Account of an expedition to the interior of New Holland

by Lady Mary Fox; Richard Whately

These were two men of the name of Müller; one a German, settled in England, and the other his nephew, the son of an Englishwoman. The former appears to have been one of those unions of enthusiastic wildness, brilliant genius, and sanguine credulity which periods of great excitement—such as the commencement of the Reformation—are often found to call forth. He possessed great eloquence, and a power of exercising an unbounded influence over minds of a certain description. His nephew, with much of the uncle’s eccentricity, united a much clearer judgment, and seems gradually to have established a complete ascendancy over the mind, first of his uncle, and ultimately of all his followers; and to have used his influence in a manner which indicates most enlarged public spirit, and a great mixture, at least, of political wisdom.

It appears, that during the various tumults which took place during the early periods of the Reformation, several persons in England, and some in Germany, (the parties holding communication through the means of Müller and his connexions in both countries,) meditated a removal to some distant region, in which they should escape finally from strife and oppression, and establish a civil and religious community on such principles as they were fondly cherishing. After the proposal and rejection of various schemes, and after many delays and disappointments, the projected departure in search of a new settlement took place, under the guidance of their enthusiastic and adventurous leader. Instead of proceeding to America, as had been originally proposed, they were induced by some glowing descriptions they had heard, but which proved to consist chiefly of fable or exaggeration, to seek for the long-famed southern continent, the “Terra Australis Incognita.”

The curious and interesting particulars of their voyage, their various adventures, disappointments, and reiterated attempts, we are compelled to pass over. The result was their being ultimately driven by a storm on the coast of New Holland, somewhere, it is supposed, between lat. 10 and 20 south, and lon. 130 and 140 east, where one out of the four ships was wrecked on a coral reef, and two of the others driven ashore with considerable damage. They saved, however, not only their lives, but nearly all their property, including the live stock with which they had provided themselves; and it appears that their first idea was to repair their vessels, and proceed along the coast, in an endeavour to find a suitable spot for a settlement; the part on which they were cast being not only barren and uninviting but excessively marshy. This last circumstance compelled them to forego their design; for a fever broke out, and affected so many of them that they lost no time in removing to a healthier situation, eight or nine miles from the coast. Here the sick speedily recovered; and, as the spot seemed highly salubrious, though for the most part barren, with only a small proportion of land fit for cultivation near the banks of small rivers, they proceeded to build log-houses and cultivate the land; designing to make their settlement either temporary or permanent, as circumstances might determine.

Their decision was ultimately fixed by means of the intercourse they succeeded in establishing with a native tribe. Mutual good-will and confidence having been completely established between the settlers and the natives (chiefly, as it should seem, through the judicious exertions of the younger Müller),—and an increasing knowledge of each other’s language having established a free communication between the parties,—the settlers were interested by the glowing colours in which their new friends described a region in the interior, which they—that is, some of the very individuals who spoke of it, and the ancestors of the rest,—had formerly inhabited, and from which successive portions of their tribe had been from time to time expelled by more powerful hostile tribes. They were anxious to induce their European neighbours to settle there themselves, and enable them to reinstate themselves in their ancient abode. They easily perceived the vast superiority which European arts and arms would give to their new allies over enemies who had proved too powerful for themselves, and they hoped through their aid to re-establish themselves in a country which they had quitted with regret.

Moved by their representations, the settlers despatched two active young men, in company with some native guides, to explore this highly-vaunted region; they proceeded accordingly, nearly in a direct line from the coast, to a range of mountains, about ninety or a hundred miles in the interior, which they surmounted, not without difficulty, and then found themselves in an elevated plain of a most sterile character, extending for more than a hundred miles in the same direction: this they traversed with some difficulty, and arrived at another chain of rocky mountains, forming a still more formidable barrier, which they would have had great difficulty in surmounting but for the local knowledge of their guides.

On passing this, however, they were rewarded by the view of a most extensive and delightfully fertile region, watered with numerous streams from these mountains, and interspersed with beautiful lakes. The whole appearance of the country fully justified the descriptions given; and the accounts of these first explorers were so favourable that a second expedition was undertaken, with a view to a more complete examination of the country, by young Müller himself and four others, who passed a considerable time in exploring the district, not without some narrow escapes from the hostility of some of the wandering native tribes; and the result of their examination was so favourable, that the settlers were induced to come to the resolution of finally removing the colony to the interior.

This, after due preparation, they accomplished, moving in two separate divisions; the first consisting of the greater part of the most active of the adult males, both of the Europeans and their native allies, who were to prepare habitations, and break up land for tillage, &c. ready to receive the rest after an interval of some months. The entire removal was completed in the course of the third year from their first arrival on the coast. Their numbers appear to have been between three and four hundred, in all, of white people, besides a somewhat smaller number of natives; the country in which they had first settled admitting of only a small and scattered population, of tribes subsisting by the chase.

Very soon after taking possession of their new abode they were attacked, in spite of all their endeavours to preserve peace, by the native tribes of the interior, moved by their inveterate animosity against their ancient enemies: the settlers, however, gained an easy and complete victory in every encounter; their fire-arms, though only the old-fashioned, clumsy matchlocks of those days, being sufficient to strike terror into savages unacquainted with gunpowder; though, independent of their guns, their bows would have given them a decided superiority. It is well known how skilful and how formidable were the English archers of those days; and they could annoy the natives, among whom the bow is unknown, at three times the distance to which these could throw their spears. The native allies also, having been taught by the Europeans to use the bow, which, even in their less skilful hands, had an advantage over the spear,—and being also furnished with cutlasses, hatchets, and steel heads to their pikes,—now proved greatly an overmatch for their former conquerors, who had only wooden swords and bone-headed spears.

A peace ensued, which, however, was for several years interrupted from time to time by predatory incursions and irregular renewals of hostilities. This state of things, with all its inconveniences, appears to have had the advantage of cementing the friendship between the settlers and their native allies; each party feeling the other’s importance for security against a common enemy. The whites, accordingly, seem to have been assiduous and successful in civilizing these natives, with whom they were thus thrown into close contact.

Ultimately, the colony was delivered from all danger from the hostile tribes by an event which threatened disaster. A formidable combination was secretly formed among all the tribes for a considerable distance round, for the purpose of making a united attack, by surprise, with all their forces. It was so far successful that a band, far outnumbering all that the settlers could muster, unexpectedly attacking one of their villages, obliged the inhabitants to fly in the utmost haste, and spread the alarm through the whole colony. This success, however, proved their ruin; for, with the genuine improvidence of savages, instead of rapidly pushing forward their forces, they eagerly fell to plundering the various stores, especially of provisions, which had been abandoned; and, as an army of savages is never well provided with a commissariat, gladly betook themselves to feasting on what they found.