Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia — Vol. 1 / Performed between the years 1818 and 1822

by Philip Parker King

August 4.

The following morning our course was held parallel with the shores of the bay towards a point of land which afterwards proved to be the eastern head of a deep opening.

To the northward of this point was an island and farther on to seaward a dry sandbank. As we approached the point we were obliged to haul off for there was evidently a shoal communication between it and the island, and every appearance of its being connected with the sandbank in the offing. The dark colour of the water on the other side of this line of communication induced me to stand round the sandbank; when, as was expected, we entered a deep channel leading towards the most distant parts of the bight, which afterwards turned out to be the mouth of a river. The sandbank was called Haul-round Islet and the island Entrance Island. In passing between the latter and a reef on the western side of the channel, about half or three-quarters of a mile from the shore, we had fourteen fathoms mud; after which it gradually decreased in depth; having reached the mouth of the river we anchored in three fathoms about four miles within Entrance Island. The remainder of the day, which was far advanced, was spent in making preparations for our examination of the river; at low water the tide had fallen ten feet and the cutter took the ground; but as it was on soft mud it was of little consequence.

August 5.

The following morning as soon as the ebb tide ceased I left the cutter in a boat, accompanied by Messrs. Bedwell and Cunningham, and proceeded up the river. The banks on either side were, for ten or twelve miles, so thickly and impenetrably lined with very large mangroves as to defy all attempts of landing; above this these trees were less abundant and the banks were occasionally clear from fifty to two hundred yards in extent; however the view thus obtained did not impress us with any flattering idea of the country at the back. On passing the second open bank we observed a canoe hauled up on the shore, and at a little distance farther we saw another; these were the first indications we had observed of the presence of natives, excepting the large fires that were burning a little way in from the banks.

At the next open bank on the eastern side we put ashore to give the boat's crew an opportunity of getting their dinner, and as we landed I discharged my fowling-piece at some birds; upon ascending the bank we found that the report of the gun had alarmed four natives, two of whom were females with children on their backs; they were retreating in haste towards a smoke, the fire of which was concealed from us by high grass: as soon as they reached the fire they stopped and began to call out in loud shrill tones, when they were soon surrounded by twenty-five natives who immediately commenced hallooing and shouting to us in a menacing way; after some consultation two of them advanced armed with spears; upon which I ordered a musket to be brought from the boat, which was concealed from their view by the bank of the river; seeing this the Indians stopped and retreated to their party, who immediately set up a yell of loud and angry cries accompanied with the most furious gesticulations. As the tide was still flowing and I was not very anxious to communicate with these people, from whose neighbours at Goulburn Island we had already experienced much treachery, and who, if inclined to be quarrelsome, might, from the small breadth of the river, considerably annoy and impede our farther progress, we re-embarked and proceeded up the river under the momentary expectation of either seeing or hearing them at every bend and open bank; we were not, however, molested; and at sunset, as we had reached a considerable distance from their encampment, and had not seen any alligators, we landed to pass the night upon the shore, and soon pitched our tent. We had, however, no sooner refreshed and composed ourselves to rest than we were alarmed by a loud shout, and upon listening attentively it was again heard. It was now our firm opinion that we had landed in the vicinity of another tribe, who upon seeing our fire had alarmed their companions.

The muskets were therefore placed in readiness and a watch set to give our party warning if they approached. In the middle of the night the noise was again heard, but upon being repeated several times it was discovered that we had been deceived by the screams of a bird whose note exactly resembled the human cry. Our fears of being attacked by the natives being now dispelled, our party composed themselves again to rest, but without obtaining any sleep in consequence of the immense swarms of mosquitoes, which buzzing about in incredible numbers were not to be kept from stinging us by any measures we could devise. The tent was very soon deserted and many other places were tried in vain; the only method at all successful, by which some respite was obtained, was by lying upon the ground within two feet of the blaze of the fire; the heat and smoke of which, with the danger of our clothes catching fire, were insignificant inconveniences compared with the mosquitoes' stings; and those only who placed themselves in this situation obtained a few hours' sleep.

August 6.

At daylight, begrimed with dirt and smoke, we re-embarked, and pulled five miles further up the river, when its further examination was given up; at this place its breadth was about twenty yards, and being high water the greatest depth was twelve feet; at low water the channel must be nearly dry. We did not reach the cutter until six o'clock in the evening, much exhausted for want of rest, and from exposure to a powerful sun, and a hot land wind that prevailed all day.

This river, which I have named the Liverpool, runs up from a well-formed port about forty miles, taking in its way a very serpentine course; its breadth at Entrance Island is about four miles; ten miles from the mouth its width is about half a mile, after which it very gradually decreases; at about fourteen miles from our anchorage the water is fresh at half tide but at low water it might probably be obtained four or five miles lower down. The bottom is muddy as are also the banks; and in consequence the latter are only accessible at high tide, at which time they are seldom more than two or three feet above the water's edge. The country within is very level, and appeared during the wet season to be occasionally inundated: the soil where we landed is a sour stiff clay on which grew an arundinaceous grass.