33054-001178

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A Report of observations made during the progress of a late Tour, on the face of the Country, lying between Liverpool Plains and Morton Bay in

[centred] New South Wales

comprehending a portion of the Interior within the parallels of

[centred] 28° and 32° South

for the most part previously unexplored

by Allan Cunningham, to whom the direction of a late Expedition of Discovery, under the immediate sanction and patronage of His Excellency the Governor, was entrusted. ....................................................November 1827 -

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[centred] Introductory remarks.

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We are living in a Land, the physical constitution of which differs strangely from that of every other portion of our Globe; with a Superficial extent, that has been * estimated at more than three fourths of that of Europe, yet furnishes (as far as a minute examination of its various shores has been effected) no River, by which a knowledge of the capabilities of a distant Interior might be acquired, or the produce of its soil, wafted to its Coasts.

Admitting the nonexistence of Rivers in so vast a Country, of distant internal origin, or of magnitude approaching those noble streams, which, rising in the more elevated regions of the [underlined] (Andes), are disembodied on the Shores of the American Continent, we are naturally led to the beleif [sic], that no lofty ranges of Mountains traverse the [underlined] (central) regions of this "Great South Land" either in the direction of the meridian, or transversely in that of the parallel, but the rather, that large portions of our intertropical Interior, will one day be

[on right] discovered

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* Captain de Freycinet, in assigning proportions to the principal divisions of the Globe, estimates the Surface of Europe at 501,875 square french leagues, and that of Australia, at 384,375, which is to Asia and America as 3 are to 7, or about one fourth the superficial extent of Africa .... [underlined] (Voyaux [sic] Terres Australes) p.107.

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[centred, and underlined] Introductory remarks.

discovered to be of low depressed Surface, subject in [underlined] (part), in Season of much Rain, to extensive inundation. ...... Indeed it has been remarked by Travellers that, so far as their observations have extended, the high lands of this Continent are on, or at no great distance from it Shores, and Navigators inform us, that the more elevated ranges occupy its Eastern Coast, which in several parallels they immediately invest, and throughout a Space of 500 Miles within the tropical Circle, are of primitive structure*

Fourteen Years have elapsed, since those enterprising Travellers Mess'rs Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth, upon surmounting the many obstacles, that lay in the way of internal discovery on their day, pass'd that formidable barrier, our Blue Mountain ranges, and at once laid open an extensive western Country, not only to the persevering industry of the husbandman and grazier, but to the no less laudable research of the zealous naturalist

Almost immediately subsequent to that epoch in the Annals of our Colony, expeditions were dispatched to explore rivers, then of recent discovery, in which Mr Oxley our able Surveyer General, to whom their direction was entrusted, was engaged in 1817 and succeeding Year; but the results of these Journies [sic] having tended in no small degree to check that spirit of internal geographical Inquiry, which had at those periods manisfested itself, no tour of any magnitude, with the view towards the acquirement of a further Knowledge of our Interior has, since those days to the present Year, been undertaken; if we accept the laborious excursion of Mess'rs Hovell and Home from the County of Argyle, across a portion of our Southern Interior to the shores of Port Phillip. Of the relation of that long Journey however, although it was performed three

[on right] Years

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* Kings [sic] Voy. 2, p. 570

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[centred, and underlined] Introductory remarks.

years since, we have yet to learn the details. ....... These when published will doubtless, prove highly interesting, not only to the Colonist, but to every wellwisher of the Country, since it has been affirmed, that those Travellers, in the progress of their expedition, pass'd through an undefined Extent of beautiful Country, the richest that had been discovered at that period, "the finest in "point of soil, and incomparably the most English-like in point of Climate."

Inhabiting as we have, for many Years, the shores of so vast a Country, where Natures [sic] operations in her animal and vegetable products more especially, form so many striking peculiarities, inducing not merely to excite our surprise, but sufficient to keep perpetually alive within us a laudable inquiring curiosity, it is singular that at this advanced age of our Colony, we should be found in possession of so little well grounded information in respect to the structure of our distant Interior, since in our limited range of inquiry, although the Surface of the Country has been found in parts made up of brushy waste, or noisome Swamp, we have nevertheless, been abundantly encouraged to advance, on meeting with the verdant glade amid the desert --- been gladden'd at length to discovery, beyond the confines of regions scarcely tenantable by Man, extensive tracts of rich pasture Land, possessing all the physical conditions, requisite for the well being of civilised Society.

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1827

Proposed Journey thro' the Country

lying interjacent to Liverpool Plains and Moreton Bay

...................................................................................1827.

To add to the scarcity of Knowledge we have already acquired of our Interior, I had the Honor to address myself to His Excellency Lieu't General Darling on the subject in February last.

In my communication to the Governor at that period, I respectfully submitted, that as little perhaps remained to be done in the way of Geographical research on the Country bearing S.W. from Lake George, it having been penetrated to the Sea on our South Coast, by Mess'rs Hovell and Hume, I felt the rather desirous of exploring a portion of the unknown Region lying North from the latitude of 31°, to which parallel the Country had been seen by Mr Oxley, so far back as the Year 1818.

With these views, I had the honor to submit for his Excellency's consideration and approval, the following proposed plan of a Journey I had long since had in contemplation -- ........ To proceed in the first instance, by the most direct and eligible route from the Colony to Peel's River in the Country on the North Eastern skirts of Liverpool Plains, and situate between the meridians of 150° and 151° in or about the parallel of 31° So. [South] ...... Thence I proposed to penetrate North, in a line west of the Meridian of 151°, towards the Shores of Moreton Bay in the parallel of 27°, with the view of ascertaining the general features of the interjacent Country; the character of its vegetation, the nature of its soil, and the number magnitude and direction of the Streams, by which it was

[on right] reasonable

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[centred and underlined] Proposed Journey North to Moreton Bay -

reasonable to conclude, a region comprehending more than three degrees of Latitude is doubtless water'd. I further respectfully submitted, that should the condition of my Horses, the state of my provisions, and other circumstances justify it, upon my reaching the northern point to which I might be enabled to penetrate, my intention was, ere my return home, to occupy a portion of time in an excursion, direct into the Interior, with the expectation of being able to gather a few facts, in respect to the presumed magnitude of those great marshes into which ('tis said) all our Western waters flow, to the eastward Margin of which (in 30 1/2° So. Lat.) Mr Oxley had descended in 1818. --- Should however the Circumstances of my expedition not permit of this digression to the Westward, from that advanced stage of my Journey, I finally submitted to His Excellency, that with the view more fully to embody the Chart, I would pursue my Journey southerly towards the Colony through that considerable range of Country, lying East of the Meridian of 151°, intermediate between my projected line of outward route, and the Sea Coast.

As this plan of my proposed Tour to the Northern Interior, met with the entire approbation of His Excellency, an ample equipment, fully equal to the magnitude of the Journey, and agreeably to my Requisitions was directed to be prepared for me, and as the various items were completed to my entire satisfaction about the close of the month of March, I lost not a moment (notwithstanding the unfavorable lowering aspect of the weather), in putting an Establishment of six Men, and eleven Horses (of which eight were the property of

[on right] the Crown)