Expeditions into Central Australia | Page 7

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 assistance 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 Assistant
Commissioner in the chair. It was resolved that the following statement
head the subscription list:--
Several meetings having taken place at Adelaide of persons interested
in the discovery of an overland route to Western Australia, and it being
the general opinion of those meetings that such an enterprise would
very greatly benefit the colonists of Eastern, Southern, and Western
Australia, it was determined to open subscriptions for the furtherance of

this most desirable object under the direction of the following
Committee:
G. A. Anstey, Esq. John Knott, Esq. Charles Bonney, Esq. Duncan
M'Farlane, Esq. John Brown, Esq. David McLaren, Esq. Edward Eyre,
Esq. John Morphett, Esq. John Finniss, Esq. Chas. Mann, Esq. J. H.
Fisher, Esq. R. F. Newland, Esq. Lieutenant Frome, Dr. Rankin. Esq.
Surveyor-general G. Stevenson, Esq. O. Gilles, Esq. F. Stephens, Esq.
Captain Grey W. Smilie, Esq. J. B. Hack, Esq. T. B. Strangwaya, Esq.
G. Hamilton, Esq. Capt. Sturt, Ass. Com. Ephraim Howe, Esq. John
Walker, Esq.
The very great importance of the undertaking as leading to results, and
in all probability to discoveries, the benefits of which are at present
unforeseen, but which, like the opening of the Murray to this Province,
may pave the way to a high road from hence to Western Australia, will,
it is hoped meet with that support from the public which undertakings
of great national interest deserve, and which best evince the enterprise
and well-doing of a rising colony.
That Captain Grey, being about to embark for England, the Committee
cannot allow him to quit these shores without expressing their regret
that his stay has been so short, and the sense they entertain of the great
interest he has evinced in the welfare of the colony, and the
disinterested support he has given an enterprise which is likely to lead
to such generally beneficial results as that under consideration.
CHAS. STURT, Chairman. CHAS. BONNEY, Secretary.
LIST OF SUBSCRIPTIONS RECEIVED YESTERDAY.
The Government of South Australia 200 pounds His Excellency the
Governor (absent at Port Lincoln) and the Colonists 349 pounds 10
shillings
Such was the state in which I found the question on my return from
Western Australia. All had been done that was practicable, until
answers were received from the other Colonies, replying to the

applications for assistance and co-operation in the proposed
undertaking.
Having been always greatly interested in the examination of this vast
but comparatively unknown continent, and having already myself been
frequently engaged in long and harassing explorations, it will not be
deemed surprising that I should at once have turned my attention to the
subject so prominently occupying the public mind. I have stated that
the principal object proposed to be attained by the expedition to the