The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888, by Ernest FavencCopyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloadingor redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do notchange or edit the header without written permission.Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of thisfile. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can alsofind out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts****eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971*******These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****Title: The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888Author: Ernest FavencRelease Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7163] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was firstposted on March 18, 2003]Edition: 10Language: English*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION ***Produced by Col Choat.The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888.Complied from State Documents, Private Papers and themost authentic sources of information.Issued ...
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888, by Ernest Favenc
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**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888
Author: Ernest Favenc
Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7163] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first
posted on March 18, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION ***
Produced by Col Choat.
The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888.
Complied from State Documents, Private Papers and the
most authentic sources of information.
Issued under the auspices of the Government of the
Australian Colonies.
by
Ernest Favenc.
Sydney: Turner and Henderson 1888
Dedication.
TO
THE HON. SIR HENRY PARKES, G.C.M.G., C.C.I., M.P., AS THE OLDEST RULING STATESMAN IN AUSTRALIA, AND IN THE PRESENT CENTENARY YEAR
THE PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE MOTHER COLONY, FROM WHENCE FIRST STARTED THOSE EXPLORATIONS BY LAND AND SEA, WHICH
HAVE RESULTED IN THROWING OPEN TO THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD A NEW CONTINENT, NOW RAPIDLY DEVELOPING, UNDER FREE
CONSTITUTIONS, A PROSPEROUS, CONTENTED, AND SELF-GOVERNING COMMUNITY, THIS HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION IS DEDICATED.
ERNEST FAVENC, SYDNEY, 1888.PREFACE.
A complete history of the exploration of Australia will never be written. The story of the settlement of our continent is
necessarily so intermixed with the results of private travels and adventures, that all the historian can do is to follow out the
career of the public expeditions, and those of private origin which extended to such a distance, and embraced such
important discoveries, as to render the results matters of national history.
That private individuals have done the bulk of the detail work there is no denying; but that work, although every whit as
useful to the community as the more brilliant exploits that carried with them the publicity of Government patronage, has
not found the same careful preservation.
To find the material to write such a history would necessitate the work of a lifetime, and the co-operation of hundreds of
old colonists; and, when written, it would inevitably, from the nature of the subject, prove most monotonous reading, and
fill, I am afraid to think, how many volumes. The reader has but to consider the immense area of country now under
pastoral occupation, and to remember that each countless subordinate river and tributary creek was the result of some
extended research of the pioneer squatter, to realise this.
Since the hope of finding an inland sea, or main central range, vanished for ever, the explorer cannot hope to discover
anything much more exciting or interesting than country fitted for human habitation. The attributes of the native tribes are
very similar throughout. Since the day when Captain Phillip and his little band settled down here and tried to gain the
friendship of the aboriginal, no startling difference has been found in him throughout the continent. As he was when
Dampier came to our shores, so is he now in the yet untrodden parts of Australia, and the explorer knows that from him
he can only gain but a hazardous and uncertain tale of what lies beyond.
But, in this utter want of knowledge of the country to be explored, where even the physical laws do not assimilate with
those of other continents, lies the great charm of Australian exploration. It is the spectacle of one man pitted against the
whole force of nature—not the equal struggle of two human antagonists, but the old fable of the subtle dwarf and the self-
confident giant.
When the battle commenced between Sturt and the interior, he was, as he thought, vanquished, though in reality the
victor.
In the history of exploration are to be found some of the brightest examples of courage and fortitude presented by any
record. In the succeeding pages I have tried to bring these episodes prominently to the fore, and bestow upon them the
meed of history.
In compiling this book I have had the sympathy of many gentlemen, both in this and the neighbouring colonies, and my
best thanks are due to them, especially as, owing to it, I have been able to make the work perfectly authentic, and I trust,
a thoroughly reliable work of reference.
SYDNEY, 1888.
ERNEST FAVENC.CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Part I Rumours of the existence of a Southern Continent in the Sixteenth Century—JAVE and JAVE LA GRANDE—Authentic Discoveries and visits of
the early Navigators—Torres sails between New Guinea and Terra Australis—Voyage of the DUYFHEN in 1606—Dirk Hartog on the West Coast, his
inscribed plate—Restored by Vlaming—Afterwards by Hamelin—Nuyts on the South Coast—Wreck of the BATAVIA on Houtman's Abrolhos—
Mutiny of Cornelis—Tasman's second voyage—Dampier with the Buccaneers—Second Voyage in the ROEBUCK—Last visit of the Dutch—Captain
Cook—Flinders; his theory of a Dividing Strait—Plans for exploring the Interior—His captivity—Captain King—Concluding remarks.
Part II The Continent of Australia—Its peculiar formation—The coast range and the highest peaks thereof—The coastal rivers—The inland rivers—
Difference of vegetation on the tableland and on the coast—Exception to the rule—Valuable timber of the coast districts—Animals common to the
whole continent—Some birds the same—Distinct habits of others—The Australian native and his unknown origin—Water supply—Upheaval.
PART I LAND EXPLORATION
Chapter I [1788-1803]
Expeditions of Governor Phillip—Mouth of the Hawkesbury found in Broken Bay—Second expedition and ascent of the
river—Expedition of Captain Tench—Discovery of the Nepean River—Lieutenant Dawes sent to cross the Nepean, and
to try to penetrate the mountains—Attempt by Governor Phillip to establish the confluence of the Nepean and
Hawkesbury— Failure—The identity settled by Captain Tench—Escaped convicts try to reach China—Captain Paterson
finds and names the Grose River—Hacking endeavours to cross the Blue Mountains—The lost cattle found on the Cow
Pastures—Bass attempts the passage of the range—Supposed settlement of a white race in the interior—Attempt of the
convicts to reach it— James Wilson—His life with the natives—Discovery of the Hunter River by Lieutenant Shortland.
Chapter II [1813-1824]
The great drought of 1813—The development of country by stocking— Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth cross the Blue
Mountains—Reach the head of coast waters and return—Surveyor Evans sent out—Crosses the watershed and finds the
Macquarie River—Construction of road over the range—Settlement of Bathurst—Visit of Governor Macquarie—Second
expedition under Evans—Discovery of the Lachlan River—Surveyor-General Oxley explores the Lachlan—Finds the river
terminates in swamps—Returns by the Macquarie—His opinion of the interior—Second