Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound in the Years 1840-1: Sent By the Colonists of South Australia, with the Sanction and Support of the Government: Including an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines and the State of Their Relations with Europeans — Volume 01Eyre, Edward John
History
Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound in the Years 1840-1: Sent By the Colonists of South Australia, with the Sanction and Support of the Government: Including an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines and the State of Their Relations with Europeans — Volume 01
Eyre, Edward John
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Ethnology -- Australia
September 19.--Travelling east through the same kind of country for
fifteen miles, we halted upon a high scrubby ridge; having a few grassy
openings at intervals, and with large sheets of granite exposed in some
parts of its surface. In the holes among these rocks we procured a supply
of water that had been deposited by the late rains; but which a few warm
days would have dried up. The latitude of the water was 32 degrees 48
minutes S. and from it Mount Hall bore S. 38 degrees W., Mount Cooper S.
15 degrees W. Before us to the north-east were visible many peaks of a
range, with a high and broken outline, which I named the Gawler range,
after His Excellency Colonel Gawler, the Governor of South Australia. One
very high peak in this range I named Mount Sturt, after my friend Captain
Sturt; it bore from our present camp E. 10 degrees N. and had been
previously seen from the summit of Mount Hall.
September 20.--Our route to-day was through a perfect desert, very
scrubby and stony, with much prickly grass growing upon the sand ridges,
which alternated with the hard limestone flats; there were very few clear
intervals of country upon our whole course; and for the last five miles
the heavy sand and dense scrub made it very difficult to get on at all.
After a long stage of twenty-five miles nearly due east, we halted at a
high ridge similar to that upon which we encamped last night, with sheets
of granite exposed on its surface, and rain water lodged in the hollows.
The horses were all completely knocked up with the severe labour of this
day's stage; I ascertained the latitude of the camp to be 32 degrees 47
minutes 40 seconds S. and the variation of the compass which increased as
we advanced to the eastward, was now 4 degrees 12 minutes E. The Gawler
range was now distinctly visible, extending from N. 15 degrees W. to N.
65 degrees E. and presenting the broken and picturesque outline of a vast
mountain mass rising abruptly out of the low scrubby country around. The
principal elevations in this extensive range, could not be less than two
thousand feet; and they appeared to increase in height as the range
trended to the north-west. To the eastward the ranges decreased somewhat
in elevation, but were still very lofty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account