On December 5th He Sighted Sir Roger
Curtis's Island And On The 7th Reached Western Port Where He Was Detained
By Bad Weather Until The First Week In January.
On January 5th* (* The
logbooks were kept in nautical fashion, the day beginning at noon before
the civil reckoning, so that Port Phillip was really discovered on the
afternoon of Monday, January 4th, 1802.
According to the Admiralty
librarian the change from nautical to civil reckoning in the logs did not
take place until 1805.) as the vessel ran along the Victorian coast
towards Port Phillip dense smoke from native fires hid the land from
view. At 3 P.M. the smoke had cleared away and Bowen, who was at the
masthead, espied an opening in the land ahead which "had the appearance
of a harbour." Keeping close in for it Murray saw inside a fine smooth
sheet of water. An island lay at the entrance but the waves were breaking
high on the rocks so the brig was hauled off and taken out to sea. Murray
then steered to King Island deciding to return again later to explore the
newly discovered harbour. He surveyed the east coast of King Island from
Cape Farewell to Seal Bay. Some sea elephants were lying on the beach of
the bay that he first entered, and this was named Sea Elephant Bay.* (*
Murray's survey of King Island was an important one and Governor King
refers to it as "giving to the British priority of discovery over the
French ships" when eleven months afterwards Baudin came to the island.)
The following pages describe Murray's exploration of King Island and of
his first sight of Port Phillip.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 92 of 324
Words from 25146 to 25426
of 88304
