To the expectation which was
entertained when it set out, yet when the general knowledge obtained of
so considerable a portion of this extensive country is considered, it is
hoped that it has not been undertaken and performed in vain; and that
the field which it has opened to the colonists will be attended with
ultimate benefit both to them and to the parent country.
Sydney, July 17, 1819.
JOURNAL OF AN EXPEDITION IN AUSTRALIA - PART II.
May 20, 1818. Having received his Excellency the Governor's instructions
for the conduct of the expedition intended to examine the course of the
Macquarie River, and every preparation having been made at the depot in
Wellington Valley for that purpose, I quitted Sydney in company with Dr.
Harris (late of the 102nd foot), and after a pleasant journey, arrived at
Bathurst on the 25th. Our little arrangements having been completed by
the 28th, we again set forward with the baggage horses and men that were
to compose the expedition.
We at first kept nearly upon the track pursued by us on our return from
the first expedition in August last; but on approaching Wellington
Valley, keeping a little more to the westward, we avoided much of that
steep and rugged road which we then complained of; the country being
quite
open, the valleys and flats good, the hills limestone rock. We did not
meet with the slightest interruption, and arrived at the depot on the
2nd of June, where we found the boats, etc. in perfect readiness for our
immediate reception.
June 4. - Got all the horses and provisions over to the north side of the
river, and made every preparation to pursue our journey on the morrow.
The river rose about a foot during the day. The accident which had
befallen our barometer during the former expedition not being repaired,
we are of course deprived of means to make any observations on the
height of the country above the sea, otherwise than by careful
observation of the several falls or rapids: I do not think that our
station here is much above four hundred feet below the level of
Bathurst.
June 5. - About one o'clock the weather cleared up a little, when Lewis
with the boat-builder's party set out on their return to Bathurst,
taking with them three of the worst of the horses, and leaving with us
nineteen. The river rose but little during the day: it is quite high
enough for our purpose. A new species of fish was caught, having four
smellers above and four under the mouth; the hind part of it resembled
an eel; it had one dorsal fin, and four other fins, with a white belly;
it measured twenty-one inches and a half, and weighed about two pounds
three quarters.
June 6. - Proceeded down the river about four miles, when the boats were
finally laden. The river in Wellington Valley had been swelled by the
late rains, insomuch that the water below its junction with the
Macquarie was quite discoloured. From the fineness of the soil, the rain
had made the ground very soft, rendering it difficult for the horses to
travel.
June 7. - Proceeded on our journey, both boats and horses being very
heavily laden with our stores and provisions. The river rose but
little. Our day's journey lay generally over an open forest country,
with rich flats on either side of the river: high rocky limestone hills
ended occasionally in abrupt points, obliging the horses to make
considerable detours. The hills were very stony, and so light was the
soil upon them, that the rain rendered the ground very soft. The river
had many fine reaches, extending in straight lines from one to three
miles, and of a corresponding breadth. The rapids, although frequent,
offered no material obstruction to the boats. The current in the long
reaches was scarcely perceptible, and it appears to me that the
difference of elevation between this station and the last is not
considerable.
June 8. - The river expanded into beautiful reaches, having great depth
of water, and from two to three hundred feet broad, literally covered
with water-fowl of different kinds: the richest flats bordered the
river, apparently more extensive on the south side. The vast body of
water which this river must contain in times of flood is confined within
exterior banks, and its inundations are thus deprived of mischief. About
six miles down the river, a freestone hill ended on the north side of
the river: I mention this, as the only stone of that description I had
yet seen. The trees were of the eucalyptus (apple tree), and on the hills
a few of the callitris macrocarpa [Note: Callitr. Vent decad.] were seen:
the trees would furnish large and useful timber. Between eight and nine
miles lower, passed the mouth of Molle's rivulet, now a fine stream. At
four o'clock halted for the evening on rather an elevated spot,
overlooking the rivulet, and a most luxuriant country, on the south side
of the river, well clothed with wood. The boats, during this day's work,
met with no obstructions that were not easily avoided; the rapids were
not so numerous, neither were they so shoal as in the vicinity of the
depot. Our sportsmen provided us with plenty of kangaroos, and a swan.
June 9. - This day the river ran to the north-west by north; about six
miles below our halting-place it received Mary's River, a pretty little
stream. The country on the north side which we passed over was of
various description; the hills barren and stony, with dwarf eucalypti,
or gums, casuarinae, and a few of the sterculia heterophylla; the
country hilly and open: some of the flats on the banks of the river were
extensive and rich, and apparently not subject to floods.
