Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2: Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers; Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in The; Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners; Of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits; To the Islands in the Arafura SeaStokes, John Lort
History
Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2: Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers; Explored and Surveyed During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in The; Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners; Of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits; To the Islands in the Arafura Sea
Stokes, John Lort
Australia -- Description and travel; Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Natural history -- Australia
(*Footnote. Camels are to be procured in this neighbourhood, when they
are not required for war service, for about five pounds a head. Besides,
the natives of that part are more easily to be obtained as attendants
than Arabs.
(*Footnote. See above.)
In a country like Australia, with so varied a surface, it is certainly
impossible to indicate with confidence anything beyond the point of
departure for an exploring party. Their direction must, of course, depend
on the country they find; but I think it may be said from the most
recent, and I much fear melancholy, experience, that the routes from
neither Moreton Bay nor Fort Bourke are practicable. That from the head
of the Albert is, I believe, much superior, and I consider, after mature
deliberation, that the plan I have recommended is at once the most
expeditious and the most economical way of solving a question of daily
increasing interest, and of removing an imputation on English enterprise
which is daily becoming more serious.
The other routes of exploration which appear to me both practicable and
useful are from Halifax Bay to the Albert,* a distance of above four
hundred miles, and from Limmens Bight to the Victoria, about three
hundred. These will be found marked in the chart accompanying this work.
(*Footnote. This route I suggested to his Excellency Sir George Gipps, in
March, 1842.)
TWOFOLD BAY.
After leaving Sydney we had a succession of south-easterly gales, of
three or four days' duration, and equal in severity to any we had
experienced since leaving England. To avoid one from the westward we put
into Twofold Bay;* a remarkable high-peaked hill, Mount Imlay, lying
behind the head of it, bearing South-West 1/2 West, leads in.
(*Footnote. This we found to be a very convenient anchorage; and the
constant resort of coasters. From its proximity to the southern parts of
the Manero country, it is likely to become a very thriving place, under
the auspices of Mr. Boyd, who is erecting a town there. This gentleman, I
am happy to say, employs the natives as part of the crew of his yacht;
they are also constantly engaged in the boats of the whaling station,
where their excellent eye renders them extremely useful in seeing and
harpooning the fish; and being particularly well-disposed, they might he
made something of.)
I was surprised to find by my observations* here that this part of the
coast is laid down ten miles too much to the eastward of Sydney, an error
I subsequently found to be continued to Jervis Bay; so that the course
from thence to Sydney, instead of being, according to the chart, North
1/4 East magnetic is North by East, a fact that should be borne in mind
by masters of vessels, until this part of the coast is properly surveyed.
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