active 19th century Arthur Kinloch

“ I know, from long experience of this coast, that the strong winds, which prevail during the winter, are from south-west, west, and north-west, and that when the wind shifts to south it invariably moderates; and being assured, by all the masters of whalers in that district, that the south or south-east winds were only during the summer months, and that the shelter from the Murray beach prevented any fetch into Port Elliot, I feel assured that, after a time, it will be found quite safe to extend the anchorage for large ships further out. ”

“ Leaving this, the road—one place excepted, a most superior natural one, passes through a fine open forest country, fed over by abundant cattle, whose condition testifies to the quality of their food. Strathalbyn is then reached; it is a most flourishing settlement, and boasts a good inn; in the vicinity are some mines, worked for seven years, and shortly to be turned to more profit by the introduction of expensive machinery, which, possibly may be transported thither via Wellington and the Murray, the approach from Adelaide, being, I am told, scarcely passable for heavily loaded 38 drays. ”

“ The waters of the Darling River, after a long circuitous course, unite themselves with the River Murray, and, reinforced with other tributaries, maintain continuous course to the Southern Ocean, near Port Elliot. The great trade, then, which is likely to result from the steam navigation of the River Murray, comprises all that present and future pastoral produce on the western side of the mountain ridge, aback of Sydney, which it will be difficult and costly to send for shipment to the enumerated ports on the coast line of New South Wales and Port Phillip. ”

“ Lieutenant-Governor Sir Henry Young has the gratification to announce to the Legislative Council the arrival, at the Goolwa, of the first river-borne wool, the produce of the vast basin of the Murray. ”

“ The voyage of the Lady Augusta steamer has proved the fact of the navigation being open for at least six months during a very dry season, and no doubt can exist that in ordinary years the River Murray may be used by steamers for at least seven months.
A system of embankments and occasional canals at a more distant day, when labour shall become abundant, will probably lay open the course of the river for a still longer period, although the present navigability has been deemed sufficient for all immediate purposes of traffic. ”

“ Here blacks were generally found in greater or less numbers; and, as far as we could learn, they had everywhere proved of service to the settlers. They are protected by the Government, and to a certain extent fed and clothed; but the issues of blankets and flour, in South Australia at least, are as yet too scanty. Several of these people were taken by Captain Cadell up the river, to assist his crew in procuring fuel, and they proved useful and obliging upon these occasions. ”

“ The country, as we approach South Australia, is now improving in appearance, as the waters having receded, the forest appears more open, and even the “Mallee scrub” is less monotonous than before. We learn, however, that this subsidence has not taken place on the upper part of the river, the Murray having risen some feet at Maiden’s Punt, probably from the floods on the Campaspe and Goulburn, for as yet the Alpine snows have not contributed their quota to the stream. ”

“ Indeed, the squatters on the Australian Continent—those useful pioneers of colonization—were otherwise profitably employed. The occupation of new country, which led to the settlement of Port Phillip, in 1837, and of Twofold Bay, in 1839, had been carried, in 1840, 300 miles to the north, beyond and behind Moreton Bay—whilst to the south and west, sheep and cattle stations extended beyond Port Phillip to the very confines of South Australia ”

“ Indeed, these acts of reiterated villany call for the active interference of the Sydney authorities.
The land on the Murray to this point (the Darling) is all occupied, chiefly by large stock proprietors or squatters; for agriculture, whether on account of the excessive dryness of the soil, or for want of labour, appears little attended to. The settlers seem to want energy in their pursuits, but perhaps the badness of the communications hitherto with a market, and the uncertain tenure of their runs, may explain their inactivity. ”

“ The chief requisite here is a firm seat on horseback, and great activity of body, as the cattle are much disposed to run wild, and are often with difficulty collected. Both cattle and sheep were annually slaughtered in great numbers, and boiled down for tallow, which was readily bought up, by foreign merchants, for the London market, and became an article of large export. The price of wool and mutton has, however, now put an end, or nearly so, to this custom. To improve the feed of a cattle or sheep run, recourse is often had to firing the country ”

“ Sir Henry Young was, however, fortunate enough to obtain the approbation of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the proposed scheme, as also the general good opinion of the Colony in favour of the Murray navigation; whilst, with regard to interference with the supply of labour, as alleged by the opponents of the project, the recorded opinion of Earl Grey, that “the execution of the work could not fail to promote the sale, at an enhanced price, of the land benefitted by the proposed communication,” must have been particularly gratifying to His Excellency. ”

“ The country continued reedy and flooded; but the banks of the river were lined with gum trees. Our party, I should mention, has been diminished by one member, a Mr. Bright, who left us at Swan Hill to ride to Melbourne (210 miles) , where he purposes taking passage to England.
A few miles from Swan Hill, we observed several of the native turkey, or, more properly, the bustard; they are reckoned delicious eating, but are approached with difficulty on the open plains, where they love to feed. Birds are now more plentiful; and I should have said that three wild swans were seen near Swan Hill. ”

“ The Murray, thus combining within its basin nearly the entire drainage of the province of Victoria, with a large portion of that of New South Wales, and much of the eastern part of South Australia, appears to have been unknown to British Colonists before 1830, when Captain Charles Sturt, of the 39th Regiment—one of the most ardent and intrepid explorers the world has ever seen—whilst tracing the source, or rather course, of the Murrumbidgee, by order of the Sydney Government, came upon this noble river ”

“ As the successful accomplishment, so far, of the first voyage of the steamer Lady Augusta permits us to look forward, with some confidence for the future, to the easy transit of goods and produce, to and from South Australia, by means of steam navigation, we may here, perhaps not improperly, retrospectively allude to the difficulties 31 and tedious delays we have all, for so many years, encountered in reaching a market for our produce ”

“ In course of time also, canals, were it only a few yards in length, might be formed for the purpose of connecting the stream by a more direct channel, instead of compelling ascending vessels to navigate the continued sinuosities of the river throughout its entire course.
Swan Hill, a green oasis rising amidst what is, apparently, a desert of reeds, is a valuable station, containing some excellent pasture. Indeed, from these very reeds, which are annually burnt, springs up a “second growth,” affording admirable food for cattle ”

“ Captain Sturt’s means of transport were comprised in a whale boat and small skiff, built in seven days on the Murrumbidgee, and with these means and a stock of provisions barely sufficient, it afterwards appeared, for subsistence, this determined man did not hesitate to follow the course of the Murray to its mouth ”

“ The fish of the Murray consist chiefly of the cod, perch, and cray fish, with a few small turtles, and, in the adjoining lakes, a kind of smelt. The cod is of large size and weight, and well tasted. The most delicate fish is, however, found in the Darling—the name I could not gather.
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The timber on the Murray is almost entirely confined to the gum, of which there are three varieties—the white, red, and flooded; and occasionally a few pines. Edible roots are found by the natives, and comprise a considerable portion of their food ”

“ Maiden, the proprietor of the punt and inn, bearing his name, that some short distance above his place, at the junction of the Edwards and Wakool—or rather where these rivers leave the Murray—that, at flood time, the channel of the river is lost among large reedy lakes, and that its course could not be found without native assistance—that the country is quite destitute of trees for a considerable distance. After leaving this part, the timber becomes plenty again, and continues so; the banks keep high, and continue to improve in quality ”

“ At length, Captain Francis Cadell, formerly commander of the Queen of Sheba and the Cleopatra steamer (1,500 tons) , entered into the matter with an evident determination to carry it through. He laid on a small steamer at Sydney, of above eighty tons burthen, forty horse power, and three feet draught of water when loaded [6] —proposed to the Legislature of South Australia to carry his boat through the sea mouth—to navigate the river to the Darling (600 miles) twelve times in the year; or to perform six trips as far as Swan Hill, a distance of 1,250 miles from the sea. ”

“ On the evening of the 25th, the Lady Augusta, with a full complement of passengers, and including the Eureka, which was towed alongside, an aggregate number of forty-three persons, steamed off from the Goolwa Jetty, amidst the cheers of the assembled settlers of the district, many of whom had traversed long distances to witness the departure of the first steamer on the waters of the Murray. ”

“ Descending Glen Osmond, three or four miles of hard, if not good, road, brings the traveller to the town, which—rather tired, I confess—I reached about half-past four p.m.; my horse being equally knocked up with myself, though the distance from Strathalbyn is not more than thirty-eight miles.
Sir Henry Young left the steamer the same evening (Friday, October 14) , at the Goolwa, after a smooth passage across the Lake, and took up his quarters for the night at Port Elliot. The next day, accompanied by Mr. Grainger, His Excellency rode into Adelaide, a distance of about fifty-eight miles. ”

“ That this extensive navigability of the River Murray should have remained so long unserviceable to the Continent of Australia, and especially to South Australia, within whose territory flow so many hundred miles of its course to its final exit on the Southern Ocean, requires some explanation to persons ignorant, perhaps, of the first and present condition of this infant Colony ”

“ The animal and vegetable kingdom of the Murray is apparently not productive in uncommon or very peculiar productions. Of the four-footed inhabitants of the bush, up to this point of our trip (the vicinity of the Thirteen Lakes [9] ) , I have heard of none being seen by our party, save and except one solitary kangaroo. Ducks and quail are abundant; the former comprising the musk, black, and wood duck, teal, and widgeon. These are netted by the natives with considerable success ”

“ McCullum’s station (Wella) , where there are 13,000 sheep, pursued our onward course towards Swan Hill.
From the junction of the Murrumbidgee, or rather of the Logan or Wakool, [16] up which we steamed a short distance, the volume of the Murray diminishes, and its sinuosity increases; but the steamer made good progress on her way, anchoring about half-past twelve a.m., on Thursday morning, the 15th September, in mid-channel, with a strong tide running. ”

“ Dogs are, however, trained to seize them by the neck, and, in this way, overpower them easily.
[11] The Darling, during more than half the year, would, it appears, be navigable for upwards of 150 miles from its junction with the Murray. A few years ago indeed, it was settled as far as Lake Minindie, a Government Reserve, 200 miles from the mouth; but the outrages of the blacks—the distance from an available market—or other causes—led to the abandonment of these runs. It has now only 50,000 sheep upon its banks ”

“ The result of this expedition to the Colony of South Australia may truly be called the discovery of the Golden Fleece; for by the successful achievement of the navigation of the Murray by Captain Cadell’s steamer, Sir Henry Young has obtained an immediate increase to the exports of the Province of certainly 1,000,000lbs. of wool, of the value of about £80,000. ”

“ I allude to their cannibal habits. The man, who goes by the name of Mickie, himself tells the story. He says, that, returning on one occasion from Melbourne, where he had been serving as a police trooper, he fell in with some natives of the Loddon tribe, one of whom, following him, and threatening to spear and eat him, he attacked and killed. [12] This effected, he was not content with his triumph, but did actually eat a portion of the man’s body—a part of his kidney fat—which he pronounced good eating, and not unlike pork and duck. ”