Explorations in Australia

It was during your administration of the Government of Western Australia, and chiefly owing to your zeal and support, that most of the work of exploration described in this volume was undertaken and carried out. Your encouragement revived the love of exploration which had almost died out in our colony before you arrived.

With gratitude and pleasure I ask you to accept the dedication of this volume as an expression of my appreciation of your kindness and support.

Yours very faithfully,

JOHN FORREST.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER 1.

Previous Expeditions into the Interior. Attempts to Discover a Route between South and Western Australia. Eyre's Disastrous Journey. Leichardt, the Lost Explorer. The Latest Explorations.

CHAPTER 2.

FIRST EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF LEICHARDT.

Statements made by the Natives. An Expedition Prepared. Leader Appointed. Official Instructions. The Journal.

CHAPTER 3.

SECOND EXPEDITION. FROM PERTH TO ADELAIDE, ROUND THE GREAT BIGHT.

A New Exploration suggested. Proposal to reach Adelaide by way of the South Coast. The experience derived from Eyre's Expedition. Survey of Port Eucla. Official Instructions. The Start. Dempster's Station near Esperance Bay. The Schooner at Port Eucla. Journal of the Expedition.

CHAPTER 4.

RECEPTION AT ADELAIDE AND RETURN TO PERTH.

Departure from Gawler and Arrival at Adelaide. Appearance of the Party. Public Entrance. Complimentary Banquet. Grant by the Government of Western Australia.

CHAPTER 5.

THIRD EXPEDITION. FROM THE WEST COAST TO THE TELEGRAPH LINE.

Proposal to undertake a New Expedition. Endeavour to Explore the Watershed of the Murchison. Expeditions by South Australian Explorers. My Journal. Fight with the Natives. Finding traces of Mr. Gosse's Party. The Telegraph Line reached. Arrival at Perth Station.

CHAPTER 6.

PUBLIC RECEPTIONS AT ADELAIDE AND PERTH.

Procession and Banquet at Adelaide. Arrival in Western Australia. Banquet and Ball at Perth. Results of Exploration.

APPENDIX.

Description of Plants, etc. Report on Geological Specimens. Note by Editor. Governor Weld's Report (1874) on Western Australia. Table of Imports and Exports. Ditto of Revenue and Expenditure. Public Debt. Population. List of Governors.

MAPS.

1. General Map of Australia, showing the Three Journeys. 2. From Perth to Longitude 123 degrees in Search of Leichardt. 3. From Perth to Adelaide, around the Great Australian Bight. 4. From Champion Bay to Adelaide.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Portrait of John Forrest. The Horses Bogged at Lake Barlee. Portrait of Alexander Forrest. Arrival at the Great Australian Bight. Fresh Water found. Public Welcome at Adelaide. Attacked by the Natives at Weld Springs. On the March. The Spinifex Desert. Reaching the Overland Telegraph Line.

EXPLORATIONS IN AUSTRALIA.

CHAPTER 1.

Previous Expeditions into the Interior. Attempts to discover a Route between South and Western Australia. Eyre's Disastrous Journey. Leichardt, the Lost Explorer. The Latest Explorations.

As the history of the principal expeditions into the interior of Australia has been narrated by several able writers, I do not propose to repeat what has already been so well told. But, to make the narrative of my own journeys more intelligible, and to explain the motives for making them, it is necessary that I should briefly sketch the expeditions undertaken for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of the vast regions intervening between Western and the other Australian colonies, and determining the possibility of opening up direct overland communication.