The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 Part 34

This question was also debated by the early Christian fathers, and perhaps the most remarkable argument against the existence of the ANTICHTONES will be found in the works of the celebrated theologian and venerated father, St. Augustine, who devotes the whole of Chapter IX., Book XVI. of his admirable work, "De Civitate Dei," to the discussion of this knotty question.

"Quod ver," writes St. Augustine, "Antipodes esse fabulantur, id est, homines a contaria parte terrae, ubi sol oritur, quando occidit n.o.bis, adversa pedibus nostris calcare vestigia, nulla ratione credendum est.

Neque hoc ulla historica cognitione didicisse se affirmant, sed quali ratiocinando conjectant, es quod intra con vexa coeli terra suspenda sit, eum demque loc.u.m mundas habeat, et infirmum, et medium: et ex hoc opinantur alteram terra pattern, quae infra est, habitatione hominum carere non posse. Nec adtendunt, etiamsi figura conglobata et rotunda mundus esse credatur, sive aliqua ratione monstretur; non tamen esse consequens, ut etiam ex illa parte ab aquarum congerie nuda sit terra devide etiamus nuda sit, neque hoc statum necesse esse, ut homines habeat, Quoniam nulla modo Scriptura ista ment.i.tur, quae narratis praeteritis facis sidem, eo quod ejus praedicta complentur: nimisque absurdurn est, ut dicatur aliquos hornines ex hae in illam partem, oceani immensitate trajecta, navigare ac pervenive potuisse, ut etiarn illic ex uno illo primo hornine genus inst.i.tueretur hurnanurn?"

The substance of which is: "That there can be nothing more absurd than the belief of some ancient writers who imagined that the land on the opposite side of the world could be inhabited by human beings. Those who made this a.s.sertion admit they have no historical fact to base it upon, and that it is merely a logical deduction of philosophy. But if we accept as true the principles upon which they base their arguments, is it to be necessarily admitted that because these countries are habitable, that they are in reality inhabited. As the Holy Scripture, which is our guide in all matters of belief, makes no mention of this, and as it is an accepted fact that the descendants of our first parents could not have sailed to and reached these countries, how is it possible that they could be inhabited."

Although the existence of a great Austral land was a subject of philosophical and theological discussion among the ancients, they, however, never attempted to sail across that ocean which was the limit of the world they knew. It is possible that the Chinese may have been more bold, but it is very doubtful whether they ever sailed so far south as to land on the coast of the Australian continent. They have left no trace of their pa.s.sage, either on the land itself, or among its inhabitants.

Besides, the Chinese were never very enterprising sailors, the form of their junks, their peculiar sails, and the scantiness of their nautical knowledge prevented them from extending very far the radius of their maritime explorations. Marco Polo is the authority generally quoted in this matter, as he states that the people of Cathay knew of the existence of a great land far to the southward, with the inhabitants of which they were accustomed to trade. This is rather an indefinite description, and might apply to New Guinea as well as to the Australian Continent. More so to the former and the islands surrounding it on the north and east, where evidence exists of the voyage of the Chinese traders and fishermen in search of the precious trepang. But as these holothuriae are generally found in the vicinity of the coral banks of Polynesia, to the eastward of New Guinea, and not in the direction of the Australian coast, there is much reason to think that the Chinese claim to the discovery of this continent is purely mythical, although, like the ancients, they may have believed in its existence as a logical deduction of philosophy.

CHAPTER XVI.

Captain Cook compared to former Visitors--Point Hicks--Botany Bay-First natives seen--Indifference to Overtures--Abundant flora--Entrance to Port Jackson missed--ENDEAVOUR on a reef--Careened--Strange animals--Hostile natives--A sailor's devil--Possession Island-Territory of New South Wales--Torres Straits a pa.s.sage--La Perouse--Probable fate discovered by Captain Dillon--M'Cluer touches Arnheim's Land--Bligh and Portlock--Wreck of the PANDORA--Vancouver in the south--The D'Entrecasteaux quest--Recherche Archipelago--Ba.s.s and Flinders--Navigation and exploration extraordinary--The TOM THUMB--Ba.s.s explores south--Flinders in the Great Bight--Ba.s.s's Straits--Flinders in the INVESTIGATOR--Special instructions--King George's Sound--Lossof boat's crew--Memory Cove--Baudin's courtesy--Port Phillip--INVESTIGATOR and LADY NELSON on East Coast--The Gulf of Carpentaria and early Dutch navigators--Duyfhen Point--Cape Keer-Weer--Mythical rivers charted--Difficulty in recognising their landmarks--Flinders' great disappointment--A rotten s.h.i.+p--Return by way of West Coast--Cape Vanderlin--Dutch Charts--Malay proas, Poba.s.soo--Return to Port Jackson--Wreck of the PORPOISE--Prisoner by the French--General de Caen--Private papers and journals appropriated--Prepares his charts and logs for press--Death--Sympathy by strangers--Forgotten by Australia--The fate of Ba.s.s--Mysterious disappearance--Supposed Death.

The maritime exploration of our coast may be said to have fairly commenced on the morning of the 19th of April, 1770, when Captain Cook first sighted land. True we had many visitors before, [See Introduction.]

but none had given the same attention to the work, with an eye to future colonisation, nor sailed along such an extent of sh.o.r.e.

The present coast of Gippsland was the place that first caught the attention of Lieutenant Hicks on that eventful morning, and Point Hicks received its name in commemoration of the incident.

From this point they sailed eastward, and at the promontory, where the coast turned to the north, the name of Cape Howe was bestowed. Cook, fresh from the sh.o.r.es of New Zealand and its more rugged scenery, was pleasingly impressed with his distant view of Australia, but it must have been the force of contrast only, as the portion of Australia first sighted by him is devoid of interest. No available landing place was seen; the sh.o.r.e was too tame, and for many days they coasted along, looking for a break, or entrance, but none could he found where a safe landing could be effected.

Botany Bay was the spot where the men from the ENDEAVOUR sprang on sh.o.r.e for the first time, and although the flora of the surrounding country brought joy to the heart of Mr. Banks, the botanist, it could not have held out very high hopes of the future to the others.

Here they first saw the natives, "Indians," as Cook calls them, and hoped to effect a peaceable landing. He says:--

"The place where the s.h.i.+p had anch.o.r.ed was abreast of a small village, consisting of about six or eight houses; and while we were preparing to hoist out the boat, we saw an old woman followed by three children come out of the wood; she was loaded with firewood, and each of the children had also its little burden. She often looked at the s.h.i.+p, but expressed neither fear nor surprise. In a short time she kindled a fire, and four canoes came in from fis.h.i.+ng. The men landed, and having hauled up their boats, began to dress their dinner, to all appearances, wholly unconcerned about us, though we were within half-a-mile of them. We thought it remarkable that of all the people we had yet seen, not one had the least appearance of clothing, the old woman herself being dest.i.tute even of a fig leaf.

"After dinner the boats were manned, and we set out from the s.h.i.+p. We intended to land where we saw the people, and began to hope that as they so little regarded the s.h.i.+p's coming into the bay, they would as little regard our coming on sh.o.r.e. In this, however, we were disappointed, for as soon as we approached the rocks, two men came down upon them to dispute our landing, and the rest ran away."

For some time they parleyed with the blacks, and threw them nails, beads, and other trifles, trying to make them understand that only water was wanted, and no harm would be done them; but the natives refused all offers of friends.h.i.+p, and three charges of small shot had to be fired at their legs before they would even allow a peaceable landing.

Many expeditions were made inland for plants, birds, and flowers, also to try if some intercourse could be established with the natives, but after the first contest they would not come near enough to speak to. Nor did they touch any of the presents--beads, ribbons, and cloth, that had been left about and in their huts.

The great quant.i.ty of plants collected here by Mr. Banks induced Cook to give it the name of Botany Bay. The King's colours were hoisted each day of the stay, and the s.h.i.+p's name with the date of the year was inscribed upon one of the trees near the watering place.

Having now provided a supply of fresh water, the anchor was weighed on the 6th of May, and they sailed northward. Unaware of what he had missed, Cook pa.s.sed the entrance of Port Jackson, and followed up the coast for over a thousand miles to the north, without incident or adventure, beyond the routine work of the s.h.i.+p. But, on June 10th, this quiet was rudely broken by the ENDEAVOUR running on a coral reef when off the site of the present town of Cooktown. Fortunately a jagged point of coral stuck in the hole made, and acted as a plug, otherwise this voyage of Cook's would have proved his last, and the history of this continent been much delayed and altered.

Pa.s.sing a sail under the hull, and throwing guns and other stores overboard, Cook got his s.h.i.+p once more afloat, and took her into the mouth of a river (now the Endeavour River) where, on a convenient beach, she was careened, and the carpenters set to work to repair her, whilst a forge was set up, and the smiths occupied making bolts and nails. Many animals strange to them were seen, and among them the first kangaroo. One of the firemen who had been rambling in the woods, told them, on his return, that he verily believed he had seen the devil.

"We naturally enquired in what form he had appeared, and his answer was in so singular a style, that I shall set it down in his own words. 'He was,' says John, 'as large as a one gallon keg, and very like it; he had horns and wings, yet he crept so slowly through the gra.s.s that if I had not been afeared, I might have touched him.' This formidable apparition we afterwards discovered to have been a bat. They have indeed no horns, but the fancy of a man who thought he saw the devil might easily supply that defect."

Many excursions Mr. Banks and the men made inland, finding one very useful plant, at the time when scurvy had appeared among them, a plant that in the West Indies is called Indian Kale, and served them for greens.

Some communication was established with the natives, but it ended as usual by their commencing to steal, and having to be chastised for it. In revenge they set fire to the gra.s.s, and the navigator very nearly lost his whole stock of gunpowder. He was astonished by the extreme inflammability of the gra.s.s and the consequent difficulty in putting it out, and vowed if ever he had to camp in such a situation again, he would first clear the gra.s.s around. Leaving the Endeavour River, Cook, after pa.s.sing through the Barrier Reef and again repa.s.sing it, as he says, "After congratulating ourselves upon pa.s.sing the reef we again congratulate ourselves upon repa.s.sing it," landed no more until he had left Cape York, and there on an island called "Possession Island," he formally took possession of the east coast of New Holland, under the name of New South Wales, for his Majesty King George III.

"AS I WAS ABOUT TO QUIT THE EASTERN COAST OF NEW HOLLAND, WHICH I HAD COASTED FROM LAt.i.tUDE 38 DEG. TO THIS PLACE, AND WHICH I AM CONFIDENT NO EUROPEAN HAD EVER SEEN BEFORE, I ONCE MORE HOISTED ENGLISH COLOURS, AND THOUGH I HAD ALREADY TAKEN POSSESSION OF SEVERAL PARTICULAR PARTS, I NOW TOOK POSSESSION OF THE WHOLE EASTERN COAST, FROM LAt.i.tUDE 38 DEG. TO THIS PLACE, LAt.i.tUDE 10 DEG. 30 MIN., IN RIGHT OF HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE THE THIRD, BY THE NAME OF NEW SOUTH WALES, WITH ALL THE BAYS, HARBOURS, RIVERS, AND ISLANDS SITUATED UPON IT. WE THEN FIRED THREE VOLLEYS OF SMALL ARMS, WHICH WERE ANSWERED BY THE SAME NUMBER FROM THE s.h.i.+P."

This ceremony concluded, and rejoicing in the re-discovery of Torres Straits--the waters of which had borne no keel since the gallant Spaniard had pa.s.sed through--he sailed to New Guinea, Cook having thus completed the survey of that portion of the South Land so long left a blank upon the map, never returned--unless his visit to Van Dieman's Land, in 1777, can be called a visit-to our sh.o.r.es, but the names he bestowed on the many bays, headlands, and islands of the east coast have clung to them ever since. So accurate were his surveys, even under extreme difficulties, that he left little for his successors to do but investigate those portions of the coast he had been forced to overlook.

But Cook's fame and career are such household words amongst all English-speaking races, and the results of his visit to Australia so extensive, that no s.p.a.ce that this history could afford would be sufficiently large to appreciate the merits of his work.

When Phillip landed in Botany Bay he was followed, as is well known, by the distinguished French navigator, La Perouse, and although the name of this unfortunate man does not enter largely into the history of our colonisation, it is essential that it should come under notice. After a short stay, La Perouse sailed from Australian sh.o.r.es, and of him and his stately s.h.i.+ps no tidings ever reached Europe. Years pa.s.sed, and Captain Dillon, the master of an English vessel trading amongst the South Sea Islands, found a sword-belt in the possession of the natives; this led to further investigations, and the hapless story was finally elucidated.

Wrecked on the coast of one of the islands, and all attempts to save the s.h.i.+ps having proved futile, the crews took to the boats, only to suffer death from drowning or at the hands of the savages. The guns and other heavy equipment were afterwards recovered, proving beyond doubt that that was the end of the French vessels and their unhappy commander-the Leichhardt of the sea.

In 1791, Lieutenant McCluer, of the Bombay Marine, touched upon the northern coast of Arnheim's Land, but as he did not land, no result accrued to the continent from his coming.

Before his advent, however, Captain Bligh, making his way home from the spot where the mutineers of the BOUNTY had set him afloat, pa.s.sed through Torres Straits, and sighted the mainland of Australia. Situated as he was, he could do little more than take hasty observations.

Two years afterwards, the PANDORA, under Captain Edwards, struck on a reef in Torres Straits, and sank in deep water. Thirty-nine of the crew were drowned, and the remainder, dest.i.tute of almost everything, made for the coast of Australia in four boats. Edwards landed on Prince of Wales Island, but not on the mainland. He finally reached Timor, with his s.h.i.+pwrecked men, amongst whom were some of the mutineers of the BOUNTY.

Many of these men had been obliged to remain on board perforce, and in no way partic.i.p.ated in that famous mutiny. Their treatment by the captain of the PANDORA, and afterwards by the English authorities, was both harsh and unjust.

In 1792, the PROVIDENCE and a.s.sISTANT, Captains Bligh and Portlock, sailed through the Straits, conveying the bread-fruit plant from Tahiti to the West Indies. Serving in this expedition was Lieutenant Flinders.

In 1791, Captain George Vancouver, on his way to America, came to the southern sh.o.r.e, and found and named King George's Sound. He landed and examined the country, but saw nothing of any consequence, and, after a short stay, sailed away to the eastward, intending to follow the coast line, but was prevented by baffling winds.

In 1793, previously to the INVESTIGATOR, and in the year following Bligh and Portlock, Messrs. William Bampton and Matthew B. Alt, commanders of the s.h.i.+ps HORMUZEER and CHESTERFELD, sailed from Norfolk Island, with the intention of pa.s.sing through Torres Straits by a route which the commanders did not know had been before attempted.

The terrible dangers of the Straits encountered appear to have deterred others from following them up to the time of the INVESTIGATOR.

Vancouver was quickly followed in the year 1792 by M. D'Entrecasteaux, who, having with him the s.h.i.+ps LA RECHERCHE and L'ESPeRANCE, was in quest of the fate of La Perouse. Off Termination Island-the last land seen by Vancouver--a gale sprang up, and the French s.h.i.+ps had to seek shelter.

They remained at anchor a week, and the officers made many excursions to the islands now known as the Recherche Archipelago.

He sailed along some portions of the Great Bight, which he described as of "an aspect so uniform that the most fruitful imagination could find nothing to say of it." Water failing him, he steered for Van Dieman's Land.

We now come across one of the grandest names in the history of our colony. Ba.s.s, the surgeon of the RELIANCE, whose work has survived him in the name of the well-known strait.

In a tiny c.o.c.kle sh.e.l.l, the TOM THUMB, a boat of eight feet long, he and Flinders, at first but an adventurous middy, cruised around the coast and examined every inlet and opening visible, at the very peril of their lives. It is almost equal to an imaginative story of adventures to read the tale of their various trips, suffice it they did good work, and came back safely to carry that work on with better and fuller means.

A voyage to Norfolk Island interrupted their further proceedings until the next year, 1796. Ba.s.s and Flinders then again, in the TOM THUMB, left to explore a large river, said to fall in the sea some miles to the south of Botany Bay, and of which there was no indication in Cook's chart.

In 1797, Ba.s.s obtained leave to make an expedition to the southward and was furnished with a whale boat and a crew of six men. Although he sailed with only six weeks' provisions, by birds and fish caught, and abstinence, he was enabled to prolong his voyage to eleven weeks, and his labours were crowned with a success not to be expected from such frail means. In the three hundred miles of coast examined from Port Jackson to Ram Head, a number of discoveries were made that had escaped Captain Cook.

From Ram Head--the southernmost part of the coast that had been examined by Cook-Ba.s.s began to reap a rich harvest of important discoveries, and another three hundred miles followed, the appearance of which confirmed his belief in the existence of a strait between the continent and Van Dieman's Land.

It was with great reluctance he returned before verifying this belief beyond doubt of others.

In September, 1798, we find him on board the NORFOLK, a.s.sociated with Flinders, seeking to prove his theory. After many and strong head winds, and much delay, the two had the supreme pleasure of greeting the westward ocean, and returning to Port Jackson with the tidings.