NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION.
1855 TO 1856.
The circumstances which led to the organisation of the Expedition for exploring Northern Australia, and the special objects of the Imperial Government in undertaking it, are best detailed in the following Despatch from His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to Captain Fitzgerald, Governor of Western Australia:--
The Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, to the Governor of Western Australia.
Downing Street,
31st August, 1854.
SIR,
You will probably have been rendered aware by the reports of the Parliamentary Debates of last session, and from other sources, that Her Majesty's Government have been long considering the project of despatching an exploring expedition to lay open, if favoured with success, more of the interior of the great Australian Continent than the many energetic but partial attempts hitherto made have succeeded in developing.