Etc. etc.
THIS JOURNAL
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,
BY HIS VERY FAITHFUL AND OBLIGED
HUMBLE SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.
Sydney, New South Wales,
July 21, 1819.
PREFACE.
The general appearance of the country of New South Wales and the
magnitude of the Macquarie River, as seen on the return of the
expedition in 1817, had caused the most sanguine expectation to be
entertained, that either a communication with the ocean, or interior
navigable waters, would be discovered by following its course. The
important benefits that would result to the colony in the event of such
an expectation being realized, determined his Excellency Governor
Macquarie to lose no time in fitting out a second expedition, which
should have the elucidation of this point for its principal object. This
expedition was also entrusted to my direction. I had scarcely a doubt of
ultimate success, and set out with a confidence which nothing short of
ocular demonstration could destroy. The result of our voyage down the
Macquarie River, and the conjectures which naturally arose in my mind
founded upon observations of its apparent termination, together with
our subsequent journey to the east coast, will be found in the following
pages.
In the map which accompanies the present Journal, every bounding range
to the westward is laid down, from which it will appear that the
north-west interior is nearly a perfect plain; the lower parts of which
are certainly in most seasons under water.
