Journals of Australian Explorations

Numerous inquiries having been made for copies of the Journals of the Explorations by the Messrs. Gregory in the Western, Northern, and Central portions of Australia, and as these journals have hitherto only been partially published in a fragmentary form, and are now out of print, it has been deemed desirable to collect the material into one volume, for convenience of reference, and to place on permanent record some of the earlier attempts to penetrate the terra incognita which then constituted so vast a portion of the Australian Continent.

Although, during the twenty-two years which have elapsed since the last of these expeditions was undertaken, the geographical knowledge of Australia has so far advanced as to fill in most of the details of its physical features and set at rest the speculative opinions and theories of early explorers, it has not been deemed desirable to alter or amend the impressions or views recorded at the time, but simply reproduce the journals as originally compiled.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS.

MESSRS. GREGORY'S EXPEDITION TO THE EAST AND NORTH OF SWAN RIVER. 1846.

THE SETTLERS' EXPEDITION TO THE NORTHWARD FROM PERTH, UNDER MR. ASSISTANT-SURVEYOR A.C. GREGORY. 1848.

HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR CHARLES FITZGERALD'S EXPEDITION TO THE GERALDINE LEAD MINE. 1848.

THE MURCHISON RIVER. 1857.

GASCOYNE RIVER. 1858.

NORTH-WEST COAST. 1861.

NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. 1855 TO 1856.

EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF DR. LEICHHARDT. 1857 TO 1858.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

[missing frontispiece (ripped out), probably photo of A.C. Gregory.]

F.T. GREGORY.

H.C. GREGORY.

THE GOUTY-STEM TREE, NEAR THE DOME, ON THE RIVER VICTORIA, NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA.

T. BAINES.

C.F. GREGORY.]

AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATIONS.

MESSRS. GREGORY'S EXPEDITION TO THE EAST AND NORTH OF SWAN RIVER.

1846.

EARLY CONDITION OF WEST AUSTRALIA.

The colony of Western Australia was established in 1829; but its isolation from the older settlement of New South Wales rendered it necessary to import all the horses, cattle, and sheep by sailing vessels from Tasmania, or other remote sources, while the heavy losses and difficulties attending long sea voyages prevented any large importations of stock--so that, though there was a fair rate of increase, the flocks and herds of the settlers had found sufficient pasturage for the first ten years on the banks of the Swan River and its upper valley, the Avon, together with the coast district southward to the Vasse Inlet; but after 1840 the stock-owners began to feel that all prospect of material increase must be relinquished unless additional pastures could be discovered.

Several public as well as private expeditions were undertaken for the purpose of ascertaining whether in the interior or along the coast on either side of the settlement there existed any available country, but they had only encountered dense scrubs of acacia and eucalyptus, with salt marshes and scarcity of fresh water in the interior. The coast to the east had been traversed from Adelaide to King George's Sound by Mr. Eyre, and found to be altogether unfit for settlement, while to the north the coast presented a series of sandy plains for more than 200 miles.

It may now appear extraordinary that the earlier explorers in Australia were so frequently unsuccessful in their endeavours to penetrate the interior; but the scarcity of suitable horses, the unsuitable character of the saddlery, cumbersome camp equipment, and deficiency of knowledge regarding the seasons in the interior, all combined to defeat the first explorers in districts which have since been traversed with comparative facility.