On the 31st the commander went up the freshwater river with Mr. Barrallier.* (* This river had already been seen by Mr. Bowen.) At night they encamped on its banks when there came on an exceeding heavy storm of rain with thunder and lightning and high wind. They traced a branch of the river on the right as far as their boat could go and then followed its course on shore along the bank and found it was fed by the greater river only. This carried them inland and they discovered marks of fires made by the natives. The log book records that they met none of the blacks at any place though there were native dog tracks in abundance. "Towards the end of this branching stream the country appeared to afford plots of very rich pasture. At some considerable distance the land rose to a height, and being covered with large trees which appeared to have been shattered by storms had for this reason obtained the name of Mount Rugged. We marched pretty far inland and found the country everywhere free from inundations and exhibiting a very picturesque appearance. The day was remarkably fine but in the woods the air was close and disagreeably sultry. My people had killed a small black snake...the same kind...is common about Sydney. We pursued our course up the river and Mr. Barrallier completed his survey."
The water in the river was found to be good and perfectly sweet, and the casks were filled. Among the birds seen was a bell-bird which has "no remarkable plumage but a note not unlike the tinkling of a bell, so that when a number of these birds are collected together the noise they make is similar to that made by the bells of a team of horses." The laughing-bird (whose note can only be compared to the ha! ha! ha! of a hearty laughing companion) was the first to salute the explorers in the morning. The whistling duck, so called because of the whistling noise made with its wings when flying, was shot here, and a grey parrot was caught alive. Mr. Barrallier shot a rare cockatoo.* (* It was stuffed and afterwards given to General Davies, R.A., by Governor King.) The wet weather afterwards gave little chance of meeting with birds, and the explorers made their way through the woods until they reached an extensive level country. This plain extended out of their sight on the one side and on the other was bounded by hills. Paths beaten down by kangaroos crossed and recrossed it. The face of the country was almost everywhere level and productive, free from swamp and secured from inundation.
Grant thus describes the journey back to the ship: "We returned to the river-side and ordered the boat to drop lower down a few miles through a forest of stately timber trees. I had a few of them cut down and brought on board...I brought Governor King specimens of light woods and a species of sassafras discovered by my second mate...On our way down the river we stopped at the place where we had passed the preceding night and found our fire still burning. To this spot we gave the name of The Halfway House, being halfway up the river."
The commander now revisited Churchill's Island: "I found my people had cleared the spot I had laid out for a garden, and that there was nothing wanting but to prepare the ground to receive such seeds as I should choose to plant...It was no easy matter...for we had neither hoe nor spade with us...however, we were in possession of a coal shovel which, though it was thin and much worn, served the purpose.
"My men, who slept on the ground they had cleared...in a hut built for the occasion, informed me that one of their comrades was awakened out of his sleep by some animal that seemed to be gnawing his hair. He supposed it to be the bandicoot rat. I sent on board for a dog which we had brought with us from Sydney. This dog remained with the people on the island, and, as they reported to me, was one night engaged with some animal apparently of equal strength, for it brought him to the ground and made him howl...The ground was now prepared and I sowed my several sorts of seeds, wheat, Indian corn, and peas, some grains of rice and some coffee berries; and I did not forget to plant potatoes. With the trunks of the trees I felled I raised a block house of 24 feet by 12 which will probably remain some years, the supporters being well fixed in the earth."
Full of enthusiasm regarding his visit in general, Grant is more so about Churchill's Island: "I scarcely know a place I should sooner call mine than this little island." And he also tells how he planted the stones of fruit trees round the hut which his men had built there. Of the traces of iron seen, he adds: "We turned up a few stones and some interspersed with veins of iron ore, indeed so rich in metal that they had a visible effect on the needle of our compass; stones of a like kind are found about Sydney." In the pages of his journal and also of his log he describes very minutely the manner in which European seeds were first sown in the soil of the British colony of Victoria. That they were successfully planted we learn from a subsequent page in Murray's log when he, in command of the Lady Nelson, visited the same spot.
To return to the narrative. "On the 12th* (* In the narrative, through a printer's error, this date appears as 21st.) of April Mr. Bowen, while seeking for water in the ship's launch, discovered near the mouth of the freshwater river part of a canoe which had sunk near the mouth. He brought it back to the ship together with two paddles and some fishing line." The canoe differed greatly from those made by the natives of Port Jackson, being framed out of timber, and instead of being tied together at the ends "was left open, the space being afterwards filled with grass worked up with strong clay."
At the termination of the voyage, it was handed over, along with the other specimens collected, to Governor King.
The Lady Nelson now changed her berth and moored close by the opposite shore, "in order to be near a small island lying in the opening of the extensive arms described by Mr. Bass of which this port has two branching out to the northward." Grant named this island Margaret Island in honour of Mrs. Schanck who had given him several articles which proved useful on board the Lady Nelson.