The country examined during this expedition lies between Cape Cuvier and Swan River, having for its longitudinal limits the parallel of 24 degrees and that of 32 degrees south latitude, and the expedition combined two objects: the examination and nautical survey of such parts of the coast lying between these limits as were imperfectly known, and the exploration of such parts of the continent as might on examination appear worthy of particular notice.
RIVERS DISCOVERED.
In the course of my explorations ten rivers, which are, when considered with reference to the other known ones of Western Australia, of considerable importance, were discovered, some of them being larger than any yet found in the south-west of this continent; many smaller streams were also found.
The larger rivers I have named:
The Gascoyne,
The Murchison,
The Hutt,
The Bowes,
The Buller,
The Chapman,
The Greenough,
The Irwin,
The Arrowsmith,
The Smith.
Two mountain ranges were discovered; one at the northern extremity of the Darling Range and about thirty miles to the eastward of it, lofty and altogether differing in character from the Darling, which at this point, where its direction is nearly north and south, is called Moresby's Flat-topped Range.
I have taken the liberty of naming this northern range, after her most gracious Majesty, The Victoria Range; and the extensive district of fertile country extending from its base to the sea, and having a length of more than fifty miles in a north and south direction, I have also named the Province of Victoria, trusting that her Majesty will not object to bestow her name upon one of the finest provinces in this her new, vast, and almost unknown empire; and which, protected in its very birth and infancy by her fostering hand, will doubtless ere long attain to no mean destiny among the nations of the earth.
The other range is thrown off in a westerly direction from the Darling Range; it is about forty miles in length from north to south, of a bare, sterile, and barren nature, and terminates seaward in Mount Perron and Mount Lesueur; to this range I have given the name of Gairdner's Range: it forms a very important feature in the geography of this part of Australia.
DISTRICTS OF BABBAGE AND VICTORIA.
Three extensive districts of good country were also found in the course of this expedition, the Province of Victoria, before alluded to, the district of Babbage, and another adjacent to Perth, to which I have not affixed a name.