The opposition in the Legislative Council of South Australia to the immediate navigation of the Murray and the consequent outlay at Port Elliot and the Goolwa appears, after a time, to have ceased; and in June, 1851, a premium of £4,000 was offered by the Legislature to the first and second iron steamboats of not less than forty horse power, or more than two feet draught of water, which should succeed in navigating the Murray from the Goolwa to, at least, the junction of the Darling. This liberal offer, it seems, however, was not taken up, possibly from the difficulty of providing boats of the requisite material, and the Murray navigation was apparently deferred _sine die_. At length, Captain Francis Cadell, formerly commander of the _Queen of Sheba_ and the _Cleopatra_ steamer (1,500 tons), entered into the matter with an evident determination to carry it through. He laid on a small steamer at Sydney, of above eighty tons burthen, forty horse power, and three feet draught of water when loaded[6]—proposed to the Legislature of South Australia to carry his boat through the sea mouth—to navigate the river to the Darling (600 miles) twelve times in the year; or to perform six trips as far as Swan Hill, a distance of 1,250 miles from the sea. For the first performance he was to receive £500; for the passage up to the Darling, £1,000; and for the subsequent eleven or six trips, a further sum of £1,000—the whole in quarterly payments. These terms, proposed by himself, having been recommended to Sir Henry Young by an address from the Legislative Council, were approved of by His Excellency, who gave his assent to the apportionment of the stipulated premium for the prescribed object. Captain Cadell then proceeded to the river, carrying with him from Melbourne a canvas boat, twenty-one feet in length and three in breadth, which, on arrival at Swan Hill, he put together, and having obtained a crew of four returning diggers, dropped down the Murray, and after visiting every station and ascertaining the probable traffic to be derived from each, in the matter of wool, produce, rations, stores, &c., reached the Goolwa in twenty-one days. There he arranged the construction of a small vessel of about 100 tons capacity, to accompany, as a lighter, the little steamer _Lady Augusta_, which in July, 1853, was navigated round from Sydney, by Mr. Davidson, formerly master of the _Hawk_ schooner; and, indeed, not the least extraordinary portion of this undertaking has been the voyage in midwinter by so small a vessel, of nearly 1,100 miles, through a sea at all times boisterous, and often most adverse even to the best and most weatherly craft. The round-house which occupies three-fourths of the _Augusta’s_ deck, renders her on this account by no means fitted for the open sea; whilst it affords admirable accommodation on board for sixteen cabin passengers, including ladies, for whom a commodious after-cabin has been reserved.