Remarks on the season — dry state of the atmosphere — thermometrical observations — winds in the interior — direction of the ranges — geological observations — non-existence of any central chain — probable course of the stony¹ desert — whether connected with lake torrens — opinions of Captain Flinders — no information derived² from the natives — the natives — their personal appearance — disproportion between the sexes — the women — customs of the natives — their habitations — food — language — conclusion.

Having thus brought my narrative³ to a conclusion I shall trespass⁴ but little more on the patience of the reader. It appears to me that a few observations are necessary to clear some parts, and to make up for omissions⁵ in the body of my work. I have written it indeed under considerable disadvantage; for although I have in a great measure recovered from the loss of sight consequent on my former services, I cannot glance my eye so rapidly as I once did over such a voluminous document as this journal; and I feel that I owe it to the public, as well as to myself, to make this apology for its imperfections.

There were two great difficulties against which, during the progress of the expedition, I had to contend. The one was, the want of water; the other, the nature of the country. That it was altogether impracticable for wheeled carriages of any kind, may readily be conceived from my description; and in the state in which I found it, horses were evidently unequal to the task. I cannot help thinking that camels might have done better; not only for their indurance, but because they carry more than a horse. I should, undoubtedly⁶, have been led to try those animals if I could have procured⁷ them; but that was impossible. Certain however it is, that I went into the interior to meet with trials that scarcely camels could have borne up against; for I think there can be no doubt, from the facts I have detailed⁸, that the season, during which this expedition was undertaken, was one of unusual dryness; but although the arid⁹ state of the country contributed so much to prevent its movements, I question whether, under opposite circumstances, it would have been possible to have pushed so far as the party succeeded in doing. Certainly, if the ground had been kept in a state of constant saturation¹⁰, travelling would have been out of the question; for the rain of July abundantly proved how impracticable any attempt to penetrate¹¹ it under such circumstances would have been.

It is difficult to say what kind of seasons prevail in Central Australia. That low region does not, as far as I can judge, appear to be influenced by tropical rains, but rather to be subject to sudden falls. That the continent of Australia was at one time more humid than it now is, appears to be an admitted fact; the marks of floods, and the violence of torrents¹² (none of which have been witnessed), are mentioned by every explorer as traceable over every part of the continent; but no instance of any general inundation¹³ is on record: on the contrary the seasons appear to be getting drier and drier every year, and the slowness with which any body exposed to the air decomposes¹⁴, would argue the extreme absence of moisture in the atmosphere. It will be remembered that one of my bullocks died in the Pine Forest when I was passing through it in December, 1844. In July, 1845, when Mr. Piesse was on his route home from the Depot¹⁵ in charge of the home returning party, he passed by the spot where this animal had fallen; and, in elucidation¹⁶ of what I have stated, I will here give the extract of a letter I subsequently received from him from India. Speaking of the humidity of the climate of Bengal, he says: “It appears to me that heat alone is rather a preservative¹⁸ from decomposition¹⁹; of which I recollect²⁰ an instance, in the bullock that died in the march through the Pine scrub on the 1st of January, 1845. When I passed by the spot in the following July, the carcase was dried up like a mummy, and was in such a perfect state of preservation²¹ as to be easily recognised.”

No stronger proof, I apprehend²², could have been adduced of the dryness of the atmosphere in that part of the interior, or more corroborative²³ of the intensity²⁴ of heat there during the interval²⁵ referred to; but the singular and unusual effects it had on ourselves, and on every thing around was equally corroborative of the fact. The atmosphere on some occasions was so rarified, that we felt a difficulty in breathing, and a buzzing sensation on the crown of the head, as if a hot iron had been there.

There were only two occasions on which the thermometer was noticed to exceed the range of 130 degrees in the shade, the solar intensity at the same time being nearly 160 degrees. The extremes between this last and our winter’s cold, when the thermometer descended²⁶ to 24 degrees was 133 degrees. I observe that Sir Thomas Mitchell gives the temperature at the Bogan, in his tent at 117 degrees and when exposed to the wind at 129 degrees; but I presume that local causes, such as radiation from stones and sand, operated more powerfully with us than in his case. Whilst we were at the Depot about May, the water of the creek²⁸ became slightly putrid²⁹, and cleared itself like Thames water; and during the hotter months of our stay there, it evaporated at the rate of nearly an inch a day, as shewn by a rod Mr. Browne placed in it to note the changes, but the amount varied³⁰ according to the quiescent³¹ or boisterous³² state of the atmosphere. It will readily be believed that in so heated a region the air was seldom still; to the currents sweeping³³ over it we had to attribute the loathsome³⁴ and muddy state of the water on which we generally subsisted³⁵ after we left that place, for the pools from which we took it were so shallow as to be stirred up to the consistency³⁶ of white-wash by the play and action of the wind on their surfaces. During our stay at the Depot the barometer³⁷ never rose above 30.260, or fell below 29.540.

From December, 1844, to the end of April of the following year, the prevailing³⁸ winds were from E.N.E. to E.S.E., after that month they were variable, but westerly winds predominated. The south wind was always cold, and its approach was invariably indicated by the rise of the barometer.

The rain of July commenced in the north-east quarter and gradually went round to the north-west; but more clouds rose from the former point than from any other. The sky generally speaking was without a speck³⁹, and the dazzling brightness of the moon was one of the most distressing⁴⁰ things we had to endure when out in the bush. It was impossible indeed to shut out its light which ever way one turned, and its irritating effects were remarkable⁴¹.

It will be observable to those who cast their eyes over the chart of South Australia that the range of mountains between St. Vincent’s Gulf⁴² and the Murray river runs up northwards into the interior. In like manner the ranges crossed by the Expedition also ran in the same direction. The Black Rock Hill, so named by Captain Frome, is in lat. 32 degrees 45 minutes and in the 139th meridian⁴³, and is the easternmost of the chain to which it belongs. Mount Gipps on the Coonbaralba range is in lat. 31 degrees 52 minutes and in long. 141 degrees 41 minutes, but from that point the ranges trend somewhat to the westward⁴⁴ of south, and consequently, may run nearer to that (of which the Black Rock Hill forms so prominent a feature) than we may suppose, but there is a distance of nearly 150 miles of country still remaining to be explored, before this point can be decided⁴⁵. Nevertheless, it is more than probable the two chains are in some measure connected, especially as they greatly resemble each other in their classification. They are for the most part composed of primary igneous⁴⁶ rocks, amongst which there is a general distribution of iron, and perhaps of other metals. The iron ore, however, that was discovered during the progress of the Expedition, of which Piesse’s Knob is a remarkable specimen⁴⁷, was of the purest kind.

Piesse's Knob

It was, as has been found in South Australia, a surface deposit, protruding⁴⁸ or cropping out of the ground in immense clean blocks. This ore was highly magnetic; the veins⁴⁹ of the metal run north and south, the direction of the ranges, as did a similar crop on the plains at the S.E. base of the ranges. Generally speaking there was nothing bold or picturesque⁵⁰ in the scenery of the Barrier Range, but the Rocky Glen and some few others of a similar description were exceptions. As the Barrier Range ran parallel to the coast ranges, so there were other ranges to the eastward⁵¹ of the Barrier Range, running parallel to it, and they were separated by broad plains, partly open and partly covered with brush. The general elevation⁵² of the ranges was about 1200 feet above the level of the sea, but some of the hills exceeded 1600. Mount Lyell was 2000; Mount Gipps 1500; Lewis’s Hill 1000: but the general elevation of the range might be rather under than over what I have stated. It appears to me that the whole of the geological formation of this portion of the continent is the same, and that all the lines of ranges terminate in the same kind of way to the north, that is to say, in detached flat-topped hills of compact or indurated quartz⁵³ shewing white and abrupt⁵⁴ faces. So terminated the Coonbaralba Range, and so Mr. Eyre tells us did the Mount Serle Range, and so terminated the range we saw to the westward of Lake Torrens.

That they exhibit evidences of a past violent commotion⁵⁵ of waters, I think any one who will follow my steps and view them, will be ready to admit.

That the range of hills I have called “Stanley’s Barrier Range,” and that all the mountain chains to the eastward and westward of it, were once so many islands I have not the slightest doubt, and that during the primeval period, a sea covered the deserts over which I wandered; but it is impossible for a writer, whatever powers of description he may have, to transfer to the minds of his readers the same vivid impressions his own may have received, on a view of any external object.

View from Stanley Range

From the remarks into which I have thus been led, as well as those which have escaped me in the course of this narrative, it will be seen that the impressions I had received as to the past and present state of the continent were rather strengthened than diminished, on my further knowledge of its internal structure.

It is true, that I did not find an inland sea as I certainly expected to have done, but the country as a desert was what I had anticipated, although I could not have supposed it would have proved of such boundless⁵⁷ extent.

Viewing the objects for which the Expedition was equipped, and its results, there can, I think, be no doubt, as to the non-existence of any mountain ranges in the interior of Australia, but, on the contrary, that its central regions are nearly if not quite on a sea level, and that the north coast is separated from the south as effectually as if seas rolled between them. I have stated my opinion that that portion of the desert which I tried to cross continues with undiminished breadth to the Great Australian Bight, and I agree with Captain Flinders, in supposing that if an inland sea exists any where, it exists underneath⁵⁸ and behind that bank, (speaking from seaward). It would, I think, be unreasonable⁵⁹ to suppose that such an immense tract¹⁷ of sandy desert, once undoubtedly a sea-bed, should immediately contract; considering, indeed, the sterile⁶⁰ character of the country to the north of Gawler’s Range, to the westward of Port Lincoln, and along the whole of the south coast of Australia, nearly to King George’s Sound, I must confess I have no hope of any inland fertile country. I am aware it is the opinion of some of my friends that the Stony Desert may communicate with Lake Torrens. Such may have been and still may be the case — I will not argue the contrary, or answer for the changes in so extraordinary a region. I only state my own ideas from what I observed, strengthened by my view of the position I occupied, when at my farthest north; we will therefore refer to that position, and to the position of Lake Torrens, and see how far it is probable, that a large channel, such as I have described the Stony Dessert to be, should turn so abruptly⁶¹, as it must do to connect itself with that basin; the evident fall of the interior, as far as that fact could be ascertained⁶³, being plainly from east to west.

The western shore of Lake Torrens, as laid down by Mr. Eyre, is in 137 degrees 40 minutes or thereabouts. Its eastern shore in 141 degrees of longitude⁶⁴. Its southern extremity⁶⁵ being in lat. 28 1/2 degrees. My position was in 138 degrees of long. and 24 degrees 40 minutes of latitude⁶⁶. I was therefore within 20 miles as far to the westward of the westernmost part of Lake Torrens, and was also 250 geographical⁶⁷ miles due north of it. To gain Lake Torrens, the Stony Desert must turn at a right angle from its known course, and in such case hills must exist to the westward of where I was, for hills alone could so change the direction of a current, but the whole aspect of the interior would argue against such a conclusion. I never lost sight of the probability of Lake Torrens being connected with some central feature, until my hopes were destroyed by the nature of the country I traversed, nor do I think it probable that in so level a region as that in which I left it, there is any likelihood of the Stony Desert changing its direction so much as to form any connection with the sandy basin to which I have alluded⁶⁸. Nevertheless it may do so. We naturally cling to the ideas we ourselves have adopted, and it is difficult to transfer them to the mind of another. In reference however to what I had previously⁶⁹ stated, I would give the following quotation⁷⁰ from Flinders. His impressions from what he observed while sailing along the coast, in a great measure correspond with mine when travelling inland, the only point we differ upon is as to the probable origin of the great sea-wall, which appeared to him to be of calcareous formation, and he therefore concluded that it had been a coral reef raised by some convulsion of nature. Had Capt. Flinders been able to examine the rock formation of the Great Australian Bight, he would have found that it was for the most part an oolitic limestone⁷¹, with many shells imbedded in it, similar in substance and in formation to the fossil bed of the Murray, but differing from it in colour.

“The length of these cliffs from their second commencement is 33 leagues, and that of the level bank from New Cape⁵⁶ Paisley, where it was first seen from the sea, no less than 145 leagues. The height of this extraordinary bank is nearly the same throughout, being nowhere less by estimation than 400 feet, not anywhere more than 600. In the first 20 leagues the rugged⁷² tops of some inland mountains were visible over it, but during the remainder of its long course, the bank was the limit of our view.

“This equality of elevation for so great an extent, and the evidently calcareous nature of the bank, at least in the upper 200 feet, would bespeak⁷³ it to have been the exterior⁷⁴ line of some vast coral reef, which is always more elevated than the interior parts, and commonly level with high water mark. From the gradual subsiding⁷⁵ of the sea, or perhaps from some convulsion of nature, this bank may have attained⁷⁶ its present height above the surface, and however extraordinary such a change may appear, yet when it is recollected⁷⁷ that branches of coral still exist, upon Bald Head, at the elevation of 400 feet or more, this supposition assumes a degree of probability, and it would farther seem that the subsiding of the waters has not been at a period very remote, since these frail⁷⁸ branches have yet neither been all beaten down nor mouldered⁷⁹ away by the wind and weather.

“If this supposition be well founded, it may with the fact of no other hill or object having been perceived above the bank in the greater part of its course, assist in forming some conjecture⁸⁰ as to what may be within it, which cannot as I judge in such case, be other than flat sandy plains or water. The bank may even be a narrow barrier between an interior and the exterior sea, and much do I regret the not having formed an idea of this probability at the time, for notwithstanding the great difficulty and risk, I should certainly have attempted a landing upon some part of the coast, to ascertain⁶² a fact of so much importance.”

Had there been any inland ranges they would have been seen by that searching officer from the ocean, but it is clear that none exists; for Mr. Eyre in his intercourse⁸¹ with the natives, during his journey from South Australia to King George’s Sound, elicited⁸² nothing from them that led him to suppose that there were any hills in the interior, or indeed that an inland sea was to be found there; even the existence of one may reasonably be doubted, and it may be that the country behind the Great Australian Bight is, as Captain Flinders has conjectured⁸³, a low sandy country, formed by a channel of 400 or 500 miles in breadth, separating the south coast of the continent from the west and north ones. Although I did not gain the direct centre of the continent there can be very little doubt as to the character of the country round it. The spirit of enterprise alone will now ever lead any man to gain it, but the gradual development of the character of the yet unexplored interior will alone put an end to doubts and theories on the subject. The desert of Australia is not more extensive than the deserts in other parts of the world. Its character constitutes its peculiarity⁸⁴, and that may lead to some satisfactory conclusion as to how it was formed, and by what agent the sandy ridges⁸⁵ which traverse it were thrown up. I would repeat that I am diffident of my own judgment⁸⁶, and that I should be indebted to any one better acquainted with the nature of these things than I am to point out wherein I am in error.

It remains⁸⁷ for me, before I close this part of my work, to make a few observations on the natives with whom we communicated beyond the river tribes. Mr. Eyre has given so full and so accurate an account of the natives of the Murray and Darling that it is needless for me to repeat his observations. I would only remark that I attribute our friendly intercourse with them to the great influence he had gained over them by his judicious⁸⁸ conduct as Resident Protector at the Murray. I fully²⁷ concur⁸⁹ with him in the good that resulted from the establishment of a post on that river, for the express pur pose of putting a stop to the mutual⁹⁰ aggression⁹¹ of the overlanders and natives upon each other. I have received too many kindnesses at the hands of the natives not to be interested in their social welfare, and most fully approved the wise policy of Captain Grey, in sending Mr. Eyre to a place where his exertions⁹² were so eminently⁹³ successful.

In another place I may be led to make some remarks on the condition of the natives of South Australia, but at present I have only to observe upon that of the natives of the distant interior with whom no white man had ever before come in contact.

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