The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888Favenc, Ernest
History
The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888
Favenc, Ernest
Australia -- Discovery and exploration
This severe trip only gave Stuart a fresh taste for adventure. In April,
1859, he made another start, and on the 19th, after crossing over some of
the already known country, Hergott, one of his companions, discovered the
well-known springs that still bear his name. Stuart crossed Chambers'
Creek, and made for the Davenport Range, of Warburton, finding many of
the springs resembling those mound ones crowned with reeds already
mentioned. On the 6th June, he discovered a large creek, which he called
the Neale. It ran through very good country, and Stuart followed it down,
hoping to find its importance increase; and in this he was not
disappointed, as large plains covered with grass and salt bush were
crossed, and several more springs discovered. After satisfying himself of
the extent and value of the country he had found, Stuart started back,
his horse's shoes having again given out, and he had a lively remembrance
of the misery he suffered before from want of them.
In November of the same year, he made a third expedition in the vicinity
of Lake Eyre, but there is very little of interest attaching to his
journal, as his course was mostly over much-trodden country. He reached
the Neale again, and instituted a survey of the good country he had
formerly traversed, occasionally approaching to within sight of what he
calls Lake Torrens, but which was in reality Lake Eyre. All these minor
expeditions of Stuart's may be considered as preparatory to his great
struggle to find a passage across the continent; for which work these
trips gave him a good knowledge of the country he had to face, and its
difficulties. Stuart's efforts to cross Australia from south to north,
and the expeditions made by others with a like object, will occupy the
undivided attention of the reader so much, that in order not to lose the
thread of the narrative of this peculiar and marked epoch in Australian
history, it may be better to here notice an important journey undertaken
in Western Australia, although slightly out of chronological order.
It was an expedition organised partly by the Imperial, and partly by the
Colonial Governments, and was also aided by private subscription. Frank
Gregory, the successful explorer of the Gascoyne, was put in charge of
it. They left Perth in the DOLPHIN for Nickol Bay, on the north-west
coast, where they intended to land their horses and commence operations.
This was safely accomplished, and on 25th May, 1861, the party started.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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