The Explorers of Australia and their Life-workFavenc, Ernest
History
The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work
Favenc, Ernest
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Explorers
In 1851 Mitchell was sent out to report on the Bathurst goldfields, and
on a subsequent visit to England he took with him the first specimen of
gold and the first diamond found in Australia. He was for a short time
one of the members for the Port Phillip electorate, but resigned, as he
found faithful discharge of the duties to be incompatible with his
office. He patented the boomerang screw propeller, and was the author of
many educational and other works, including a translation of the Lusiad
of Camoens. Although a strict martinet in his official duties, and
subject to a choleric temper, he was strenuous in his devotion to the
advancement of Australia, among whose makers he must always occupy a
proud position. He died on the 5th of October, 1855, at Carthona, his
private residence at Darling Point, Sydney, New South Wales. His wife was
a daughter of Colonel Blount.
CHAPTER 8. THE EARLY FORTIES.
8.1. ANGAS McMILLAN AND GIPPSLAND.
Angas McMillan, who was the discoverer of what is now so widely-known as
Gippsland, in Victoria, was a manager of the Currawang station, in the
Maneroo district. On the 20th of May, 1839, he started from the station
on a trip to the southward to look for new grazing land. He had with him
but one black boy, named Jimmy Gibbu, who claimed to be the chief of the
Maneroo tribe, so that if the party was small, it was very select. On the
fifth day McMillan got through to the country watered by the Buchan
River, and, from the summit of an elevation which he called Mount
Haystack, he obtained a most satisfactory view over the surrounding
region. The next night, McMillan, awakened by a noise, found Jimmy Gibbu
bending over him with a nulla-nulla in his hand. Fortunately, McMillan's
pistol was within easy reach, and, presenting it at Jimmy's head, he
compelled him to drop the nulla-nulla, and to account for his suspicious
attitude. Jimmy confessed to a fear of the Warrigals, or wild blacks of
that region, to acute home-sickness, and to a general unwillingness to
proceed further.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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