ASSISTANT-SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
AN AUSTRALIAN SEARCH PARTY - I.
BY CHARLES H. EDEN.
IN a former narrative, published in the preceding volume of the ILLUSTRATED
TRAVELS, I gave an account of a terrible cyclone which visited the
north-eastern coast of Queensland in the autumn of 1866, nearly destroying
the small settlements of Cardwell and Townsville, and doing an infinity of
damage by uprooting heavy timber, blocking up the bush roads, etc. Amongst
other calamities attendant on this visitation was the loss of a small
coasting schooner, named the 'Eva', bound from Cleveland to Rockingham Bay,
with cargo and passengers. Only those who have visited Australia can
picture to themselves the full horror of a captivity amongst the degraded
blacks with whom this unexplored district abounds; and a report of white
men having been seen amongst the wild tribes in the neighbourhood of the
Herbert River induced the inhabitants of Cardwell to institute a search
party to rescue the crew of the unhappy schooner, should they still be
alive; or to gain some certain clue to their fate, should they have
perished.
In my former narrative I described our exploration of the Herbert River,
lying at the south end of Rockingham Channel, with its fruitless issue; and
I now take up the thread of my story from that point, thinking it can
hardly fail to be of interest to the reader, not only as regards the wild
nature of the country traversed, but also as showing the anxiety manifested
by the inhabitants of these remote districts to clear up the fate of their
unhappy brethren. I may also here mention, for the information of such of
my readers as may not have read the preceding portions of the narrative,
that Cardwell is the name of a small township situated on the shores of
Rockingham Bay; and that Townsville is a settlement some hundred miles
further south, known also as Cleveland Bay.
HOW WE EXPLORED GOULD AND GARDEN ISLANDS.
We were all much pleased at a piece of intelligence brought up by the
'Daylight', to the effect that a party of volunteers had been assembled at
Cleveland Bay, and intended coming up in a small steamer to the south end
of Hinchinbrook, to assist in the search for the missing crew. As it would
be of the utmost importance that both parties should co-operate, I sent my
boat down to the mouth of the channel, with a note to the leader of the
expedition announcing our intention of landing on the north end of the
island and working towards the centre; and requesting them to scour their
end, and then push northward, when we should most probably meet in the
middle of the island. The boat had orders to wait at the bar until the
arrival of the steamer, and then to return with all speed. In the
meanwhile, the 'Daylight' was discharging her cargo, and we were making
preparations for what we well knew would prove a most arduous undertaking;
the sequel will show that we did not overrate the difficulties before us.
At the risk of being tedious, I must explain to the reader some of the
peculiarities of Hinchinbrook Island. Its length is a little short of
forty miles, and its shape a rude triangle, the apex of which is at the
south, and the north side forming the southern portion of Rockingham Bay.
Now this north side is by no means straight, but is curved out into two or
three bays of considerable extent, and in one of them stand two islands
named Gould and Garden Islands. The latter of these was our favourite
resort for picnics, for the dense foliage afforded good shade, and, when
the tide was low, we were enabled to gather most delicious oysters from
some detached rocks. Gould Island is considerably larger; but, rising in a
pyramid from the sea, and being covered with loose boulders, it was most
tedious climbing. From the township we could, with our glasses, see canoes
constantly passing and repassing between these two islands; and as the
'Daylight' had a particularly heavy cargo this trip, and would not be clear
for the next two days, we made up our minds to search the islands, and
drive the blacks on to Hinchinbrook, so that one of our parties must
stumble across them when we swept it. This may seem to the reader
unnecessary trouble, but most of our party were conversant with the habits
of the blacks and their limited method of reasoning; and we judged it
probable that the Herbert River gins would have at once acquainted the
Hinchinbrook blacks with our unceremonious visit, and warned them that we
should probably soon look them up also. Now on the receipt of this
unwelcome intelligence, the first thing that would strike the blacks would
be the facilities for concealment afforded by Gould or Garden Islands, more
particularly had they any captives; and they would say to themselves that
we should certainly overlook these two out-of-the-way little spots; and
when we were busy on Hinchinbrook, they could easily paddle themselves and
their prisoners to some of the more distant chain of islands, where they
could lie by until all fear of pursuit was past. Such was the opinion both
of the troopers and of the experienced bushmen; and as we were fully
resolved to leave them no loophole for escape, we jumped into our boat and
pulled gently over to Garden Island.
It was about seven o'clock in the morning when we started, six strong -
four whites, and Cato, and Ferdinand - well armed, and with a good supply
of provisions. The sun was already very hot, and the water smooth as
glass, save where the prow of the boat broke the still surface into a tiny
ripple, which continued plainly visible half a mile astern.
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