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CHAPTER I.

Table of Contents

Western Interior of Australia.—Settlement of Swan River.—

Foundation of the colony of South Australia.—Various

opinions regarding the interior.

IN the slight sketch of Australian Exploration that I propose to lay before the reader as an introduction to the Journal of Colonel Egerton Warburton, I shall confine myself entirely to the western half of the Continent, and to the many attempts that have been made by enterprising men to penetrate the mysteries of the interior of that portion. Though Western Australia occupies a larger space upon the map than any of its sister colonies, an observer cannot fail to be struck, by the vast extent of unoccupied—even unknown—country that it contains, and this desolation is the more remarkable when it is considered that within the boundary of this colony are included the earliest discovered portions of the Continent.

In 1829 Captain Stirling was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the new settlement on the Swan River, and on his arrival in the month of August of that year this officer found a number of anxious immigrants camped on the banks of the Swan and Canning rivers, with no better shelter against the inclemency of the Australian winter than the tents they had brought with them from England. Every month added to their numbers and to the disorder that prevailed. Not an acre of land had been surveyed; the settlers sat down at random on the river banks; there was no money to procure the common necessaries of life from the neighbouring colonies; even the Governor and his officials received large grants of land instead of a salary; and to add to the distress, the immigrants were of a class unaccustomed to manual labour, and totally unfitted for the arduous task of founding a new settlement. By. March, 1830, fifty ships, containing two thousand people with property—not money—to the amount of 100,000l., had arrived, and as yet hardly twenty houses were standing at the new township of Perth for their accommodation. Many of the disappointed adventurers found their way to the adjoining colonies, and for twenty years the remainder fought manfully for existence; yet so hard was the struggle, and such the depression prevailing, that even so late as 1848 the inhabitants seriously entertained the project of abandoning the settlement for good. When the neighbouring colonies protested against the dregs of the population being landed on their shores from the mother country. Western Australia petitioned for them, and since the introduction of convict labour her position has vastly improved; but still the energy of the colonists has been fettered by the nature of the country and the small area of agricultural and pastoral land yet discovered. Western Australia is ill adapted to the extensive pursuit of agriculture, and, from the arid nature of the soil, the grasses are scantier and less succulent than in the eastern colonies, hence the quantity of wool at present exported is trifling when compared with the enormous weight annually yielded by her more favoured sisters. In 1852 Governor Fitzgerald wrote, "I fear that unless new grasses spring up, or are introduced into our pastures, we shall never be able to rival in this respect the production of the eastern colonies. Our lands fit for sheep are so small in extent in proportion to the rest of the colony, that a limit will soon be arrived at unless better pastures be discovered. Should such exist, they probably lie far to the North-east."

South Australia was founded in 1836, and after the reverses always inseparable from the infancy of a settlement, she rapidly rose into a wealthy and populous colony. The land was found admirably adapted to the growth of cereals, and enormous mineral wealth—chiefly copper—was discovered within her bounds; but after a time the mines were found only to employ a certain number of hands, and the wheat-fields became impoverished from constantly bearing so exhaustive a crop. The South Australian statesmen were not slow to remark this, and immediately all their energy was devoted to the only remedy—the discovery of fresh lands towards the interior. Party after party went forth to struggle with the fearful difficulties of penetrating the desert regions to the north-east and north, and returned baffled yet not beaten. In spite of every obstacle, daring men persevered where success seemed impossible, and after repeated repulses the great end was achieved, and not only a road, but a telegraph line now stretches across the breadth of the entire Continent, from Adelaide to the northern seaboard. A volume would hardly suffice to chronicle the deeds of these intrepid explorers, and in the slight sketch which follows, it is only attempted to give a brief account of two or three of the most prominent amongst their number.

After Stuart had finally succeeded in opening out a route, and more particularly since the establishment of the telegraph line, a new base was presented for western exploration, and both South and Western Australia threw themselves heart and soul into the task of opening out overland communication. Dr. G. Neumayer, in a paper advocating the scientific exploration of Central Australia, read before the Royal Geographical Society on 8th June, 1868, says, "A glance at the map shows us what an immense tract of land is entirely unknown. Indeed, we might describe a circle in the portion lying to the west of Stuart's track, enclosing an area of half a million of square miles, of which our knowledge is absolutely nil. We should form a more adequate estimate of the fact, if we considered that this is at the same time the greatest absolute blank on the face of the globe—the polar regions excepted; as we know more even of that great tract of country on the African Continent which lies south of the equator and near the western coast. This 'Terra Australiensis incognita' is somewhat less than one-fifth of the entire Continent, and forms the western slope of what we are justified—according to all appearances—in terming the Great Interior Basin." This gentleman, speaking of Western Australia and the small settlements on the north-west coast, says, "It is not difficult to see that these colonies, separated as they are from their eastern sisters by a vast unknown territory, will have to struggle hard to make any progress; indeed, such progress is scarcely possible unless they extend their territory towards and across the watershed of the interior basin, and unless overland communication be established between them and the other colonies." Dr. Neumayer had no doubt whatever that an exploration of that great blank on our map would materially assist, nay establish, such a communication—practicable at all seasons—for the mutual benefit of the colonies, and give thereby a fresh impetus to the spirit of enterprise in the country.

From the above remarks, which embody the opinion of most of the colonists, it will be seen that an overland route from east to west would be of incalculable advantage to the inhabitants of both regions; South Australia has capital lying idle, and is longing for fresh fields on which to expend it; Western Australia is burning to break through the forbidding desert that impinges on her very gates, and cripples the energies of her sons.

In the discussion on the above paper, Sir Charles Nicholson drew the following conclusion from the expedition of Mr. Forrest towards the interior in 1869:—"That vast areas of the interior still remain untrodden by any European is an undoubted fact; an ample supply of data exists, however, enabling us to predicate with some degree of certainty as to the probable physical and geographical characteristics of the regions yet untraversed by civilized man; and there is little to justify any expectation that these will be found to differ in character from the inhospitable wilderness, from the confines of which so many enterprising travellers have been obliged to turn their steps, and on the borders of which not a few have perished. It may, I think, be reasonably assumed, that the whole interior region west of the 140th degree of east longitude, and north of the 30th degree of south latitude, is of the most unpromising kind; that it is without rivers, without mountains, forming an inhospitable and dreary desert, similar to that traversed by Stuart, Sturt, Burke, Wills, and Mr. Forrest; and I cannot forbear expressing my conviction that, beyond the desirability of simply determining the fact—and all knowledge, even of a negative character is desirable—that there is little to tempt or repay an explorer in the desolate region included within the limits above mentioned. Portions—perhaps, not inconsiderable tracts—may be found along the coast, and extending for a few miles inland on the northern and western shores; but they will, I believe, be found to be a mere fringe, surrounding a widespread Sahara." That the speaker formed a most correct estimate of the interior—as at present known—is undeniable; but, despite his forecast, we may venture to think that not until every means have been adopted to ascertain beyond the possibility of a doubt the non-existence of an overland route from east to west, should the attempt to gain that great end be abandoned. How little did Sturt, when baffled and impeded by the stony desert, dream of the country now laid open by Stuart lying a few hundred miles before him! and may we not at least hope that endurance and energy will develop a similar belt connecting the east with the west? It is yet early in the day to predict the impossibility of such an achievement. Even at this moment, rumours of a successful journey from Western to Southern Australia have reached England, Ernest Giles has shown that the interior is not the blank wilderness that we have hitherto supposed, and who knows what future explorations may not bring forth? Let us hope for the best, and in the interim a brief account of the earliest attempts to pierce the western interior can scarcely fail to interest the reader.