Atlas Page 8
By F. J. Broomfield

FLINDERS returned to England in the "Reliance," in 1800 with the object of inducing the Admiralty to place him in command of a suitable vessel in which he could prosecute a thorough examination of the southern coast of the Australian continent, which, no longer remained the vast terra incognita of La Perouse or of Cook. Antoine de Bougainville had passed Cape York, and left the evidences of French discovery in the Louisiade Archipelago. M’Cluer, Bligh (of "Bounty" fame) and Portlock, and Bampton and Alt, had explored among the different archipelagos clustering round the north-eastern coast of Australia. Southern Australia had been least visited, but even there De St. Alouarn was reported to have anchored off Cape Leeuwin; Vancouver had entered King George’s Sound; and Bruny D’Entrecasteaux, when in search of the unfortunate La Pérouse, had sailed along the coast of the land discovered by the old Dutch mariner, Nuytz.

Flinders began his further work of discovery and exploration by coasting the Great Australian Bight, and then he traced the southern boundary of what is now known as South Australia. On April 8th, 1802, he entered Encounter Bay, and found there Nicholas Baudin, of the French ship "Geographe," separated from her consort, "Le Naturalistic,’’ by a gale in Bass’ Strait. Flinders and Baudin interchanged civilities, Dr. Robert Brown, the naturalist, acting as interpreter.

Baudin had been out by the Republic to make good the French claims to Southern Australia, from Western Port to Nuyt’s Archipelago, which they called Terre Napoleon. The French entirely ignored the claims of England, or the discoveries of English sailors. Spencer Gulf was Golfe Bonaparte; Kangaroo Island masqueraded as L’Isle Decrés; Gulf St. Vincent lost its identity in Golfe Josephine; not even the smallest bay or inlet escaping the infliction of a Gallic christening.

That the French knew perfectly well that this was a fraudulent effort to appropriate the fruits of earlier explorers is amply proved by the remark addressed to Flinders by Baudin’s first lieutenant at the house of Governor King, when they met in Sydney: "Captain, if we had not been kept so long picking up shells and catching butterflies at Van Die men’s Land, you would not have discovered the south coast before us." Flinders names Cape Banks, or Buffon, as the eastern limit of French discovery.

Following Grant’s course in the "Lady Nelson" —the first vessel to sail through Bass’ Strait —Flinders passed King’s Island and examined the entrance channel of the wide bay named Port Phillip by Grant ten weeks before. Quitting this harbour, Flinders sailed straight to Sydney Cove, where he arrived on May 9th, 1802. Here he found Baudin’s consort, "Le Naturaliste," commanded by Hamelin, and Baudin himself arrived in the month of June following.

On July 22nd Flinders steered north-west to conduct his long-cherished survey of Torres Strait. In this voyage he was seriously embarrassed by the Great Barrier Reef, having sought a passage for fourteen days and sailed more than 500 miles before one could be found to the open sea. Arriving in the Gulf of Carpentaria he began his survey with characteristic thoroughness; to use his own words, he "followed land so closely that the washing of the surf upon it should be visible, and no opening, nor anything of interest escape notice."

On April 8th, 1803 the "Investigator " made the Dutch settlement of Coepang, Timor, and sailing thence for Point D’Entrecasteaux, intended to make a further and more complete examination of the southern coasts. Dysentery and fever, however, compelled an immediate return to Port Jackson.

The "Investigator" being now too old to go to sea, Flinders embarked on board the "Porpoise" for England, in company with the "Cato" and the "Bridgewater"; but the consorts had left port only a week when the two former vessels ran aground on a reef, Captain Palmer of the "Bridgewater," who had escaped a like fate, cowardly deserting his companions in their extremity. Flinders immediately assumed the command. Leaving the main body in charge of the captain of the ‘"Porpoise," he and a small crew set out for Port Jackson in an open boat, and after a terribly arduous journey arrived there on September 8th. Governor King immediately despatched the "Rolla" to the scene of the wreck, Flinders accompanying in the "Cumberland," a crazy boat of 25 tons, in which he hoped to make England after conveying assistance to his shipwrecked comrades. They arrived at Wreck Reef on October 7th, where the Cumberland parted company and continued her voyage, calling at the Dutch settlement of Coepang; whence after a short stay Flinders again set sail for Europe by way of Mauritius. The vessel becoming more unseaworthy every day compelled him to call in at St. Louis, where he and his people were promptly imprisoned by General De Caen, the French Governor. The "Cumberland" was confiscated, her captain branded an impostor, and all the valuable charts, journals, and papers relating to the "Investigator’s" voyage were seized.

The substance of the discoveries made by Flinders in the "Investigator" was afterwards published in Paris as the work of Baudin, and although the charts and other matters relating to the voyage came again into Flinders’ hands, the third journal could never be recovered. He was kept prisoner for six years, not being released until 1810.

In the annals of Australian discovery, Matthew Flinders will ever rank second only to the famous Captain Cook. Among the many things Australians owe to him is the name of their continent. In a note in the first volume of his great voyage, he says: — "Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term, it would have been to convert it into Australia, as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth."

ALTHOUGH the coast line of the Australian continent had been accurately surveyed, inland exploration had made but little progress. For a period of about twenty-five years after the landing of Governor Phillip the country beyond the Blue Mountains remained an unexplored territory, and rewards were offered for the discovery of even a sheep-track. Governor Phillip had certainly made a trip towards the range which shut in this terra incognita, and his trip had resulted in the discovery of the Carmarthen and Richmond Hills, but further exploration ceased at the foot of this seemingly impassable barrier. Dawes, Bass, Barreillier, Cayley, and others had in turn attempted the discovery of the golden interior, but all these attempts had resulted in failure and disappointment. Most of the early attempts were made by way of the valleys, which are really gorges, and which to this day are difficult to traverse. Success was not achieved till the dividing ridge between the Cox and the Grose was followed.

The first expedition of value was that of Lawson, Blaxland, and Wentworth, who, following the ridge, descended the slopes of Mount York, caught a glimpse of the Vale of Clwyd, and climbed to the summit of Mount Blaxland. Surveyor Evans followed the track of Lawson and his comrades, and extended their discoveries over a distance of ninety-eight miles further inland. In 1815 Governor Macquarie opened the road to Bathurst, and Evans was again sent out to follow the course of the Lachlan. The result of this expedition was the preparation of another on a more important scale under Surveyor-General Oxley to trace the courses of the Lachlan and the Macquarie to their debouchures.

Oxley set out from Sydney on April 6th, 1817, and passing through Queen Charlotte’s Valley, struck the Lachlan on the 28th of that month, and followed its course north-west through poor swampy country until the river was lost in the marshes lying east of Field’s Plains. In the hope of again finding the river, the party turned south-west, and after enduring great privation from bad water —which particularly affected the horses —skirted west and north-west round Mount Cayley and Mount Brogden. H ere they discovered a serious loss of provisions, and were compelled to lessen the daily allowance of food.

On June 23rd Oxley and Cunningham again struck the Lachlan north of the Peel Range, and followed it in a south-westerly direction until it was lost in stagnant and impure marshes. Fearful of the rapid diminution of provisions, and ignorant of the immediate proximity of the parent stream, the Murrumbidgee, the party began the return journey on July 9th, and leaving the course of the Lachlan on the following month, journeyed in a north-easterly route across barren country, which became more fertile as they neared the Macquarie, which river was sighted on August 22nd, and its course followed to the town of Bathurst, where the expedition terminated. The party had been absent for over four months, and had narrowly missed the discovery of the Murrumbidgee which was effected by Ovens and Currie six years after.

On May 20th in the following year, Oxley left Sydney on a second expedition, and followed the course of the Macquarie until it ended in country covered with reeds and under water. Crossing successively the Castlereagh, Peel, Cockburn and Apsley Rivers, he, traced the Hastings to Port Macquarie, having journeyed four hundred miles in a straight line from the extreme western point made by the expedition.

Oxley afterwards went on a survey voyage to Moreton Bay, where he found a white man named Pamphlet, who had been shipwrecked, living among the blacks. Pamphlet’s information led to the discovery of a river named by Oxley the Brisbane, on which is now the site of the capital of Queensland.

As Government botanist to the "Mermaid" explorations to various parts of the Australian coast, conducted by Captain Phillip King, Cunningham added greatly to the botanical knowledge of Australia; and as an explorer, he discovered an available route through the Liverpool ranges to the fertile northern plains, besides conducting an examination of the Cudgegong and Goulburn Rivers. Some years afterwards he discovered the Darling Downs, and penetrated seventy-five miles west of Brisbane. He died in Sydney on June 27th, 1839, and a memorial commemorating his achievements in the field of botanical research was erected in the Sydney Botanical Gardens, of which it now forms one of the most beautiful ornaments.

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