Journals of Australian Explorations Part 4

It will be requisite that you should ascertain the course of rivers of any magnitude, and direction of chains of high land, that you may meet with, and follow the same to some extent--at least wherever appearances may lead you to expect improvement of soil, a richer country, or one indicating mineral productions.

In the event of occurrences of unexpected disasters, impediments, and unavoidable accidents, arising from loss of provisions or of horses, or of any injury to the health or strength of the party, rendering it utterly impracticable for the expedition to proceed as high northward as Gascoyne River, your discretion then supplying whatever you may be unprovided for in your instructions, you will explore as far as it is possible for you to do, on your return, the country north of the settled districts of York and Toodyay; so that something of utility may be accomplished, and the great object for which this expedition was prepared may not be wholly frustrated.

I am further to add that His Excellency's best wishes accompany your party, and that the success of the expedition, and the return of all engaged in it in health and safety, will be hailed by him with very lively satisfaction.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

R.R. MADDEN,

Colonial Secretary.

To A.C. Gregory, Esquire, Perth.

GENERAL REPORT OF JOURNEY.

Perth, November 20, 1848.

SIR,

I have the honour to transmit, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, the following outline of the proceedings of the exploring party to the northward which His Excellency has been pleased to place under my direction. I regret that we have not succeeded in reaching the Gascoyne River, which your instructions for my guidance pointed out as the ultimate object of the expedition; but I trust that our attempts to render the expedition serviceable to the colony have not proved unsuccessful, especially as the result has been the discovery of several fine portions of good gra.s.sy land near Champion Bay, which, with the more minute examination of the country in the vicinity which had been previously discovered, will render available a tract of pasturage sufficiently extensive to relieve the present overstocked districts; the estimated quant.i.ty of land suitable for depasturing sheep being about 225,000 acres, exclusive of 100,000 acres on the Irwin, the greater portion of which, however, is better suited to agricultural purposes. The observations I have had the opportunity of making during this journey have confirmed my previous opinion, that, could the party have started in July instead of September, the chief obstacle to our progress--the want of water--might have been avoided; and although there would have been many minor difficulties to encounter, I feel a.s.sured that the same zeal and energy which enabled my party to contend so long with the obstacles which opposed their advance to the Gascoyne River, would have ensured their success in a more favourable season. The gentlemen who formed my party have my sincere thanks for their prompt and energetic co-operation on all occasions; nor can I omit to mention the cheerful and trustworthy conduct of private W. King of the 96th regiment. For minute details I beg to refer my journal and the plans of my route, which I am plotting.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

A.C. Gregory,

a.s.sistant-Surveyor.

The Honourable the Colonial Secretary, etc.

JOURNAL.

LEAVE THE SETTLED DISTRICTS. STAMPEDE OF HORSES.

2nd September, 1848.

Started for Toodyay, with Mr. C.F. Gregory and five horses for the expedition to Shark's Bay; bivouacked at Worrilloo.

3rd September.

Proceeded to Toodyay, where Messrs. L. Burges, J. Walcott, and A. Bedart joined on the 4th, bringing six horses with them. Having had the horses shod at Ferguson's, we continued our journey to Mr. Lefroy's station, near Bebano, which we reached on the 7th. The following day the cart, with our provisions, etc., arrived, accompanied by private W. King.

Having obtained another horse from Mr. Lefroy, on the 9th we left Welbing, with ten pack and two riding horses, carrying three months'

provisions, etc. Steering north by west for the first twenty miles, generally gra.s.sy, we entered the extensive sandy plains which occupy almost the whole country between the Moore and Irwin rivers. The rainy season having scarcely ended, we found both water and gra.s.s for our horses every night; and, not meeting with any serious impediments, we reached the upper part of the Arrowsmith Brook on the 13th. Here the country improved, and the valleys, in which the stream takes its rise, were estimated to contain about 10,000 acres of tolerable sheep pasture.

Early the ensuing day we entered the Irwin Plains; crossing the eastern branches of the river, we encamped, on the 15th, on the northern branch, three-quarters of a mile below the spot where the coal was first discovered. The Irwin Plains presented a beautiful aspect, being covered with rich gra.s.s and vegetation; the soil is generally good; but most of the gra.s.ses being of the annual species, would not afford good pasturage in the summer, and in consequence they are better suited for agriculture, while the open character of the country would render clearing for the plough a matter of little expense. While dinner was preparing, the horses, being herded, suddenly started off at full speed, in consequence of a large stone rolled down by one of the party in ascending the hill.

Two of the remaining horses were immediately saddled, and Mr. Burges and myself started to catch them; in about a mile we came up with them at the foot of an almost perpendicular cliff; on seeing us they started off, and scrambling up the rocks like goats, left us far behind; we did not overtake them for several miles, when with some difficulty we captured one, but had the mortification of losing one of the saddled horses in exchange. Leaving the captured horse in charge of Mr. Burges, I followed the rest; caught another after a smart ride of three miles, but it was not till I reached the East Irwin that I could again overtake the rest, when, favoured by the steep bank of the stream, I succeeded in securing our truant steeds. It was now dark, and being unable to manage nine horses by myself, I tethered several of the wildest, and started with two of the best for the encampment ten miles distant, which, owing to the nature of the country, I did not reach till midnight. Mr. Burges had arrived about an hour previous with the horse first caught. Light showers in the morning.

16th September.

Messrs. Bedart, C. Gregory, and J. Walcott started to bring in the horses; the rest of the party was employed in repairing damages of the harness, and at 3.0 p.m. the party returned with the horses. Slight showers in the morning.

17th September (Sunday).

Light clouds from the south-west; thunder; rain in the evening. Read prayers.

18th September.

Left the bivouac at 8.15 a.m., and followed upwards the main branch of the Irwin to the north-north-east, through a steep and rocky valley, the sandstone hills in some parts approaching the river, so as to render it necessary to cross frequently with the pack-horses. The very level character of the summits of these hills gives the country the appearance of having been once a plain, through which the valley of the stream has since been worn by the action of water; the upper stratum is a hard red sandstone, resting on a softer rock of a sandy or clayey character, beneath which the shales and rocks belonging to the coal formation show themselves, lying in unconformable beds, and often at a very high angle.

At 9.25 the stream divided into two branches, that to the east being the most considerable; at this spot the sandstone ceased, and we commenced ascending the granite range, the direction of which was about north-north-west. The soil was poor and stony, producing a little feed for stock; but it could scarcely be made available, as the country is completely covered with thickets of acacia of small growth. At 4 p.m.

bivouacked on a small watercourse running through a level gra.s.sy flat, bounded on both sides by thickets of wattle.

SCRUBBY COUNTRY NORTH FROM THE IRWIN RIVER.

19th September.

At 8.15 a.m. steered a nearly north course, through a country of the same description as yesterday; crossed several small gullies trending west, in some of which a little water still remained; at 4.20 p.m. halted for the night at a brackish pool in a small gully trending west.

20th September.

Started at 8.0 a.m., continuing a northerly course, over a similar description of country as during the past two days, crossing three large gullies coming from the eastward, but apparently near their source. At 3.45 halted on a large stream-bed, with a few brackish or rather salt pools in its sandy channel, which was in some places nearly 100 yards wide; from our encampment we observed a very remarkable peaked hill, distant about twenty miles, and from its outline conjectured it to be composed of the same vein of trap-rock as that which forms similar ranges further to the eastward.

21st September.

The scarcity of water and the very level appearance of the country to the northward of our bivouac, added to the general denseness of the thicket of acacia and cypress, rendering a continuance of a north course unadvisable, we steered north-west from 8.30 a.m. till noon, when we ascended a scrubby sand ridge, from which we had an extensive view; neither hill nor valley could be discovered to the north, east, or west--nothing but one immense sea of dense thicket of acacia and cypress was visible in these directions; the course was therefore changed to west, and continuing it without much alteration over a succession of low ridges of drifted sand, the valleys being filled with dense thickets, until 6.20 p.m., when the approach of night compelled us to bivouac in a small patch of gum forest, which also afforded a few scattered tufts of gra.s.s for our horses. Although this was the lowest spot pa.s.sed in a distance of more than ten miles, it was so completely dried up and parched that a search for water was fruitless, even by digging; the scanty allowance of very brackish water in our kegs was therefore much relished by the party.

22nd September.

The night having been cloudy, and a strong breeze preventing any dew, our horses were not much refreshed; we, however, started at 7.45 a.m., and steering nearly west till 3.15 p.m. through a succession of dense thickets, high scrubs, and th.o.r.n.y bushes, we entered open sandy downs, and changed the course to south-west, with the intention of making the Hutt River, should we not find any water nearer, when, almost hopeless of procuring this essential element before the next day, we unexpectedly came to a native well in the centre of the sandy plain; here we bivouacked at 5.40, but, from the loose sandy soil in which the well was dug, we could not obtain more than about two and a half gallons of water for each horse, the sides of the well continually falling in. Strong breeze from the north-west, and several light showers in the evening and night.

23rd September.

Having completed watering the horses, we left the well at 9.30 a.m., and steering about north-west over undulating sandy downs, covered with coa.r.s.e scrub and patches of dense thickets, at 2.15 p.m. entered a small gully trending north-west. The country improved, but was so thickly clothed with wattles as to render travelling difficult; a few patches of gra.s.s were seen in some small watercourses, in which a little water remained. At 4.40 bivouacked on a large gully trending northwards, with several small pools of water in a rocky bed of gneiss, containing numerous small garnets. Strong breeze from the north-west and slight showers.

24th September (Sunday).

Although the feed for the horses was not very abundant, yet the long marches they had encountered the last few days made it expedient to give them a day's rest to recruit their weary limbs. Read prayers. Strong breeze from the north-west and slight showers during the day.

ENTER THE VALLEY OF THE MURCHISON RIVER.

25th September.

Started at 8.27 a.m.; pa.s.sed over poor stony hills of granite formation and producing a little gra.s.s in tufts--the wattles growing so close together as to render travelling difficult and tedious. At 10.45 came on a large stream-bed, which had scarcely ceased to run; the channel was fifty yards wide, the bed steep and rocky, and, where crossed, ran over a d.y.k.e of trap-rock, the water slightly brackish and in long shallow pools, with samphire on the banks. This stream must be the Murchison River, as no other was pa.s.sed for 30 miles to the northward; the effects of violent floods were visible, but it did not bear the character of a stream rising at any great distance inland, nor did the nature of the gravel and sand brought down by it indicate a rich soil on its upper portion, as I did not see anything besides fragments of siliceous rock and garnet sand. The valley through which it ran appeared to be five or six miles wide, extending twenty miles to the eastward, backed by sandy plains on both sides; a few patches of gra.s.s appeared in the lower parts of the valley; westward it seemed to contract and turn to the south-west, flanked by steep flat-topped hills of sandstone, resting on granite rock. Continuing north-north-east up a small valley, we pa.s.sed through wattle thickets till 1.40 p.m., when we again ascended the level sandy tableland or plains, and changed the course to the north; the scrub increased in density as we proceeded. At 4.25 halted for the night in a patch of good gra.s.s, where the thicket had been burnt off by the native fires; the sandy nature of the soil rendered the search for water unsuccessful; we therefore contended ourselves with the allowance of one pint each.