Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2Sturt, Charles
History
Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2
Sturt, Charles
New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Sturt, Charles, 1795-1869
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BANKS OF THE MORUMBIDGEE, APRIL 20TH, 1830.
SIR,--The departure of Mr. George M'Leay for Sydney, who is anxious to
proceed homewards as speedily as possible, affords me an earlier
opportunity than would otherwise have presented itself, by which to
make you acquainted with the circumstance of my return, under the
divine protection, to the located districts; and I do myself the honour
of annexing a brief account of my proceedings since the last
communication for the information of His Excellency the Governor, until
such time as I shall have it in my power to give in a more detailed
report.
On the 7th of January, agreeably to the arrangements which had been
made, I proceeded down the Morumbidgee in the whale boat, with a
complement of six hands, independent of myself and Mr. M'Leay, holding
the skiff in tow. The river, for several days, kept a general W.S.W.
course; it altered little in appearance, nor did any material change
take place in the country upon its banks. The alluvial flats had
occasionally an increased breadth on either side of it, but the line of
reeds was nowhere so extensive as from previous appearances I had been
led to expect. About twelve miles from the depot, we passed a large
creek junction from the N.E. which, from its locality and from the
circumstance of my having been upon it in the direction of them, I
cannot but conclude originates in the marshes of the Lachlan.
On the 11th, the Morumbidgee became much encumbered with fallen timber,
and its current was at times so rapid that I was under considerable
apprehension for the safety of the boats. The skiff had been upset on
the 8th, and, although I could not anticipate such an accident to the
large boat, I feared she would receive some more serious and
irremediable injury. On the 14th, these difficulties increased upon
us.--The channel of the river became more contracted, and its current
more impetuous. We had no sooner cleared one reach, than fresh and
apparently insurmountable dangers presented themselves to us in the
next. I really feared that every precaution would have proved
unavailing against such multiplied embarrassments, and that ere night
we should have possessed only the wrecks of the expedition. From this
state of anxiety, however, we were unexpectedly relieved, by our
arrival at 2 p.m. at the termination of the Morumbidgee; from which we
were launched into a broad and noble river, flowing from E. to W. at
the rate of two and a half knots per hour, over a clear and sandy bed,
of a medium width of from three to four hundred feet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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