Journals of Australian Explorations

by Augustus Charles Gregory; Francis Thomas Gregory

The following morning passed Vernon Island with a light breeze. At 9.50 p.m. the Monarch grounded on a rocky reef off the entrance of Port Patterson, the master of the vessel not having made due allowance for the indraught of the tide. Unfortunately this occurred at the top of the spring tide, and the result was that, though every exertion was made to warp the vessel off, the tide did not rise sufficiently to float her until the 10th September, when, by cutting off the false keel and levelling the surface of the rock, we succeeded in hauling her off, with comparatively little damage, as the weather continued calm during the whole of this anxious period.

As the vessel lay on her side at low tide, the position of the horses was extremely inconvenient, and they suffered a greater amount of injury during these eight days than on the whole of the preceding voyage, and it is to this that the subsequent loss of so large a number of the horses is to be attributed; for though only two died on board the vessel, the others became so excessively weak that some had not the strength to go through the fatigue of landing and the journey from Point Pearce to the Victoria River, and at the same time the supply of forage was so reduced that it became necessary to land the horses immediately on reaching Point Pearce, and before the place could be examined for the best landing.

LAND AT THE ENTRANCE OF VICTORIA RIVER.

After getting off the reef, light winds and calms delayed the voyage to the Victoria River; but as the Tom Tough worked along the coast better than the Monarch, I went on with the schooner to examine the entrance of the river. Ascending the Victoria to Blunder Bay, found that the locality was not suited for landing horses, and therefore returned to Treachery Bay, near which Mr. H.C. Gregory had discovered abundance of grass and water under Providence Hill of Captain Stokes; commenced landing the horses on the 18th; but, in consequence of the strong tides and extensive mangrove flats, great difficulties were encountered, the horses having to swim more than two miles from the vessel to the shore, and were so exhausted that three were drowned, one lost in the mud and mangroves, and one went mad and rushed into the bush and was lost. Having transferred the stores to the Tom Tough, on the 24th the Monarch sailed for Singapore. Mr. Wilson was instructed to proceed in the schooner up the Victoria River, and to establish a camp at the highest convenient position on the bank of the river, while I proceeded overland with Mr. H. Gregory, Dr. Mueller, and seven of the men, hoping, by easy journeys of eight to ten miles per day, to give the horses time to partially recover the effects of the voyage.

MACADAM RANGE. RUNNING STREAM OF FRESH WATER.

1st October, 1855.

Accompanied by Mr. H. Gregory, I left the camp to search for a practicable route by which we could cross the MacAdam range; but, after proceeding about a mile, shot an emu, with which we returned to camp, and again started at 7.10 a.m., pursuing a south-east course, crossed a stony ridge, and at 8.0 a.m. came on a creek about twenty yards wide, with good pools of water and a grassy margin, but the country generally barren and stony. After several ineffectual attempts, we ascended the hills to the south-east of the creek, and traversed a very broken country of sandstone formation till 11.0 a.m., when we reached the head of a creek trending to the southward; this was followed down till 1.0 p.m. when we halted an hour, and again proceeded till 4.30 p.m., the country being very poor and rising into rocky hills on both banks of the creek; we then entered a wide grassy flat destitute of trees, extending six miles north to south, and fifteen miles east to west; on the south side there appeared to be a creek or river, which we supposed to be the Fitzmaurice River. This plain was bounded on all sides by steep rocky hills of sandstone of barren aspect. Returned up the creek till 6.0 p.m. and halted for the night. The day was hot and sultry, though a heavy thundershower somewhat cooled the air. The MacAdam Range is of sandstone, the strata of which dip about 30 degrees to the south, in which direction, as we advanced, the rock was more slaty, and broke into rhomboidal fragments. Water is abundant in the creeks, but the grass is scanty, and the rough surface of the sandstone and rocky ravines renders the country difficult to traverse. Timber is scarce, chiefly small-sized eucalypti; the cotton-tree was observed in a few of the valleys.

2nd October.

Returning to the camp we attempted to follow one of the creeks down to the plain on the north-west side of the range, but found the ravine too steep and rocky for the horses to pass, and were compelled to retrace our steps and cross several steep and rocky hills, reaching the camp at 2.0 p.m., at which time the thermometer stood at 94 degrees in the shade and 114 degrees in the sun.

3rd October.