Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, Complete

C >> Charles Sturt >> Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, Complete

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At the junction, the Castlereagh, with whatever impetuosity it rushes from
its confinement, makes not apparently the least impression on the Darling
River. The latter seemed to loll on, totally heedless of such a tributary.

CHAPTER IV.

Perplexity--Trait of honesty in the natives--Excursion on horseback across
the Darling--Forced to return--Desolating effects of the drought--Retreat
towards the colony--Connection between the Macquarie and the Darling--
Return up the banks of the Macquarie--Starving condition of the natives.

On our return to the party, we found them surrounded by the natives, who
were looking with an eye of wonder on the cattle and horses. We pointed
out to them the direction in which we were going, and invited them to
visit us; and nothing appeared to astonish them so much as the management
of the team by a single man. We got back to our position early, and again
fixed ourselves upon it.

It now only remained for us to consider what we should do under
circumstances of certainly more than ordinary perplexity. We had nothing
to hope for from travelling in a southerly direction, while to the E. and
N.E., the state of the country was worse than that by which we had
penetrated to the Darling. It was evident, that the large creeks joining
the Castlereagh in that direction were dry, since the natives not only
intimated this to us, but it was unquestionable that they themselves had
deserted them, and had crowded to such places as still contained a supply
of water. Even in retreating, we could not hope to retrace our steps.
Experience had proved to us, that the dry state of the interior was as
injurious to the movements of an expedition as a too wet season would have
been. Taking everything, therefore, into consideration, I determined on
leaving the party stationary, and on crossing the Darling to the N.W.,
and, if any encouraging feature presented itself, to return for the party,
and persevere in an examination of the distant interior. Such, at least,
appeared to me the most judicious plan: indeed, an attempt to have moved
in any other direction would have been fruitless. And, as the result of
this journey would be decisive, and would either fix or determine our
advance or retreat, I was anxious for Mr. Hume's attendance.

The natives followed to the camp, and in the course of the afternoon, were
joined by their women. The latter however, would not approach nearer than
the top of a little hillock on which they sat. The men did not come round
the tents, but stood in a row at a short distance. At sunset, they gained
a little courage, and wandered about a little more; at length they went
off to the Darling.

HONESTY OF A NATIVE.

It was quite dark, when I heard a native call from the hill on which the
women had been, and I desired Hopkinson to take his firelock and ascertain
what the man wanted. He soon after returned, and brought a blanket, which
he said the man had returned to him. The native was alone, and when he
offered the blanket, kept his spear poised in his right hand; but, seeing
that no violence was intended him, he lowered his weapon, and walked away.

REWARD THE MAN FOR HIS CONDUCT.

I was extremely pleased at this trait of honesty, and determined to reward
it. On inquiry, I found that the men had availed themselves of the day to
wash their blankets and that one of them had been flung over a bush
hanging over the bank of the river, and it was supposed that one of the
natives must have pulled it down with him. In the morning, the tribe went
away from their encampment before day-light as we judged from the cry of
their dogs, than which nothing could be more melancholy; but about eight,
the men made their appearance on the hill occupied by the women the
evening previously, and seemed to be doubtful whether to approach nearer.
I went out to them, and, with a downward motion of my hand, beckoned for
them to come to me: they mistook the signal, but laid all their spears on
the ground, and it was not until after the sign had been reversed that
they stirred or moved towards me. I then got them in a row, and desired
Hopkinson to single out the man who had given him the blanket. It was,
however, with great difficulty that he recognised him, as the man stood
firm and motionless. At length, after walking two or three times along the
line, he stopped before one man, and put his hand on his shoulder, upon
which the manner of the native testified as to the correctness of his
guess.

The blanket being produced, I explained to the savage, with Mr. Hume's
assistance, that I was highly pleased with him, and forthwith presented
him with a tomahawk and a clasp-knife. The tribe were perfectly aware of
the reason of my conduct, and all of them seemed highly delighted.

I was happy in having such an opportunity of showing the natives of the
interior that I came among them with a determination to maintain justice
in my communication with them, and to impress them, at the same time, with
a sense of our love of it in them. That they appreciated my apparent
lenity in not calling for the defaulter, I am sure, and I feel perfectly
conscious that I should have failed in my duty had I acted otherwise than
I did.

EFFECT OF FIRING A GUN.

Although the natives had shown so good a disposition, as they were
numerous, I thought it as well, since I was about to leave the camp, to
show them that I had a power they little dreamt of about me. I therefore
called for my gun and fired a ball into a tree. The effect of the report
upon the natives, was truly ridiculous. Some stood and stared at me,
others fell down, and others ran away; and it was with some difficulty we
collected them again. At last, however, we did so, and, leaving them to
pick out the ball, mounted our horses and struck away for the Darling.
We crossed the river a little above where we struck it, and then proceeded
N.W. into the interior.

EXCURSION ACROSS THE DARLING.

It is impossible for me to describe the nature of the country over which
we passed, for the first eight miles. We rode through brushes of
polygonum, under rough-gum, without a blade of vegetation, the whole space
being subject to inundation. We then got on small plains of firmer
surface, and red soil, but these soon changed again for the former; and
at 4 p.m. we found ourselves advanced about two miles on a plain that
stretched away before us, and bounded the horizon. It was dismally brown;
a few trees only served to mark the distance. Up one of the highest I sent
Hopkinson, who reported that he could not see the end of it, and that all
around looked blank and desolate. It is a singular fact, that during the
whole day, we had not seen a drop of water or a blade of grass.

DESOLATING EFFECTS OF THE DROUGHT.

To have stopped where we were, would, therefore, have been impossible; to
have advanced, would probably have been ruin. Had there been one favorable
circumstance to have encouraged me with the hope of success, I would have
proceeded. Had we picked up a stone as indicating our approach to high
land, I would have gone on; or had there been a break in the level of the
country, or even a change in the vegetation. But we had left all traces of
the natives far behind us; and this seemed a desert they never
entered--that not even a bird inhabited. I could not encourage a hope of
success, and, therefore, gave up the point; not from want of means, but a
conviction of the inutility of any further efforts. If there is any blame
to be attached to the measure, it is I who am in fault, but none who had
not like me traversed the interior at such a season, would believe the
state of the country over which I had wandered. During the short interval
I had been out, I had seen rivers cease to flow before me, and sheets of
water disappear; and had it not been for a merciful Providence, should,
ere reaching the Darling, have been overwhelmed by misfortune.

I am giving no false picture of the reality. So long had the drought
continued, that the vegetable kingdom was almost annihilated, and minor
vegetation had disappeared. In the creeks, weeds had grown and withered,
and grown again; and young saplings were now rising in their beds,
nourished by the moisture that still remained; but the largest forest
trees were drooping, and many were dead. The emus, with outstretched
necks, gasping for breath, searched the channels of the rivers for water,
in vain; and the native dog, so thin that it could hardly walk, seemed to
implore some merciful hand to despatch it. How the natives subsisted it
was difficult to say, but there was no doubt of the scarcity of food
among them.

We arrived in camp at a late hour, and having nothing to detain us longer,
prepared for our retreat in the morning. The natives had remained with the
party during the greater part of the day, and had only left them a short
time prior to our arrival.

When examining the creek on which we had been encamped for some days,
Mr. Hume observed a small junction; and as we knew we were almost
due N. of the marshes of the Macquarie, both of us were anxious to
ascertain whence it originated. To return to Mount Harris, by retracing
our steps up the Castlereagh, would have entailed the severest distress
upon us; we the rather preferred proceeding up this creek, and taking our
chance for a supply of water. We therefore crossed Morrisset's chain of
ponds, and encamped in the angle formed by the junction of the two creeks.

Before we left this position, we were visited by a party of natives,
twelve in number, but not of the Darling tribe. They accompanied us a
short way, and then struck off to the right. At about a mile and a half,
we crossed Mr. Hume's track, leading westerly, which still remained
observable. The creek was, no doubt, the hollow he stated that he crossed
on that excursion, and its appearance certainly justified his opinion of
it. Its bed was choked up with bulrushes or the polygonum, and its banks
were level with the country on either side, or nearly so. We passed over
extremely rich soil the whole day, on a S.W. and by W. course, though the
timber upon it was dwarfish, and principally of the rough-gum kind.

On the 2nd of April, we stopped in order to make some repairs upon the
dray; the wheels of which had failed us. Clayton put in four new spokes,
and we heated the tyres over again, by which means we got it once more
serviceable.

WILD MELON.

The soil in the creek was of the richest quality, and was found to produce
a dwarf melon, having all the habits and character of the cucumber.
The fruit was not larger than a pigeon's egg, but was extremely sweet.
There were not, however, many ripe, although the runners were covered with
flowers, and had an abundance of fruit upon them. In the morning, we sent
the tinker on horseback up the creek, to ascertain how far the next water
was from us, desiring him to keep the creek upon his right, and to follow
his own track back again. He thought fit, however, considering himself
a good bushman, to wander away to his left, and the consequence was, that
he soon lost himself. It would appear that he doubled and passed through
some thick brush at the back of the camp, and at length found himself at
dark on the banks of a considerable creek. In wandering along it, he
luckily struck upon the natives we had last seen, who, good-naturedly, led
him to the track of the dray, which his horse would not afterwards desert,
and the tinker sneaked into the tent about 3 o'clock in the morning,
having failed in his errand, and made himself the butt of the whole party.

RETURN UP THE CREEK.

The day succeeding this adventure, we moved up the creek, which was, for
the most part, even with the plain. The country continued the same as that
we had passed over from the junction, being subject to flood, and having
patches of bulrushes and reeds upon it. No change took place in the
timber, but the line of acacia pendula, which forms the line of
inundation, approached neater to us; nor was the mark of flood so high on
the trunks of trees as below. We halted, with abominable water, but
excellent food for the animals in the plains behind us. In continuing our
journey, we found several changes take place in the appearance of the
creek and its neighbourhood. The former diminished in size, and at length
separated into two distinct channels, choked up, for the most part, with
dead bulrushes, but having a few green reeds in patches along it. The
flats on either side became slightly timbered, and blue gum was the
prevailing tree. Crossing one of the channels, we observed every
appearance of our near approach to the marshes, the flats being
intersected by many little water-runs, such as we had noticed at the
bottom of them. About noon we struck upon a body of reeds under the wood
of eucalypti, below the second great morass, and keeping a little to our
right to avoid them, fell shortly afterwards into our old track on the
plain, upon which we continued to move, making the best of our way to the
channel which had supplied our wants on our first return from the Darling.
It was now, however, quite dry, and we were obliged to push on further,
to shorten the journey of the morrow.

CONNECTION OF MACQUARIE AND DARLING.

The result of our journey up the creek was particularly satisfactory, both
to myself and Mr. Hume; since it cleared up every doubt that might have
existed regarding the actual termination of the Macquarie, and enabled us
to connect the flow of waters at so interesting and particular a point.
It will be seen by a reference to the chart, that the waters of the
marshes, after trickling through the reeds, form a small creek, which
carries off the superfluous part of them into Morrisset's chain of ponds,
which latter again falls into the Castlereagh, at about eight miles to the
W.N.W. and all three join the Darling in a W. by N. direction, in lat.
30 degrees 52 minutes south and E. lon. 147 degrees 8 minutes at about
90 miles to the N.N.W. of Mount Harris, and about an equal distance to
the E.S.E. of where we struck upon the last-mentioned river. Thus it
is evident that the Darling had considerably neared the eastern ranges,
although it was still more than 150 miles from their base. It was
apparently coming from the N.E., and whether it has its sources in the
mountains behind our distant settlements, or still farther to the
northwards, is a question of curious speculation, although, as I have
already stated, I am of opinion that none but tropical rains could
supply the furious torrent that must sometimes rage in it.

It would be presumptuous to hazard any opinion as to the nature of the
interior to the westward of that remarkable river. Its course is involved
in equal mystery, and it is a matter of equal doubt whether it makes its
way to the south coast, or ultimately exhausts itself in feeding a
succession of swamps, or falls into a large reservoir in the centre of
the island.

RETURN TO MOUNT HARRIS.

We reached Mount Harris on the 7th of the month, and moving leisurely up
the banks of the Macquarie, gained Mr. Palmer's first station on the 14th,
and Wellington Valley on the 21st, having been absent from that settlement
four months and two weeks. The waters of the Macquarie had diminished so
much, that its bed was dry for more than half a mile at a stretch, nor did
we observe the least appearance of a current in it, until after we had
ascended the ranges. The lower tribes were actually starving, and brought
their children to us to implore something to eat. The men attempted to
surprise the camp, but I believe they were urged from absolute necessity
to procure subsistence for themselves, and that they intended robbery
rather than personal violence.

DEPLORABLE STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

We left the interior in a still more deplorable state than that in which
we found it; but it is more than probable that under other circumstances,
we should have found it impossible to traverse its distant plains, as it
is certain that unless rain fell in less than three weeks, all
communication with the Darling would have been cut off:

CHAPTER V.

General remarks--Result of the expedition--Previous anticipations--
Mr. Oxley's remarks--Character of the Rivers flowing westerly--
Mr. Cunningham's remarks--Fall of the Macquarie--Mr. Oxley's erroneous
conclusions respecting the character of the interior, naturally inferred
from the state in which he found the country--The marsh of the Macquarie
merely a marsh of the ordinary character--Captain King's observations--
Course of the Darling--Character of the low interior plain--The convict
Barber's report of rivers traversing the interior--Surveyor-General
Mitchell's Report of his recent expedition.

RESULT OF THE EXPEDITION.

Whether the discoveries that have been made during this expedition, will
ultimately prove of advantage to the colony of New South Wales, is a
question that time alone can answer. We have in the meanwhile to regret
that no beneficial consequences will immediately follow them. The further
knowledge that has been gained of the interior is but as a gleam of
sunshine over an extensive landscape. A stronger light has fallen upon the
nearer ground, but the distant horizon is still enveloped in clouds. The
veil has only as it were been withdrawn from the marshes of the Macquarie
to be spread over the channel of the Darling. Unsatisfactory, however, as
the discoveries may as yet be considered in a commercial point of view,
the objects for which the expedition had been fitted out were happily
attained. The marsh it had been directed to examine, was traversed on
every side, and the rivers it had been ordered to trace, were followed
down to their terminations to a distance far beyond where they had ceased
to exist as living streams. To many who may cast their eyes over the
accompanying chart, the extent of newly discovered country may appear
trifling; but when they are told, that there is not a mile of that
ground that was not traversed over and over again, either by Mr. Hume or
by myself, that we wandered over upwards of 600 miles more than the main
body of the expedition, on different occasions, in our constant and
anxious search for water, and that we seldom dismounted from our horses,
until long after sunset, they will acknowledge the difficulties with which
we had to contend, and will make a generous allowance for them; for,
however unsuccessful in some respects the expedition may have been, it
accomplished as much, it is to be hoped, as under such trying
circumstances could have been accomplished. It now only remains for me to
sum up the result of my own observations, and to point out to the reader,
how far the actual state of the interior, has been found to correspond
with the opinions that were entertained of it.

MR. OXLEY'S REMARKS.

I have already stated, in the introduction to this work, that the general
impression on the minds of those best qualified to judge was, that the
western streams discharged themselves into a central shoal sea. Mr. Oxley
thus expresses himself on the subject:--

"July 3rd. Towards morning the storm abated, and at day-light, we
proceeded on our voyage. The main bed of the river was much contracted,
but very deep; the waters spreading to the depth of a foot or eighteen
inches over the banks, but all running on the same point of bearing. We
met with considerable interruptions from fallen timber, which in places
nearly choked up the channel. After going about twenty miles, we lost the
land and trees; the channel of the river, which lay through reeds, and was
from one to three feet deep, ran northerly.--This continued for three or
four miles farther, when, although there had been no previous change in
the breadth, depth, or rapidity of the stream for several miles, and I was
sanguine in my expectations of soon entering the long-sought-for
Australian sea, it all at once eluded our farther pursuit, by spreading on
every point from N.W. to N.E. among the ocean of reeds which surrounded
us, still running with the same rapidity as before. There was no channel
whatever among those reeds, and the depth varied from three to five feet.
This astonishing change (for I cannot call it a termination of the river)
of course left me no alternative but to endeavour to return to some spot
on which we could effect a landing before dark. I estimated, that during
the day, we had gone about twenty-four miles, on nearly the same point of
bearing as yesterday. To assert, positively, that we were on the margin of
the lake, or sea, into which this great body of water is discharged, might
reasonably be deemed a conclusion, which has nothing but conjecture for
its basis. But if an opinion may be permitted to be hazarded from actual
appearances, mine is decidedly in favour of our being in the immediate
vicinity of an inland sea, or lake, most probably a shoal one, and
gradually filling up by numerous depositions from the high lands, left by
the waters which flow into it. It is most singular, that the high lands on
this continent seem to be confined to the sea-coast, and not to extend to
any distance from it."

MR. CUNNINGHAM'S REMARKS.

In a work published at Sydney, containing an account of Mr. Allan
Cunningham's journey towards Moreton Bay, in 1828, the following remarks
occur, from which it is evident Mr. Cunningham entertained Mr. Oxley's
views of the character and nature of the Western interior. Towards the
conclusion of the narrative, the author thus observes:--

"Of the probable character of the distant unexplored interior, into which
it has been ascertained ALL the rivers falling westerly from the dividing
ranges flow, some inference may be drawn from the following data.

"Viewing, between the parallels of 34 degrees and 27 degrees, a vast area
of depressed interior, subjected in seasons of prolonged rains to partial
inundation, by a dispersion of the several waters that flow upon it from
the eastern mountains whence they originate; and bearing in mind at the
same time, that the declension of the country within the above parallels,
as most decidedly shown by the dip of its several rivers, is uniformly
to the N.N.W. and N.W., it would appear very conclusive, that either a
portion of our distant interior is occupied by a lake of considerable
magnitude, or that the confluence of those large streams, the Macquarie,
Castlereagh, Gwydir, and the Dumaresq, with the many minor interfluent
waters, which doubtless takes place upon those low levels, forms one
or more noble rivers, which may flow across the continent by an almost
imperceptible declivity of country to the north of north-west coasts, on
certain parts of which, recent surveys have discovered to us extensive
openings, by which the largest accumulations of waters might escape to the
sea."

CHARACTER OF THE RIVERS.

It is the characteristic of the streams falling westerly from the eastern,
or coast ranges, to maintain a breadth of channel and a rapidity of
current more immediately near their sources, that ill accords with their
diminished size, and the sluggish flow of their waters in the more
depressed interior. In truth, neither the Macquarie nor the Castlereagh
can strictly be considered as permanent rivers. The last particularly is
nothing more than a mountain torrent. The Macquarie, although it at length
ceased to run, kept up the appearance of a river to the very marshes; but
the bed of the Castlereagh might have been crossed in many places without
being noticed, nor did its channel contain so much water as was to be
found on the neighbouring plains.

There are two circumstances upon which the magnitude, and velocity of a
river, more immediately depend. The first is the abundance of its sources,
the other the dip of its bed. If a stream has constant fountains at its
head, and numerous tributaries joining it in its course, and flows withal
through a country of gradual descent, such a stream will never fail; but
if the supplies do not exceed the evaporation and absorption, to which
every river is subject, if a river dependant on its head alone, falls
rapidly into a level country, without receiving a single addition to its
waters to assist the first impulse acquired in their descent, it must
necessarily cease to flow at one point or other. Such is the case with the
Lachlan, the Macquarie, the Castlereagh, and the Darling. Whence the
latter originates, still remains to be ascertained; but most undoubtedly
its sources have been influenced by the same drought that has exhausted
the fountains of the three first mentioned streams.

In supporting his opinion of the probable discharge of the interior waters
of Australia upon its north-west coast, Mr. Cunningham thus remarks in the
publication from which I have already made an extract.

"To those remarkable parts of the north-west coast above referred to in
the parallel of 16 degrees south, the Macquarie river, which rises in
lat. 33 degrees, and under the meridian of 150 degrees east, would have a
course of 2045 statute miles throughout, while the elevation of its
source, being 3500 feet above the level of the sea as shown by the
barometer, would give its waters an average descent of twenty inches to
the mile, supposing the bed of the river to be an inclined plane.

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