ROAD TO AUSTRALIND.
The road passes through the township of Pinjarra, on the fertile banks of the Murray. Where it crosses the river, the first and only great affray took place with the natives, whose blood on that unfortunate occasion stained the waters of the reach that now slept in peaceful beauty, as if strife had never polluted its banks.* Here we met Mr. Clifton, who accompanied us to his new township of Australind, to plant the germs of which, in the wilds of Western Australia, he and his worthy family had left England and all the comforts of society. This interesting spot is situated on the east side of Leschenault Inlet; the approach is laid out with much taste, the road leading along the foot of a hill covered with wood, whilst on the right is an open growth of trees, affording every now and then a glimpse of the beautiful estuary, with its surface just ruffled and glittering in the rays of the setting sun. I was much struck with the beauty of the scenery during this evening's and the morrow's excursion, having had no idea that there was such a fertile, well watered, and heavily timbered district so near the coast in Western Australia.**
(*Footnote. A spirited painting of this encounter I saw ornamenting the walls of Captain Mears' cottage at Guildford.)
(**Footnote. Her Majesty's dockyards are now availing themselves of this supply of excellent timber; and its proximity to the sea must greatly enhance the value of this part of the continent.)
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. CLIFTON, ETC.
Having conversed with Mr. Clifton on the subject of the settlement he had intended to make near Port Grey, and been made acquainted with his reasons for doubting the existence of the harbour, and the fertility of the surrounding country, as well as with his desire to have the question satisfactorily set at rest, I requested him to write to me on the subject; and on the receipt of his letter,* I communicated, also in writing, with his Excellency, Governor Hutt, and the Surveyor-General, Mr. Roe; the result of which correspondence was, that I determined to examine that portion of the coast; and to afford Mr. Clifton the opportunity of accompanying me, and with his own eyes convincing himself of the policy or impolicy of the course he had adopted.
(*Footnote. From which the following is an extract: Your arrival at Gage Roads, in her Majesty's surveying vessel, Beagle, under your command, affords me an opportunity of soliciting your able assistance towards the solution of a question of great interest, not only to the Western Australian Company, whom I represent, but to this colony at large; and I feel assured that your known zeal in the cause of Geographical and Hydrographical research will induce you, if it be within your power, to comply with the request which I now take the liberty to make. Under these feelings I proceed to state to you, that the Western Australian Company, after all their plans had been formed for founding their intended Colony of Australind, in Leschenault inlet, were led under circumstances which occurred, and information which reached them, to abandon that intention and to determine to fix their settlement at a port discovered by Captain Grey, designated in England by the appellation of Port Grey, and lying on the North-West coast of this colony, in or about the latitude of 29 degrees south, within the limits of the district between Gantheaume Bay and the River Arrowsmith, in which district her Majesty's Government had permitted the Company to take possession of extensive tracts of land in lieu of their property in other parts of Western Australia.
Upon my arrival, however, in March last, at Port Leschenault, with the intention of conveying in the Parkfield, with the first body of settlers and emigrants to the new district, the Company's surveying establishment already employed in this neighbourhood, I received such communications from his Excellency the Governor, and such information respecting the supposed Port Grey, and the country in its vicinity, together with a tracing of the partial survey made by you in Champion Bay, lying in latitude 28 degrees 47 minutes South which is presumed to be identical with Port Grey, that I was induced, after full consultation with his Excellency, to unite with him in opinion, that it would be proper for me to depart from my instructions, and to found the colony under my charge on the spot originally contemplated in Leschenault Inlet, instead of at Port Grey, which determination I accordingly carried into effect under the Governor's sanction.
It naturally was my most anxious wish, as it would have been my duty, if it had been practicable, to visit myself the supposed port, before I took, in conjunction with his Excellency, a step involving so great a personal responsibility, and so seriously affecting all the predetermined plans of the company, settlers, and emigrants. I have since made every practical endeavour, but without success, to obtain means of proceeding to the district in question, in order to establish the fact by actual observation and research, whether that district does or does not afford a proper site for the establishment of a new settlement on an extensive scale, or is totally inapplicable for it, according to the information which led to the decision come to. And as the result of such examination involves measures which may prove of very great importance to the local interests of this colony, and even to the interests of the mother-country, I venture to submit to your consideration, whether you would not deem that inquiry of sufficient importance to justify your proceeding to Champion Bay, in her Majesty's sloop, Beagle, under your command, to ascertain fully the capabilities of the country in its immediate vicinity, and to determine whether there be another harbour or not at the place assigned to Port Grey on the map recently published by Arrowsmith.
If your proceeding to that part of this coast should be within the scope of the service assigned to you by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, or the importance of the solution of these questions, on which such extensive interests and operations depend, should induce you to take upon yourself the responsibility of going there, I earnestly request you will allow me the honour of accompanying you, for the purpose of fulfilling my duty to the Directors of the Company, and to the very numerous body of persons interested in the formation of the intended settlement under them.)