Part 8 (1/2)

In the ed on the survey of the lower part of the Murchison, observed that the river cah there had been no rain for several e of such a favourable opportunity of extending the exploration of the country beyond the point at which previous explorers had been driven back for want of water and grass, he proceeded up the Murchison, acco the course of the river for 180 etation showed that there had been heavy rains which had caused the floods in the lower part of the river

The following is an abstract of Mr Gregory's report to the Surveyor-General, as published at the time in the Perth Gazette:--

We last week intimated that an exploratory trip had lately been made into the interior eastward of the Geraldine Mine We have now the pleasure and satisfaction of laying before our readers so explorations, yet important in its results, which has ever been undertaken in this colony In the latter end of March last, Mr

assistant Surveyor F Gregory and Mr S Trigg started from the Geraldine Mine with two horses and sixteen pounds of flour, to trace the Murchison to its source, and returned after thirteen days' absence Mr Gregory has made a short report of his journey to the Surveyor-General, fro extract:--

While at the Geraldine Mine I availedin flood to ascend that river and coain any additional inforht facilitate the exploration of the country between this and the Gascoyne River The fact that the natives describe a considerable tract of grassy country extending northward from the head of the Murchison, plentifully supplied ater, was an additional incentive to ascertain from whence the inundation came

TROPICAL RAINY SEASON GOOD PASTORAL COUNTRY

Acco, I proceeded up the river about 180 miles, at which point it ceased to run; we then ascended a hill in the vicinity of 600 or 700 feet elevation above the plain, which I have since found to be, beyond a doubt, Mount Murchison of Austin; unfortunately I was unable to procure a copy of hisoutround As it is, the only infor the plan of the river, is that the principal fall of rain had been eastward of the 116th degree of longitude, and that the tract of country between the great South Bend and Mount Murchison, which proved barely capable of supporting Mr Austin's s a pasture nearly equal to the average of the Charass having scarcely arrived at e in the character of the country is, I am inclined to think, not entirely confined to this year in particular, but that froical causes this district has not unfrequently the benefit of tropical rains falling during the h not always in sufficient quantity to cause the river to flow as low as the settled districts

It has already been observed bysea breezes divide the northerly currents of vapour about 100the rain frohout the same parallel of latitude

As near the eastern limits of my route the Murchison throws off two branches nearly equal in ine that its extreme source does not lie more than sixty or seventy miles beyond that point, and had it not been that I did not feel justified in abstracting so large a portion of tiular surveys of this district, there is no doubt but that I could with every facility have completed the exploration of the country as far as the Gascoyne in two or three weeks

On co of the Murchison, which I now enclose, with Mr

Austin's route, it will be observed that there is a difference of seventeen hout the eastern portion, a discrepancy which I a to both the outward and inward track agree ith s; my latitudes were, however, taken only with a pocket sextant with a treacle horizon, and ht therefore not be ierror to be cleared up at so, who arrived on Wednesday by the Preston fro additional particulars:--

The outward route was on the south bank of the river Murchison; the first sixty rass, sufficient toherds or flocks; afterwards the soil on the banks of the river ieneral width being about half a itude 116 degrees east, two large branches, almost if not quite equal to the main stream, join the Murchison frorass was found very luxuriant--froh, and between there and Mount Murchison the country is described by Mr Trigg to be very beautiful, and the soil superior to any he had previously seen in the colony, and equal to the best land in Victoria Mount Murchison itself is an iranite round the base; this differs froentleman does not appear to have ascended the hill Froh lands were observable, one an isolated peak fifty miles east, the others to the north and north-east apparently more distant; so far as could be seen, the country to the east and north-east appeared scrubby and indifferent The return was on the north side of the Murchison; and here a large extent of good grassy land was found, not on the bank, but afour or fiveard to the large northerly bend of the river in longitude 115 degrees 30 ood land in all cases was very flat, the soil a red loaularly infested hite ants, of which every tree living or dead appeared to have its colony Mr Trigg regards the country around Mount Murchison as auriferous

The striking difference there is between this account of the country on the Murchison and that given by Mr Austin may be accounted for in several ways: first, Mr Austin does not appear to have crossed, but skirted the country intervening between Mount Welcome and Mount Murchison, but he describes the land about the latter as i, and found water; while it was the feed and water at Mount Welcome which, in all probability, saved his party fro The land on the north side, spoken of so favourably by Mr Trigg, was not seen by Mr Austin, and also his party was so exhausted that it was out of his power to diverge from a direct line in order to examine the nature of the country on either side; whereas Messrs Gregory and Trigg made such an examination whenever any favourable appearance presented itself, and thus determined the quantity of valuable land for a distance of six or seven miles on each side of the river, and have thus been the reatest benefits it has received since the northern district was first opened by Mr A Gregory

GASCOYNE RIVER

1858

PERTH TO CHAMPION BAY

In consequence of the very satisfactory results of the exploration of the Upper Murchison River by Messrs Gregory and Trigg in 1857, a number of settlers in the northern districts subscribed horses and equip party to examine the country still further to the east and north, and with the sanction of the Government, the Expedition was placed under the co the discovery of a considerable area of available country on the Gascoyne and Lyons Rivers, as described in Mr Gregory's journal, of which the following is a copy:--

MR F GREGORY'S REPORT

Western Australia,

Perth, July 26, 1858

SIR,

In accordance with the instructions conveyed in your letter of the 15th March, authorising me to take coanisation by the northern settlers, I have the honour to furnish the following report of our proceedings while in that service, for the information of His Excellency the Governor

The preli been completed, and the heavy portion of the stores forwarded by sea to Champion Bay, I left Perth on the 26th March, accompanied by Mr Ja started the previous day with the tea by way of Toodyay to the Irwin River, the party were joined by Mr W Moore with three horses; passing on by way of Chaeneral rendezvous, by the 10th of April On the 12th the remainder of the stores arrived froel, an aboriginal police and packing stores, shoeing horses, etc