Company was wound up, and its +steamers and wharves bought up by the A. S. N. Co. +In 1870, the Californian mail service was opened by +H. Hall, who chartered the company’s steamers +“Wonga” and the “City of Melbourne” for that purpose. +Campbell’s Wharf in Sydney was bought for a +large sum in 1876, and the next year Captain O’Reilly +leaving the Brisbane agency, Mr. W. Williams was +appointed.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In 1878, three Chinese crews were obtained for +the A. S. N. Co. steamers, a circumstance which +caused a strike in November, 1879, lasting until the +following January. The Company had been engaged +in the trade between Newcastle and Sydney, but this +was abandoned in September, 1880, when the plant and +stores were sold to the Newcastle Steamship Co.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>In January, 1887, the extensive intercolonial trade +of the A. S. N. Co. ceased, and all their steam fleet +was sold to a new company called the A. U. S. N. Co. +The fleet stood at £481,000 in their books, and was +sold for £200,000. The shareholders received +£20 8s. 9d. per share, the par value being £20 per +share; the shares when the fleet was sold were +£9 10s. in the open market, but the increase in the +value of the landed properties of the Company helped +to this satisfactory result.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 204]</span></p> + +<p class="title">BURNS, PHILP & CO.</p> + +<p>Throughout Australia, but above all in the northern +parts of Queensland, the name of Burns, Philp and +Co. ranks foremost among the many wealthy and +large companies that have helped to develop trade in +the northern parts, and a short account of the growth +of this great business may prove interesting. Intimately +associated with North Queensland, the business of the +Company has grown and prospered with the growth +and prosperity of the youngest colony of the group, +and much of the rapid opening of new ports and harbours +on the northern coast line, and also among the +Pacific Islands, is due directly to the natural business +capabilities of the founders of the Company.</p> + +<p>A number of shipping agencies are also held in +North Queensland, Western Australia, and Sydney, +and the Company itself owns a fleet of small vessels +used in the coasting, lightering, and island trade. +Altogether there are between sixty and seventy steamers, +sailing vessels, and lighters owned and chartered +which fly the flag of Burns, Philp and Co., and the +red, white, and blue, with Scotch thistle in the +centre, is a flag well known throughout the Pacific +Islands and all round Australia. A mail service is +run by the Company between Cooktown, New Guinea, +and Thursday Island, also a three years’ contract was +in 1897 entered into with the Government of Western +Australia to run weekly between Albany and +Esperance. Considerable trade is done with the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 205]</span> +Solomon Islands, and steamers run regularly from +Sydney in this trade. The Company have also steam +and sailing services with the New Hebrides, Louisades, +New Guinea, New Britain, Ellice, and Gilbert, and +many other islands in the Pacific, having a ten years’ +contract with the Commonwealth Government for +regular communication with all the islands which are +practically under British control, while branch businesses +have been established at Port Moresby and +Samarai in British New Guinea, at Elila in the New +Hebrides, Nukualofa in the Friendly Islands, and elsewhere. +The first steam service down the Gulf of +Carpentaria from Thursday Island was inaugurated +by the senior partner of the Company, Mr. James +Burns, in the year 1881, by means of the little steamship +“Truganini,” which used often to be overcrowded +with passengers and freight for Normanton.</p> + +<p>The Company is the largest colonial shipper to +the European and Eastern markets of Pacific Island +produce, such as copra, beche de mer, sandalwood, +ivory nuts, tortoise shell, and, above all, pearl shell, +for which Torres Straits is so famous; add to this the +amount of tallow, wool, and other Australian produce +annually exported, and it will give some idea of the +export business done. The Company has two fleets +of pearl shelling luggers, comprising about forty +pearlers in all.</p> + +<p>Burns, Philp and Co. is essentially a company of +a co-operative character, and a glance at the share list<span class="pagenum">[Pg 206]</span> +will show that the great bulk of shareholders are +managers, employees, and others actually working in +the company. This tends to a live interest all round, +and each branch vies with the other in good management +and success. The business was originally established +at Townsville, thirty years ago by the senior +partner, Mr. James Burns, and the new offices lately +completed there at a cost of £15,000 are the finest in +North Queensland, while recently, premises costing +£50,000 were erected in Sydney. Mr. Philp, now the +Hon. Robert Philp, Premier of Queensland, joined +Mr. Burns some twenty-five years ago. Both are +Scotchmen, the one hailing from Edinburgh, and the +other from Glasgow. The Company was formed into +a limited liability company twenty-one years ago.</p> + +<p>Much could be written of the varied character of +the business of Burns, Philp and Co., which embraces +almost every colonial interest besides, while they are +allied to a group of other colonial companies which +act in accord with them, notably the North Queensland +Insurance Company, and other concerns. For +some years the Company engaged in the whaling +enterprise with fairly successful results, but the detention +of Captain Carpenter, and the seizure of the +whaling barque “Costa Rica Packet” by the Dutch +authorities in the Malay Archipelago, abruptly terminated +what promised to be a most important +colonial enterprise. It will be remembered that the +Dutch Government had to pay a considerable sum to<span class="pagenum">[Pg 207]</span> +the captain, owners, and crew of the vessel for this +wrongful seizure.</p> + +<p>The total turnover of this Company now exceeds +two millions sterling, and it is one of the largest and +most progressive of the purely Australian concerns.</p> + +<p>In the Sydney office a special telegraphic operator +is always at work, and cable and telegraphic messages +are sent to, and received from, all parts of the +world direct. This is the only company in the colonies +which has a Government operator established on the +premises solely for its own business.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 208]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /> + +ABORIGINALS OF NORTH QUEENSLAND.</h2> + + +<p>Where did the natives come from?</p> + +<p>How long ago?</p> + +<p>Where did they land first?</p> + +<p>Where are their ancestors?</p> + +<p>Were they ever civilised?</p> + +<p>These and similar questions occur to those who +regard the natives of Australia with interest. They +live only in the past, there is no future for them, here +at least. Their origin is involved in impenetrable +obscurity. Scarcely on the earth is to be found a +race similar to the aboriginals, whilst their antiquity +is beyond doubt, and also the fact that they have a +common origin. Their speech, habits, colour, customs, +and superstitions, proclaim in the strongest terms +that they all came from a common source; from the far +north of Australia to the farthest south, a hundred +proofs are forthcoming to show a common ancestry. +Words that have a similar meaning are used on the +Darling River and in places in the Gulf of Carpentaria; +the weapons are similar all over the continent; their +faces and figures are similar, allowing for the effects<span class="pagenum">[Pg 209]</span> +of varieties of food and climate. In the three hundred +years since the first contact between Europeans and +the New Hollanders, no change has occurred; they +were then spread over Australia, the same in habits +and life as they are now, and the only result of the +contact of the two races of men, the civilised and the +savage, is that the native is fading away before the +white man like mist before the morning sun. Nothing +can avert the doom that is written as plainly as +was the writing on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast. +And to what purpose would we preserve them? What +good could accrue from maintaining a remnant of a +race that it is impossible to civilise. The buffalo of +America, like the Red Indian himself (the hunter and +the hunted), pass over the river in front of the advancing +tide of civilisation.</p> + +<p>As a study, the native race of Australia is eminently +interesting, for in them we have living representatives +of the stone age; remarkable for their pureness +of race, having had no admixture from any other +nation through countless generations for their great +antiquity, for before the pyramids of Egypt were built, +they had occupied Australia and for the silence of all +history and traditions concerning them and their destiny +of doom; as a race problem they are full of +interest.</p> + +<p>From Cape York to the Great Australian Bight, +and from the Leeuwin to the Great Sandy Spit on +Frazer’s Island, there is no difference in the type of the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 210]</span> +native of Australia, although the quality and +quantity of their food has caused some of the +tribes to be more robust and better developed +than others. In the north, where food is plentiful, +there are many fine specimens of men over the +average height of the European. Many of the +northern aboriginals are tall, muscular men, of great +activity and endurance, with keen sight and observation, +and they often attain to a good old age. Nearly +all are bearded, with hair that is wavy rather than +straight or curly. They are not a cowardly race, as +among themselves they conduct their fights with a +certain degree of honour, and with great pluck, not +taking advantage of an opponents’ accident. They +excel in throwing their spears with the wommera or +throwing stick, and can hit a mark at a distance of +seventy to eighty yards with great force; the boomerang +is used for game, such as ducks or pigeons, as +well as in warfare, and is really a formidable weapon. +On the north-east coast, they use a wooden sword +which is wielded with both hands, and seems to have +been an improvement or an innovation on the boomerang, +where the dense scrubs prohibited the use of the +throwing weapon.</p> + +<p>They appear to have been from all time a race of +hunters, ever living on the products of the chase, and +from the scarcity of game, and difficulty in keeping it +when killed, they seldom remain more than one or two +nights in one camp, but move about in small parties.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 211]</span> +Although the tribes or families are always on the +move—a nomad hunter race—their districts are well +defined, and they seldom trespass on the hunting +grounds of an adjoining tribe, unless with consent. +This strict delimitation of districts and dislike of trespass, +has led to a great diversity in their dialects, and +every little tribe seems to have a different language; +in a distance of one or two hundred miles, the names +for the commonest things may be altered, although +the same social system prevails substantially throughout +all tribes, with little or no variation.</p> + +<p>In their original state they could not have been +an unhappy people; when food was plentiful, they +made weapons and shaped their stone tomahawks, +which of itself was a work of slow progress; they wove +nets for their game, and composed or sang their wild +songs, or still wilder corroborrees, or dances. Obedient +to the laws and customs handed down from their +ancient forefathers, and following out the rites of their +marriage laws with great strictness, they lived healthy +lives to a good old age, while the increase of the race +was checked by the amount of food each district could +supply. With the advent of the white race, the social +system that held them together for thousands of years, +became disturbed and broken into, and their natural +food supplies were destroyed. Thus, with the introduction +of new diseases, this primitive race of mankind +is fast disappearing, apparently without a +thought or struggle or hope, and after a few years not<span class="pagenum">[Pg 212]</span> +a remnant of them, or any sign of their occupation of +the country will remain. Some of their customs appear +to be very general, such as knocking out the two +front teeth among women, and sometimes among +men; this is done by a sudden blow on the end of a +stick which is placed on the tooth, and then knocked +inwards. A very general custom is boring a hole +through the septum of the nose, although it is not +often that an ornament is put through it. Another +manner of adornment is by raised cicatrices made on +the chest and back and arms, by cutting the skin with +a piece of sharp flint and putting in gum or clay. In +their native state, they do not appear to have made +any attempt at any kind of covering or dress, +either male or female, except that young girls +wore an apron round the loins made of fibre or +grass hanging down a few inches. For camping +at night they used ti-tree or other bark as a +shelter when procurable, and always slept between +two or three small fires, making a slight hollow in the +ground so as to get the warmth of the fire above them, +and generally choosing the sandy beds of rivers away +from the wind. In the Gulf country, during the wet +season, they made small sleeping benches raised on +forks driven in the ground, about three feet high, with +sheets of bark laid flat, and over them other sheets of +bark bent in a half-circle, so as to throw off rain; +beneath these structures or sleeping places they kept +up a smoke to save them from the mosquitoes, which<span class="pagenum">[Pg 213]</span> +in the Northern Peninsula, were dreadfully annoying. +It was the duty of the gins to keep the fire going +during the night. In dry weather or windy nights, +a breakwind made of boughs or branches was used as +a protection, behind which they made their small fires +for sleeping by. The cooking was generally done +away from their camp fires, mostly during the daytime.</p> + +<p>In the Gulf country also, the coast blacks make +small gunyahs of bent twigs thatched with grass. +These are only used during the wet season as a protection, +chiefly from mosquitoes.</p> + +<p>The treatment of the native races has always been +a difficult question. Whenever new districts were +settled, the blacks had to move on to make room; the +result was war between the races. The white race were +the aggressors, as they were the invaders of the blacks’ +hunting territory. The pioneers cannot be condemned +for taking the law into their own hands and defending +themselves in the only way open to them, for the +blacks own no law themselves but the law of might. +The protection of outside districts by the Native +Police, was the only course open, although the system +cannot very well be defended any more than what +was done under it can be. The white pioneers +were harder on the blacks in the way of reprisals when +they were forced to deal with them for spearing their +men or their cattle or horses even than the Native +Police. But how were property and the lives of stockmen, +shepherds, and prospectors in the north to be<span class="pagenum">[Pg 214]</span> +protected unless by some summary system of retribution +by Native Police or bands of pioneers? The +vices and diseases of the white race have been far +more fatal to the blacks than the rifles of the pioneers, +more particularly when they were allowed about the +towns, where they always exhibit the worst traits of +their character, becoming miserable creatures, useless +for any purpose, and an eyesore to everyone. Those +employed on stations as stockriders and horse-hunters +become very useful and clever at the business, having +a special aptitude for working among stock, and they +are, as a rule, well treated, clothed, and fed. The +Northern Peninsula up to Cape York is the only territory +in Queensland where the natives may still be +found in their original state, and on some of the rivers +flowing into the Gulf they are still numerous.</p> + +<p>Their cave drawings show their taste for drawing +or sketching to have been of the rudest; just a few +marks on their boomerangs, line drawings on water +koolimans, and some attempts at drawing figures on +rocks in caves are all that have been discovered. The +drawings are found wherever sandstone caves are +found, and many of these are to be met with on the +range about the Normanby River, near Cooktown, +where the steep cliffs have been eaten into by the +weather or by landslips, leaving hollows or caves in +which the blacks have camped and ornamented with +figures rudely drawn and coloured with red ochre or +pipeclay; many of these drawings represent nothing at<span class="pagenum">[Pg 215]</span> +all; in some a hand is drawn, occasionally an attempt +at some bird, or animal, or tree. Sir George Grey describes +some elaborate drawings on the north-west coast +of Australia found in caves of a similar nature, and +large numbers are found on the coast near the Roper +River in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and at Limmen’s +Bight, in the hollows of rocks, where, sheltered from +the weather, the face of the stone is entirely covered +with their rude attempts.</p> + +<p>All the lands in the southern seas are supposed to +have been populated by castaways, driven by gales out +of their reckoning, and landing haphazard at the first +land or shore. The first visitor to the unknown and +uninhabited land, arriving by accident, would have a +struggle for existence, and a hard one too; he would +have to improvise his weapons for the chase, and to +learn to adapt himself to his new surroundings. His +only chance of existence would be to become a +nomad, a hunter; and all his spare time would be +taken up in finding food and making weapons for the +chase; for which Nature provided in a rude way +the materials such as flints that break with a cutting +or conchoidal edge that would answer very well for +carving flesh, fashioning spears, or hollowing vessels +for carrying water, though large shells could be used +for this; the gum that exudes from many trees would +serve to fasten handles to these flint knives. Hard +rocks, such as diorite, would be used for axes. These +stones require a vast amount of patience in chipping<span class="pagenum">[Pg 216]</span> +and grinding into shape. To make canoes out of +sheets of bark would become a necessity for fishing and +visiting the islands, and they would have to be sewn +together with twine made from the inner bark of a +tree. Wonderfully well made some of those canoes on +the coast are; three sheets of thin bark tapered to a +point; one sheet for the bottom and one each to form +the sides; the fire is laid on some mud on the bottom, +with a shell to bail out. Using a single paddle on +each side alternately, the natives will make long voyages +among the islands on the coast. Primitive +Nature would be the castaway’s granary or storehouse; +the herbs and fruits as they grew naturally, and the +wild animals and fish would form the only means of +subsistence.</p> + +<p>Arriving in the country with such surroundings +and difficulties to contend with, no wonder the castaways +remained in a state of savagery. Without any +means to better their condition, or even to know that +it could be bettered, they remained as they landed, +simple savages or children of Nature, quite satisfied +with their surroundings, and happy enough if left +alone to follow their own mode of life. What spare +time they had would be passed singing songs or +composing them. The women would assist in all the +work of life and perform all the drudgery, collecting +roots, nuts, and fibre; grinding the seeds, making the +fire, and carrying wood and water to the camp. It is +well known that savage women are possessed of un<span class="pagenum">[Pg 217]</span>common +endurance and vitality. In the course of +ages, as their numbers increased, they would gradually +spread abroad, carrying with them the customs +and habits of their forefathers, but not improving or +adding to the knowledge of the tribe. The natural +instincts of the aboriginals are sharpened by exercise, +and their skill in tracking is marvellous; they can follow +the trail of another black over bare rocks or on +the driest earth; they can recognise an acquaintance +by the track of his foot. As bushmen they excel, +having the faculty of being able to steer a course to +any place they may wish, even in the dark, although, +from superstitious ideas, they do not travel about +much at night. Most of their quarrels are over their +women; one man appropriating the wife of another. +It is allowable by their laws for a man to have several +wives, and marriage by arrangement is the general +course. They are betrothed at a very early age, and +the girl remains with her parents till the man comes +to claim her. The brother-in-law has the right to +marry the widow, and is expected to do so. The +mother-in-law never looks on the face of her son-in-law, +avoiding him on every occasion, even if in the +same camp; this is a custom peculiar to all parts of +Australia, and even to other savage peoples outside +the continent.</p> + +<p>They are all compelled to marry within their class, +and all tribes come under the same system, an equal +rule prevailing all over Australia. The system of their<span class="pagenum">[Pg 218]</span> +marriage laws is puzzling to white people, but it is well +understood by every black, male or female, old or +young, and will be referred to further on, under the +class system, the writer having collected information of +several class systems for Mr. A. W. Howitt, of Victoria.</p> + +<p>The blackfellow generally wears his hair long, +and usually caked into thick matted rope-like coils, +with a band of red above the forehead, or else a +native dog’s tail. When dressed for a dance or corroborree, +the hair is sometimes tied in a tuft with +cockatoo feathers on the top. The married women +wear their hair shorter, but the unmarried women +generally wear it long. When mourning for the dead, +the hair is plastered all over with mud, and the eyes +and forehead are painted round with pipeclay.</p> + +<p>The natives are fond of singing, and their voices +are melodious, while they keep excellent time by beating +two boomerangs together; they sing a sort of +monotonous chant, and keep it up in camp to a late +hour. Their songs of mourning are always pitched in +a minor key, and convey a dreadfully sorrowful expression; +they are sung by both male and female, but +the chant is soon varied, as their natural inclination +is to be merry, and they look on most things in a +ludicrous light. Their sense of humour is very keen +and to mimic everything is their chief delight. The +clear ringing laugh that they indulge in, and their +merry chatter, are an indication of the cheerful nature<span class="pagenum">[Pg 219]</span> +and freedom from care, that help to make them so +contented and easily pleased.</p> + +<p>They believe that the spirits of the dead, which +are good and bad, go about at night and hold communication +with some members of the tribe, particularly +with the medicine men, or doctors. The +medicine men claim to have power to talk with the +spirits, and the blacks firmly believe that they have +such power of communication. These old men are +also supposed to preserve the traditions and superstitions +of the tribe, and they alone can perform with +efficacy the various ceremonies attendant on the healing +of the sick; they also instruct the young men in +the beliefs of the tribe and as to the proper conduct +of their lives, and this they do at special meetings +known as bora meetings. It is the special privilege +of the old men to hold communication with the spirits +of the departed, by which they become possessed of +much knowledge which they impart to their tribe. +They believe they have the power of making rain and +healing the sick. The blacks live in continual dread +of death, which they attribute to some spirit agency +or to witchcraft. Scarcely any death is put down to +natural causes, except those killed in fight; sickness +and death are always regarded by them as the works +of an enemy at a distance. This belief is universal +among Australian blacks. They have various ideas as +to how this evil influence is brought about; one of +them is by pointing a bone at the victim, and for this a<span class="pagenum">[Pg 220]</span> +piece of a human leg bone sharpened to a point and +several inches long is used. They live in dread of this +bone (Thimmool) being pointed at them, and have a +great aversion at any time to touch or even look at +any bones of deceased members of the tribe. It is +supposed that the pointing of the bone causes a +gradual wasting away of the victim until death takes +place. Another process is to take the pinion of a +bird, the two bones fastened together with wax, including +some hair of the person whose injury is intended; +this is stuck in the ground and surrounded +with fire, then it is set in the sun, and again returned +to the fire, varying the performance according as to +the extent of the harm to be caused; when sufficient +sickness has been caused, they place the bone in water, +thus dispelling the charm. This process is called +“Marro.” There is a superstition about abstracting +the kidney fat of a blackfellow for promoting luck +in fishing, and this is said to be done in various ways. +The blacks are very good to the aged and infirm, +and carry them from camp to camp; they are also +good to the blind, whom they feed and care for, and +when death ensues, they will mourn and chant their +death song nightly.</p> + +<p>The aborigines believe that the spirit survives +after death, and that it walks about on earth for a time, +and then departs for another country which is supposed +to be among the stars, the road to which is +by the milky way, and the ascent by the Southern<span class="pagenum">[Pg 221]</span> +Cross, as by a ladder. The life supposed to be led +there is similar to that on earth, but the food is abundant +and shade trees and water are everywhere. They +have names for all the constellations, and understand +their times and movements. The Pleiades they call +“Munkine,” the name for a virgin or unmarried girl. +Orion’s Belt is called “Marbarungal,” they believe him +to have been a great hunter who formerly dwelt among +them. The moon is a male, who, they say, was once +a blackfellow, who killed a lot of their people. The +latter burnt him in the struggle, and they point to +the shadows on its surface as marks of the scars. A +paper was read before the Royal Society of Brisbane +by E. Palmer on October 2nd, 1885, “Concerning +some superstitions of North Queensland aborigines.”</p> + +<p>Cannibalism is practised among the blacks everywhere, +but more from custom following certain traditions +than for the sake of food; certain blacks are +eaten, while others are not; those killed in a fight +are generally eaten. In some places they skin the +dead blackfellow, and twist the skin round a bundle +of spears with the hair sticking up on top, and they +carry this to different camps, sticking it in the ground +by the points of the spears; children are sometimes +eaten when they die.</p> + +<p>They are expert at all game hunting, and in +snaring wildfowl; the plain turkey can be caught with +a long reed on the end of a spear with a running +noose made of twine and quills; with this in one hand,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 222]</span> +and a bush in the other, a man with patience will +creep up close enough to catch a turkey round the +neck. They make strong nets of cordage, having a +large mesh to catch emus, kangaroos, or wallabies. +These nets they stretch in certain places, and drive +the game into them; small hand nets are used to +catch fish with; pigeons and ducks are snared in nets +which are stretched across creeks. The habits of +birds and animals are closely studied, and their instincts +are overmatched by the cunning of the savage, +who wants them for food.</p> + +<p>All their food is cooked before being eaten, generally +on stones made red-hot. It is wrapped in green +leaves, and then covered over with hot ashes to steam. +In the north they eat the alligator when they can +manage to kill one, and the small fresh-water crocodile, +found in most of the Gulf rivers, is also an article +of food.</p> + +<p>Seeds of various grasses are ground into a paste +with water and poured into the ashes to cook, while +some fruits and nuts require great preparation before +using, as they are extremely poisonous without such +treatment. In preserving game, the blacks are very +cruel, they twist the legs out of joint to prevent them +getting away, and keep them alive in this way until +they are wanted for cooking.</p> + +<p>They eat the dingo, and everything else that lives; +and are very clever at discovering the nests of the +native bees; honey, or “sugar-bag,” as they call it, is<span class="pagenum">[Pg 223]</span> +a favourite food of theirs. It is only by constant +moving about from camp to camp that a supply of food +can be kept up, the women doing their share of providing +by digging up yams and roots, fishing for crayfish +and mussels, and grinding seeds between two +stones. Their life is a constant worry for food from day +to day, and nothing passes them that can be eaten. +A favourite food of theirs is the tuber of the water-lily +growing in lagoons, of this they even eat the +stalks or stems of the seed stalk.</p> + +<p>The dugong, a large marine grass-feeding mammal +is netted and speared; the flesh, when dried, is +similar to bacon, and in the Wide Bay dialect is +called “Koggar,” the same name they give to the pig. +White ants are esteemed a treat, and their nests are +broken into, and the young ones, with the eggs winnowed +from the dirt are eaten raw, as well as the +grubs, which are the larva; of some locusts or beetles, +and which are cut out of the trees.</p> + +<p class="title">THE CLASS SYSTEM.</p> + +<p>All natives acknowledge the same system of class +divisions, and these correspond all over Australia. +The blacks are born into these divisions, and the +idea is instilled into them from the beginning that +they are to observe them as sacred.</p> + +<p>Though differing in name or in totem, the classes +and divisions prevail everywhere, and a blackfellow +knows at once which of the divisions corresponds to +his own in a distant tribe.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 224]</span></p> + +<p>All things in Nature are divided into the same +classes, and are said to be male and female; the sun, +moon, and stars are believed to be men and women, +and to belong to classes similar to the blacks themselves.</p> + +<p>The following is an instance of the system of +class divisions belonging to a tribe on the Upper +Flinders River, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, calling +themselves “Yerrunthully.” They had four class +divisions, namely:—</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Aboriginal class divisions"> +<tr><td align="center">Male</td><td align="center"> marries </td><td align="left">Female.</td><td align="left"> </td><td align="center">Children are</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Bunbury</td><td align="center">...</td><td align="left">Woonco</td><td align="center">...</td><td align="left">Coobaroo</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Coobaroo</td><td align="center">...</td><td align="left">Koorgielah </td><td align="center">...</td><td align="left">Bunbury</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Koorgielah </td><td align="center">...</td><td align="left">Coobaroo</td><td align="center">...</td><td align="left">Woonco</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Woonco</td><td align="center">...</td><td align="left">Bunbury</td><td align="center">...</td><td align="left">Koorgielah</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Each boy and girl in the tribe is born under one +of these divisions, and is subjected to the laws, connected +with tribal marriages. These classes are represented +by totems, which are different in other tribes +lower down the river:—</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="5" summary="Class totems"> +<tr><td align="left">Bunbury</td><td align="left">Carpet Snake</td><td align="left">Tharoona</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Coobaroo</td><td align="left"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:250%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.95em;text-indent:0;'>{</p> +</div></div> Brown Snake<br />Emu </td><td align="left" valign="top">Warrineyah<br />Gooburry</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Koorgielah</td><td align="left"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:250%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.95em;text-indent:0;'>{</p> +</div></div>Plain Turkey<br />Native Dog </td><td align="left" valign="top">Bergamo<br /> Cubburah</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Woonco</td><td align="left">Whistling Duck</td><td align="left">Chewelah</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Many other instances could be given, but they +all partake of the same divisions and classes. A +blackfellow can only marry into one class, namely that<span class="pagenum">[Pg 225]</span> +opposite to his name, the other three are forbidden to +him strictly. The descent seems to be reckoned +through the mother, for the child takes its name, not +from its mother’s class, but from the grandmother’s +class. The class name always goes back to that of +the grandmother on the female side, the father’s class +name having no influence in the matter. Woonco’s +daughter is always Coobaroo, and Coobaroo’s +daughter is always Woonco, and so on through +succeeding generations. The father might possibly +be of a name representing the proper class, but +from a far away tribe, for they correspond in class +though not always in name; still the children take +their name through the mother in this tribe. The +blacks understand these relationships well, and exemplify +them with two sticks crossed.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 226]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /> + +PHYSICAL FEATURES.</h2> + +<p>The annual reports issued by the Water Supply +Department of Queensland give detailed +accounts of the annual and average rainfall +over the whole of the colony, with the results of boring +for artesian water, both privately and by Government. +It is one of the most valuable and interesting reports +issued, and with the rain maps accompanying it, conveys +in a moment an accurate estimate of the average +rainfall both on the coast and in the far interior. +Beginning at Mackay, where the tropical rains commence, +and following the coast line to Cape York, the +record is higher than anywhere else in the colony, +owing to the near approach of the high ranges to the +coast. The maximum rainfall recorded in one year is +reported at Geraldton, where 211.24 inches fell in 1894; +Cairns can boast of 174.56 inches as its highest rainfall; +this occurred in 1886. At Cape York, the average +is 60.87; and at Mackay, 72.73 inches; these numbers +give a general indication of the humidity of the +climate on the east coast of North Queensland. As we +advance into the interior a far different climate prevails,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 227]</span> +and the farther west we go, the lighter becomes the +rainfall, till it would almost appear as if it scarcely +ever rained in some places in the interior, which are not +much raised above the level of the sea. At Birdsville, +low down on the Diamantina River, on the borders +of South Australia, the rainfall taken for three years, +amounted to only 5.72 inches, and on the Mulligan, +where for six years an average was taken, it amounted +to only 5.77 inches. At Boulia, on the Burke River, +the average for nine years was 13.54 inches.</p> + +<p>Between these extremes of great dryness and +excessive moisture, the intervening country shows +a graduated increase or decrease as one approaches +or recedes from the eastern coast. As very few water-ways +exist to carry off surplus water, the drainage +being often imperceptible to the eye, this seems a +merciful dispensation of Nature, as under such conditions +any great rainfall would place the whole country +under a sea of water long enough for all animal +life to become extinct. The water that flows down the +usually dry channels of the western rivers southwards +comes from the Gulf watershed, where the rainfall is +much heavier, averaging at Cloncurry 20.80 inches. +The amount of rainfall determines largely the nature +of the fauna and flora of a country, and causes it to +vary, even in the same latitudes. Between the high +coastal districts and the vast rolling plains and downs +of the interior these differences are so marked and +distinct that they seem like two separate countries;<span class="pagenum">[Pg 228]</span> +climate, timber, herbage, and even animal life are so +different in the two regions that it seems extraordinary +such contrasts should exist in the same latitude in one +country. All along the east coast, where the rainfall +is heavy, we find forests of splendid hardwood and +scrubs containing cedar and pine of gigantic growth. +In the interior, the timber is as a rule dwarfed, hollow, +and crooked; the principal timbers being the acacia +family, such as the gidya, myall, brigalow, boree, etc. +The grasses of the interior adapt themselves to the +climate, and are of a far hardier growth than the coast +grasses; one season without moisture does not impare +their wonderful vitality; the salt bushes are the hardiest +of all vegetation in the interior, and are of the +greatest value to pastoralists. Birds are found on the +coast that never visit the interior districts; while the +galas and corellas are never found in a wild state +near the coast. During the wet season in the summer +months many seabirds migrate to the interior for a +few weeks.</p> + +<p>Accompanying the report of the Hydraulic Engineer +is a coloured map showing the sites of artesian +bores and tanks and the supposed area of the lower cretaceous +or water-bearing strata, as well as the underlying +impermeable palæozoic rocks. The whole of Western +Queensland may be said to belong to the lower cretaceous +formation; here and there, where it has not +been denuded by the action of the atmosphere, the +desert sandstone may be found overlaying it. The<span class="pagenum">[Pg 229]</span> +whole of this vast area of water-bearing rocks has been +proved by artesian bores, most of which are far below +the level of the sea. The knowledge of the area of the +water-bearing country in the interior is extending as +additional bores are put down. Some of the bores +within the known belt of the water area have been +abandoned owing to causes that may be generally +classified as accidents.</p> + +<p>The Government have sunk a number of wells, +while hundreds of flowing bores that now stud the +great western country have been put down by private +enterprise. The policy of the Government has been +to determine the area within which artesian water may +be hopefully searched for, and to provide water in arid +country or on stock routes, and excellent results have +attended the carrying out of this policy. The Winton +bore is down in the lower cretaceous beds 4,010 feet, +it gives a flow of 720,000 gallons of water a day, at +a temperature of 192 degs.; the surface level is 600 +feet above the sea; it will take about £8,000 to cover +the total cost of sinking, etc. The Charleville bore +has the largest flow of any Government bore, giving +3,000,000 gallons in the twenty-four hours, but some +bores on Tinenburra, on the Warrego River, give as +much as 4,000,000 gallons. About 800 private bores +have been sunk in search of artesian water in the western +area of Queensland; of these 515 give a total output +of 322 millions of gallons in the twenty-four hours, +and the total cost of them amounted to nearly<span class="pagenum">[Pg 230]</span> +£2,000.000. This expenditure made within sixteen +years, is creditable to the energy and forethought of +the western settlers. Some of the bores are not overflowing, +and the water is raised by pumping, though +the supply is inexhaustible. By the flow of water thus +brought to the surface, the devastating effects of the +periodical droughts have been minimised, and large +areas have become available to profitable occupation +that previously were waste country. The flow of this +artesian water from the private and public bores is +worth more to Queensland than a river of gold. They +have completely changed the face of the country, and +removed the anxiety of the stock owners towards the +end of the season, when all surface water (except the +most permanent lagoons) has dried up and formed +mud traps to catch all weak stock that venture near +them. These tiny perforations of the earth’s surface +have helped to solve the difficulty of settlement on the +western lands, where we find the rainfall diminishing +as we go further west. As these little threads of water +find their way across the plains and form into small +ponds in the hollows, the wildfowl resort to them as +if they were natural waters, while the bulrushes (typha +angustifolia), soon follow and grow in masses, +although these are only to be found round springs, +and never in permanent lagoons or rivers. Some +curious features are connected with the artesian water +supply; sometimes the temperature is very high, +that of the Dagworth bore reaching 196 degrees, while<span class="pagenum">[Pg 231]</span> +the pressure of the Thargomindah bore is over 230 lbs. +to the square inch. The water supply tapped is perhaps +beyond calculation, and up to the present time +there is no indication of exhaustion.</p> + +<p>The source of this enormous pressure of water +that is capable of sending a jet over a hundred feet +above the surface, is still unexplained, and many +theories are afloat as to its origin; some of these go +far afield for reasons for the great supply and strong +pressure. The enormous rainfall on the coast ranges, +where the intake probably occurs, and where the impermeable +rocks approach the surface, carrying the +water under the lower cretaceous, or more recent formation +(which is shown to be the most extensive in +Western Queensland), seems to be the most reasonable +to adopt at the present time. These water-bearing +strata must cover very large areas in Australia, +for a bore at Tarcanina, near the south coast on the +Great Australian Bight, is down over 1,000 feet below +the level of the sea, and throws the water to a great +height above the surface.</p> + +<p>Mr. R. L. Jack, the Government Geologist, in a +paper on artesian water in the western interior of +Queensland read before the Australian Association for +the Advancement of Science, in Brisbane, January, +1895, argues in a most convincing manner as to the +source of artesian supplies of water, giving the intake +or gathering ground at about 55,000 square miles, +over a region where the mean average rainfall taken<span class="pagenum">[Pg 232]</span> +at thirteen meteorological stations along the line of +outcrop, amounts to 27 inches annually, which is considerably +greater than that of the interior of the downs +country. The greater part of the rainfall is not carried +away by the channels of the rivers, neither is it evaporated, +but sinks through porous strata into the earth, +and does not return except through springs or submarine +leakage. The fact of all this great supply of +water finding its way to the sea at great depths, +shows what little effect a few bores can have on the +enormous annual supply. It is an encouragement to +extend the number of bores, which are so necessary +to successfully settle the arid plains of the distant interior, +in order to anticipate the waste of water.</p> + +<p>The fact of an artesian bore diminishing its flow +may be due to many causes other than shortage of +supply, faults in the tubing or caving in of the strata +may account for it. We have here the secret of successful +settlement in inland Australia—an inexhaustible +supply of water fit for all the wants of man.</p> + +<p>The Normanton bore, practically on the edge of +the Gulf, and sunk from a level of about 30 feet above +the sea, struck artesian water at a depth of 1,983 feet, +or 1,950 feet below sea level. This bore and the one +at Burketown, both of which were successful in reaching +artesian water, were put down by the Government +during the time Mr. G. Phillips represented Carpentaria +in the Legislative Assembly, 1893-5.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 233]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE GRASSES AND FODDER PLANTS.</p> + +<p>An enumeration of all the fodder plants and herbage +common to North Queensland would require a +long catalogue, as variety is Nature’s law in this case, +and the western soil teems after the wet season with +flowers, herbs, grasses, and fruits all more or less +adapted for use as fodder. The prospect on the wide +spreading plains after the early thunder showers in +November and December is very refreshing to the +eye that has been for months staring on the dry stalks +of the Mitchell grass, or else on the brown bare earth. +Trailing vines of the melon and cucumber family +spread themselves in profusion, the fruit of which is +eagerly sought after by stock. Convolvolus flowers +and vines grow among the young green grasses, and +many varieties of the compositæ show in bright yellow +their gleaming flowers, mingled with hibiscus of +every hue. The growth of plant life is marvellous +after the fall of soft rain on the warm rich soil. Portulaca, +known as pigweed, is among the first of the +plants to spring up, and grows in great masses; the +seeds form a principal article of food for the birds that +frequent the plains, the young plants are also used by +stock, and are not despised by man in an emergency. +All life, vegetable and animal, revives suddenly after +the surface of the earth has been saturated with the +life-giving element; frogs and locusts sing their songs +of joy day and night; flies increase beyond conception,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 234]</span> +and mosquitoes and sandflies torment to distraction +both man and beast.</p> + +<p>On the plains, the first vegetation to spring up is +the sensitive plant, spreading its delicate foliage over +the surface, the leaves closing during the heat of the +day, and opening in the evening. The small creeping +plant said to be poisonous to stock (Euphorbia Drummondi), +appears immediately after rain. The climbing +vine (Capparis lucida), which bears a sub-acid +fruit not unlike passion fruit, at this time of year gives +out its white flowers and fruit at the same time. The +scent of the innumerable flowers on the plains, the +tender herbage, the young grasses sending their seed +stalks several feet high, and all the soil covered densely +with vegetation and herbage suitable for stock present +a picture to the eye, so utterly opposed to that which +prevailed but a few weeks before the advent of the +rains, that the spectator can scarcely believe it to be +the same country. The seeds of some plants will remain +dormant for years, and then suddenly spring up +in profusion; for instance, the plant commonly known +as peabush, a leguminous annual (botanically Sesbania +aegyptica), has only a periodical growth, and +at such times, varying for many years, it covers the +plains in such rank masses that the stockriders get +quite bewildered when searching for stock through +its scrublike density; for several years after this abundant +growth, the plant will scarcely be noticeable; it +is said that every three years is a peabush year, but<span class="pagenum">[Pg 235]</span> +the writer cannot support the theory, as he can only +call to mind four or five really bad peabush seasons +in a period of thirty years. The seeds which fall to +the ground in great quantities form the sustenance for +flocks of pigeons and other birds, but much seed must +also fall down the cracks of the earth and bide their +time for a chance of springing into life. The flowers +of this plant grow in lilac and yellow on the same stalk. +Cattle are fond of it when young, and mustering stock +in a peabush year has many extra difficulties on +account of the prolific growth of this intermittent +annual. It will sometimes grow to a height of fifteen +feet, and in swampy places is so dense that it is difficult +to keep even a few horses in sight when driving +through it; after it dries and the seeds fall to the +ground, the stalks break off, and the sweep of the water +over the plains during the succeeding year gathers +these dry stems against the trees in enormous masses +like small haystacks, and there they remain until a +bushfire reduces them to ashes. The masses of peabush +carried down creeks and watercourses at +certain seasons will yet prove a source of danger to +railway and road bridges when such structures come +to be built on the western plains comprising the watersheds +of rivers flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria. +Though peabush grows strongly on flooded ground, +it can be found of a sturdy growth on ridges +or high plains or downs during a favourable year, +especially where water lodges between ridges. It is<span class="pagenum">[Pg 236]</span> +an ancient and historical plant, for the flowers that +composed the wreath found on an Egyptian mummy +of ancient date, when softened and opened with warm +water, were found to be identical with the flowers of +the peabush of the Flinders River and western plains +of North Queensland.</p> + +<p>The native pastures have not been improved by +the introduction of stock; the evils of overstocking +and the want of bushfires to keep down the under-growth, +have in some districts deteriorated or exterminated +some of the best of the fodder grasses. The +best of all indigenous grasses is known as Mitchell +grass, a perennial of strong growth, and capable of +resisting the driest weather; there are many varieties +of this grass, which is found only on the plains and +downs of the interior. It possesses the faculty of +shooting green from the old stalks at the joints, and +taking up moisture, renewing its youth again. The +Mitchell grass grows in isolated strong bunches, and +its presence is a sure sign of a fattening country. The +following are the best known varieties:—</p> + +<p>“Astrebla pectinata,” common Mitchell grass, +growing in erect tussocks of two or three feet high.</p> + +<p>“A. triticoides,” wheat-eared Mitchell grass; this +plant is taller and coarser than the last, attaining a +height of four or five feet.</p> + +<p>“A curvifolia,” or curly Mitchell grass; plant +forming erect tufts one or two feet high, the leaves +narrow and much curved.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 237]</span></p> + +<p>“A. elymoides,” weeping Mitchell grass; plant +decumbent, the stems several feet long.</p> + +<p>The blue grass (Andropogon sericeus), is an annual +of soft rapid growth, with a branching seed-stalk +that breaks off and is blown by the wind in +masses into waterholes; the blacks use the fine seeds +of this grass for food.</p> + +<p>“Anthistiria membranacea,” called the Flinders or +Barcoo grass, is an annual of a reddish colour, found all +over the western plains. It is soft and brittle, breaking +easily off to fall on the ground, when stock will +pick it up; it makes excellent hay, keeping sweet +for years, and is one of the most fattening grasses.</p> + +<p>The varieties of the indigenous grasses that cover +the great western plains are innumerable; all are more +or less eaten by stock, even the triodia or spinifex +that is looked on as a desert grass, and of a formidable +and forbidding nature. Spinifex is a very drought-resisting +plant, and in times of great scarcity and extreme +drought, when all other grasses have dried out +and been blown away, the spinifex is there with its erect +spiney leaves, possibly bitter to the taste, but still life +sustaining to stock, as has been proved in many a +severe drought. It grows on sandy sterile ridges, +and seems to adhere to the latest geological formation, +the sandstone or cainozoic period; it is found on ridges +adjacent to alluvial flats where the richest herbage +and grasses are found in abundance.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 238]</span></p> + +<p>Kangaroo grass (Anthistiria ciliata), is found +mostly in coastal districts, and although a good pasture +grass when green, it soon dries and requires burning.</p> + +<p>There are two prominent varieties of spear grass +in the north, the worst being the black spear grass +(Andropogon contortus), which grows in sandy spots +along the banks of creeks, or on sandy ridges; it is +not of much use as a fodder grass, but becomes a +terrible scourge to sheep when ripe and seeding. The +seeds are barbed, and as sharp as needles, and having +once entered the skin they work into the bone, causing +intense annoyance and irritation, and ultimately death. +The other spear grass (Andropogon Kennedeyii), not +so dangerous, but of little use to stock, is a coarse-growing, +strong grass, seven or eight feet high, with a +reddish bloom, and strong seeds that penetrate saddlecloths +and clothes in countless hundreds.</p> + +<p>Herbage fills the spaces between the tufts of +grasses soon after the rains, and the plains develop +a dense growth of pasturage; but after continued dry +seasons, all herbage disappears, and the grasses follow +in time, until very little is left except the roots, +and a few of the more hardy salsolaceous plants. +These form a striking feature in the economy of +Nature in the plain country, the salt bushes are ever +present in one variety or another, and help to keep +stock in health and condition. The various species +of “Atriplex” abound, and being very drought-resist<span class="pagenum">[Pg 239]</span>ing, +they are reckoned amongst the most valuable +fodder plants. Sir Thomas Mitchell was the first to +make salt bush known after his first expedition over +sixty years ago.</p> + +<p>“A. Nummularia,” passing under the curious vernacular +of “Old Man Salt Bush,” is truly grey enough. +Some of these plants have been propagated in north-west +America with great success, turning the barren +alkali lands that were never known to grow anything, +into valuable pastures. Tons of seeds are raised annually +for Utah, Arizona, and other States. In Africa +the salt bushes are cultivated from seeds and even +cuttings, and their value is acknowledged everywhere. +They endure scorching heat, live without rains, are +eaten by all kinds of stock, proving nutritious and +wholesome to them, are easily raised from seed, and +can, with a little care, be propagated from cuttings.</p> + +<p>The blue bush (Chenopodium), is common all +over the Gulf of Carpentaria watershed, growing in +swampy spots where water lies; it is a great favourite +with all kinds of stock, and is getting scarce owing to +its being eaten out so much.</p> + +<p>Wild rice (Oryza sativa), grows in swampy places +throughout the Gulf country; the grain is well-defined, +but small; all stock are fond of it, when green; it +grows to a height of three or four feet. The rice of +commerce is the produce of cultivated varieties of this +grass.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 240]</span></p> + +<p>Edible shrubs are extremely plentiful, and are of +great value when grass becomes too dry to be +nutritive. A peculiar feature in the vegetation of +the western plains is the “roley-poley,” which is called +in America the “tumble weed.” This is an annual of +quick growth after rains, growing in a spherical form +from a common root; when the stem dries, it breaks +off close to the ground, and the ball of dried vegetation +is driven by the winds over the plains at a furious +rate, topping the fences, and piling up against them in +masses. It causes the greatest consternation to +horses as it is driven across the downs. It possesses +no virtue as a fodder plant.</p> + +<p class="title">FOSSILS OF ANCIENT AUSTRALIA.</p> + +<p>The Australian continent has undergone great +changes during the past geological ages, and most +probably has been connected in remote times with +part of Asia, and not unlikely with South America +by some now submerged land. But whatever the +connection may have been in the very distant past, +it has been shut off from the larger northern land +masses at so remote a period that the higher forms +of mammals have not found their way to it, as in +Africa and South America. Great changes have +taken place in the continent itself. It is supposed +that, at one time, in what is called the cretaceous +or chalk age, a great sea spread from the north right +across from what is now the Gulf of Carpentaria,<span class="pagenum">[Pg 241]</span> +covering immense tracts of level plain country in the +interior of Australia, including Western Queensland, +and part of New South Wales, so that the western +half of the continent was separated from the eastern +at least in the northern parts. Gradually the land +rose and great lakes were formed in the interior, +especially in the region of Lake Eyre, and a growth +of vegetation sprang up of a more luxuriant type +than is to be found now in those western parts, otherwise +the enormous animals, such as the giant +diprotodon, huge extinct kangaroos, birds larger than +the moa, as well as crocodiles and turtles, could never +have found sustenance to multiply in such numbers +as their fossil remains testify they did in nearly every +part of central Australia, and in the interior of +North Queensland. In this sea, which washed the +base of the mountains on the west, was deposited +the sandy formation which has become the level inland +plains. From some cause so far unknown, the +land became desiccated, the lakes lost their freshness, +and became great salt pans, the vegetation and +the animals dependent on it became extinct, until a +dry and arid region was produced, with a river system +that fails to reach the sea, but becomes absorbed in +the great sandy interior. The smaller types of marsupials +of a hardier nature and capable of removing +to greater distances for food, maintained their existence, +while the giants of a similar race have left only +their bones embedded in the drift to testify to the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 242]</span> +mighty changes that Nature has wrought out in the +past ages. Fossil diprotodons of gigantic size and +struthious birds rivalling in stature the New Zealand +moa, are found in Central Australia. At Lake Callabonna +in the great salt Lake Eyre basin, there are +hundreds of fossil skeletons of these animals, many +of which have been removed to the Adelaide Museum. +In that locality they are found most frequently on the +surface of the dry salt lake, and have been preserved +by a natural coating of carbonate of lime; the bones +are found at various depths.</p> + +<p>Nearly the whole of interior Australia, including +Western Queensland, is one vast cemetery of extinct +and fossilised species, scattered along the surface, or +buried deep in cement or drifts, and in clays hidden +beneath the present surface formation. The open +plains of the Upper Flinders disclose great deposits +of marine fossil shells, belemnites and ammonites, and +also remains of extinct animals. On the Lower +Leichhardt River, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, forty or +fifty feet beneath the alluvial deposits forming the +banks of the river, and firmly embedded in the hard +cement, which is an ancient drift formed of water-worn +stones in an ironstone clay, are found the bones of +innumerable extinct gigantic species of animals that +found sustenance and multiplied in enormous numbers +over the Gulf country in some far back pre-historic +age. On the Walsh River are found large +numbers of fossils, mostly shells of the ammonite<span class="pagenum">[Pg 243]</span> +species. The bones that have been buried for countless +ages in these ancient drifts are well preserved, +and are not very dissimilar in appearance to the bones +of animals dying recently on the surrounding plains, +although they are completely fossilised and changed +into the appearance of stone. The utter extinction +of these gigantic species, comprising diprotodon, +nototherium, and zygomaturus, and other species, +grasseaters and flesheaters alike, can only be accounted +for by a great change of climate, and great and +long-continued droughts, reducing the herbage and +causing the remaining living animals to crowd into the +drying-up lagoons and lakes, there to become bogged +in thousands, and die as the stock die in the waterholes +after a long drought. Some of the fossils are +those of animals of a gigantic size, much larger than +any existing native animals; the teeth found are twice +the size of an ordinary bullock’s, and the jaws carrying +them are of enormous size and strength. There +are remains of alligators over thirty feet long, +and turtles of much greater dimensions than any existing +in the present day. The vegetation in the +marshes and territory forming North Queensland +must have been of a luxuriant and tropical description +in those days to have supported such large types of +marsupials—animals that would require a more +abundant moisture, larger rainfall, and heavier foliage, +than are now to be found on the western slopes +of the ranges. Deeply interesting is the study of the<span class="pagenum">[Pg 244]</span> +ancient forms of life that roamed over the densely-wooded +marshes of the interior, when the flora represented +a type found now only along the rich alluvial +banks of the rivers on the east coast.</p> + +<p class="title">GEOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND.</p> + +<p>The following facts are summarised from the +geology of Queensland written by Mr. Daintree, as +the result of his investigations, whilst prosecuting the +search for new goldfields on behalf of the Queensland +Government in the northern portion of their territory, +as also from the official reports of the Geologist +of Southern Queensland, and other sources.</p> + +<p>The consideration and history of the different +formations will be taken in their sequence of time, as +far as the stratified or sedimentary rocks are concerned. +The igneous rocks will be described under +the various groups of Granitic, Trappean, and Volcanic.</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Igneous rocks"> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><i>Aqueous</i>:—</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">Alluvial (recent).</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left" colspan="2">Alluvial, containing extinct faunas.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">Desert sandstone, Cainozoic.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">Cretaceous <br />Oolitic <br />Carbonaceous </td><td align="left"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:250%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1.25em;text-indent:0;'>}</p> +</div></div> + <br /> Mesozoic</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">Carboniferous<br />Devonian <br />Silurian </td><td align="left"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:250%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1.25em;text-indent:0;'>}</p> +</div></div> <br /> Palæozoic</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><i>Metamorphic.</i></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 245]</span></p> + +<p>Alluvial.—Fresh-water deposits skirt all the present +watercourses, but the accumulations are insignificant +on the eastern watershed, except near the embouchures +of large rivers, such as the Burdekin, Fitzroy, etc. +On the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, however, +and in the south-western portions of the colony, where +the watercourses have scarcely any fall, and where in +seasons of excessive rain the country is nearly all +inundated, fluviatile deposits are very extensive. +Though the dense lavas of the Upper Burdekin +(volcanic outbursts of a late Tertiary epoch) are +traversed by valleys of erosion, in some cases 200 feet +deep, and five miles broad, yet very narrow and shallow +alluvial deposits skirt the immediate margin of the +watercourses draining such valleys. It is only near +the mouths of the larger rivers that any extent of +alluvium has been deposited, and even these areas are +at the present time in seasons of excessive rain, liable +to inundation, showing that little upheaval of this portion +of Australia has taken place since the last volcanic +disturbances terminated.</p> + +<p>The meteorological or climatic conditions during +this period were nearly identical with those of the +present time, heavy rains during the summer months +causing violent floods, removing seaward the aërial +decompositions and denuded materials from year to +year.</p> + +<p>What lapse of time is represented during this +period of erosion is a matter of speculation, but it<span class="pagenum">[Pg 246]</span> +seems certain that the mollusca of the present creeks +were also the inhabitants of the waters during the +whole period of denudation since the last volcanic +eruption.</p> + +<p>From the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, to +Darling Downs in the south, however, the fossil remains +of extinct mammalia have been found in +breccias and indurated muds, which are the representatives +of the beds of old watercourses through which +the present creeks cut their channels. At Maryvale +Creek, in latitude 19 deg. 30 sec. S., good sections +of these old brecciated alluvia occur. The fossils +from this section, as determined by Professor Owen, +are “Diprotodon Australis, Macropus titan, Thylacoles, +Phascolomys, Nototherium,” crocodile teeth, +etc.</p> + +<p>Imbedded in the same matrix occur several +genera of mollusca undistinguishable from those inhabiting +Maryvale Creek.</p> + +<p>The fact of these older alluvia forming both the +bed and the banks of the present watercourse, goes to +prove that Diprotodon and its allies inhabited the +Queensland valleys when they presented little difference +in physical aspect or elevation from that of the +present time. The crocodile (Crocodilus Australis), +however, had then a greater range inland than it has +now. A study of these Diprotodon breccias leads to +the conclusion that the remains are chiefly entombed +in what were the most permanent waterholes in sea<span class="pagenum">[Pg 247]</span>sons +of excessive drought, and that the animals came +there in a weak and exhausted state to drink and die, +just as bullocks do under similar conditions at the +present time.</p> + +<p>No human bones, flint flakes, or any kind of +native weapons have yet been discovered with the extinct +mammalia of Queensland.</p> + +<p class="title">CAINOZOIC.</p> + +<p>Desert Sandstone.—On the eastern branches of +the Upper Flinders and elsewhere, fine sections are +exposed of lava resting on horizontal beds of coarse +grit and conglomerate, which lie in turn unconformably +on olive-coloured and gray shales with interstratified +bands and nodules of argillaceous limestone +containing fossils of cretaceous affinities. I have +called this upper conglomerate series “Desert Sandstone,” +from the sandy barren character of its disintegrated +soil, which makes the term particularly applicable.</p> + +<p>Without doubt, it is the most recent widely-spread +stratified deposit developed in Queensland. +The denudation of the “Desert Sandstone” since it became +dry land has been excessive, but there still remains +a large tract “in situ,” and all the available +evidence tends to show that this “Desert Sandstone” +did at one time cover nearly, if not quite, the whole of +Australia. The journals of the two Gregory’s description +of the new settlement of Port Darwin, all bear<span class="pagenum">[Pg 248]</span> +evidence to the continuity of this so-called “Desert +Sandstone” over all the extended areas investigated +by them.</p> + +<p>Augustus Gregory’s description of the sandstones +of the Victoria River agrees with those of the “Desert +Sandstone” of Queensland, the specimens from either +locality being undistinguishable the one from the +other, while the same barren soil, the same hostile +spinifex, the same fatal poison plant, mark its presence +from Perth to Cape York.</p> + +<p>In Queensland, the upper beds are ferruginous, +white and mottled sandy clays, the lower being coarse +alternating grits and conglomerates; the extreme observed +thickness has not exceeded 400 feet. A +characteristic view of the upper “Desert Sandstone” +beds is shown in Betts’ Creek, on the Upper Flinders. +Whether these are marine, lacustrine, or estuarine +deposits, there is hardly sufficient evidence to show.</p> + +<p>What may be the value of this “Desert Sandstone” +for free gold, is at present unsolved; but the +very nature of its deposition seems to preclude the idea +that that metal will be found in paying quantities, +except where direct local abrasion of a rich auriferous +veinstone has furnished the supply.</p> + +<p class="title">MESOZOIC.</p> + +<p>Cretaceous.—As early as 1866 a suite of fossils +was collected by Messrs. Sutherland and Carson, of +Marathon station, Flinders River, and forwarded for<span class="pagenum">[Pg 249]</span> +determination to Professor McCoy, in Melbourne. +They were never figured, but his manuscript names +are as follows:—</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Fossil Collection"> +<tr><td align="center"><i>Reptilia.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Ichthyosaurus Australis.</td><td align="left"> “M’Coy.”</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Plesiosaurus Sutherlandi.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Plesiosaurus macrospondylus.</td><td align="left"> “M’Coy.”</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><i>Cephalopoda.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Ammonites Sutherlandi.</td><td align="left"> “M’Coy.”</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Ammonites Flindersi.</td><td align="left"> “M’Coy.”</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Belemnitella diptycha.</td><td align="left"> “M’Coy.”</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Ancyloceras Flindersi.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><i>Lamellibranchiata.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Inoceramus Carsoni.</td><td align="left"> “M’Coy.”</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Inoceramus Sutherlandi.</td><td align="left"> “M’Coy” (identical with the English species I. Cuvieri).</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>In company with Mr. Sutherland, who supplied +McCoy with the before-mentioned materials, Mr. R. +Daintree visited the Upper Flinders, and carefully collected +the fossils from three localities, viz., Marathon +station, Hughenden station, and Hughenden cattle +station.</p> + +<p>At Marathon, which is some forty miles further +down the Flinders than Hughenden, there is, close +to the homestead, an outcrop of fine-grained yellow +sandstone, which has been quarried for building purposes, +and below this, to the edge of the waterhole +supplying the house, is a series of sandstones and<span class="pagenum">[Pg 250]</span> +argillaceous limestones, containing numerous organic +remains. These were submitted to Mr. Etheridge for +examination and correlation, the result of which +appears in the appendix to his work. The Hughenden +cattle station is twenty miles further up the Flinders +than the Hughenden head station. Here hundreds +of Belemnites are strewn over the surface of +the two ridges which front the cattle station huts, +but they are rarely found in the soft shales which crop +out from under an escarpment of “Desert Sandstone.” +The lithological character of these cretaceous strata +is such that decomposition is rapid; the resulting +physical aspect being that of vast plains, which form +the principal feature of Queensland scenery west of +the Main Dividing Range; but that the “Desert Sandstone” +has extended over all this country is evidenced +by its existence either in the form of outliers, or as a +marked feature “in situ” in all main watersheds, or by +its pebbles of quartz and conglomerate, which are +strewn everywhere over the surface of the plains. +The height of the watershed between the Thomson +and Flinders Rivers is locally not more than 1,400 +feet above sea level, and as the former river has to +travel as many miles before reaching the sea, it is easy +to understand why, in a country subject to heavy +tropical rains at one period of the year, followed by +a long dry season, the river channels are ill-defined, +and vast tracts of country covered by alluvial deposits. +Down the Thomson and its tributaries, these<span class="pagenum">[Pg 251]</span> +mesozoic rocks are known to extend, though much +obscured by flood drifts. That this portion of the +mesozoic system extends throughout the whole of +Western Queensland to Western Australia is also +more than probable, hidden, however, over large areas +by “Desert Sandstone.”</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Mineral Springs.—There is one other subject of +practical interest connected with the great mesozoic +western plains, and that is the occurrence of hot alkaline +springs, which suggest the possibility of obtaining +supplies of water on the artesian principle over some +portion at least of this area.</p> + +<p>At Gibson’s cattle station, Taldora, on the Saxby +River, a tributary of the Flinders, a spring of hot +water rises above the surface of the plain, and its overflow +deposits a white encrustation, which on analysis +by Dr. Flight, under the direction of Professor +Maskelyne, afforded:—</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Mineral analysis"> +<tr><td align="left">Water</td><td align="right">27.793</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Silica</td><td align="right">0.600</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Chlorine</td><td align="right">3.369</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Sodium</td><td align="right">2.183</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Carbonic Acid </td><td align="right">33.735</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Soda</td><td align="right" style="border-bottom: solid 1px;">31.690</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">99.370</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Apart, therefore, from the 5.552 per cent. of +chloride of sodium, the deposit consists of sequi car<span class="pagenum">[Pg 252]</span>bonate +of soda or native “Trona,” and as such is used +by the settlers for culinary purposes, etc.</p> + +<p class="title">PALÆOZOIC.</p> + +<p>“Carboniferous.”—Whilst the affinities of the +southern coalfield of Queensland are mesozoic, a +northern field, of even larger extent, has a distinct +fauna more resembling the Palæozoic Carboniferous +areas of Europe.</p> + +<p>The Dawson, Comet, Mackenzie, Isaacs, and +Bowen Rivers drain this carboniferous area; and +numerous outcrops of coal have been observed on +these streams. No commercial use, however, has yet +been made of any of these deposits, as the measures +generally are too far inland to be made available until +the railway system of the country is extended in that +direction.</p> + +<p>“Devonian.”—From the southern boundary of +Queensland up to latitude 18 deg. S., a series of +slates, sandstones, coral limestones, and conglomerates +extend to a distance 200 miles inland; these are +sometimes overlain by coal measures, sometimes by +volcanic rocks, and consequently do not crop out on +the surface over such districts. North of latitude +18 deg. S., however, over the Cape York Peninsula, +this series (so far as we have any evidence), is absent, +granites and porphyries capped by “Desert Sandstone” +forming the ranges on the eastern, and their +abraded ingredients the sandy ti-tree flats, those on<span class="pagenum">[Pg 253]</span> +the western side of that inhospitable tract of country, +a never-ending flat of poor desert-looking sandy ti-tree +country, stretching away to the shores of the Gulf +of Carpentaria.</p> + +<p>In the limestone bands, which form the lower +portion of the series, corals are very numerous; in +fact, the limestones, where little alteration has taken +place, are a mass of aggregated corals; and as this +class of rock has resisted aerial destruction better +than the associated slates and sandstones, the barriers +thus formed mark the trend of the rock system to +which they belong, in a very picturesque and decided +manner; their bold, massive, and varied outline +chiselled into the most delicate fretwork by Nature’s +hand, is relieved by a wealth of richly-tinted foliage, +unknown in the surrounding bush; and the eye jaded +with the monotony of the eternal gum tree turns with +delight to the changing tints and varied scenery presented +by these barrier-like records of the past. This +class of country is very much in evidence at Chillagoe. +On the track from the Broken River to the Gilbert +diggings, Devonian rocks several thousand feet thick +may be observed, as they are continuous in dip, without +being repeated, for at least five miles across the +strike, with an average inclination of 60 deg.</p> + +<p>Although on the Broken River and its tributaries +a breadth of thirty miles with a length of sixty miles, +is occupied by a persistent outcrop of Devonian +strata, gold has only been discovered in remunerative<span class="pagenum">[Pg 254]</span> +quantities in a small gully, where a trapdyke has +penetrated the Palæozoic rocks of the district.</p> + +<p>The following districts, however, where Devonian +rocks prevail, have been the centres of gold mining +enterprise:—Lucky Valley, Talgai, Gympie, Calliope, +Boyne, Morinish, Rosewood, Mount Wyatt, Broken +River, portion of Gilbert.</p> + +<p>In every case here cited, the country is traversed +by trap rocks of a peculiar character, either diorite, +diabase, or porphyrite; and tufaceous representatives +of these are also found interstratified in the upper +portion of the same formation, and occasionally +throughout the other beds.</p> + +<p>At Gympie, the auriferous area is confined to +veins traversing a crystalline diorite, or within a certain +limit of its boundary, marked by the presence of +fossiliferous diabase tufas.</p> + +<p>Whatever may have been the solvent and precipitant +of the nobler metals in the auriferous veinstones +associated with trap intrusions, all other but hydrothermal +action may safely be eliminated, the very +nature of the reefs, composed as they are of alternating +layers of a promiscuous mixture of quartz, calcspar, +pyrites, etc., affording unmistakable evidence +on this point. The gold also contained in the trap +dykes themselves is always accompanied by pyrites, +both (according to Daintree), hydrothermal products +separating out during the cooling down of the trap +intrusions. Auriferous lodes, occurring in areas<span class="pagenum">[Pg 255]</span> +where hydrothermal action has attended trap disturbances +of a special character in Queensland, are generally +thin—to be estimated by inches rather than feet; +but taken as a whole they are far richer in gold than +those enclosed by sedimentary rocks.</p> + +<p class="title">GRANITIC.</p> + +<p>Outcrops of granite extend along the eastern +coast of Queensland from Broad Sound to Cape York, +and inland as far as the heads of streams running +direct from the inner coast range to the sea.</p> + +<p>Very little rock of this character is met with west +and south of the Dividing Range which separates +rivers flowing to the eastern and northern coast, and +those trending south to the Murray or Cooper’s +Creek.</p> + +<p>The granites of Queensland vary very much in +their crystalline texture, passing from true granites +into porphyry and quartz porphyry.</p> + +<p class="title">TRAPPEAN.</p> + +<p>Much stress has been laid on the value of certain +intrusive trap rocks as specially influencing the production +of auriferous veinstones in Queensland.</p> + +<p>The petrology of these may be divided into four +type classes:—1. Pyritous porphyrites and porphyries. +2. Pyritous diroites and diabases. 3. Chrome iron +serpentines. 4. Pyritous felsites.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 256]</span></p> + +<p class="title">VOLCANIC.</p> + +<p>Whilst the older trappean rocks have apparently +had so much influence on the disturbance and fracture +of the sedimentary strata older than the Carboniferous, +and by a secondary process have evidently been centres +of mineralising action, the volcanic seem to have +played the most important part in determining the +elevation and present physical outline of north-eastern +Queensland. The main outbursts of lava have taken +place along the Dividing Range which separates the +eastern and western waters, and therefore on the line +of the highest elevation of the country. The more +northern volcanic areas, are probably contemporaneous +with the upper volcanic series of Victorian +geologists, so extensively developed in the western +districts of that colony. These have issued from well-defined +craters still in existence, and are probably of +Pliocene Tertiary age.</p> + +<p>The southern areas, viz., Peak and Darling +Downs, etc., are older, agreeing with the lower +volcanic of Victoria, which have been ejected through +fissures, and have in no case a very extensive flow +beyond the lines of fracture through which they issued. +These may be referred to the Miocene Tertiary epoch. +The rock masses forming both the upper and lower +volcanic are basic in character, and may be all termed +or grouped under the general term “dolorites.”</p> + +<p>The volcanic soils of Queensland are those best +adapted for the grazier and agriculturist.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 257]</span></p> + +<p>To epitomise:—With the exception of the McKinlay +Ranges, a line drawn parallel to the eastern +coast, at a distance of 250 miles, would include all the +palæozoic, metamorphic, granitic, trappean, and +volcanic rocks represented in the colony, both coal +groups lying within the same area.</p> + +<p>The mesozoic and cainozoic systems occupy the +surface area to the westward. The volcanic rocks +follow the line of greatest elevation on the main watershed +at altitudes from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above sea +level. The chief granitic mass extends from Broad +Sound to Cape York, with an occasional capping of +“Desert Sandstone.” Westward from the Dividing +Range, “Desert Sandstone” and the cretaceous and +oolitic groups alternate one with the other to the extreme +limit of the colony.</p> + +<p class="title">AREA OF FORMATIONS.</p> + +<p>Estimating the entire extent of the colony at +600,000 square miles, a rough approximation to the +areas occupied by the different geological formations +is as follows:—</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Areas of geological formations"> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"></td><td align="center">Square Miles.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">Valueless land, “Desert Sandstone”</td><td align="right">150,000</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Scrubby and thickly timbered inferior pastoral,<br /> but valuable as containing coal, iron ore, &c.</td><td align="center"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:250%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1.25em;text-indent:0;'> { </p> +</div></div> + Carbonaceous<br /> Mesozoic and <br /> Palæozoic </td><td align="right"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:250%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1.25em;text-indent:0;'> } </p> +</div></div> <br />24,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Fair pastoral, and valuable for its<br /> associated minerals and metals</td><td align="center"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:250%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1.25em;text-indent:0;'> { </p> +</div></div> Devonian<br /> Silurian <br />Metamorphic </td> +<td align="right"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:250%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1.25em;text-indent:0;'> } </p> +</div></div> <br />60,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 258]</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Fair pastoral</td><td align="center">Granitic</td><td align="right">114,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="left">Good pastoral</td><td align="center"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:200%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1.25em;text-indent:0;'> { </p> +</div></div> Cretaceous <br />and Oolitic</td><td align="right"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:200%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1.25em;text-indent:0;'> } </p> +</div></div> <br />200,000</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">First-class pastoral and agricultural</td><td align="center"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:250%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1.25em;text-indent:0;'> { </p> +</div></div> Alluvial <br />Volcanic<br />Trappean </td><td align="right"><div style='float:left;'> + +<p style="float:left;text-indent:0;margin-top:1em;"> </p> + <div style='float:left;padding-right:4px;'> +<p style='font-size:250%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:1.25em;text-indent:0;'> } </p> +</div></div> <br />52,000</td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right" colspan="3">———</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right" colspan="3">600,000</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Looking at the matter from an economical point +of view, we find that one-fourth of the Colony of +Queensland is valueless, whereas three-fourths furnish +good pastoral land. Of this latter 60,000 square miles +contain extensive and very valuable mines of gold, +with numerous outcrops of copper and lead ores, to +which may be added rich deposits of tin ore; 24,000 +square miles are capable of producing illimitable supplies +of coal and iron; 52,000 square miles are, as +far as soil is concerned, best adapted for the agriculturist +and squatter. In conclusion, it may be asserted +that there is here a wealth of material resource which +compares favourably with that of any other Australian +colony.</p> + +<p class="title">THE GREAT BARRIER REEF.</p> + +<p>North Queensland owes one of its chief claims to +distinction to its numerous ports and harbours. In +fact, the whole coast from Lady Elliott Island northwards +to Cape York is one large harbour; protected +as it is from the ocean swell by the Great Barrier +Reef, a natural breakwater, extending for nearly a<span class="pagenum">[Pg 259]</span> +thousand miles, with a depth from ten to twenty +fathoms, and a distance from the main land which +varies from twenty to fifty miles. The sea outside is +profoundly deep, and a few islets are found on the +line of reef, also a few ship canals through the Barrier +Reef. “The Great Barrier Reef of Australia; its products +and potentialities,” by W. Saville Kent, F.L.S., +is a splendid work, and beautifully illustrated. This +work shows the reef to be full of marine wonders and +is intensely interesting; its various forms of life and +marine vegetation would fill volumes. The Great +Barrier Coral Reef of Australia, the marvellous extent +of which was first made known by Captain Cook, is +one of the wonders of the universe. Its linear +measurement is no less than 1,250 miles, extending +from 9-1/2 deg. of south latitude to Lady Elliott’s Island, +the most southern true coral islet in the chain or +system. Its whole area lies within the territorial +jurisdiction of Queensland, and the greater portion in +North Queensland of which it forms one of the most +valuable possessions. Raw material to the value of +over £100,000 annually is obtained from the reefs and +waters for exportation. The distance from the main +land to the outer edge or boundary of this gigantic +reef varies from ten or twelve miles to thirty. It is +mostly formed of a chain of detached reefs and coral +islets, many submerged or partially exposed at low +water, with several openings, a few of which offer +secure passage for large vessels.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 260]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> + +SOME LITERARY REMAINS.</h2> + +<p>The late Mr. Palmer had some skill as a versifier, +although the exigencies of his arduous life in +the pioneering days would not permit of his +adding the extra finish to the lines which, more often +than not, were as he himself phrased it, “strung together +as the result of sleepless hours passed during the +nights while camping out on a large cattle run in the +west.” A few of his efforts are here preserved:—</p> + +<p class="title">THE GIDYA TREE.</p> + +<p class="center">(Acacia Homœophylla.)</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Where roll the great plains to the west,</span> +<span class="i1">Near a homestead pleasant to see,</span> +<span class="i0">With far-stretching limbs and spreading crest,</span> +<span class="i1">Grows a grand old acacia tree.</span> +<span class="i0">Nor winter winds, nor sun’s fierce heat</span> +<span class="i1">Can change its staunch solidity,</span> +<span class="i0">For many a century’s storms have beat</span> +<span class="i1">On this great, grey, gidya tree.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">At early morn, their joyous lay,</span> +<span class="i1">The butcher-birds sing in melody.</span> +<span class="i0">And merrily pass the hours away,</span> +<span class="i1">All under the gidya tree.</span> +<span class="i0">The grey doves in its shade rejoice,</span> +<span class="i1">From eyes of kites they’re free,</span> +<span class="i0">And call their loves in plaintive voice,</span> +<span class="i1">From under the gidya tree.</span> +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 261]</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In scarlet bloom, the mistletoe swings,</span> +<span class="i1">From its branches droopingly;</span> +<span class="i0">And all around its odour flings,</span> +<span class="i1">Right under the gidya tree.</span> +<span class="i0">The milk-plant twines its length along,</span> +<span class="i1">As if ’twould hidden be;</span> +<span class="i0">Creeping its way ’mong the leaves so strong,</span> +<span class="i1">Of this ancient gidya tree.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The panting cattle gladly come,</span> +<span class="i1">And sheltered fain would be,</span> +<span class="i0">From burning heat of noonday sun,</span> +<span class="i1">Camped under the gidya tree.</span> +<span class="i0">Like the shade from a great rock cast</span> +<span class="i1">O’er the land so soothing lay;</span> +<span class="i0">All Nature seeks some rest at last,</span> +<span class="i1">Far under the gidya tree.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When life is o’er and troubles past,</span> +<span class="i1">How sweet that rest will be,</span> +<span class="i0">For weary ones who come at last,</span> +<span class="i1">Safe under the gidya tree.</span> +<span class="i0">“Nunc dimittis,” my work is done,</span> +<span class="i1">And soon from care set free;</span> +<span class="i0">That peace I wish will soon be won,</span> +<span class="i1">Deep under the gidya tree.</span> +</div></div> + +<p class="title">MY OLD STOCK HORSE.</p> + +<p class="center">(Norman.)</p> + +<p>“Norman,” a large bay horse, bred on Conobie about +1870, broken in three or four years after, and worked on till +twenty-four or twenty-five years old as a stock horse, and +then nearly as good and safe to ride as ever. A surer, better +stock horse was never ridden, and always ridden by the writer.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I have a friend—I’ve proved him so</span> +<span class="i1">By many a task and token;</span> +<span class="i0">I’ve ridden him long and found him true,</span> +<span class="i1">Since first that he was broken.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 262]</span> +<span class="i0">For twenty years we both have been</span> +<span class="i1">In storm and sunny weather,</span> +<span class="i0">And many a thousand miles we’ve seen,</span> +<span class="i1">Just he and I together.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From Cooktown’s breezy seaborn site,</span> +<span class="i1">By Palmer’s golden river;</span> +<span class="i0">Where Mitchell’s waters clear and bright,</span> +<span class="i1">Roll on their course for ever.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Across the Lynd and Gilbert’s sands,</span> +<span class="i1">And many a rocky river;</span> +<span class="i0">Through trackless desert, forest lands,</span> +<span class="i1">We’ve journeyed oft together.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then on the great grey plains so vast,</span> +<span class="i1">Where the sun’s rays dance and quiver,</span> +<span class="i0">Through scorching heat and south-east blast,</span> +<span class="i1">We’ve toiled on Flinders River.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Through tangled scrubs and broken ground,</span> +<span class="i1">We have often had to scramble;</span> +<span class="i0">To wheel the cunning brumbie’s round,</span> +<span class="i1">From where they love to ramble.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Old Norman ne’er was known to fail,</span> +<span class="i1">Or in the camp to falter,</span> +<span class="i0">And just as sound to-day and hale,</span> +<span class="i1">As when he first wore halter.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Good horse, you well have earned your rest,</span> +<span class="i1">Your mustering days are over;</span> +<span class="i0">For all your time you’ll have the best,</span> +<span class="i1">And pass your life in clover.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Indian’s simple faith is plain,</span> +<span class="i1">That in the land of shadows,</span> +<span class="i0">He’ll have his faithful dog again</span> +<span class="i1">To hunt in misty meadows.</span> +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 263]</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And should a steed a soul attain,</span> +<span class="i1">This surely then will follow—</span> +<span class="i0">I’ll meet that grand old horse again,</span> +<span class="i1">And hail him “Good old fellow!”</span> +</div></div> + +<p class="indent">Conobie, October 8th, 1894.</p> + +<p class="title">THE WATCHER.</p> + +<div class="poem" style="width: 28em;"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The night wind keen and chill is creeping</span> +<span class="i1">Across the plains with moaning sound;</span> +<span class="i0">A rider there his watch is keeping,</span> +<span class="i1">Where cattle camp in peace around.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Southern Cross shines clear and bright,</span> +<span class="i1">And marks the hour that speeds;</span> +<span class="i0">While Nature’s sounds, borne on the night,</span> +<span class="i1">Accustomed to, he little heeds.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The hooting of the mopoke owl</span> +<span class="i1">Floats on the midnight air;</span> +<span class="i0">The prowling dingoe’s dismal howl</span> +<span class="i1">Is chorused wide and far.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The curlew’s cry, so wild and shrill,</span> +<span class="i1">Pierces the air with startling sound;</span> +<span class="i0">While o’er the waters calm and still,</span> +<span class="i1">The wild fowl chase each other round.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He cares not for the keen wind cold,</span> +<span class="i1">Nor for the hour that’s past;</span> +<span class="i0">For thoughts of other days still hold</span> +<span class="i1">His memory to the last.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He minds him of his youth time ever,</span> +<span class="i1">And the farm where he was born;</span> +<span class="i0">The meadows green, and the flowing river,</span> +<span class="i1">And the fields of tasselled corn.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The sweet perfume of the apple’s bloom,</span> +<span class="i1">The sight of the mountain’s blue,</span> +<span class="i0">The drooping willows and yellow broom,</span> +<span class="i1">And waving wheatfields too.</span> +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 264]</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He sees the cows from the pasture land,</span> +<span class="i1">As down the lane they come,</span> +<span class="i0">And sister Nell, with pail in hand,</span> +<span class="i1">To wait their coming home.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He sees again his father ploughing,</span> +<span class="i1">In the old-fashioned sturdy way,</span> +<span class="i0">He hears again the cock’s shrill crowing,</span> +<span class="i1">That waked him oft at break of day.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">His memory takes him back apace,</span> +<span class="i1">To early manhood’s prime,</span> +<span class="i0">When a gentle voice and pleasant face</span> +<span class="i1">Impressed him for all time.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For loving lass and wandering lad,</span> +<span class="i1">Since ever the world began,</span> +<span class="i0">Though parted in grief, the love they had,</span> +<span class="i1">Will come to each again.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">His wayward life he ponders on</span> +<span class="i1">With anguish deep and keen,</span> +<span class="i0">And as the past he looks upon,</span> +<span class="i1">Sadly thinks—it might have been.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But vain regrets will help him not.</span> +<span class="i1">Nor vanished hopes renew;</span> +<span class="i0">He only knows his present lot</span> +<span class="i1">Has duties stern to do.</span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He cares not now whate’er befalls,</span> +<span class="i1">His faith he still will keep;</span> +<span class="i0">The next on watch in turn he calls,</span> +<span class="i1">And folds himself in sleep.</span> +</div></div> + +<p class="indent">Conobie, June 21st, 1894.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 1]</span></p> + +<h2> +LIST OF BOOKS<br /> +<br /> +PUBLISHED BY<br /> +<br /> +ANGUS & ROBERTSON</h2> + +<p class="center">89 CASTLEREAGH STREET, SYDNEY<br /> +<br /> +205 SWANSTON STREET, MELBOURNE</p> + +<p class="center gap4">SOLD IN ENGLAND BY<br /> +<br /> +THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK COMPANY<br /> +<br /> +38 WEST SMITHFIELD, LONDON, E.C.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 2]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p class="title">THE COMMONWEALTH SERIES</p> + +<p class="center">Crown 8vo., 1s. each (<i>post free 1s. 3d. each</i>).</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="The Commonwealth Series books in print"> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b>ON THE TRACK: New Stories.</b></td><td align="right"><i>By HENRY LAWSON</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b>OVER THE SLIPRAILS: New Stories.</b></td><td align="right"><i>By H. LAWSON</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b>POPULAR VERSES.</b></td><td align="right"><i>By HENRY LAWSON</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right"><i>Now first published in book form.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b>HUMOROUS VERSES.</b></td><td align="right"><i>By HENRY LAWSON</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right"><i>Now first published in book form.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b>WHILE THE BILLY BOILS: Australian Stories.</b></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right"><b>First Series.</b></td><td align="right"><i>By HENRY LAWSON</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b>WHILE THE BILLY BOILS: Australian Stories.</b></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right"><b>Second Series.</b></td><td align="right"><i>By HENRY LAWSON</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b>MY CHINEE COOK AND OTHER HUMOROUS VERSES.</b></td><td align="right"><i>By BRUNTON STEPHENS</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b>HISTORY OF AUSTRALASIA:</b> From the Earliest Times to the Inauguration of the Commonwealth.</td><td align="right"><i>By A. W. JOSE</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2"><b>HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN BUSHRANGING.</b></td><td align="right"><i>By CHARLES WHITE</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">Part I.—<span class="smcap">The Early Days</span>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">Part II.—1850 to 1862.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">Part III.—1863 to 1869.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="left">Part IV.—1869 to 1878.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>*<sub>*</sub>* For press notices of these books see the cloth-bound editions +on pages 4, 5, 6, 9 and 13 of this catalogue.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 3]</span></p> + +<p class="title">JOE WILSON AND HIS MATES.</p> + +<blockquote><p>By HENRY LAWSON, Author of “While the Billy +Boils;” “When the World was Wide and Other +Verses;” “Verses, Popular and Humorous;” “On +the Track and Over the Sliprails.”</p> + +<p class="center">Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. (<i>post free 4s.</i>) +in paper covers, 2s. 6d. (<i>post free 3s.</i>)</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>The Athenæum</b> (London): “This is a long way +the best work Mr. Lawson has yet given us. These +stories are so good that (from the literary point +of view, of course) one hopes they are not autobiographical. +As autobiography they would be good; +as pure fiction they are more of an attainment.”</p> + +<p><b>Pall Mall Gazette:</b> “We can see in these rough +diamonds the men who have of late so distinguished +themselves at Eland’s River and elsewhere.”</p> + +<p><b>The Argus:</b> “More tales of the Joe Wilson series +are promised, and this will be gratifying to Mr. +Lawson’s admirers, for on the whole the sketches are +the best work the writer has so far accomplished.”</p> + +<p><b>The Academy:</b>—“I have never read anything in +modern English literature that is so absolutely democratic +in tone, so much the real thing, as <i>Joe Wilson’s +Courtship</i>. And so with all Lawson’s tales and sketches. +Tolstoy and Howells, and Whitman and Kipling, and +Zola and Hauptmann and Gorky have all written +descriptions of ‘democratic’ life; but none of these +celebrated authors, not even Maupassant himself, has +so absolutely taken us inside the life as do the tales +<i>Joe Wilson’s Courtship</i> and <i>A Double Buggy at Lahey’s +Creek</i>, and it is this rare convincing tone of this Australian +writer that gives him a great value. The +most casual ‘newspapery’ and apparently artless art +of this Australian writer carries with it a truer, finer, +more delicate commentary on life than all the idealistic +works of any of our genteel school of writers.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span></p> + +<p class="title">VERSES: POPULAR AND +HUMOROUS.</p> + +<blockquote><p>By HENRY LAWSON, Author of “When the +World was Wide, and Other Verses,” “Joe Wilson +and His Mates,” “On the Track and Over the Sliprails,” +and “While the Billy Boils.”</p> + +<p class="center">Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. (<i>post free 4s.</i>).</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>For Cheaper Edition see Commonwealth Series, page 2.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="smcap">Francis Thompson</span>, in <b>The Daily Chronicle</b>: “He +is a writer of strong and ringing ballad verse, who +gets his blows straight in, and at his best makes them +all tell. He can vignette the life he knows in a few +touches, and in this book shows an increased power of +selection.”</p> + +<p><b>Academy</b>: “Mr. Lawson’s work should be well +known to our readers; for we have urged them often +enough to make acquaintance with it. He has the +gift of movement, and he rarely offers a loose rhyme. +Technically, short of anxious lapidary work, these +verses are excellent. He varies sentiment and humour +very agreeably.”</p> + +<p><b>New York Evening Journal:</b> “Such pride as a +man feels when he has true greatness as his guest, +this newspaper feels in introducing to a million +readers a man of ability hitherto unknown to them. +Henry Lawson is his name.”</p> + +<p><b>The Book Lover:</b> “Any book of Lawson’s should +be bought and treasured by all who care for the real +beginnings of Australian literature. As a matter of +fact, he is the one Australian literary product, in any +distinctive sense.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span></p> + +<p class="title">ON THE TRACK AND OVER +THE SLIPRAILS.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Stories by HENRY LAWSON, Author of “While +the Billy Boils,” “Joe Wilson and his Mates,” +“When the World Was Wide and Other Verses,” +and “Verses, Popular and Humorous.”</p> + +<p class="center">Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. (<i>post free 4s.</i>).</p> + +<p class="center"><i>For Cheaper Edition see Commonwealth Series, page 2.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Daily Chronicle:</b> “Will well sustain the reputation +its author has already won as the best writer of +Australian short stories and sketches the literary +world knows. Henry Lawson has the art, possessed +in such eminent degree by Mr. J. M. Barrie, of +sketching in a character and suggesting a whole +life-story in a single sentence.”</p> + +<p><b>Pall Mall Gazette:</b> “The volume now received will +do much to enhance the author’s reputation. There +is all the quiet irresistible humour of Dickens in the +description of ‘The Darling River,’ and the creator +of ‘Truthful James’ never did anything better in +the way of character sketches than Steelman and +Mitchell. Mr. Lawson has a master’s sense of what +is dramatic, and he can bring out strong effects in a +few touches. Humour and pathos, comedy and +tragedy, are equally at his command.”</p> + +<p><b>Glasgow Herald:</b> “Mr. Lawson must now be +regarded as facile princeps in the production of the +short tale. Some of these brief and even slight +sketches are veritable gems that would be spoiled by +an added word, and without a word that can be looked +upon as superfluous.”</p> + +<p><b>Melbourne Punch:</b> “Often the little stories are +wedges cut clean out of life, and presented with +artistic truth and vivid colour.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span></p> + +<p class="title">WHILE THE BILLY BOILS.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Stories by HENRY LAWSON, Author of “When +the World Was Wide and Other Verses,” “Joe +Wilson and his Mates,” “On the Track and Over +the Sliprails,” and “Verses, Popular and Humorous.”</p> + +<p>Twenty-third Thousand. With eight plates +and vignette title, by F. P. Mahony. Crown +8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. (<i>post free 4s.</i>).</p> + +<p class="center"><i>For Cheaper Edition see Commonwealth Series, page 2.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><b>The Academy:</b> “A book of honest, direct, sympathetic, +humorous writing about Australia from within +is worth a library of travellers’ tales.... The +result is a real book—a book in a hundred. His +language is terse, supple, and richly idiomatic. He +can tell a yarn with the best.”</p> + +<p><b>Literature:</b> “A book which Mrs. Campbell Praed +assured me made her feel that all she had written of +bush life was pale and ineffective.”</p> + +<p><b>The Spectator:</b> “It is strange that one we would +venture to call the greatest Australian writer should +be practically unknown in England. Mr. Lawson +is a less experienced writer than Mr. Kipling, and +more unequal, but there are two or three sketches in +this volume which for vigour and truth can hold their +own with even so great a rival.”</p> + +<p><b>The Times:</b> “A collection of short and vigorous +studies and stories of Australian life and character. +A little in Bret Harte’s manner, crossed, perhaps, with +that of Guy de Maupassant.”</p> + +<p><b>The Scotsman:</b> “There is no lack of dramatic +imagination in the construction of the tales; and the +best of them contrive to construct a strong sensational +situation in a couple of pages.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span></p> + +<p class="title">WHEN THE WORLD WAS WIDE +AND OTHER VERSES.</p> + +<blockquote><p>By HENRY LAWSON, Author of “While the Billy +Boils;” “Joe Wilson and his Mates,” “On the +Track and Over the Sliprails,” and “Verses, Popular +and Humorous.”</p> + +<p>Eleventh Thousand. With photogravure +portrait and vignette title. Crown 8vo, +cloth gilt, gilt top, 5s. (<i>post free 5s. 5d.</i>).</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Presentation edition, French Morocco, gilt edges, 9s.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><b>The Speaker</b> (<span class="smcap">London</span>): “There are poems in ‘In +the Days when the World was Wide’ which are of a +higher mood than any yet heard in distinctively Australian +poetry.”</p> + +<p><b>The Academy:</b> “These ballads (for such they mostly +are) abound in spirit and manhood, in the colour and +smell of Australian soil. They deserve the popularity +which they have won in Australia, and which, we +trust, this edition will now give them in England.”</p> + +<p><b>Newcastle Weekly Chronicle:</b> “Swinging, rhythmic +verse.”</p> + +<p><b>Sydney Morning Herald:</b> “The verses have +natural vigour, the writer has a rough, true faculty +of characterisation, and the book is racy of the soil +from cover to cover.”</p> + +<p><b>Bulletin:</b> “How graphic he is, how natural, how +true, how strong.”</p> + +<p><b>Otago Witness:</b> “It were well to have such books +upon our shelves.... They are true history.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER +AND OTHER VERSES.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center">By A. B. PATERSON.</p> + +<p>Twenty-Seventh Thousand. With photogravure +portrait and vignette title. Crown +8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 5s. (<i>post free +5s. 5d.</i>).</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>Presentation edition, French Morocco, gilt edges, 9s.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><b>The Literary Year Book:</b> “The immediate +success of this book of bush ballads is without parallel +in Colonial literary annals, nor can any living English +or American poet boast so wide a public, always +excepting Mr. Rudyard Kipling.”</p> + +<p><b>The Times:</b> “At his best he compares not unfavourably +with the author of ‘Barrack Room Ballads.’”</p> + +<p><b>Spectator:</b> “These lines have the true lyrical cry +in them. Eloquent and ardent verses.”</p> + +<p><b>Athenæum:</b> “Swinging, rattling ballads of ready +humour, ready pathos, and crowding adventure.... +Stirring and entertaining ballads about great +rides, in which the lines gallop like the very hoofs of +the horses.”</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">A. Patchett Martin</span>, in <b>Literature</b> (London): +“In my opinion it is the absolutely un-English, +thoroughly Australian style and character of these +new bush bards which has given them such immediate +popularity, such wide vogue, among all classes of the +rising native generation.”</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>London: Macmillan & Co., Limited.</i><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE POETICAL WORKS OF +BRUNTON STEPHENS.</p> + +<blockquote><p>New edition, with photogravure portrait. +Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, 5s.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>See also Commonwealth Series, page 2.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Sydney Morning Herald (N.S.W.):</b> “‘The Poetical +Works of Brunton Stephens’ is a book which every +Australian should have on his bookshelves, whether +these bookshelves cover walls or are merely the small +collection which the man of taste, however shrunken +his purse, is bound to make. Brunton Stephens +deserves his place in even the smallest of collections. +The chief of Australian poets he has contributed to +English literature work of distinguished merit. He is +many-sided, embracing all sorts and conditions of men +and things.”</p> + +<p><b>The Melbourne Argus:</b> “Mr. Brunton Stephens +has for some years enjoyed an established reputation +as one of the best among the small and select +cluster of Australian poets.... Mr. +Stephens is specially favoured, in that he not only has +at command a vein of true pathos, but he has moments +of real humour. In more than one poem, too, he has +made good his right to be regarded as the poet of +brotherhood and the prophet of federation.”</p> + +<p><b>The Melbourne Age:</b> “It is certainly one of the +happiest of his efforts, and exhibits alike his copious +vocabulary and his mastery of a most attractive form of +metre.... A poet, both in thought and feeling.”</p> + +<p><b>Newcastle (N.S.W.) Morning Herald:</b> “Of the +rapidly lengthening roll of Australian writers, none +deserves a higher place than Brunton Stephens. For +more than a generation he has charmed his countrymen +with his exquisite verse.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span></p> + +<p class="title">RHYMES FROM THE MINES +AND OTHER LINES.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center">By EDWARD DYSON, Author of “A Golden Shanty.”</p> + +<p>Second Thousand. With photogravure +portrait and vignette title. Crown 8vo, +cloth gilt, gilt top, 5s. (<i>post free, 5s. 5d.</i>).</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Presentation edition, French Morocco, gilt edges, 9s.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">FOR THE TERM OF HIS +NATURAL LIFE.</p> + +<p class="center">By MARCUS CLARKE.</p> + +<blockquote><p>With a Memoir of the Author, by A. B. +<span class="smcap">Paterson</span>, Portrait of the Author, Map of +Eagle Hawk Neck and the vicinity, and +14 full-page views of places mentioned in +the book. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, +3s. 6d. (<i>post free, 4s.</i>)</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">RIO GRANDE’S LAST RACE AND +OTHER VERSES.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center">By A. B. PATERSON.</p> + +<p>This is issued uniform with the Snowy River Series +at 5s. The contents are quite up to the standard of +“The Man from Snowy River,” and as the demand +is certain to be very large we would ask the Trade +to place their orders at once.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span></p> + +<p class="title">FLOOD-TIDE.</p> + +<blockquote><p>By SARAH P. McL. GREENE, Author of “Vesty +of the Basins,” &c.</p> + +<p class="center">Cloth, 3s. 6d.; paper, 2s. 6d.</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>The Argus</b> (<span class="smcap">Albany, N.Y.</span>): “‘Flood-Tide’ is +a strong dramatic story of primitive life in a hamlet +coast town in Maine. It is a study of human nature +set in primitive surroundings, and is full of the +pathos and humour of life’s little comedies. ‘Flood-Tide’ +is full of ‘characters.’ There is Johnny +Dinsmore, whose wayward humours and mischievous +pranks keep his mother and the whole neighbourhood +on thorns, and who is one of the most delightful +young imps ever turned loose in fiction, not even +excepting Sentimental Tommy. Captain Shale, with +his scraps of rustic philosophy, is a quaint original, +worthy of David Harum’s companionship. His +reflections on the subject of clothes are of a piece +with those of Teufelsdrochk: ‘The world’s a-dyin’ +of clo’s. So fur as I can see, the sons o’ men is pretty +much all a-strugglin’ for one kind and another o’ +clo’s; that’s what it amounts to....”</p> + +<p class="title">THE SPIRIT OF THE BUSH FIRE +AND OTHER AUSTRALIAN FAIRY +TALES. <span class="smcap">By</span> J. M. WHITFELD.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Second Thousand. With 32 illustrations +by G. W. Lambert. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, +2s. 6d. (<i>post free, 3s.</i>).</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span></p> + +<p class="title">TEENS. A Story of Australian Schoolgirls.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">By</span> LOUISE MACK.</p> + +<p>Fourth Thousand. With 14 full-page illustrations +by F. P. Mahony. Crown 8vo, cloth +gilt, 2s. 6d.</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Sydney Morning Herald:</b> “Ought to be welcome +to all who feel the responsibility of choosing the reading +books of the young ... its gaiety, impulsiveness, +and youthfulness will charm them.”</p> + +<p><b>Sydney Daily Telegraph:</b> “Nothing could be +more natural, more sympathetic.”</p> + +<p><b>The Australasian:</b> “‘Teens’ is a pleasantly-written +story, very suitable for a present or a school prize.”</p> + +<p><b>Bulletin:</b> “It is written so well that it could not be +written better.”</p> + +<p class="title">GIRLS TOGETHER.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A Sequel to “Teens.” <span class="smcap">By</span> LOUISE MACK.</p> + +<p>Third Thousand. Illustrated by G. W. +Lambert. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s. 6d.</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Sydney Morning Herald:</b> “‘Girls Together’ should +be in the library of every girl who likes a pleasant +story of real life.... Older people will read it for +its bright touches of human nature.”</p> + +<p><b>Queenslander:</b> “A story told in a dainty style that +makes it attractive to all. It is fresh, bright, and +cheery, and well worth a place on any Australian +bookshelf.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE ANNOTATED CONSTITUTION +OF THE AUSTRALIAN +COMMONWEALTH.</p> + +<blockquote><p>By Sir JOHN QUICK <span class="smcap">and</span> R. R. GARRAN, C.M.G. +Royal 8vo, cloth gilt, 21s.</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>The Times:</b> “The Annotated Constitution of the +Australian Commonwealth is a monument of industry.... +Dr. Quick and Mr. Garran have collected, +with patience and enthusiasm, every sort of information, +legal and historical, which can throw light on +the new measure. The book has evidently been a +labour of love.”</p> + +<p class="title">HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN +BUSHRANGING. <span class="smcap">by</span> CHARLES WHITE.</p> + +<blockquote><p>To be completed in two vols. Crown 8vo, +cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. each.</p> + +<p class="center"> +[<i>Vol. I. now ready. Vol. II. now ready</i><br /> +<br /> +<i>For Cheaper Edition see Commonwealth Series, page 2.</i><br /> +<br /> +Press Notices of Volume I.<br /> +</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Year Book of Australia:</b> “There is ‘romance’ +enough about it to make it of permanent interest as a +peculiar and most remarkable stage in our social +history.”</p> + +<p><b>Queenslander:</b> “Mr. White has supplied material +enough for twenty such novels as ‘Robbery Under +Arms.’”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE GROWTH OF THE EMPIRE.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A Handbook to the History of Greater Britain.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By</span> ARTHUR W. JOSE, Author of “A Short History +of Australasia.”</p> + +<p>Second Edition. With 14 Maps. Crown +8vo, cloth gilt, 5s. (<i>post free, 5s. 6d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Morning Post:</b> “This book is published in Sydney, +but it deserves to be circulated throughout the United +Kingdom. The picture of the fashion in which British +enterprise made its way from settlement to settlement +has never been drawn more vividly than in these pages. +Mr. Jose’s style is crisp and pleasant, now and then +even rising to eloquence on his grand theme. His +book deserves wide popularity, and it has the rare +merit of being so written as to be attractive alike to +the young student and to the mature man of letters.”</p> + +<p><b>Literature:</b> “He has studied thoroughly, and +writes vigorously.... Admirably done.... +We commend it to Britons the world over.”</p> + +<p><b>Saturday Review:</b> “He writes Imperially; he also +often writes sympathetically.... We cannot +close Mr. Jose’s creditable account of our misdoings +without a glow of national pride.”</p> + +<p><b>Yorkshire Post:</b> “A brighter short history we do +not know, and this book deserves for the matter and +the manner of it to be as well known as Mr. +McCarthy’s ‘History of Our Own Times.’”</p> + +<p><b>The Scotsman:</b> “This admirable work is a solid +octavo of more than 400 pages. It is a thoughtful, +well written, and well-arranged history. There are +fourteen excellent maps to illustrate the text.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span></p> + +<p class="title">HISTORY OF AUSTRALASIA.</p> + +<blockquote><p>From the Earliest Times to the Inauguration of the +Commonwealth.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By</span> ARTHUR W. JOSE, Author of “The Growth of +the Empire.” The chapter on Federation revised by +R. R. Garran, C.M.G.</p> + +<p>With 6 maps and 64 portraits and illustrations. +Crown 8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. (<i>post free +1s. 10d.</i>). <i>For Cheaper Edition see Commonwealth Series, page 2.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><b>The Book Lover:</b> “The ignorance of the average +Australian youth about the brief history of his native +land is often deplorable.... ‘A Short History +of Australasia,’ by Arthur W. Jose, just provides the +thing wanted. Mr. Jose’s previous historical work +was most favourably received in England, and this +story of our land is capitally done. It is not too long, +and it is brightly written. Its value is considerably +enhanced by the useful maps and interesting illustrations. +A very good book to give to a boy.”</p> + +<p><b>Victorian Education Gazette:</b> “The language is +graphic and simple, and there is much evidence of +careful work and acquaintance with original documents, +which give the reader confidence in the +accuracy of the details. The low price of the book +leaves young Australia no excuse for remaining in +ignorance of the history of their native land.”</p> + +<p><b>Town and Country Journal:</b> “His language is +graphic and simple, and he has maintained the unity +and continuity of the story of events despite the +necessity of following the subject along the seven +branches corresponding with the seven separate +colonies.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE GEOLOGY OF SYDNEY AND +THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A Popular Introduction to the Study of Australian +Geology.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By Rev.</span> J. MILNE CURRAN, Lecturer in +Chemistry and Geology, Technical College, Sydney.</p> + +<p>Second Edition. With a Glossary of Scientific +terms, a Reference List of commonly-occurring +Fossils, 2 coloured maps, and 83 +illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. +(<i>post free, 6s. 6d.</i>)</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Nature:</b> “This is, strictly speaking, an elementary +manual of geology. The general plan of the work is +good; the book is well printed and illustrated with +maps, photographic pictures of rock structure and +scenery, and figures of fossils and rock sections.”</p> + +<p><b>Saturday Review:</b> “His style is animated and +inspiring, or clear and precise, as occasion demands. +The people of Sydney are to be congratulated on the +existence of such a guide to their beautiful country.”</p> + +<p><b>Literary World:</b> “We can heartily recommend the +book as a very interesting one, written in a much +more readable style than is usual in works of this +kind.”</p> + +<p><b>South Australian Register:</b> “Mr. Curran has extracted +a charming narrative of the earth’s history out +of the prosaic stone. Though he has selected Sydney +rocks for his text, his discourse is interestingly Australian.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span></p> + +<p class="title">SIMPLE TESTS FOR MINERALS; +Or, Every Man his Own Analyst.</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">By</span> JOSEPH CAMPBELL, M.A., F.G.S., M.I.M.E.</p> + +<p>Fourth Edition, revised and enlarged (completing +the ninth thousand). With illustrations. +Cloth, round corners, 3s. 6d. +(<i>post free 3s. 9d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">THE KINGSWOOD COOKERY +BOOK.</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">By Mrs.</span> WICKEN, M.C.A., Late Teacher of Cookery, +Technical College, Sydney.</p> + +<p>Fifth edition, revised, completing the Nineteenth +Thousand. 382 pages, crown 8vo, +paper cover, 1s; cloth, 1s. 6d. (<i>postage 4d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">ANSWERS TO TAYLOR’S +METRIC SYSTEM. 6d. (<i>post free 7d.</i>).</p> + +<p class="title">PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN’S +MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION +COOKERY BOOK.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Seventh Edition, enlarged, completing the +45th Thousand. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1s. +(<i>post free 1s. 2d.</i>).</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE METRIC SYSTEM OF +WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, AND +DECIMAL COINAGE.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">By</span> J. M. TAYLOR, M.A., LL.B.</p> + +<p>With Introductory Notes on the nature of +Decimals, and contracted methods for the +Multiplication and Division of Decimals. +Crown 8vo, 6d. (<i>post free 7d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>N.S.W. Educational Gazette:</b> “A masterly and +elaborate treatise for the use of schools on a subject +of world-wide interest and importance.... In +commercial life a knowledge of the metric system has +been for some years essential, and it is, therefore, +fitting that its underlying principles should be taught +in our schools concurrently with reduction, and practised +systematically in the more advanced grades. +For this purpose the book is unquestionably the best +we have seen.”</p> + +<p class="title">A NEW BOOK OF SONGS FOR +SCHOOLS AND SINGING +CLASSES.</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">By</span> HUGO ALPEN, Superintendent of Music +Department of Public Instruction, New South Wales.</p> + +<p>8vo, paper cover. 1s. (<i>post free 1s. 2d.</i>).</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE ELEMENTS OF EUCLID.</p> + +<blockquote><p>With Historical Introduction, Notes, Appendices +and Miscellaneous Examples.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By</span> J. D. ST. CLAIR MACLARDY, M.A., Lecturer +at the Training Colleges and Examiner for the New +South Wales Department of Public Instruction.</p> + +<p>Books I.-IV. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. (<i>post +free 3s. 10d.</i>). Book I., separately, cloth, +1s. 6d. (<i>post free 1s. 9d.</i>).</p> + +<p>Books V.-VI. Cloth, 1s. 6d. (<i>post free +1s. 9d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>N.S.W. Educational Gazette:</b> “The most complete +and logical discussion of this part of the works of the +great geometer that we have seen. An unusual +amount of care has been bestowed on the initiatory +stages, the definitions, axioms, and postulates being +treated with commendable fulness.... The +brevity, simplicity, and perspicuity of his methods will +appeal forcibly to students.... Mr. Maclardy +adheres to the plan of simplifying the proofs and +reducing the verbiage to a minimum, and has added a +contribution to mathematical literature which we +regard as indispensable.”</p> + +<p><b>Victorian Educational Gazette:</b> “Among the +legion of editions of Euclid, Mr. Maclardy’s takes an +honourable place. There are many features that are +the result of the author’s long experience as a lecturer +and examiner in mathematics. He has evidently +taken a pride in making his work as perfect as +possible.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span></p> + +<p class="title">ENGLISH GRAMMAR, COMPOSITION, +AND PRÉCIS WRITING.</p> + +<blockquote><p>For Use by Candidates for University and Public +Service Exams.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By</span> JAMES CONWAY, Headmaster at Cleveland-street +Superior Public School, Sydney.</p> + +<p>Prescribed by the Department of Public +Instruction, N.S.W., for First and Second +Class Teachers’ Certificate Examinations. +New edition, revised and enlarged. +Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. (<i>post free +3s. 10d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Sydney Morning Herald:</b> “To its concise and +admirable arrangement of rules and definitions, which +holds good wherever the English language is spoken +or written, is added special treatment of special +difficulties. Mr. Conway adopts the excellent plan of +taking certain papers, and of answering the questions +in detail.... Should be in the hands of every +teacher.”</p> + +<p><b>Victorian Educational News:</b> “A book which we +can heartily recommend as the most suitable we have +yet met with to place in the hands of students for our +intermediate examinations, and also for matriculation, +pupil teachers’ and certificate of competency examinations. +We should be glad to see the work set down +in the syllabus of the Department so that it would +reach the hands of all the students and teachers +engaged in studying the subject in our State +schools.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span></p> + +<p class="title">A SMALLER ENGLISH +GRAMMAR, COMPOSITION, +AND PRÉCIS WRITING.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">By</span> JAMES CONWAY.</p> + +<p>Prescribed by the Department of Public +Instruction, N.S.W., for Third Class and +Pupil Teachers’ Examinations. New +edition, revised and enlarged. Crown 8vo, +cloth, 1s. 6d. (<i>post free 1s. 9d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>N.S.W. Educational Gazette:</b> “The abridgment +is very well done. One recognises the hand of a man +who has had long experience of the difficulties of +this subject.”</p> + +<p class="title">GEOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH +WALES. <span class="smcap">By</span> J. M. TAYLOR, M.A., LL.B.</p> + +<blockquote><p>New Edition, revised. With 37 illustrations +and 6 folding maps. Crown 8vo, cloth +gilt, 3s. 6d. (<i>post free 3s. 10d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Sydney Morning Herald:</b> “Something more than +a school book; it is an approach to an ideal geography.”</p> + +<p><b>Review of Reviews:</b> “It makes a very attractive +handbook. Its geography is up to date; it is not +overburdened with details, and it is richly illustrated +with geological diagrams and photographs of scenery +reproduced with happy skill.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span></p> + +<p class="title">CAUSERIES FAMILIÈRES; OR, +FRIENDLY CHATS. A Simple and +Deductive French Course. <span class="smcap">By Mrs. S. C. Boyd</span>.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Prescribed for use in schools by the Department of +Public Instruction, New South Wales. Pupils’ Edition, +containing all that need be in the hands of the learner. +Crown 8vo, cloth, limp, 1s. 6d. (<i>post free 1s. 8d.</i>). +Teachers’ Edition, containing grammatical summaries, +exercises, a full treatise on pronunciation, French-English +and English-French Vocabulary, and other +matter for the use of the teacher or of a student +without a master. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. +(<i>post free, 3s. 10d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>The London Spectator:</b> “A most excellent and +practical little volume, evidently the work of a trained +teacher. It combines admirably and in an entertaining +form the advantages of the conversational with those +of the grammatical method of learning a language.”</p> + +<p class="title">THE AUSTRALIAN OBJECT +LESSON BOOK.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Part I.—For Infant and Junior Classes. +With 43 illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth +gilt, 3s. 6d.; paper cover, 2s. 6d. (<i>postage, +4d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>N.S.W. Educational Gazette:</b> “Mr. Wiley has +wisely adopted the plan of utilising the services of +specialists. The series is remarkably complete, and +includes almost everything with which the little +learners ought to be made familiar. Throughout +the whole series the lessons have been selected +with judgment and with a due appreciation of the +capacity of the pupils for whose use they are intended.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 23]</span></p> + +<p class="title">AUSTRALIAN SONGS FOR +AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Mrs. MAYBANKE ANDERSON.</span></p> + +<p>All the songs are set to music, while to +some of them appropriate calisthenic exercises +are given. Demy 4to, picture cover, 1s.</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Sydney Morning Herald:</b> “This is a prettily got +up little book, in which the music of old songs or +old melodies has been set to verses having reference +to this country. The verses are in every case simple +and good, suited to children and to the illustration by +action for which directions are given in a foot note. +‘Australia Fair,’ to a melody by Gluck, is the tune +which the late Carl Formes and Signor Foli made +popular as ‘The Mill Wheel.’ ‘The Gum Tree,’ to the +tune of ‘Banker’s Wallet,’ is a capital song for little +children, and ‘The Bonnie Orange Tree,’ to the tune +of ‘Come, Landlord, Fill your Flowing Bowl,’ has +really charming verses. ‘The Little Grey Bandicoot,’ +again, has first-rate verse. The publication as a +whole should prove popular.”</p> + +<p class="title">THE AUSTRALIAN LETTERING +BOOK.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Containing the Alphabets most useful in +Mapping, Exercise Headings, &c., with +practical applications, Easy Scrolls, Flourishes, +Borders, Corners, Rulings, &c. +Second Edition. New Edition, revised and +enlarged, cloth limp, 6d. (<i>post free 7d.</i>).</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 24]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE AUSTRALIAN OBJECT +LESSON BOOK.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Part II.—For advanced classes. With 113 +illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.; +paper cover, 2s. 6d. (<i>postage 4d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>Victorian Education Gazette:</b> “Mr. Wiley and his +colleagues have provided a storehouse of useful information +on a great number of topics that can be taken +up in any Australian school.”</p> + +<p><b>N.S.W. Educational Gazette:</b> “The Australian +Object Lesson Book is evidently the result of infinite +patience and deep research on the part of its compiler, +who is also to be commended for the admirable +arrangement of his matter.”</p> + +<p class="title">THE AUSTRALIAN +PROGRESSIVE SONGSTER.</p> + +<blockquote><p>By <span class="smcap">S. McBurney</span>, Mus. Doc., Fellow T.S.F. College.</p> + +<p>Containing graded Songs, Rounds and Exercises +in Staff Notation, Tonic Sol-fa and +Numerals, with Musical Theory. Price, 6d. +each part; combined, 1s. (<i>postage 1d. each +part</i>).</p> + +<p> +<b>No. 1.</b>—For Junior Classes.<br /> +<br /> +<b>No. 2.</b>—For Senior Classes.<br /></p></blockquote> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 25]</span></p> + +<p class="title">GEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIA +AND NEW ZEALAND.</p> + +<blockquote><p>With Definitions of Geographical Terms.</p> + +<p>Second Edition, with 8 maps and 19 illustrations. +64 pages. 6d. (<i>post free 7d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE, +ASIA AND AMERICA.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Second Edition, with 14 relief and other +maps, and 18 illustrations of transcontinental +views, distribution of animals, &c. +84 pages. 6d. (<i>post free 7d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">GEOGRAPHY OF NEW SOUTH +WALES.</p> + +<blockquote><p>With five folding maps. 48 pages. 6d. +(<i>post free 7d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">GEOGRAPHY OF AFRICA.</p> + +<blockquote><p>With five maps in relief, &c. 64 pages. +6d. (<i>post free 7d.</i>).</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 26]</span></p> + +<p class="title">AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL SERIES.</p> + +<blockquote><p><b>Grammar and Derivation Book.</b> 64 pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Test Exercises in Grammar for 3rd Class, 1st Year.</b> +64 pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Test Exercises in Grammar for 3rd Class, 2nd Year.</b> +64 pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Table Book and Mental Arithmetic.</b> 48 pages. +1d.</p> + +<p><b>Chief Events and Dates in English History.</b> Part +I. From 55 B.C. to 1485 A.D. 50 pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Chief Events and Dates in English History.</b> Part +II. From Henry VII. (1486) to Victoria (1900). 64 +pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>History of Australia.</b> 80 pages. 4d. Illustrated.</p> + +<p><b>Geography.</b> Part I. Australasia and Polynesia. 64 +pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Geography.</b> Part II. Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. +66 pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Euclid.</b> Book I. With Definitions, Postulates, Axioms, +&c. 64 pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Euclid.</b> Book II. With Definitions and Exercises on +Books I. and II. 32 pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Euclid.</b> Book III. With University “Junior” Papers +1891-1897. 60 pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Arithmetic—Exercises for Class II.</b> 49 pages. 2d. +Answers, 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Arithmetic—Exercises for Class III.</b> 66 pages. 2d. +Answers, 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Arithmetic—Exercises for Class IV.</b> 65 pages. 2d. +Answers, 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Arithmetic and Mensuration—Exercises for Class +V.</b> With the Arithmetic Papers set at the Sydney +University Junior, the Public Service, the Sydney +Chamber of Commerce, and the Bankers’ Institute +Examinations to 1900, &c. 112 pages. 4d. +Answers, 4d.</p> + +<p><b>Algebra.</b> Part I. 49 pages. 2d. +Answers, 2d.<span class="pagenum">[Pg 27]</span></p> + +<p><b>Algebra.</b> Part II. To Quadratic Equations. Contains +over twelve hundred Exercises, including the University +Junior, the Public Service, the Sydney Chamber +of Commerce, and the Bankers’ Institute Examination +Papers to 1900, &c. 112 pages. 4d. Answers, 4d.</p> + +<p><b>Full Solutions of all Algebra Papers</b> set at 1st and +2nd Class Teachers’ Examinations from 1894 to 1901 +(inclusive), by W. L. Atkins, B.A. (<i>Post free 5s.</i>).</p> + +<p><b>Full Solution of all Arithmetic Papers</b> set at 1st, +2nd and 3rd Class Teachers’ Examinations from 1894 +to 1901 (inclusive), by J. M. Taylor, M.A., LL.B. +(<i>Post free 2s. 6d.</i>)</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>N.S.W. Educational Gazette:</b> “Messrs. Angus and +Robertson forward us ‘Solutions of the First, Second +and Third Class Teachers’ Arithmetic Papers,’ and +‘Solutions of the First and Second Class Teachers’ +Algebra Papers.’ Both may be at once pronounced +indispensable to teachers preparing for any of these +grades. The solutions throughout are neat, clear, +and concise, and will show intending candidates not +only how to obtain the desired results, but how to do +so in a manner calculated to secure full marks from +the examiners.”</p> + +<p class="title">THE AUSTRALASIAN +CATHOLIC SCHOOL SERIES.</p> + +<blockquote><p><b>History of Australia and New Zealand for Catholic +Schools</b>, 128 pages. 4d.</p> + +<p><b>Pupil’s Companion to the Australian Catholic +First Reader</b>, 32 pages. 1d.</p> + +<p><b>Pupil’s Companion to the Australian Catholic +Second Reader</b>, 64 pages. 2d.</p> + +<p><b>Pupil’s Companion to the Australian Catholic +Third Reader</b>, 112 pages. 3d.</p> + +<p><b>Pupil’s Companion to the Australian Catholic +Fourth Reader</b>, 160 pages. 4d.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 28]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE AUSTRALIAN DRAWING +BOOK.</p> + +<blockquote><p>By F. W. WOODHOUSE, Superintendent of Drawing, +Department of Public Instruction, New South Wales.</p> + +<p>Approved by the Department of Public +Instruction for use in the Public Schools of +New South Wales. Price, 3d. each.</p> + +<p>No. 1A—Elementary, Straight Lines, Curves and Simple +Figures.</p> + +<p>Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4—Graduated Elementary Freehand, +Regular Forms, Simple Designs, &c.</p> + +<p>Nos. 5 and 6—Foliage, Flowers, Ornaments, Vase +Forms, &c.</p> + +<p>No. 7—Book of Blank Pages.</p></blockquote> + +<p><b>N.S.W. Educational Gazette:</b> “This series of +drawing books has been arranged by the Superintendent +of Drawing for the purpose of enabling +teachers and pupils to meet fully the requirements of +the Public School Syllabus of 1899. It consists of +seven numbers, designed for the third, fourth and fifth +classes respectively, and there is also a book of blank +pages (No. 7). Nos. 1 to 4 treat of elementary +freehand, simple designs, pattern drawing, &c.; Nos. +5 and 6 of foliage, flowers and ornaments. The copies +are excellently designed and executed, and carefully +graduated, and the books are printed on superior +drawing paper. ‘The Australian Drawing Books’ +should be used in every public school in the colony, +first on account of their intrinsic merit, and secondly +because they are the only books that accurately fit our +standard.”</p><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 29]</span></p> + +<p class="title">THE AUSTRALIAN COPY BOOK.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Approved by the Departments of Public +Instruction in New South Wales, Queensland +and Tasmania, by the Public Service Board +of New South Wales, and by the Chief +Inspector of Catholic Schools. Price, 2d. +each.</p> + +<p>No. 1, Initiatory, Short Letters, Short Words; 2, Initiatory, +Long Letters, Words; 3, Text, Capitals, Longer +Words; 4, Half-Text, Short Sentences; 5, Intermediate, +Australian and Geographical Sentences; 6, +Small Hand, Double Ruling, Australian and Geographical +Sentences, Prefixes and Examples; 6A, Text. +Half-Text, Intermediate, Small Hand; 7, Small Hand, +Single Ruling, Maxims, Quotations, Proverbs; 8, +Advanced Small Hand, Abbreviations and Contractions +commonly met with; 9, Commercial Terms and Forms, +Addresses; 10, Commercial Forms, Correspondence, +Addresses; 11, Plain and Ornamental Lettering, +Mapping, Flourishes, &c.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="center"> +<i>Numerals are given in each number.</i></p> + +<p class="title">THE AUSTRALIAN PUPIL +TEACHERS’ COPY BOOK.</p> + +<blockquote><p>A selection of pages from the Australian +Copy Book, arranged for use of Pupil +Teachers. 48 pages. Price, 6d.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 30]</span></p> + +<p class="title">ANGUS AND ROBERTSON’S +PENCIL COPY BOOK.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Approved by the N.S.W. Department of +Public Instruction. In nine numbers. 1d. +each.</p> + +<p>No. 1, Initiatory lines, curves, letters, figures; 2 and 3, +Short letters, easy combinations, figures; 4, Long letters, +short words, figures; 5, Long letters, words, figures; +6, 7, and 8, Capitals, words, figures; 9, Short sentences, +figures.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">GUIDES TO THE NEW SOUTH +WALES PUBLIC SERVICE +EXAMINATIONS.</p> + +<blockquote><p>No. I.—Containing the Papers set in +March, 1899 and Keys thereto, together +with the Regulations and Hints on suitable +Text-books. Cheaper edition. 8vo., paper +cover, 1s. (<i>post free 1s. 1d.</i>).</p> + +<p>No. II.—Containing the Papers set in +August, 1900 and Keys thereto, together +with the revised Regulations and Hints on +suitable Text-books, and the Papers set at +the examination held in December, 1899. +Cheaper edition. 8vo, paper cover, 1s. +(<i>post free 1s. 1d.</i>).</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 31]</span></p> + +<p class="title">CHAMBERS’S GOVERNMENT +HAND COPY BOOKS.</p> + +<blockquote><p>Approved by Department of Public Instruction.</p> + +<p>The Letters are continuously joined to each other, so +that the pupil need not lift the pen from the beginning +to the end of each word. The Spaces between the +letters are wide, each letter thus standing out boldly +and distinctly by itself. The Slope is gentle, but +sufficient to prevent the pupil from acquiring a back +hand. The Curves are well rounded, checking the +tendency to too great angularity. The Writing is not +cramped and confined, plenty of space being allowed +for each word. The Words are spaced by perpendicular +lines, and the lengths of the letters are indicated +by horizontal lines in the early numbers of the series. +These books are now printed in N.S.W. on paper +which has been specially manufactured for the series, +and is of unusually good quality. Price, 2d. each.</p> + +<p>No. 1, Large Hand, Elements, Letters, and Short Words; +2, Half-Text, Short Words without Capitals; 3, Half-Text, +Sentences with Capitals, Figures; 4, Half-Text, +Proper Names with Capitals; 5, Half-Text, Sentences +with Capitals, Figures; 6, Small Round—Double +Ruling, Figures; 7, Small, Double Ruling with Intermediate +Lines; 8, Small, Double Ruling without Intermediate +Lines; 9, Small, Single Ruling—Historical; +10, Small, Single Ruling—Geographical; 11, Small, +with Partial Ruling—Poetical; 12, Small, Commercial—Business +Forms, &c.; 13, For Pupil Teachers.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">CALENDAR OF THE +UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY.</p> + +<blockquote><p>8vo, linen, 2s. 6d.; paper cover, 1s. +(<i>postage 8d.</i>)</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 32]</span></p> + +<p class="title">MANUAL OF PUBLIC +EXAMINATIONS HELD BY +THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY.</p> + +<blockquote><p>8vo, paper cover, 1s. (<i>post free 1s. 3d.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS; +Notes and Tables for the Use of Students.</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">By Rev. J. MILNE CURRAN</span>, Lecturer in Chemistry +and Geology, Technical College, Sydney, Author of +“The Geology of Sydney and the Blue Mountains.”</p> + +<p>With illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, +4s. 6d. (<i>post free 5s.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">THE POSSIBILITY OF A +SCIENCE OF CASUISTRY.</p> + +<blockquote><p>By ERNEST NORTHCROFT MERRINGTON, +B.A. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="title">A SHORT HISTORICAL +ACCOUNT OF THE UNIVERSITY +OF SYDNEY.</p> + +<blockquote><p>By H. E. BARFF, M.A. Demy 8vo, cloth +gilt, 7s. 6d. (<i>post free, 8s.</i>).</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>TRANSCRIBER NOTES:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Punctuation has been normalized without note.</p> + +<p>Alternate and/or archaic spellings have been retained.</p> + +<p>Page 72: “horse’s” changed to “horses’” (so hard on the horses’ feet).</p> + +<p>Page 175: “resouces” changed to “resources” (for its mineral resources.)</p> + +<p>Page 177: “supples” changed to “supplies” (enabled the early settlers to obtain supplies).</p> + +<p>Page 193: “suppresssion” changed to “suppression” (wanton impertinence that would require suppression.)</p> + +<p>Page 195: “swagsmen” changed to “swagmen” (to ration the swagmen as they pass along).</p> + +<p>Page 241: “dessicated” changed to “desiccated” (the land became desiccated, the lakes lost their freshness.)</p> + +<p>Page 254: “crystaline” changed to “crystalline” (the auriferous area is confined to veins traversing a crystalline diorite).</p> + +<p>Page 257: duplicate “the” removed (would include all the palæozoic, metamorphic).</p> + +<p>Advertisement Section:</p> + +<p>Page 14: “setlement” changed to “settlement” (made its way from settlement to settlement).</p></blockquote> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Early Days in North Queensland, by Edward Palmer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY DAYS IN NORTH QUEENSLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 38649-h.htm or 38649-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/6/4/38649/ + +Produced by Pat McCoy, Nick Wall and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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