Expedition into Central Australia | Page 4

New South Wales. Had it
been otherwise, however, no more honourable a one could have been
open to me, when I landed on its shores in 1826, than the field of
Discovery. I sought and entered upon it, not without a feeling of
ambition I am ready to admit, for that feeling should ever pervade the
breast of a soldier, but also with an earnest desire to promote the public
good, and certainly without the hope of any other reward than the credit
due to successful enterprise. I pretend not to science, but I am a lover of
it; and to my own exertions, during past years of military repose, I owe
the little knowledge I possess of those branches of it, which have since
been so useful to me.
It will not be deemed presumptuous in me, I trust, to express a belief
that the majority of my readers will find much to interest them in the
perusal of this work; which I publish for several reasons--firstly, in the
hope, that a knowledge of the extremities to which I was driven, and of
the unusual expedients to which I was obliged to resort, in order to save
myself and my companions from perishing, may benefit those who
shall hereafter follow my example; secondly, that as I published an
account of my former services, my failing to do so in the present
instance might be taken as evidence that I lacked the moral firmness
which enables men to meet both success and defeat with equal
self-possession; and thirdly, because, I think the public has a right to
demand information from those, who, like myself, have been employed
in the advancement of geographical knowledge. I propose, therefore, to
devote my preliminary chapter to a short review of previous
Expeditions of Discovery on the Australian continent, and so to lay
down its internal features, that my friends shall not lose their way.
I propose, also, to give an account of the state of South Australia when
I left it in May last, for, as the expedition whose proceedings form the
subject matter of these volumes, departed from and returned to that
Province, such an account appears to me a fitting sequel to my
narrative.

TRAVELS IN AUSTRALIA

CHAPTER I
.

CHARACTER OF THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT--OF ITS
RIVERS--PECULIARITY OF THE DARLING--SUDDEN FLOODS
TO WHICH IT IS SUBJECT--CHARACTER OF THE MURRAY
--ITS PERIODICAL RISE--BOUNTY OF
PROVIDENCE--GEOLOGICAL POSITION OF THE TWO
RIVERS--OBSERVATIONS--RESULTS--SIR THOMAS
MITCHELL'S JOURNEY TO THE DARLING--ITS JUNCTION
WITH THE MURRAY--ANECDOTE OF MR.
SHANNON--CAPTAIN GREY'S EXPEDITION--CAPTAIN
STURT'S JOURNEY--MR. EYRE'S SECOND
EXPEDITION--VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE--MR. OXLEY'S
OPINIONS--STATE OF THE INTERIOR IN 1828--CHARACTER
OF ITS PLAINS AND RIVERS--JUNCTION OF THE
DARLING--FOSSIL BED OF THE MURRAY--FORMER STATE OF
THE CONTINENT--THEORY OF THE INTERIOR.
The Australian continent is not distinguished, as are many other
continents of equal and even of less extent, by any prominent
geographical feature. Its mountains seldom exceed four thousand feet
in elevation, nor do any of its rivers, whether falling internally or
externally, not even the Murray, bear any proportion to the size of the
continent itself. There is no reason, however, why rivers of greater
magnitude, than any which have hitherto been discovered in it, should
not emanate from mountains of such limited altitude, as the known
mountains of that immense and sea-girt territory. But, it appears to me,
it is not in the height and character of its hilly regions, that we are to
look for the causes why so few living streams issue from them. The
true cause, I apprehend, lies in its climate, in its seldom experiencing
other than partial rains, and in its being subject to severe and long
continued droughts. Its streams descend rapidly into a country of
uniform equality of surface, and into a region of intense heat, and are

subject, even at a great distance from their sources, to sudden and
terrific floods, which subside, as the cause which gave rise to them
ceases to operate; the consequence is, that their springs become
gradually weaker and weaker, all back impulse is lost, and whilst the
rivers still continue to support a feeble current in the hills, they cease to
flow in their lower branches, assume the character of a chain of ponds,
in a few short weeks their deepest pools are exhausted by the joint
effects of evaporation and absorption, and the traveller may run down
their beds for miles, without finding a drop of water with which to
slake his thirst.
In illustration of the above, I would observe that during the progress of
the recent expedition up the banks of the Darling, and at a distance of
more than 300 miles from its sources, that river rose from a state of
complete exhaustion, until in four days it overflowed its banks. It was
converted