At 8.50 made one mile south-west by south up the creek from Number 16 Camp to a waterhole where Fisherman and Jemmy were filling the water-bottles to carry on the packhorse, so as to supply us whilst in search of more water. At 10.4 made one mile and a quarter, about south to a waterhole up the creek. At 12 made five miles and three-quarters south-west to one of the branches of the Gregory River, which I have named Elliott Creek, over rich well-grassed plain country. At 12.10 made one mile south to where Jemmy left us to return to Camp 16. At 1.24 made two miles south, where we left following up Elliott Creek, despairing of finding water in it. At 1.35 made half a mile south-west to a tree which Fisherman climbed to look across the plains. At 6.24 made thirteen miles south-west, which distance on that course took us across the plain near to a large clump of timber. The grass on the plain is good, with a considerable quantity of saltbush among it, but we were afraid we would not find water in the watercourse we were approaching, we had seen so few birds on the plain. At 6.43 made one mile south to a clump of trees resembling myall, which I have seen before to the west of Rockhampton. At 8 made two miles and three-quarters about south down the watercourse in search of water, having stopped for our supper and started again. At 12 made two miles and a quarter south by west down the watercourse to some young grass, where we camped for the remainder of the night.
Friday December 13th.
In the morning we heard a great number of birds and expected to find water. At 6.5 a.m. made three-quarters of a mile west in search of water, hearing birds in that direction. At 6.44 made one mile about south-east back to the creek. At 8.45 made six miles about south-west down the creek in search of water to the junction of watercourse from the north which I have named Pring Creek. On the point between the two creeks we marked a tree with a broad arrow before L. At this place we stopped until nine o'clock and in the meantime gave the horses each two quarts of water from the supply we had with us. At 9.25 made one mile north-north-west up Pring Creek to the junction of a creek from north. At 9.35 made one mile north-north-west up the latter creek to where we started for Number 16 Camp without having found water. At 10.47 made three miles and three-quarters west by north over rich thinly timbered plains, the grass old and dry. At 11.22 made one mile and a half north-east to our outer track below camp on creek. At 11.38 made three-quarters of a mile about north-north-east up the creek. At 11.55 made three-quarters of a mile north to last night's camp. At 12.26 p.m. made one mile and a quarter north-east up the creek. At 1.3 made one mile and a half north to where we supped last night. At 1.30 made one mile and a quarter north-east at where we stopped and started again at 2 p.m. At 2.20 made one mile north-east to the plain. At 3.10 made two miles and a half north. At 7.15 made ten miles and a half north-east to lookout-tree, which we made steering by compass. At this place I gave the horses almost all that was left of the water, as I thought that Fisherman would be able easily to lead the way to Camp 16, and I being so confident of this paid no attention to the course that he was leading me. At 11.30 I found that Fisherman did not know where he was, so I gave my horse his head, thinking he would go to water near Number 16 Camp; but he searched along the bed of a watercourse for water and found a fine waterhole, where we saw a fire on the banks, at which we thought there were probably blacks, as boughs and a net had been recently placed around the water to ensnare large birds. After we had got a supply of water we watered the horses and went west-north-west about one mile and a half to a point on the plain about half a mile distant from the watercourse, where we hobbled out the horses and stopped till morning.
Saturday December 14.
The watercourse I named Clifton Creek. At 6.30 a.m. Fisherman and I left our camp. At 7 made one mile east-south-east down Clifton Creek to where we passed from left to right bank, which we then followed up a few yards to the junction of a larger creek on the right side, where there is a fine waterhole. At 7.45 made one mile east-south-east down the Clifton Creek to where we stopped for breakfast, and started again at 9.35. At 9.42 went quarter mile south-east across a range to a creek with deep empty holes. At 9.49 went quarter mile south-east to plain. At 10.40 went two and a half miles south-east to a large river, with large waterholes recently empty, surrounded by tall cabbage, pandanus, and large drooping tea-trees. I ascertained afterwards that it was the O'Shanassy. One of the cabbage-trees we cut down to get its centre sprout to eat. Started again at 11.40. At 12.13 made three-quarters of a mile south-south-east, passed the junction of two creeks, one from the east and one from the west. At 12.45 made one mile north-west across a range to dry creek. From the range we saw the river had a north-north-east course. At 1.9 made one mile north-west up a barren, rocky, basaltic range to rich well-grassed plains. At 1.33 made one mile north-west to a creek with empty deep holes. At 2.10 made two miles north-west to Clifton Creek, where we had breakfast, and started again at 3 up the Clifton Creek. At 3.15 made three-quarters of a mile north-west up the creek to where we crossed to left bank and left it. At 3.50 made one mile and three-quarters north-west over a fine downs ridge covered with green grass. At 4.15 made one mile north-north-west to outward track on right bank on the Pratt Creek. At 4.45 made one and a quarter mile north-east and at 5 made three-quarters of a mile north-east in the direction of Number 16 Camp. At 5.9 made quarter of a mile north by east to creek. At 5.17 made quarter of a mile north over a barren desert grass ridge. At 5.30 made one mile and a half to Number 16 Camp. At 5.40 we left Number 16 Camp to go two and a half miles south-west by south to where our companions had formed Number 17 Camp in our absence.
Monday December 16. Camp Number 17. Situated on Pratt Creek.
At 8.15 left camp to go to the fine waterhole at the junction of a creek from the west, which I have named Campbell's Creek, with Clifton Creek. At 8.48 made one mile and a half south-west by south. At 9 made half a mile south-south-west to tracks made, when Fisherman and I returned to Number 17 Camp. At 9.45 made two miles south-east down to Clifton Creek. At 10.10 made one mile south-east down the creek to where we formed our 18th camp. At the camp we had a severe thunderstorm which lasted for about four hours. At the two previous camps Mr. Allison made observations of the sun with the plains for a horizon, which were very satisfactory, as the latitude obtained was nearly the same as that of my dead reckoning, also nearly the same as the latitude made with the observations of the stars Aldebaran and Castor with an artificial horizon at Number 16 Camp. Observations taken at Camp 16: Aldebaran 19 degrees 14 minutes 21 seconds; ditto Castor 19 degrees 24 minutes 30 seconds; ditto Sun 19 degrees 24 minutes 30 seconds; ditto dead reckoning 19 degrees 24 minutes. At Camp Number 17 about two miles southward from Camp 16: Sun 19 degrees 26 minutes 47 seconds. At Camp Number 20: Sun dead reckoning nearly the same 19 degrees 37 minutes.
Tuesday December 17. Camp Number 18. Situated on Clifton Creek.
Left camp at 7.32. At 8.15 made two miles south to dry creek from south-west, where we were delayed till 8.32; at 8.50 made three-quarters of a mile south to the plain; at 10.45 made five miles and a half south to a watercourse which I have named Darvall Creek: at 11.10 made three-quarters of a mile west by south up the creek; at 11.32 made one mile south-west by south; at 11.48 made three-quarters of a mile south-west by south; at 12.8 made three-quarters of a mile south-west where we crossed the creek; at 12.13 made quarter of a mile south-west to junction of creek; at 12.35 made one mile west-south-west to left bank of the creek; at 1.10 made about one mile south-west up the creek; at 1.27 made three-quarters of a mile south-west up the creek; at 1.34 made quarter of a mile west-south-west to where we stopped, as some of our party were looking for water, at 3.35 made three miles and a quarter south-east to where, having found a little water in a watercourse with an easterly course, which I have named Wilkie Creek, we formed our 19th camp.
Wednesday December 18. Camp Number 19. Situated on Wilkie Creek.