Discoveries in Australia Volume II Part 36

From a pointed hill, called the Sugarloaf, fifty-eight miles from Portland, I had an extensive view of this fertile district: the outlines of those magnificent mountains, the Victoria and Grampian ranges, that completed the distant part of the landscape, to the eastward, were distinctly defined against the clear morning sky; whilst, in the foreground, gra.s.sy round-topped hills, rose on either side of wide valleys sparingly dotted with trees, marking the course of the streams that meander through them, and the margin of the singular circular waterholes, with sides so steep as to render it necessary to cut through them to enable the cattle to drink, that were distributed around as if formed by art, rather than by nature. Westward, I saw the winding course of the Glenelg, and was told that some of the squatters had located themselves on its banks, and that others were even talking of stations (which they have since made) as far as the volcanic mountains, Schanck and Gambier, where there is some rich country, recently visited from Adelaide, by Governor Grey, who has discovered that the barrier of desert between New South Wales and South Australia, is less marked than was supposed; there being patches of good land intervening, so that at no very distant day, we may hope to see the whole of the coast, from Port Phillip to Spencer's Gulf, supporting a scattered white population.

I noticed that there was a vast superiority in the soil on the north-west side of the hills; but saw none equal in richness to the five-mile patch at Mount Eckersley.

The steep sides of a part of the valley of the Wannon, however, a few miles to the eastward of the Sugarloaf, are very fertile, and being clothed with patches of woodland, form extremely pretty scenery. The rocks of this part of the country are chiefly trappean; in the immediate neighbourhood of Portland, they consist of limestone, ferruginous sandstone, and trap.

CAPE BRIDGEWATER.

After having extended our ride to above seventy miles, we returned, having satisfied ourselves, from what we had seen and heard, that there was a greater extent of good land here, than at South Australia; though it was more scattered, and farther from the sea. On our way, we met a party of natives; and seeing a bundle of spears leaning against a tree, I rode up to examine them, but the owner instantly ran and seized them, in a manner that confirmed the report I had before heard, to the effect, that the settlers and the aborigines of this part, either through the mismanagement of the one, or the evil disposition of the other, are not on very good terms.

February 17.

I went this day to Cape Bridgewater, to make a sketch of the coast, and visit some caves lying four miles north of it. These we found to be from forty to fifty feet high, and of the same depth; the ceilings were encrusted with stalact.i.tes and the mouths overlooked some pretty freshwater lakes, three miles in extent separated from the sea by a narrow chain of sandhills; upon these were a few swans, and a black and white kind of goose, one of which Mr. Bynoe shot; it resembled the species we had seen flying over the Albert in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

ARRIVE AT HOBART.

February 20.

A slight cessation of the easterly wind allowed us to leave Portland Bay in the morning; but scarcely had we got outside, when it blew strong again from the same quarter: accordingly, it being highly desirable that I should consult with His Excellency, Sir John Franklin, before we commenced the survey of Ba.s.s Strait, we proceeded direct to Hobart, where we arrived on the 26th. The lat.i.tude of the south-west cape was determined on the pa.s.sage to be 42 degrees 35 minutes South: and a running survey was made of the south coast of Tasmania.

Our stay in the Derwent, during which land and seabreezes prevailed, afforded me an opportunity of comparing our compa.s.ses at the magnetic observatory, established since our last visit by the Antarctic expedition, and left in charge of Lieutenant Key and Messrs. Dayman and Scott, officers belonging to it. This place His Excellency, who took part in the observations made there, named after the leader of the expedition, Ross Bank Observatory: I found it to be 20 seconds west, and 1 minute 10 seconds, north of the Beagle's observation spot in Fort Mulgrave.

Sir John Franklin, who has always taken great interest in the Beagle's voyage, testified every wish to afford me a.s.sistance: and in the most liberal manner placed at my disposal the colonial cutter, Vansittart, to a.s.sist in the survey of the Strait. Messrs. Forsyth and Pascoe were selected for the service, the former being in command. After giving the Vansittart a slight refit, and a few alterations which were expedited in a most praiseworthy manner by Captain Booth, commandant at Port Arthur, she was to proceed to the scene of operations near Banks Strait. In the meantime the Beagle sailed for Sydney to receive the stores we expected from England.

ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES.

March 10.

This was our second day from the Derwent; but owing to the prevalence of North-East winds we had not made further progress than to be at noon, thirty miles east from Cape Pillar. The atmospheric changes during this day were curious. The morning broke hazy, with a moderate breeze from North-North-East, which gradually subsiding and veering at the same time to East-South-East, left us becalmed for three or four hours; thick impenetrable fogs meanwhile pa.s.sed at intervals to the South-West; and whenever this obstruction to our vision was removed, could be seen a dark heap of clouds collecting, some of which detaching themselves pa.s.sed rapidly over our heads. About three P.M. there was the sighing of a breeze from that quarter. The barometer, also, at this time, ceased falling and stood at 29.57, being as much as two-tenths lower than what it was an hour before, and having fallen since eight A.M. four-tenths.

The rapid depression of the mercury was quite perceptible to the eye.

Under reduced sail the s.h.i.+p, like the petrel with closed wing, waited the coming blast. A dense fog enveloped us; but an hour after the barometer had ceased falling, it lifted up and revealed a long sheet of hissing foam crowning the troubled waters that were rolling, urged by the tempest, tumultuously towards us from the south-west.

RETURN TO SYDNEY.

For a while the heavy reduced canvas still flapped with a lazy swag against the masts; but suddenly it was filled by a violent gust; and the Beagle was hurried swiftly onwards, careering over the waves like the misty spectre in a storm. Two hours after (six P.M.) the barometer had risen a tenth. We now expected our pa.s.sage to Sydney to be short: but the ill luck of foul winds again attending us, it was the fifteenth before we arrived.

CHAPTER 2.13.

Exploration of Interior.

Twofold Bay.

Survey of Ba.s.s Strait.

Dangerous situation of the Beagle.

Kent and Hogan Groups.

Gipps Land.

Wilson's Promontory.

The Tamar.

Eastern entrance of Strait.

Steam communication between India and Australia.

New Guinea.

Straitsmen.

North coast of Tasmania.

Aborigines.

Port Phillip.

Directions for s.h.i.+ps pa.s.sing King Island.

Complete survey of Ba.s.s Strait.

Farewell to Sydney.

Moreton Bay.

The Comet.

State of Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land.

Lighthouses in Ba.s.s Strait.

EXPLORATION OF INTERIOR.

The most interesting topic of conversation on our arrival at Sydney was the projected expedition into the interior. Two candidates for this important and deeply interesting undertaking had presented themselves--Mr. E.J. Eyre and Sir Thomas Mitch.e.l.l, both experienced Australian explorers. The latter proposed to start from Fort Bourke on the Darling; and the former from Moreton Bay. In my own humble opinion, strengthened by recent experience, neither of these are practicable routes;* or at any rate, they are not the best that could be selected.

The centre of the continent must be reached by the shortest possible journey; it being advisable to avoid the despondency that seizes on a party during a protracted expedition, and to keep up throughout a certain degree of excitement. As, therefore, the greatest indentation on the sh.o.r.es of the continent is the Gulf of Carpentaria, the head of the Albert River, which discharges its waters into the bottom of it, is unquestionably the best point of departure that could be selected, being one-half the distance of Fort Bourke from the centre, and two-thirds nearer than Moreton Bay.

(*Footnote. Whilst this sheet was going through the press, the report of our greatest Australian traveller, Captain Sturt, reached England; wherein he writes, speaking of his furthest (February 1845) in lat.i.tude 28 degrees South and longitude about 141 degrees 22 minutes East having apparently entered the central desert, as follows: "I could see no change in the terrible desert to which I had penetrated. The horizon was unbroken by a single mound, from north round to north again, and it was as level as that of the ocean. My view to the north extended about eight miles, but I did not venture to compa.s.s that distance, only perhaps to have overlooked a similar heart-rending and desolate scene." This bears out the opinion expressed in the text. I do not hesitate, however, in the face of the interesting evidence brought forward by Captain Sturt, still to doubt the existence of an inland sea. I think the high temperature he experienced contradicts such an hypothesis; and I believe the large expanse of water, reported by the natives, to be the Gulf of Carpentaria, which bore about north (true) six hundred miles from his position, Moreton Bay being nearly equidistant on an east bearing, whilst Adelaide bore South by West 1/2 West about four hundred and thirty miles.

SUGGESTED ROUTE.

I have before recommended the use of camels, with skins for carrying water, in an undertaking of this kind; and I may here add, that they might be procured in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Cutch,* which place the vessel should leave in the North-East monsoon, in time to have the latter end of the North-West monsoon to take her to the Gulf of Carpentaria, where at Sweers Island the final arrangements for disembarking, before alluded to,** could be made.

(*Footnote. Camels are to be procured in this neighbourhood, when they are not required for war service, for about five pounds a head. Besides, the natives of that part are more easily to be obtained as attendants than Arabs.

(*Footnote. See above.)

In a country like Australia, with so varied a surface, it is certainly impossible to indicate with confidence anything beyond the point of departure for an exploring party. Their direction must, of course, depend on the country they find; but I think it may be said from the most recent, and I much fear melancholy, experience, that the routes from neither Moreton Bay nor Fort Bourke are practicable. That from the head of the Albert is, I believe, much superior, and I consider, after mature deliberation, that the plan I have recommended is at once the most expeditious and the most economical way of solving a question of daily increasing interest, and of removing an imputation on English enterprise which is daily becoming more serious.

The other routes of exploration which appear to me both practicable and useful are from Halifax Bay to the Albert,* a distance of above four hundred miles, and from Limmens Bight to the Victoria, about three hundred. These will be found marked in the chart accompanying this work.

(*Footnote. This route I suggested to his Excellency Sir George Gipps, in March, 1842.)

TWOFOLD BAY.

After leaving Sydney we had a succession of south-easterly gales, of three or four days' duration, and equal in severity to any we had experienced since leaving England. To avoid one from the westward we put into Twofold Bay;* a remarkable high-peaked hill, Mount Imlay, lying behind the head of it, bearing South-West 1/2 West, leads in.

(*Footnote. This we found to be a very convenient anchorage; and the constant resort of coasters. From its proximity to the southern parts of the Manero country, it is likely to become a very thriving place, under the auspices of Mr. Boyd, who is erecting a town there. This gentleman, I am happy to say, employs the natives as part of the crew of his yacht; they are also constantly engaged in the boats of the whaling station, where their excellent eye renders them extremely useful in seeing and harpooning the fish; and being particularly well-disposed, they might he made something of.)

I was surprised to find by my observations* here that this part of the coast is laid down ten miles too much to the eastward of Sydney, an error I subsequently found to be continued to Jervis Bay; so that the course from thence to Sydney, instead of being, according to the chart, North 1/4 East magnetic is North by East, a fact that should be borne in mind by masters of vessels, until this part of the coast is properly surveyed.

(*Footnote. Which placed Point Brierly in lat.i.tude 37 degrees 6 minutes 40 seconds South, longitude 1 degree 18 minutes 18 seconds west of Sydney; or 149 degrees 57 minutes 42 seconds east of Greenwich, according to what I consider the meridian of Sydney.)

The error I found in the position of Twofold Bay induced me to commence our survey there, for the purpose of ascertaining the position of Cape Howe," which I discovered to be rather more out in longitude; while the islet, instead of lying off it, lies four miles to the south-west.

(*Footnote. This Cape, in lat.i.tude 38 degrees 31 minutes 00 seconds South and longitude 1 degree 14 minutes 15 seconds West of Sydney, although rather low, is of bold approach, and admirably situated for a lighthouse.

Others erected on Montague Island and Point Perpendicular, would light the whole coast as far as Sydney.)

FLINDERS ISLAND.