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
The following account of the proceedings of the morning, taken from the
South Australian Register, of the 20th June, may perhaps be read with
interest; at least it will shew the disinterested spirit and enterprising
character of the colonists of South Australia, even at this early stage
of its history, and especially how much the members of our little party
were indebted to the kindness and good feeling of the Governor and
colonists, who were anxious to cheer and stimulate us under the
difficulties and trails we had to encounter, by their earnest wishes and
prayers for our safety and success.
EXPLORATORY EXPEDITION TO THE CENTRE OF NEW HOLLAND
The arrangements for the expedition into the interior, undertaken by Mr.
Eyre, having been completed, His Excellency the Governor and Mrs. Gawler
issued cards to a number of the principal colonists and personal friends
of Mr. Eyre, to meet him at Government House on the morning of his
departure. On Thursday last accordingly (the anniversary of Waterloo, in
which His Excellency and the gallant 52nd bore so conspicuous a part) a
very large party of ladies and gentlemen assembled. After an elegant
DEJEUNER A LA FOURCHETTE, His Excellency the Governor rose and spoke as
nearly as we could collect, as follows:--
"We are assembled to promote one of the most important undertakings that
remain to be accomplished on the face of the globe--the discovery of the
interior of Australia. As Captain Sturt in substance remarked in a recent
lecture, of the five great divisions of the earth, Europe is well known;
Asia and America have been generally searched out; the portion that
remains to be known of Africa is generally unfavourable for Europeans,
and probably unfit for colonization; but Australia, our great island
continent, with a most favourable climate, still remains unpenetrated,
mysterious, and unknown. Without doing injustice to the enterprising
attempts of Oxley, Sturt, and Mitchell, I must remark that they were
commenced from a very unfavourable point--from the eastern and almost
south-eastern extremity of the island--and consequently the great
interior still remains untouched by them, the south-eastern corner alone
having been investigated. As Captain Sturt some years since declared,
this Province is the point from which expeditions to the deep interior
should set out. This principle, I know, has been acknowledged by
scientific men in Europe; and it is most gratifying to see the spirit
with which our Colonists on the present occasion have answered to the
claim which their position imposes upon them. Mr. Eyre goes forth this
day, to endeavour to plant the British flag--the flag which in the whole
world has "braved for a thousand years the battle and the breeze"--on the
tropic of Capricorn (as nearly as possible in 135 degrees or 136 degrees
of longitude) in the very centre of our island continent. On this day
twenty-five years since, commencing almost at this very hour, the British
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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