Expedition into Central Australia | Page 9

friends, and among the rest by Mr. Eyre. They had, however, avoided
the upper branches of the Murray, and particularly the Hume, by which
name the Murray itself is known above the junction of the
Murrumbidgee with it. Wishing therefore to combine geographical
research with my private undertaking, I commenced my journey at the
ford where the road crosses the Hume to Port Phillip, and in so doing
connected the whole of the waters of the south-east angle of the
Australian continent.
In this instance, however, as in those to which I have already alluded,
no progress was made in advancing our knowledge of the more central
parts of the continent.
In the year 1839 Mr. Eyre, now Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand,
fitted out an expedition, and under the influence of the most
praiseworthy ambition, tried to penetrate into the interior from Mount
Arden; but, having descended into the basin of Lake Torrens, he was

baffled at every point. Turning, therefore, from that inhospitable region,
he went to Port Lincoln, from whence he proceeded along the line of
the south coast to Fowler's Bay, the western limit of the province of
South Australia.
He then determined on one of those bold movements, which
characterise all his enterprises, and leaving the coast, struck away to the
N.E. for Mount Arden along the Gawler Range; but the view from the
summit of that rugged line of hills, threw darkness only on the view he
obtained of the distant interior, and he returned to Adelaide without
having penetrated further north than 29 degrees 30 minutes,
notwithstanding the unconquerable perseverance and energy he had
displayed.
In the following year, the colonists of South Australia, with the
assistance of the local government, raised funds to equip another
expedition to penetrate to the centre of the continent, the command of
which was entrusted to the same dauntless officer. On the morning on
which he was to take his departure, from the fair city of Adelaide,
Colonel Gawler, the Governor, gave a breakfast, to which he invited
most of the public officers and a number of the colonists, that they
might have the opportunity of thus collectively bidding adieu to one
who had already exerted himself so much for the public good.
Few, who were present at that breakfast will ever forget it, and few who
were there present, will refuse to Colonel Gawler the mead of praise
due to him, for the display on that occasion of the most liberal and
generous feelings. It was an occasion on which the best and noblest
sympathies of the heart were roused into play, and a scene during
which many a bright eye was dim through tears.
Some young ladies of the colony, amongst whom were Miss
Hindmarsh and Miss Lepson, the one the daughter of the first Governor
of the province, the other of the Harbour-master, had worked a silken
union to present to Mr. Eyre, to be unfurled by him in the centre of the
continent, if Providence should so far prosper his undertaking, and it
fell to my lot, at the head of that fair company, to deliver it to him.
When that ceremony was ended, prayers were read by the Colonial
Chaplain, after which Mr. Eyre mounted his horse, and escorted by a
number of his friends, himself commenced a journey of almost
unparalleled difficulty and privation [Note 5. Journals of Expeditions of

Discovery into Central Australia, and Overland from Adelaide to King
George's Sound, in the years 1840 and 41, by E. J. Eyre, Esq.]--a
journey, which, although not successful in its primary objects, yet
established the startling fact, that there is not a single watercourse to be
found on the South coast of Australia, from Port Lincoln to King
George's Sound, a distance of more than 1500 miles. To what point
then, let me ask, does the drainage of the interior set? It is a question of
deep interest to all--a question bearing strongly on my recent
investigations, and one that, in connection with established facts, will, I
think, enable the reader to draw a reasonable conclusion, as to the
probable character of the country, which is hid from our view by the
adamantine wall which encircles the great Australian bight.
On this long and remarkable journey, Mr. Eyre again found it
impossible to penetrate to the north, but steadily advancing to the
westward, he ultimately reached the confines of Western Australia,
with one native boy, and one horse only. Neither, however, did this
tremendous undertaking throw any light on the distant interior, and thus
it almost appeared that its recesses were never to be entered by
civilized man.
From this time neither the government of South Australia, or that of
New South Wales, made any further effort to push geographical inquiry,
and all interest