Overland Expedition of The Messrs dine from Rockhampton to Cape York, Northern Queensland | Page 6

that the Settlements of the North Coast and
the Southern Colonies can be connected by a continuous line of
occupation for many years to come; the rich pastoral tracts of
Arnheim's Land, the Victoria River, the Gulf Coast, and Albert and
Flinders Rivers, are thus the only localities likely to be made use of for
the present; these, however, have been known since the first
explorations of Leichhardt and Gregory; we are forced, therefore, to the
conclusion that the results of the subsequent expeditions are not
commensurate with their cost and sacrifices, and to consider whether
further exploration may not be safely left to private enterprise.
Let us now glance at what has been done since 1860 in the way of
occupation. South Australia has founded on theNorth Coast a
Settlement at Adam Bay, on the Adelaide River, but its progress seems
to have been marked from the onset by misfortune. The officer charged
with its formation, in a short time managed to raise so strong a feeling
of dissatisfaction and dislike amongst the settlers as to call for a
Commission of Enquiry on his administration, which resulted in his
removal. His successor seems, by latest accounts to have raised up no
less dislike, the difference of his rule being likened by the papers to that

of the fabled kings, Log and Stork. The site of the Settlement, Escape
Cliffs, has been universally condemned; one charge against the first
Resident being, that it was selected in opposition to the almost
unanimous opinion of the colonists. The subject was referred for final
report to John McKinley, the well-known Explorer, who, bearing out
the general opinion, at once condemned it, and set out to explore the
country in search for a better. In this he has not discovered any new
locality, but has recommended Anson Bay, at the mouth of the Daly, a
site previously visited, but rejected by the first Resident. Previous to his
visit to Anson Bay, Mr. McKinlay started with a well-equiped party for
an exploring trip, which was to last twelve months. At the end of five
he returned, after one of the most miraculous escapes of himself and
party from destruction on record, having only penetrated to the East
Alligator River, about 80 miles from Adam Bay; here he became
surrounded by floods, and only saved his own and the lives of his party
(loosing all else) by the desperate expedient of making a boat of the
hides of their horses, in which they floated down the swollen river, and
eventually reached the Settlement. It is not improbable that in some
such a flood poor Leichhardt and his little band lost their lives, and all
trace of their fate has been destroyed. These experiences have caused
some doubt and despondency as to the future of the new Settlement,
and the question is now being agitated in the South Australian
Parliament as to the desirability or not of abandoning it.
Western Australia has formed the Settlements of Camden Harbor, and
Nickol Bay. The latter (the country around which was explored by Mr.
Francis Gregory, brother to the Surveyor-General of Queensland, in
1861), appears to have progressed favorably, the Grey, Gascoigne,
Oakover and Lyons Rivers affording inducements to stockholders to
occupy them, but the Settlement of Camden Harbor at the time of the
visit of Mr. Stow in his boat-voyage from Adam Bay to Champion Bay,
was being abandoned by the colonists, the country being unsuitable for
stock, and it would appear from that gentleman's account that the whole
of the north-west coast of the continent, from its general character,
offers but little inducement for settlement.
[footnote] *Since this was written the settlement has been abandoned.

[NOTE -- the footnote in the INTRODUCTION does not have a
referent in the text -- there is no asterisk in the text. It is not clear
whether the 'settlement' it refers to as having been abandoned is at
Adam Bay or in Western Australia.]
The explorations of Francis Gregory to the eastward from Nickol Bay,
and of the Surveyor-General to the south from the Victoria River, were
both arrested by wastes of drift-sand, whilst those from the western
seaboard have not been extended further inland than to more than an
average of 3 degrees of longitude. It may reasonably be doubted,
therefore, whether settlement will be much extended in that direction.
Queensland, more fortunate in the character of the country, has, on her
part, successfully established six new settlements, to wit, Mackay, at
the Pioneer River; Bowen, Port Denison; Townsville, Cleveland Bay;
Cardwell, Rockingham Bay; Somerset, Cape York; and Burke Town, at
the Albert River; and there can be little doubt but that the country of the
Gulf shores and the northern territory of South Australia must be
'stocked', if not settled, from the