POINT DALE, unless it is upon an island, appears to be the east extremity of the north coast; its latitude is 11 degrees 36 minutes, longitude 135 degrees 9 minutes: there are several rocky islands of small size, lying off, encompassed by a reef, which extends for eight miles North-North-East 1/2 East from the point. In Brown's Strait the tide sets at the rate of three and a half and four miles per hour; the flood runs to the southward through the strait. To the westward of Point Dale the coast extends for about sixty miles to the south-west to Castlereagh Bay; in which space there are several openings in the beach, that are probably small rivers: one, ten miles to the South-West, may be a strait insulating Point Dale, and communicating with Arnhem Bay.
CASTLEREAGH BAY is forty miles wide, by about eighteen deep; it is fronted by a group of straggling islands of low coral formation, crowned with small trees and bushes: the centre of the northernmost islet is in latitude 11 degrees 41 minutes 50 seconds, longitude 134 degrees 10 minutes 5 seconds. To the eastward of Cape Stewart, the western head of the bay, the coast is very much indented, and probably contains several openings or rivulets, particularly two at the bottom of the bay. The beach is generally sandy, with rocky points, and the shore is wooded to the beach; the interior was in no part visible over the coast hills, which are very low and level. From the extremity of CAPE STEWART, which is in latitude 11 degrees 56 minutes, and longitude 133 degrees 48 minutes, a reef extends to the West by North 1/2 North for eight miles and a half; having, at a mile within the extremity, a low sandy key, with a small dry rock half a mile to the eastward. Every other part of the reef is covered.
To the westward of Cape Stewart is a sandy bay nearly eleven leagues in extent, but not more than seven deep; near its western end there is a small break in the beach, but it did not appear to be of any consequence.
The extreme point of this bight is the eastern head of LIVERPOOL RIVER, whose entrance is to the westward of Haul-round Islet; which, as well as Entrance Island, is connected to the above point by a shoal. Haul-round Islet is in latitude 11 degrees 54 minutes, and longitude 134 degrees 14 minutes; Entrance Island is in latitude 11 degrees 57 minutes, and longitude 134 degrees 14 minutes 50 seconds. The entrance is from one and a quarter to two miles wide. The reef extends for half a mile from Haul-round Islet, close without which the water is deep, the least depth in the entrance is five and three-quarter fathoms; and, in some parts there are thirteen and fourteen fathoms: at seven miles within Haul-round Islet, the depth decreases to four fathoms, and then gradually shoals to three; after which it varies in the channel of the river to between nine and twelve feet at low water. A bar crosses the river at the low mangrove island, over which there is not more than three feet at low water; but, as the tide rises more than eight feet at the springs, vessels drawing ten or eleven feet may proceed up the river.
The stream runs in a very tortuous course for upwards of forty miles, but as our examination was unassisted by bearings or observations, it is laid down from an eye sketch. POINT BRAITHWAITE, in latitude 11 degrees 45 minutes 50 seconds, and longitude 133 degrees 55 minutes 20 seconds, is twenty miles to the westward of Haul-round Islet; to the southward of it is Junction Bay, which was not examined. For the next thirty miles the coast is very much indented, and has some deep bays on either side of Point Barclay, as also one to the eastward of Point Turner, at the bottom of which an opening, a mile in width, is probably a river. Here also the feature of the coast is altered, being low and level to the eastward as far as Point Dale, without a hill or rising ground in the interior to relieve its monotonous appearance. At this place, however, a range of rocky hills, WELLINGTON RANGE, commences, of about twenty miles in extent: five miles behind it is the Tor (latitude 11 degrees 54 minutes, and longitude 133 degrees 10 minutes 20 seconds) a solitary pyramidal rock; and seven miles and a quarter West by South, from the latter is a peak-topped hill.
The two latter are apparently unconnected with the range, on which there are four remarkable ridges, of which the two westernmost are the most remarkable.
GOULBURN ISLANDS consist of two islands, each being about twenty miles in circumference; they are separated from each other by a rocky strait three miles wide, which in most parts is deep enough for a ship of any size to pass through; the latitude of the centre of this strait is 11 degrees 32 minutes. Macquarie Strait separates the southernmost from the main, and is nearly two miles across: the depth in mid-channel being eighteen fathoms: the latitude of Retaliation Point, which is on the northern side of the strait, is in 11 degrees 39 minutes.
SOUTH WEST BAY affords good anchorage in five and six fathoms at a mile from the shore, and vessels may anchor at a quarter of a mile off the beach in three fathoms muddy bottom. At the north end of the bay are the Bottle Rocks separated from the point by a channel two and a quarter fathoms deep. The Bottle Rock was one of our fixed points, and is placed in latitude 11 degrees 37 minutes 24 seconds, and longitude 133 degrees 19 minutes 40 seconds. The bay affords a convenient place for wooding and watering; the latter may be had during the early months of the dry season (as late as August) from a drain at the base of the Pipe Clay Cliffs at the north end of the bay. There are also some holes on Sims Island that contain water for a much later period. The holes have been made by the Malays for the purpose of collecting it.
MULLET BAY is on the west side of the north island, affording good anchorage in the easterly monsoon in six and seven fathoms mud, at a mile from the shore. The flood-tide here sets to the eastward, and it is high water at full and change in the strait at six o'clock; the rise of the tide is not more than five or six feet. The north-east point of North Goulburn Island is in latitude 11 degrees 26 minutes, longitude 133 degrees 26 minutes.
From Macquarie Strait the land trends to the westward, and north-westward to De Courcy Head, and forms but few sinuosities. POINT BROGDEN, in latitude 11 degrees 30 minutes, the only projection in this space, is remarkable for being higher than usual, and for having a range of cliffs to the southward of the point; with a solitary tree near its extremity, hence the land is rocky towards De Courcy Head, which is a cliffy projection in latitude 11 degrees 17 minutes 30 seconds; thence the shore continues rocky to Cape Cockburn, a low rocky point, with a conspicuous tree at its extremity. The point is wooded to within a short distance of the sea, as is generally the case with the shores of this coast. CAPE COCKBURN is in latitude 11 degrees 18 minutes, and longitude 132 degrees 53 minutes 5 seconds.