Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume II Part 1

Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia.

by Thomas Mitch.e.l.l.

VOLUME 2.

ROUTE PROPOSED.

Towards the end of the year 1835 I was apprised that the governor of New South Wales was desirous of having the survey of the Darling completed with the least possible delay. His excellency proposed that I should return for this purpose to the extreme point on the Darling where my last journey terminated and that, after having traced the Darling into the Murray, I should embark on the latter river and, pa.s.sing the carts and oxen to the left bank at the first convenient opportunity, proceed upwards by water as far as practicable and regain the colony somewhere about Ya.s.s Plains.

EQUIPMENT.

The preparations for this journey were made, as on the former occasion, chiefly in the lumber-yard at Parramatta, and under the superintendence of the same officer, Mr. Simpson. Much of the equipment used for the last expedition was available for this occasion. The boats and boat-carriage were as serviceable as ever, with the advantage of being better seasoned; and we could now, having had so much experience, prepare with less difficulty for such an undertaking.

In consequence of a long-continued drought serviceable horses and bullocks were at that time scarce, and could only be obtained at high prices; but no expense was spared by the government in providing the animals required.

The party having preceded me by some weeks on the road, I at length overtook it on the 15th of March in a valley near the Can.o.bolas which I had fixed as the place of rendezvous, and where, from the great elevation, I hoped still to find some gra.s.s. How we were to proceed however without water was the question I was frequently asked; and I was informed at Bathurst that even the Lachlan was dried up.

On the following day I organised the party, and armed the men. I distributed to each a suit of new clothing; consisting of grey trousers and a red woollen s.h.i.+rt, the latter article, when crossed by white braces, giving the men somewhat of a military appearance.

Their names and designation were as follows:

LIST OF THE MEN.

LIST OF THE PARTY PROCEEDING TO THE DARLING IN MARCH 1836.*

(*Footnote. The men whose names are printed in uppercase had obtained their freedom as a reward for past services in the interior. The asterisks distinguish the names of men who had been with me on one or both the former expeditions. Those to whose names the letter T is also prefixed having previously obtained a ticket of leave releasing them from a state of servitude. Each man was also furnished with a small case containing six cartridges which he was ordered always to wear about his waist.)

COLUMN 1: NAMES.

COLUMN 2: OCCUPATION IN THE EXPLORING PARTY.

COLUMN 3: OCCASIONAL EMPLOYMENT.

COLUMN 4: ARMS AND ACCOUTREMENTS.

Major T.L. Mitch.e.l.l: Chief of the party : - : Rifle and pistols.

G.C. Stapylton, Esquire : Second in command : - : Carabine and pistol.

**ALEXANDER BURNETT : Overseer : Storekeeper : Carabine and pistol.

**ROBERT MUIRHEAD : Bullock-driver : Soldier and lance-corporal : Musket, bayonet and pistol.

T*Charles Hammond : Bullock-driver : - : Musket, bayonet and pistol.

T*William Thomas : Bullock-driver : Butcher : Musket, bayonet and pistol.

Richard Lane : Bullock-driver : - : Carabine and pistol.

James McLellan : Bullock-driver : - : Musket, bayonet and pistol.

Charles Webb : Bullock-driver : - : Musket, bayonet and pistol.

T*John Johnston : Blacksmith : - : Carabine.

T Walter Blanchard : Blacksmith : Measurer : Carabine and pistol.

**WILLIAM WOODS : Horse carter : Sailor : Carabine and pistol.

*Charles King : Horse carter : Measurer : Musket, bayonet and pistol.

*John Gayton : Horse carter : Cook : Carabine.

John Drysdale : Medical attendant : Barometer-carrier : Carabine.

John Roach : Collector of birds : - : Pistol (fowling-piece).

John Richardson : Collector of plants : Shepherd : Two pistols.

**JOHN PALMER : Sailor : Sailmaker : Carabine and pistol.

John Douglas : Sailor : - : Carabine.

T**Joseph Jones : Shepherd : - : Carabine.

James Taylor : Groom : Trumpeter : Carabine and pistol.

Edward Pickering : Carpenter : Barometer-carrier : Carabine.

Archibald McKean : Carpenter : Barometer-carrier : Carabine.

James Field : Shoemaker : - : Carabine.

**Anthony Brown : Cook : - : Carabine and pistol.

This was the army with which I was to traverse unexplored regions peopled, as far as we knew, by hostile tribes. But I could depend upon a great portion of the men, and amongst them were some who had been with me on the two former expeditions and who, although they had obtained their emanc.i.p.ation as the well merited reward of their past services in the interior, were nevertheless willing to accompany me once more. I accepted their services on obtaining a promise from the governor that if the expedition was successful their conditional pardons might be converted into absolute pardons, a boon on which even some wealthy men in the colony would probably have set a high value.

One of the most devoted of these followers was William Woods who, having long toiled carrying my theodolite to the summits of the highest mountains, was at length more comfortably situated than he had ever been in his life before as overseer of a road party. This poor fellow relinquished his place of authority over other men and in which he received 1 s.h.i.+lling per diem, again put on the grey jacket, and set a valuable example as the most willing of my followers, wherever drudgery or difficulty were most discouraging.

LIVESTOCK.

Our cattle were lean but I took a greater number in consequence. The pasturage was still meagre and scarcely any water remained on the face of the earth. It was unusually low in the holes last year, but this season very few indeed contained any. The equinox however was at hand, and I could not suppose that it was never to rain again, however hopeless the aspect of the country appeared at that time.

AGREEMENT WITH A NATIVE GUIDE.

In this camp of preparation I was visited by our old friends the natives; and one who called himself John Piper and spoke English tolerably well agreed to accompany me as far as I should go, provided he was allowed a horse and was clothed, fed, etc.; all which I immediately agreed to. I had not however forgotten Mr. Brown, and I reminded Burnett of that native's desertion; but Burnett, who seemed to be on excellent terms with Piper, a.s.sured me that after he should be some weeks' journey in the interior dread of the savage natives would prevent him from leaving our party, and so it turned out.

But in breaking on our stock of provisions, we commenced with due regard to their importance on an interior journey by so reducing the weight of our steel-yard that a five months' stock should last nearly seven months.

This arrangement was however a secret known only to Burnett and myself.

The plan of encampment was to be the same as on the former journey, only that a greater number of carts stood in the line parallel to the boat-carriage.

March 17.

I put the party in movement towards Buree and rode across the country on our right with Piper. We found the earth parched and bare but, as we bounded over hill and dale a fine cool breeze whispered through the open forest, and felt most refres.h.i.+ng after the hot winds of Sydney. Dr.

Johnson's Obidah was not more free from care on the morning of his journey than I was on this, the first morning of mine. It was also St.

Patrick's day, and in riding through the bush I had leisure to recall past scenes and times connected with the anniversary. I remembered that exactly on that morning, twenty-four years before, I marched down the glacis of Elvas to the tune of St. Patrick's Day in the Morning as the sun rose over the beleaguered towers of Badajoz. Now, without any of the pride, pomp, and circ.u.mstance of glorious war, I was proceeding on a service not very likely to be peaceful, for the natives here a.s.sured me that the Myalls were coming up murry coola, i.e. very angry, to meet us.

At Buree I rejoined my friend Rankin who had accompanied me from Bathurst to the camp, and Captain Raine who occupied this place with his cattle. A hundred sheep and five fat oxen were to be furnished by this gentlemen to complete my commissariat supplies.

CORROBORY-DANCE OF THE NATIVES.

In the evening the blacks, having a.s.sembled in some numbers, entertained us with a corrobory, their universal and highly original dance. (See Plate.) Like all the rest of the habits and customs of this singular race of wild men, the corrobory is peculiar and, from its uniformity on every sh.o.r.e, a very striking feature in their character. The dance always takes place at night, by the light of blazing boughs, and to time beaten on stretched skins, accompanied by a song.* The dancers paint themselves white, and in such remarkably varied ways that no two individuals are at all alike. Darkness seems essential to the effect of the whole; and the painted figures coming forward in mystic order from the obscurity of the background, while the singers and beaters of time are invisible, have a highly theatrical effect. Each dance seems most tastefully progressive; the movement being at first slow, and introduced by two persons displaying graceful motions both of arms and legs, others one by one join in, each imperceptibly warming into the truly savage att.i.tude of the corrobory jump; the legs then stride to the utmost, the head is turned over one shoulder, the eyes glare and are fixed with savage energy all in one direction, the arms also are raised and inclined towards the head, the hands usually grasping waddies, boomerangs, or other warlike weapons.

The jump now keeps time with each beat, the dancers at every movement taking six inches to one side, all being in a connected line, led by the first. The line however is sometimes doubled or tripled according to s.p.a.ce and numbers; and this gives great effect, for when the front line jumps to the LEFT, the second jumps to the RIGHT, the third to the LEFT again, and so on; until the action acquires due intensity, when all simultaneously and suddenly stop. The excitement which this dance produces in the savage is very remarkable. However listless the individual may be, laying perhaps, as usual, half asleep; set him to this dance, and he is fired with sudden energy, and every nerve is strung to such a degree that he is no longer to be recognised as the same person until he ceases to dance, and comes to you again. There can be little doubt that the corrobory is the medium through which the delights of poetry are enjoyed, in a limited degree, even by these primitive savages of New Holland.

(*Footnote. To this end they stretch a skin very tight over the knees, and thus may be said to use the tympanum in its rudest form, this being the only instance of a musical instrument that I have seen among them.

Burder says: "By the timbrels which Miriam and the other women played upon when dancing, we are to understand the tympanum of the ancient Greeks and Romans, which instrument still bears in the East the name that it is in Hebrew, namely, doff or diff, whence is derived the Spanish adufe, the name of the Biscayan tabor. Niebuhr describes this instrument in his Travels Part 1 page 181. It is a broad hoop, with a skin stretched over it; on the edge there are generally thin round plates of metal, which also make some noise when this instrument is held up in one hand and struck with the fingers of the other hand. Probably no musical instrument is so common in Turkey as this; for when the women dance in the harem the time is always beat on this instrument. We find the same instrument on all the monuments in the hands of the Bacchante. It is also common among the negroes of the Gold Coast and Slave Coast." Oriental Customs Volume 1.)

VISIT TO THE LIMESTONE CAVES.

March 18.

As it was necessary to grind some wheat with hand-mills to make up our supply of flour, I was obliged to remain a day at Buree; and I therefore determined on a visit to the limestone caves, by no means the least remarkable feature in that country. The whole district consists of trap and limestone, the former appearing in ridges, which belong to the lofty ma.s.s of Can.o.bolas. The limestone occurs chiefly in the sides of valleys in different places, and contains probably many unexplored caves. The orifices are small fissures in the rock, and they have escaped the attention of the white people who have hitherto wandered there. I had long been anxious to extend my researches for fossil bones among these caves, having discovered during a cursory visit to them some years before that many interesting remains of the early races of animals in Australia were to be found in the deep crevices and caverns of the limestone rock.

How they got there was a question which had often puzzled me; but having at length arrived at some conclusions on the subject, I was now desirous to ascertain, by a more extensive examination of the limestone country, whether the caves containing the osseous breccia presented here similar characteristics to those I had observed in Wellington Valley.