Explorations in Australia: The Journals of John McDouall Stuart During the Years 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, & 1862, when He Fixed the Centre of the Continent and Successfully Crossed it from Sea to Sea |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Adelaide Adelaide River appearance arrived Attack Creek banks bearing boggy camped Central Mount Stuart Chain of Ponds Chambers Creek changed my course creek coming Creek.-Started Daly Waters Distance to-day F. M. Fragm feed feet find water five miles four miles Freeling Friday gone grassy plain gum creek gum-trees half heavy clouds horses ironstone J. M. Stuart journey July June Kekwick lagoon Lake Torrens Latitude miles crossed Monday morning Mount Denison Mount Hay Mount Margaret mulga nearly Newcastle Water north-east north-west o'clock party passed proceeded quartz rain water returned River round salt bush sand hills sandy Saturday scrub scrubby seems seen sent Thring seven miles side six miles south-east south-west spinifex springs Started stony hills stony plain stony rises Strangways Sunday sundown table land thick three miles Thursday to-morrow tracks trees Tuesday water hole Waterhouse Wednesday Wind variable
Popular passages
Page 410 - South Australian Great Northern Exploring Expedition. The exploring party, under the command of John McDouall Stuart, arrived at this spot on the 25th day of July, 1862, having crossed the entire continent of Australia from the Southern to the Indian Ocean, passing through the centre.
Page 164 - I find from my observations of the sun, 111° 00' 30", that I am now camped in the centre of Australia. I have marked a tree and planted the British flag there. There is a high mount about two miles and a half to the north-north-east. I wish it had been in the centre ; but on it to-morrow I will raise a cone of stones, and plant the flag there, and name it
Page 407 - Proceeded on a course of 302 ° along the valley ; at one and a-half miles, coming upon a small creek, with running water, and the valley being covered with beautiful green grass, I have camped to give the horses the benefit of it. Thus have I, through the instrumentality of Divine Providence, been led to accomplish the great object of the expedition...
Page 410 - Stuart, arrived at this spot on the 25th day of July, 1862, having crossed the entire Continent of Australia from the Southern to the Indian Ocean, passing through the centre. They left the City of Adelaide on the 26th day of October, 1861, and the most northern station of the Colony on 21st day of January, 1862.
Page 482 - I believe this country (ie, from the Roper to the Adelaide, and thence to the shore of the Gulf), to be well adapted for the settlement of a European population, the climate being in every respect suitable, and the surrounding country of excellent quality and of great extent. Timber, stringy-bark, iron-bark, gum, &c., with bamboo fifty to sixty feet high on the banks of the river, is abundant, and at convenient distances. The country is intersected by numerous springs and watercourses in every direction....
Page 408 - From Newcastle Water to the sea-beach, the main body of the horses have been only one night without water, and then got it within the next day. If this country is settled, it will be one of the finest Colonies under the Crown, suitable for the growth of any and everything — what a splendid country for producing cotton...
Page 407 - I advanced a few yards on to the beach, and was gratified and delighted to behold the water of the Indian Ocean in Van Diemen's Gulf, before the party with the horses knew anything of its proximity. Thring, who rode in advance of me, called out
Page 406 - I was so near to the sea, as I wished to give them a surprise on reaching it. Proceeded through a light soil, slightly elevated, with a little ironstone on the surface, the volcanic rock cropping out occasionally; also some flats of black alluvial soil. The timber much smaller and more like scrub, showing that we are nearing the sea. At eight miles and a half came upon a broad valley of black alluvial soil, covered with long grass; from this I can hear the wash of the sea. On the other side of the...
Page xvi - Judging from the experience I have had in travelling through the Continent of Australia for the last twenty-two years, and also from the description that other explorers have given of the different portions they have examined in their journeys, I have no hesitation in saying that the country that I have discovered on and around the banks of the Adelaide River is more favourable than any other part of the continent for the formation of a new colony. The soil is generally of the richest nature ever...
Page v - The lead dropped from their pencils, their finger nails became as brittle as glass, and their hair and the wool on their sheep ceased to grow. Scurvy attacked them all, and Mr. Poole, the second in command, perished. In order to avoid the scorching rays of the sun, they had excavated an underground chamber, to which they retired during the heat of the day.