Allan Cunningham

“ Hitherto our view towards the west had been circumscribed by a continued chain of thinly-wooded ridges, which had extended, northerly, parallel to the course we were daily pursuing. On reaching the latitude of 29° 10', which we did on the 25th of the month, all the hills to the westward of our line of route terminated, and a level, open interior, of vast expanse, bounded on the north and north-west by a distant horizon, broke suddenly on our view! ”

“ At length, in 1813, the colonists were visited by a most distressing season of drought, in which the country, from the sea-coast to the base of the hills, was burnt up—the secondary water-courses entirely failed, and the cattle of the colonists, hemmed in on all sides, died in great numbers for want of pasturage. Out of evil how often does good arise!—for these most distressing circumstances were the means of opening the country, and saving the colonists. ”

“ Oxley entered on a country, in point of character, the very reverse of that which he had recently quitted. For nearly a hundred miles the expedition had to encounter those privations, which are inevitable in a tract of country, where, from extreme sterility, neither water nor pasturage for the horses could occasionally be found; and where the surface, although somewhat elevated above the low plains, which the travellers had just left, being, for a considerable extent, of a light, red, sandy soil, was only capable of producing a scrubby vegetation, alone interesting to the botanist. ”

“ The Murray, when flooded from the eastward, will doubtless carry a boat safely down its channel, but as a navigable river at all seasons, it is, like the Macquarie, and indeed every other western stream, useless to the colonists. ”

“ The lower grounds, thus permanently watered, present flats, which furnish an almost inexhaustible range of cattle pasture at all seasons of the year—the grasses and herbage generally exhibiting, in the depth of winter, an extraordinary luxuriance of growth. From these central grounds, rise downs of a rich, black, and dry soil, and very ample surface; and as they furnish an abundance of grass, and are conveniently watered, yet perfectly beyond the reach of those floods, which take place on the flats in a season of rains, they constitute a valuable and sound sheep pasture. ”

“ To that fine settlement, in whose internal prosperity and advancement I have, during my long residence among its inhabitants, ever felt a lively interest, I shall consider myself as having rendered no small service, if what may appear in the following pages should induce this society to promote, by such means as it may have at command, the more extensive examination of the interior of New South Wales. We possess colonies, on its eastern and western shores, which are daily exciting more and more interest in this country ”

“ Amidst the ardour with which geographical research has been patronized and prosecuted in almost every other portion of the globe, it is a subject of surprise and regret that so little anxiety should have been shown by geographers, and even by men of science in general, to increase our knowledge of the interior of the Australian continent. ”

“ Thus we continued our journey to the north through a barren, but densely-timbered country, of frequently brushy character, and altogether very indifferently watered. Each day as we advanced, our barometer showed us that these poor forest-grounds, which, to add to the difficulty of penetration, were occasionally traversed by low arid ridges of argillaceous ironstone and clayslate, rose in elevation from the low level of the northern margin of Liverpool Plains, which I found to be only eight hundred and forty feet above the level of the sea. ”

“ With an anxious curiosity to explore so extraordinary a region, we continued our route on the 26th of May, from a rocky creek, where we had rested upon some tolerable pasture. Our elevation above the sea-shore, we found by our barometer to be one thousand two hundred and twenty-eight feet, and we soon discovered that we had entered a barren waste, over which was spread a loose sand, (the debris of the prevalent rock formation of the eastern hills,) which gave it a desert-like aspect. ”

“ During the succeeding week, our daily journies were attended with great fatigue both to my people and horses; for being surrounded by high lands, we had no alternative but to pursue our way southerly, from one rocky range to another of greater elevation; until at length we found ourselves upon an open heath, totally devoid of trees, but covered with a low, scrubby vegetation, and interspersed with small patches of spongy swamp, in aspect similar to parts of the Blue Mountains to the westward of Port Jackson. ”

“ We met, however, with neither the wandering Indian nor any description of animal, for the parched state of vegetation and the distressed condition of the country generally, had evidently driven both to other parts of the interior, where the means of sustaining life were less precarious, or, at least, where a permanent supply of water, although it might be in a stagnant state, was to be obtained. ”

“ In the considerable triangle which such a route would describe, the character of a large tract of internal country would be fully ascertained; and if there are any high lands to the westward of the above-mentioned meridian, which is perhaps very doubtful, these would be seen, and even visited, if not too far remote, and the several rivers, of which there are doubtless many, in four and a half degrees of latitude, flowing inland from the dividing range to the eastward, would, in the progress of such a journey, be repeatedly crossed and their tendency ascertained. ”

“ Oxley had passed it, proved too elevated and rocky for my heavily-burdened horses; and I was, therefore, obliged to continue the course of the expedition to the north under the meridian of our tents, (viz. 150J,) being well aware that as the final course of that river was towards the interior, we should cross its channel whenever the chain of lofty hills which bounded us on the east, and which appeared to stretch far to the north, should either terminate or become so broken as to allow of its escape through them to a lower level. ”

“ The party were now glad to direct their steps towards Bathurst; but before they finally quitted these parched levels, they shaped a course to the eastward, with the view of meeting with the Castlereagh, the channel of which (one hundred and eighty yards in width) Mr. Oxley experienced no small difficulty in crossing, as the rains which had fallen on the mountains to the south-east, whence it derives its principal sources, had swollen its waters to the level of its upper banks. ”

“ At a distance of about twenty-eight miles below Mount Harris, the flat-lands commence, and there the Macquarie itself ceases to be a river, having no banks, or continued channel, by which to prevent the dispersion of its waters when they rise in rainy seasons. The surface of those flats, however, has not one continued dip, but presents a succession of levels and inclinations, with each a detached lagoon-like channel, hemmed in on all sides by high reeds which catch the waters as they spread ”

“ Charles Grimes, at that time surveyor-general, who was sent to survey the harbour more minutely than either Captain Flinders or the discoverer of it, Lieutenant John Murray, R.N., were enabled, in the preceding year, to effect.
In their journey back to the colony, which they immediately commenced, Messrs. Hovell and Hume pursued a line of route altogether to the westward of their outward-bound track; and thus, by travelling on a much lower level, avoided entirely that broken hilly country, which had proved so harassing to their cattle in their former journey. ”

“ Hovell and Hume, two enterprising agriculturists (and the latter a native of the colony, possessing a considerable local knowledge) , undertook a journey in a south-westerly direction from Argyle, with the design of reaching the sea-coast near Bass' Strait, and of ascertaining the nature of the intermediate country, of which the colonists, at that time, knew absolutely nothing. In their outfit for such an arduous excursion, the Colonial Government afforded but a partial assistance. Their more perfect equipment was derived from their own farms ”

“ All travellers, in exploring new tracts of country, are subjected more or less to sudden vicissitudes: in this expedition to trace the source of the Lachlan, these were numerous, and oftentimes of a distressing character. ”

“ Encamping, I ascended a remarkable square-topped mount, which formed the western termination of one of these ridges; and from its summit had a very extensive view of the country lying between north and south, towards the west. At N. and N.N.W. we observed a succession of heavily-timbered ridges, extending laterally from the more elevated chain of mountains immediately to the east, which evidently forms the main dividing range in this part of the country ”

“ Southerly, the land continued equally good, but rising in altitude, presented a more broken, irregular surface to our travellers, who, however, patiently surmounting the difficulties which lay in their way, at length came to a third stream, to which they gave the name of 'Goulburn.' This river, which was formed by a junction of several streamlets, which came from the hills to the eastward, ran southerly in the direction of the course pursued by the expedition as far as latitude 37°, when it also took a decided bend towards the north-west. ”

“ Still, however, it must be observed, that where the mind and the sight are alike fatigued by the monotonous character of the view around, the traveller naturally becomes impressed with the idea that the extent of the open country he is traversing, is far greater than it is in reality. ”

“ A second long and interesting journey might be undertaken, from any one of my points in the Moreton Bay-country, on the western side of the dividing range, to penetrate to the tropic, by pursuing a course as much to the westward of north-west, as the internal country, by furnishing the requisites, grass and water for the animals employed, would permit. ”

“ An expedition well appointed, and furnished with six months' provisions, and moreover favoured by the country affording wherewithal to sustain animal life, might cross the tropical circle in longitude 140°: upon gaining which, the party might be directed to descend southerly under that meridian to the latitude of Moreton Bay; and, reaching that parallel, to shape a course to the eastward, in order to make the point on the coast-line, from which the expedition had originally taken its departure. ”

“ Hovell and Hume, who crossed them, two hundred and fifty statute miles nearer their sources, in their excursion to Port Philip in 1824. Pursuing the course of the Murray, on the 14th January, the voyagers made 'rapid progress to the W.N.W.,' noticing, as they passed on, a low 'unbroken and uninteresting country of equal sameness of features and vegetation,' to that observed whilst descending the intricate Morrumbidgee on quitting their depot. ”

“ Deep ponds, supported by streams from the highlands, immediately to the eastward, extend along their central lower flats; and these, when united, in a wet season, become an auxiliary to Condamine's River—a stream which winds its course along their southwestern margin. The downs, we remarked, varied in breadth in different parts of their lengthened surface: at their western extremity they appeared not to exceed a mile and a half, whilst towards their eastern limits, their width might be estimated at three miles. ”

“ On the 8th of February (the thirty-second day of the voyage from the depot) the hills 'wore a bleak appearance,' and the few trees, which had at one period fringed their ridges, were for the most part broken off, 'as if by the prevalent winds.' At noon, upon entering the river's last reach, no land could be discerned at its extremity; some low hills continued, however, along its left bank, whilst its right was hid by high reeds. ”

“ On the 7th January, the expedition moved forward down the river, and on the fourth day, having passed extensive alluvial flats, on which were patches of reeds, the navigation became much interrupted by 'fallen timber,' and as the current was frequently very rapid, particularly in those parts of the river where its channel had become contracted, the boats were oftentimes in great danger from sunken logs. ”

“ On the 28th my party repassed the Mountain Range, and after an absence of thirteen weeks, we returned to the station from which we had departed, on the Hunter, having, in that period, traversed upwards of eight hundred miles of every description of country. ”

“ Oxley in 1817. As its course extends to the westward of the meridian 147°, the Morrumbidgee falls on a low level; the hills of sandstone rock, which give a picturesque appearance to the lands on its banks, higher up the stream, disappear ”

“ The local knowledge of which we are now in possession, induces us to view it as extremely probable that, with the exception of any narrow belts of alluvial land which may extend along the immediate banks of the three rivers discovered by these travellers, a great extent of low steril region exists to the westward of the last-mentioned line of limitation, being, probably, a continuation of that arid desert which is shown on Mr. ”

“ It is situated on the eastern side of the dividing range in lat. 27° 36' S., and long. 152° 8' E. ↑ There is an intermediate tract of unknown country, exceeding in extent four hundred miles, between the southernmost point of Captain Sturt's examination of the Darling River, and the junction of the stream, discovered in the progress of this second expedition, flowing from the northward into the Murray ”