They found cocoanut trees growing on the Frankland Islands, the only instance known of their indigenous growth on the coast of Australia.
They rescued from Prince of Wales Island a white woman who had been four and a half years among the blacks. She was the sole survivor of the crew of a whaling cutter, the “American,” wrecked on Brampton Shoal; she had been adopted by the tribe, and spoke the language fluently; she returned to her parents in Sydney when the “Rattlesnake” reached port. Professor Huxley, the scientist, was one of the party of the “Rattlesnake.”
CHAPTER III.
INLAND EXPLORATION.
The cause of exploration and discovery in Australia has never lacked enthusiastic volunteers, whether on sea or land. Like the North Pole, the hidden secrets of the continent have always attracted men of enterprise and energy anxious to penetrate the veil of mystery and silence that has hung over this vast territory since Creation’s dawn. Little by little has the land been explored and opened up for occupation; and those geographical secrets so long sought after have been unfolded as an open page for all to study and make use of. The records of some of the early pioneers, the motives which promoted their search, their hardships, and their journeyings, their failures and their endurance, will always remain an interesting portion of colonial history.
The explorers were types of the men of a generation now gone by; they were men who endured a thousand perils and hardships to solve the mystery of Australian geography. By their enterprise and discoveries, they became the forerunners of the early pastoral pioneers who opened up the vast plains of the interior to occupation, and settled the towns and ports of the coast. The navigators were the first to make known the outlines of the country, then the explorers followed, starting from various points to trace its geographical features, follow the courses of its rivers, and investigate the suitability of the soil and herbage for the sustenance of stock. In this manner was the path opened for the pioneer squatter or pastoralist with his flocks and herds to settle on and portion out the land, and turn the wilderness to profit and occupation. The skeleton map of the country being traced out, the details were worked in gradually by the spirit of enterprise and adventure that has always been ready in these lands for such work.
The first land explorer of the territory now called Queensland, was, in point of time, Allan Cunningham, botanist, explorer, and collector for the Royal Gardens at Kew, who arrived in New South Wales in 1816. After many journeyings on sea along the coasts of Australia, and inland to the Liverpool Plains through the Blue Mountains, he left the Hunter River in 1827 with a party of six men and eleven horses, discovering the Darling Downs, and thus opening the way to settlement in Queensland. He named Canning Downs on this trip, and returned the same year. In the following year, 1828, he went by sea to Brisbane, and connected that port with the Darling Downs by discovering a gap in the coast range, still known as Cunningham’s Gap. He spent most of his life collecting and exploring, and died at the early age of 48 in Sydney. His brother, Richard Cunningham, also botanist and collector, accompanied Sir Thomas Mitchell in one of his early trips; while camped on the Bogan, he wandered away, lost himself, and was killed by the blacks.
Of all the explorers who have taken a prominent part in discovering the inland territory of Australia in general, and Queensland in particular, Dr. Leichhardt occupies the most conspicuous position, and his discoveries have been followed by the most extensive and advantageous results. He explored all the country on the east coast inland as far as the Mitchell River, and on the northern coast as far as Port Essington. He was a man of considerable scientific attainments, and his travels had a marked effect in inducing settlement along his line of march. His memorable trip from Brisbane to Port Essington reflects great honour on his memory, and his name will last as long as colonial history.
Leichhardt left Sydney in 1844 in the steamer “Sovereign” for Brisbane; he had with him Calvert, Roper, Murphy, Phillips, and Harry Broome, an aboriginal. The party later on was joined by Gilbert, a naturalist, and one coloured man, a native. They left Jimbour on the Darling Downs, on October 1st, 1844, crossed the Dawson on November 6th, and on the 27th Leichhardt named the Expedition Range. Two days after that they came to the Comet River, so named because a comet was seen there. On December 31st, the party came across the remains of a camp evidently made by a white man, consisting of a ridge pole and forks cut with a sharp iron instrument, probably the halting place of some adventurous pioneers who travelled on the outside fringe of all settlement, and who frequently made long journeys into the unknown land.