Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume II Part 38

Continue through a level forest country.

Ascend a height near the camp, and obtain a sight of snowy summits to the eastward.

Reach a swampy river.

A man drowned.

Pa.s.s through Futter's range.

Impeded by a swamp among reeds.

Junction of the rivers Ovens and King.

Ascend granitic ranges.

Lofty ma.s.s named Mount Aberdeen.

Reach the Murray.

The river very difficult of access.

A carriage track discovered.

Pa.s.sage of the river.

Cattle.

Horses.

Party returning to meet Mr. Stapylton.

A creek terminating in a swamp.

Mount Trafalgar.

Rugged country still before us.

Provisions nearly exhausted.

Cattle tracks found.

At length reach a valley leading in the desired direction.

Cattle seen.

Obliged to kill one of our working bullocks.

By following the valley downwards, we arrive on the Murrumbidgee.

Write my despatch.

Piper meets his friends.

Native names of rivers.

CONTINUE THROUGH A LEVEL FOREST COUNTRY.

October 9.

Having buried on the left bank another letter of instructions for Mr.

Stapylton according to certain marks as previously arranged with him, we mounted our boat on the carriage (which had been brought across early in the morning) and continued our journey. I expected to find a ford in this river but, considering the swollen state in which it then was, I instructed Mr. Stapylton to remain encamped on the left bank until the boat should return from the Murray, as beyond that river we were not likely to have further occasion for it. Our way on leaving the Bayunga was rather intricate, being amongst lagoons left by high floods of the river. Some of them were fine sheets of water, apparently much frequented by ducks and other aquatic birds.

LEVEL FOREST COUNTRY.

At exactly 2 1/2 miles from the river we reached the outer bank or berg, and resumed at length the straight course homewards, for I there found a level forest country open before me, through which we travelled about eight miles in a south-east direction. We then encamped near some waterholes which I found on our right, in the surface of a clay soil and close to a plain extending southward. The wood throughout the forest consisted of the box or goborro species of eucalyptus and we crossed, soon after first entering it, a small plain. At 3 1/2 miles from the last camp on this line, the low alluvial bed of the river with a deep lagoon in it as broad as the river itself appeared close to us on the left; and as I had seen some indications of the Bayunga on the other side also, or to our right, it was obvious that we had just met with this river at one of its most western bends, an object I had in view in following down the Deegay from the westward. The forest country traversed by the party this day was in general gra.s.sy and good and, as it was open enough to afford a prospect of about a mile around us, we travelled on in a straight line with unwonted ease and facility.

October 10.

We continued our journey homeward through a country of the same character as that seen yesterday, at least for the first five miles, when we came at length to a chain of deep ponds, the second we had encountered that morning. In the bank of this I found a stratum of alluvium; but beyond it the soil was granitic, and banksia was seen there for the first time after crossing the river. At 7 1/4 miles we met with another chain of large ponds, and at 9 miles a running stream flowing to the north-west.

After pa.s.sing over various other chains of ponds we encamped at the end of 14 1/2 miles near the bank of a running stream in which were also some deep pools and which, from some flowers growing there, were named by the men Violet Ponds.

October 11.

Having turned my course a little more towards the east in order to keep the hills in view, chiefly for the more convenient continuance of the survey, we pa.s.sed through a country abundantly watered at that time, the party having crossed eight running streams besides chains of ponds in travelling only 14 miles. Towards the end of the day's journey we found ourselves once more on undulating ground, and I at length perceived on my right that particular height which, at a distance of 80 miles back, I had selected as a guiding point in the direction which then appeared the most open part of the horizon, this being also in the best line for reaching the Murrumbidgee below Ya.s.s. It was the elevated northern extremity of a range connected with others still more lofty which arose to the south-east. We crossed some undulating ground near its base on which grew trees of stringybark, a species of eucalyptus which had not been previously seen in the forests traversed by us in our way from the river.

We next entered a valley of a finer description of land than that of the level forest; and we encamped on the bank of a stream which formed deep reedy ponds, having travelled 14 miles.

As soon as I had marked out the ground for the party I proceeded towards a hill which bore east-south-east from our camp and was distant from it about 5 1/2 miles. On our way an emu ran boldly up, apparently desirous of becoming acquainted with our horses; when close to us it stood still and began quietly to feed like a domestic fowl so that I was at first unwilling to take a shot at the social and friendly bird. The state of our flour however, and the recollection of our one remaining sheep already doomed to die, at length overcame my scruples, and I fired my carabine but missed. The bird ran only to a little distance however, and soon returned at a rapid rate again to feed beside us when, fortunately perhaps for the emu, I had no more time to spare for such sport and we proceeded.

ASCEND A HEIGHT NEAR THE CAMP, AND OBTAIN A SIGHT OF SNOWY SUMMITS TO THE EASTWARD.

The top of the hill was covered thickly with wood, but I saw for the first time for some years snowy pics far in the south-east beyond intermediate mountains also of considerable elevation. There was one low group of heights to the northward, but these were apparently the last, for the dead level of the interior was visible beyond them to the north-west. Further eastward a bold range extended too far towards the north to be turned conveniently by us in our proposed route; but under its high southern extremity (a very remarkable point) its connection with the mountains on the south appeared very low, and thither I determined to proceed. One isolated hill far in the north-western interior had already proved a useful point and was still visible here. I also saw the distant ranges to the eastward beyond the proposed pa.s.s just mentioned, and some of these I had no doubt lay beyond the Murray. The hill and range I had ascended consisted of granite, and the country between it and our camp of gra.s.sy open forest land.

October 12.

We pa.s.sed over a country of similar description and well watered throughout the greater portion of this day's journey. In some parts the surface consisted of stiff clay retaining the surface water in holes, and at ten miles we crossed an undulating ridge of quartz rock; two miles beyond which we encamped near a stream running northward.

REACH A SWAMPY RIVER.

October 13.

At 3 1/4 miles we came to a river of very irregular width and which, as I found on further examination, spread into broad lagoons and swamps bordered with reeds. Where we first approached it the bank was high and firm, the water forming a broad reach evidently very deep. But both above and below that point the stream, actually flowing, seemed fordable and we tried it in various places, but the bottom was everywhere soft and swampy.

A MAN DROWNED.

The man whom I usually employed on these occasions was James Taylor who had charge of the horses and who, on this unfortunate morning, was fated to lose his life in that swampy river. Taylor, or Tally-ho, as the other men called him, had been brought up in a hunting stable in England, and was always desirous of going further than I was willing to allow him, relying too much, as it now appeared, on his skill in swimming his horse, which I had often before prevented him from doing. I had on this occasion recalled him from different parts of the river, and determined to use the boat and swim the cattle and horses to the other side, when Tally-ho proposed to swim over on a horse in order to ascertain where the opposite bank was most favourable for the cattle to get out. I agreed to his crossing thus wherever he thought he could; and he rode towards a place which I conceived was by no means the best, and accordingly said so to him. I did not hear his reply, for he was just then riding into the water, and I could no longer see him from where I stood on the edge of a swampy hole. But scarcely a minute had elapsed when Burnett, going on foot to the spot, called out for all the men who could dive, at the same time exclaiming "the man's gone!" The horse came out with the bridle on his neck just as I reached the water's edge, but of poor Tally-ho I saw only the cap floating on the river. Four persons were immediately in the water--Piper, his gin, and two whites--and at six or eight minutes at most Piper brought the body up from the bottom. It was quite warm and immediately almost all the means recommended in such cases were applied by our medical attendant (Drysdale) who, having come from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, had seen many cases of that description. For three hours the animal heat was preserved by chafing the body, and during the whole of that time the lungs were alternately inflated and compressed, but all without success. With a sincerity of grief which must always pervade the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of men losing one of their number under such circ.u.mstances, we consigned the body of poor Taylor to a deep grave, the doctor having previously laid it out between two large sheets of bark. I was myself confounded with the most heart-felt sorrow when I turned from the grave of poor Tally-ho, never to hear his bugle blast again.* It was late before we commenced the pa.s.sage of this fatal river which, although apparently narrow, we could only cross in the same manner in which we had pa.s.sed the largest, namely, by swimming the cattle and horses, and carrying every article of equipment across in the boat. We effected even thus however the pa.s.sage of the whole party before sunset; and then encamped on the opposite bank.

(*Footnote. How this man could have died in the water in so short a time we did not understand, but it was conjectured that he had received some blow from the horse, until we were subsequently informed when on the Murrumbidgee by a person there who knew Taylor that he was subject to fits, a fact which satisfied us all as to the sudden manner of his death.)

October 14.

As we proceeded the broad swampy bed of this river or mora.s.s appeared on our right for a mile, the country being still covered by an open forest of box, having also gra.s.s enough upon it. At eight miles we approached some low hills of clay-slate, and I ascended one to the southward of our route from which I recognised a sufficient number of previously observed points to enable me to determine its relative position and theirs. On this hill I found the beautiful Brownonia which we had seen before only on Macquarie range beside the Lachlan. We here also met with the rare Spadostylis cunninghamii, whose heart-shaped glaucous leaves so much reminded us of the European euphorbias that it would have been mistaken for one of them if it had not been for its shrubby habit and bright yellow pea flowers.

Pa.s.s THROUGH FUTTER'S RANGE.

The country crossed beyond this hill was first undulating then hilly, and at length became so much so that it was necessary to pick a way for the carts with much caution. Nevertheless we at length succeeded in crossing this range also at its lowest part where the hill to the northward of it, already mentioned as the end of a range, bore nearly north. On reaching the head of this pa.s.s the prospect before us, after winding through such a labyrinth of hills, was agreeable enough. One fertile hollow led to an open level country which appeared to be bounded at a great distance by mountains; and I concluded that I should find in this extensive valley the rivers King and Ovens. Keeping along the verdant flat (which was watered by a good chain of ponds) we encamped about a mile and a half beyond the pa.s.s, and I then named that feature above it Futter's range after a successful and public-spirited colonist of New South Wales.

IMPEDED BY A SWAMP AMONG REEDS.

October 15.

We had not proceeded more than half a mile in the general direction I proposed for our route when a reedy swamp compelled me to turn northward and, after travelling in that direction about a mile and a half, we found the swamp on our right had produced a small stream running nearly on a level with the plain. Its banks were soft and boggy, and beyond it we saw through the trees extensive tracts covered with reeds. I was soon compelled by the rivulet to deviate from my intended route even to the westward of north until, at 10 1/2 miles, on meeting with a chain of ponds falling to the eastward, I turned north-east, which bearing, at less than a mile forward, again brought us upon the stream running from the swamp but which was here flowing between firm banks and forming ponds of some magnitude. We forded it with difficulty by crossing at two points, that we might not break too much the soft earth over which it flowed by the pa.s.sage of all in one place.

JUNCTION OF THE RIVERS OVENS AND KING.

At two miles further on we met with another stream of less magnitude flowing also to the north-west and at about a mile beyond it we reached the bank of the Ovens, fortunately just below the junction of a rather smaller stream which I took to be King's river.

The two united formed a n.o.ble stream finely breaking up the dead levels of the surrounding plains which indeed, where we approached it, formed its highest bank and were there twenty-three feet above the water.

No time was lost in launching our boat, and we effected a pa.s.sage and encamped on the opposite bank before sunset, having driven all the cattle and horses safely across also, although with considerable difficulty from the steepness of the banks and softness of the soil at the water's edge on the side where they got to land.

October 16.

This morning the river had fallen three inches; its temperature was 59 degrees (of Fahrenheit) the current flowing at the rate of 1 1/4 miles per hour; the mean depth two fathoms; and the width, where measured, 47 yards; the breadth of the river King at the junction being nearly as much. The right bank to the distance of a mile and a half from the river was low and alluvial, and intersected by narrow watercourses and lagoons.

On the alluvial flat where we crossed it stood a small isolated hill, between which and the higher ground still farther back water was running, apparently from a swamp, but as soon as we crossed this we reached firm ground and travelled on an open forest plain for nearly eight miles.