JOURNAL OF EXPEDITIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA IN 1840.
Chapter I.
ORIGIN OF THE EXPEDITION - CONTEMPLATED EXPLORATION TO THE
WESTWARD - MEETING OF THE COLONISTS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS ENTERED INTO FOR
THAT PURPOSE - NOTES ON THE UNFAVOURABLE NATURE OF THE COUNTRY TO THE
WESTWARD, AND PROPOSAL THAT THE NORTHERN INTERIOR SHOULD BE EXAMINED
INSTEAD - MAKE AN OFFER TO THE GOVERNOR TO CONDUCT SUCH AN
EXPEDITION - CAPTAIN STURT'S LECTURE - INTERVIEW WITH THE GOVERNOR,
ARRANGEMENT OF PLANS - PREPARATION OF OUTFIT - COST OF EXPEDITION - NAME A
DAY FOR DEPARTURE - PUBLIC BREAKFAST AND COMMENCEMENT OF THE UNDERTAKING.
Before entering upon the account of the expedition sent to explore the
interior of Australia, to which the following pages refer, it may perhaps
be as well to advert briefly to the circumstances which led to the
undertaking itself, that the public being fully in possession of the
motives and inducements which led me, at a very great sacrifice of my
private means, to engage in an exploration so hazardous and arduous, and
informed of the degree of confidence reposed in me by those interested in
the undertaking, and the sanguine hopes and high expectations that were
formed as to the result, may be better able to judge how far that
confidence was well placed, and how far my exertions were commensurate
with the magnitude of the responsibility I had undertaken.
I have felt it the more necessary to allude to this subject now, because
I was in some measure at the time instrumental in putting a stop to a
contemplated expedition to the westward, and of thus unintentionally
interfering with the employment of a personal friend of my own, than whom
no one could have been more fitted to command an undertaking of the kind,
from his amiable disposition, his extensive experience, and his general
knowledge and acquirements.
Upon returning, about the middle of May 1840, from a visit to King
George's Sound and Swan River, I found public attention in Adelaide
considerably engrossed with the subject of an overland communication
between Southern and Western Australia. Captain Grey, now the Governor of
South Australia, had called at Adelaide on his way to England from King
George's Sound, and by furnishing a great deal of interesting information
relative to Western Australia, and pointing out the facilities that
existed on its eastern frontier, as far as it was then known, for the
entrance of stock from the Eastward, had called the attention of the
flock-masters of the Colony to the importance of opening a communication
between the two places, with a view to the extension of their pastoral
interests. The notes of Captain Grey, referring to this subject, were
published in the South Australian Register newspaper of the 28th March,
1840. On the 30th of the same month, a number of gentlemen, many of whom
were owners of large flocks and herds, met together, for the purpose of
taking the matter into consideration, and the result of this conference
was the appointment of a Committee, whose duty it was to report upon the
best means of accomplishing the object in view. On the 4th, 7th, and 9th
of 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.
