Journals of Australian ExplorationsGregory, Augustus Charles
History
Journals of Australian Explorations
Gregory, Augustus Charles
Australia -- Discovery and exploration
Being Sunday, the camp was only moved a mile further to a fine pool of
water in a river eighty yards wide, with beautiful grassy banks, which I
named the Maitland; it comes from the south-east, and may probably have a
course of sixty miles, coming through a plain five or six miles wide, the
greater part of which is occasionally inundated by floods from the
interior. Cockatoos and other game were plentiful, sixteen of the former
being killed by Mr. Brockman at one shot; they were white, with
orange-tinted feathers in the crest, similar to those on the Murchison
and Gascoyne Rivers. It may be as well here to observe that upon first
starting a regular routine of duty had been established in the party, the
care and loading of five horses being told off to each two of the party,
as they could lift on opposite packs simultaneously, and their being all
numbered, everyone could at once know the loads under his charge. The
night was also divided into eight watches, commencing at 8 p.m. and
ending at 6 a.m.; the duty of the first watch being to cook the bread for
the following day, and the last to have breakfast ready in the morning by
the time it was light enough to see. By this arrangement no time was
lost, and everyone knew what was under his particular charge. Camp 3.
SUDDEN FLOOD.
27th May.
Having determined in the first instance to strike to the westward, with a
view to cutting any large rivers coming from the interior that might
serve to lead us through the rocky hills that hemmed us in in that
quarter, we this morning took a south-south-west by south course to 11.40
a.m. when we crossed a dry stream-bed sixty yards wide, coming out of the
granite ranges to the southward, the country becoming more barren as we
edged upon the spurs of the rocky hills. At 2.0 p.m. we halted on the
banks of another stream-bed of the same size as the last, when it came on
to rain; resuming our march at 4.10, steering west to 6.0, when we
encamped on a dry gully, with a little feed near it. Having pitched the
tents, it continued to rain until 11.0 p.m., when a sudden rush of water
swept down the valley, filling the watercourse and carrying away our
fire, and before we had time to remove the baggage to higher ground, we
had a foot of water in the camp. Fortunately nothing was lost or injured,
and it only served as a useful lesson for the future. Camp 4.
28th May.
The early part of the day was employed drying the stores, so that we did
not make a start until late. Four and a half hours' travelling over stony
country, principally covered with triodia, but containing several patches
of good grass, brought us to another river fifty yards wide, in which
were a few pools. This stream was followed up to 5 p.m., when we left it,
and halted on an open plain close to some shallow clay-pans containing
rainwater; our course for the day having been about south-west eleven
miles. Camp 5.
Latitude 21 degrees 7 minutes.
29th May.
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