Part 1 (2/2)

To Anthony Forster, Esq. he offers his warmest acknowledgments for his a.s.sistance in overlooking the ma.n.u.scripts during the voyage from Australia, and correcting many errors which necessarily resulted from the hurried manner in which they were prepared; it is to this kind supervision must be ascribed the merit--negative though it may be--of there not being more errors than there are.

VOLUME I

JOURNAL OF EXPEDITIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA IN 1840.

Chapter I.

ORIGIN OF THE EXPEDITION--CONTEMPLATED EXPLORATION TO THE WESTWARD--MEETING OF THE COLONISTS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS ENTERED INTO FOR THAT PURPOSE--NOTES ON THE UNFAVOURABLE NATURE OF THE COUNTRY TO THE WESTWARD, AND PROPOSAL THAT THE NORTHERN INTERIOR SHOULD BE EXAMINED INSTEAD--MAKE AN OFFER TO THE GOVERNOR TO CONDUCT SUCH AN EXPEDITION--CAPTAIN STURT'S LECTURE--INTERVIEW WITH THE GOVERNOR, ARRANGEMENT OF PLANS--PREPARATION OF OUTFIT--COST OF EXPEDITION--NAME A DAY FOR DEPARTURE--PUBLIC BREAKFAST AND COMMENCEMENT OF THE UNDERTAKING.

Before entering upon the account of the expedition sent to explore the interior of Australia, to which the following pages refer, it may perhaps be as well to advert briefly to the circ.u.mstances which led to the undertaking itself, that the public being fully in possession of the motives and inducements which led me, at a very great sacrifice of my private means, to engage in an exploration so hazardous and arduous, and informed of the degree of confidence reposed in me by those interested in the undertaking, and the sanguine hopes and high expectations that were formed as to the result, may be better able to judge how far that confidence was well placed, and how far my exertions were commensurate with the magnitude of the responsibility I had undertaken.

I have felt it the more necessary to allude to this subject now, because I was in some measure at the time instrumental in putting a stop to a contemplated expedition to the westward, and of thus unintentionally interfering with the employment of a personal friend of my own, than whom no one could have been more fitted to command an undertaking of the kind, from his amiable disposition, his extensive experience, and his general knowledge and acquirements.

Upon returning, about the middle of May 1840, from a visit to King George's Sound and Swan River, I found public attention in Adelaide considerably engrossed with the subject of an overland communication between Southern and Western Australia. Captain Grey, now the Governor of South Australia, had called at Adelaide on his way to England from King George's Sound, and by furnis.h.i.+ng a great deal of interesting information relative to Western Australia, and pointing out the facilities that existed on its eastern frontier, as far as it was then known, for the entrance of stock from the Eastward, had called the attention of the flock-masters of the Colony to the importance of opening a communication between the two places, with a view to the extension of their pastoral interests. The notes of Captain Grey, referring to this subject, were published in the South Australian Register newspaper of the 28th March, 1840. On the 30th of the same month, a number of gentlemen, many of whom were owners of large flocks and herds, met together, for the purpose of taking the matter into consideration, and the result of this conference was the appointment of a Committee, whose duty it was to report upon the best means of accomplis.h.i.+ng the object in view. On the 4th, 7th, and 9th of April other meetings were held, and the results published in the South Australian Register, of the 11th April, as follows:--

OVERLAND ROUTE TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

At a Meeting of the Committee for making arrangements for an expedition to explore an overland route to Western Australia, held the 7th of April, the Hon. the Surveyor-general in the chair, the following resolutions were agreed to:--

That a communication be made to the Government of Western Australia, detailing the objects contemplated by this Committee, and further stating that the a.s.sistance of the Government of this province has been obtained.

That a communication be made to the Hon. the Surveyor-general, the Hon.

the Advocate-general the Hon. G. Leake, Esq. of Western Australia, with a request that they will form a committee in conjunction with such settlers as may feel interested in the same undertaking, for the purpose of collecting private subscriptions, and co-operating with this committee.

Resolved, that similar communications be made to the Government of New South Wales, and to the following gentlemen who are requested to act as a committee with the same power as that of Western Australia: Hon. E. Deas Thomson, Colonial Secretary; William Macarthur, Esq.; Captain Parker; P.

King, R.N.; Stuart Donaldson, Esq.; George Macleay, Esq.; Charles Campbell, Esq.

That this Committee would propose, in order to facilitate the progress of the expedition, that depots be formed at convenient points on the route; that it is proposed to make Fowler's Bay the first depot on the route from Adelaide, and to leave it to the Government of Western Australia to decide upon the sites which their local knowledge may point out as the most eligible for similar stations, as far to the eastward as may appear practicable.

That a subscription list be immediately opened in Adelaide to collect funds in aid of the undertaking.

That R. F. Newland, Esq., be requested to act as Treasurer to this Committee, and that subscriptions be received at the Banks of Australasia and South Australia.

E. C. FROME, Chairman.

CHAS. BONNEY, Secretary.

The Committee again met on the 9th April--the Hon. the a.s.sistant Commissioner in the chair. It was resolved that the following statement head the subscription list:--

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