The Genesis of Queensland, etc

Front matter

GENESIS OF QUEENSLAND. THE f/. Tscioda. Si Ttistns % GENESIS % OF QUEENSLAND: AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST EXPLORING JOURNEYS TO AND OVER DARLING DOWNS: THE EARLIEST DAYS OF THEIR OCCUPATION ; SOCIAL LIFE; STATION SEEKING; THE COURSE OF DISCOVERY, NORTHWARD AND WESTWARD; / AND A RESUME OF THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO SEPARATION FROM NEW SOUTH WALES. WITH PORTRAIT AND FAC-SIMILES OF MAPS, LOG, &c, &c. BY. H?tnrg iztuart a&iisœril TURNER & HENDERSON. MDCCCLXXXVIII. ©rtiicatrtf TO THE MEMORY OF HENRY HUGHES, OF Worcester, England, AND Westbrook, Darling Downs, Queensland. " By heaven ! I cannot flatter, but a braver place In my heart's love hath no man."

Preface

. But for respect to prescribed custom, I should leave this book to be ushered into public presence under the countenance of Patrick Leslie's silent introduction. A preface, however, does shape itself into an easy chair for the scruples of the most self-distrusting occupant from which he may address himself in tendering the payment of a debt always incurred by ordinary men to their neighbours in the attainment of an end. For my own relief I use it, therefore, for thanking those who have, in all courteous sympathy, helped me to a short review of times synchronous with the detachments of story to which this first one hundred of Australia's years of self-assertion under the Union Jack has committed her. By tradition of the past, in a measure, Australia's habit may be characteristically caparisoned in the future.

To the late Michael Fitzpatrick (awhile Premier of New South Wales), and then to the unreserved and hearty acquiescence of Henry Halloran and Deputy-Surveyor-General R. D. Fitzgerald, in obtaining for me the perusal of many official documents, a preface gives room for my grateful acknow ledgments. These may have forgotten ; I have not. Among the amenities of private intercourse, I am glad to thank Philip Gidley King for enabling me to produce Journals of Allan Cunningham, of which a record in full had been long fallow among his family preserves ; also the widow of the noble Carron, to whose manhood I wish to pay tribute, and by her to his memory ; and her also who has honoured me by the permission to place this neophyte beneath the tutelary presence of the same Patrick Leslie. To the boon of a public library, its able and energetic Chief Librarian, R. C. Walker, and his considerate, cordial, and courteous coadjutor, D. R. Hawley — not forgetting the politeness of the active officials therein — I have now a chance of bearing warm testimony.

To the FRIEND to whom I dedicate this redemption of a pledge given to himself when in life, and who procured for me the accompanying specimens of Cook's Log and handiwork, it Preface. VIII is too late to address myself. Those who inherit his cherished name may accept my meaning and regret. The chagrin shared with others now gone, that the days of "our" Darling Downs, on which we breathed a then new element, and revelled in the elastic aspirations of the squatter of the olden time, should fade out of the freshness of their dawn ; the aim, that objects wrought out by single enterprise should be fixed to the right name : the fear, that as years fall farther and farther back, the impress of many a notable occurrence, whether affecting time, place, or person, the progress of squatting exploration or that of locality, might fall back with them into the haze of forgotten or irrecoverable things, or, what is more fretting, into the fogs of future distortion and assumption — have all spurred this "small chronicler of his own small times" to present himself to the " some few" yet living to whom the recital may yet bring reflection, whether of personal interest or not ; and to those who follow, mindfulness of some worthies gone before, whose names may plead the claim of whilom companion ship and attachment in bush or town, prosperity or adversity.

Out of the sunny years of HER who called our Queensland into her lot, have the purer rays been shed upon it which have lit up the latter, the happier half of Australia's age. May not the last, the youngest branch of Australia's growth, bud out in hope, yet more loyally grafted upon the name of HER who gave it as the days consolidate its own Centenary ? Henry Stuart Russell. North Willoughby, Sydney, N.S.W. CON TENTS

Chapter I

Early Explorers — Fernandez de Quiros — Torres — Torres Straits — Cook— Galamp de la Perouse — Delangle — The Times — Byron's Birth — Norfolk Island — Lieutenant King — Bass — Richard Dove — Atkins — Sydney Gazette — Flinders — Memorable execution — South Head Lighthouse — Fort Macquarie — Territorial Seals — Commissioner Bigge — Allman — Lang — H. M.S. " Britomart." ..... 17

Chapter II

Newcastle — The " Mermaid " — Port Macquarie — Oxley's coast survey — Ports Bowen and Curtis — Moreton Bay — Strange tale of bewilderment at sea — The River Brisbane — Habits of coast natives — Sir Francis Forbes — John Stephen — John Carter — Gordon Bremer — Port Essington — Melville Island — Oxley in the " Amity " — The "Australian" — Trial by Jury — Cunningham — Amity Point — Official visit to Moreton Bay — John Macarthur — Francis Stephen — Redcliff Point — Edenglassie — Fort Dundas — Raffles Bay — The Cobourg Peninsula— Patrick Leslie — Darling Downs — Leichhardt — The "Lady Nelson" — First despatch from Melville Island — George Miller — Port Essington again — Bremer in H. M.S. "Alligator" — Letter to Sir George Gipps — Owen Stanley — H. M.S. "Rattlesnake" — A Cape York rescue — Collapse of North Coast Settlements — Keppei in H. M.S. " Mœander." . . . 21

Chapter III

Retrospection — Prospects — Thomas Hobbes Scott- — Rex v. Robert Cooper— Van Dieman's Land — Governor Darling — Major Lockyer- — Military Discipline — Captain Bishop — Maurice Charles O'Connell — Surmises respecting our Watersheds — The River Macleay — Captain Logan — Stradbroke Island — South Boat Passage — H. M.S. " Warspite"- — Sir James Brisbane — The River Tweed— First " Daily " — Logan's Walk — " Isle of Stradbroke " — Dunwich — Rous Channel — The River Logan — Captain Philip King in the "Mermaid" — Thomas de la Condamine — Henry Grattan Douglas — Fort Wellington — Rev. C. P. N. Wilton- — Allan Cunningham. . . 48

Chapter IV

Fate of La Perouse — Thomas Livingstone Mitchell — Gallows in 1828-9 — The River Clarence — Colonial Botanist Frazer — Contents. X V.\GB Swan Port — Stapylton — William Grant Broughton— Allan Cunningham — Leslie — Leichhardt — Port Macquarie Free — Commandant Logan — "Surprise" and "Sophia Jane" — Runaways — Agricultural Company at Newcastle — " Specials " — Lord Howe's Island — Benjamin Sullivan's Scheme . 60

Chapter V

The "Squatter" — Our First Bishop — E. Deas-Thompson — John Blaxland — A. McLeay — The "James Watt " — Doubly Wrecked — Lang's " Minerva " — German Clerics — Presbytery of Moreton Bay — Sir Maurice O'Connell — Captain King — Crown Lands Police — Squatting Bill — Withdrawal from Moreton Bay — Major Cotton — Commissioners of Crown Lands — Confusion of names ..... 70

Chapter VI

Allan Cunningham's Journals — Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth — Blue Mountains — Hovell and Hume — Segenhoe — Potter Macqueen — Macintyre — Dartbrook — River Page — Dividing Range — Liverpool Plains — Oxley's River Field — Melville Hills — Goulburn Vale — Barrow's Valley — Lushington Valley — Vansittart Hills — Mitchell's River — Cod Catching— Effects of Drought — Buddie's River — Wild Cattle — Stoddart's Valley — Oxley's Peel — Drummond Ranges — Carlyle's and Little's Hills — The "Cone Masterton" — The River Dumaresq — Macintyre's Brook — Indians — The River Condamine — Darling Downs — Peel's Plains — Canning Downs — Harris Range — Mount Dumaresq — Millar's Valley — Logan Vale — Mount Warning — The "Gap" — A Glimpse Eastward — Homeward Return — Anderson's Brook — The River Burrell — Shoal Bay . . jj

Chapter VII

Cunningham on the East — Logan — Brisbane — Limestone Station — The "Gap" — Fraser — Mount Warning — Cowper's Plains — Canoe Creek — The River Logan — Birnam Range — Letitia's Plain — " High," or " Flinder's" Peak — Mount Dunsinane — Mount Warning — Innes Plain— Erris Vale — Ascent of Mount Lindesay — Macpherson's Range — Coke and Borough Heads — Glen Lyon — The River Richmond — Mount Clanmorris — Hughes' Peak — ?>Iount Hooker — View of the Sea — Mount Shadforth — Wilson's Peak — Minto Craigs — Mount French Knapp's Peak — Dulhunty Plains — Rattray Plain— The River Bremer — Logan returns to Brisbane — Limestone Hills — Starts in search of the " Gap " — Mount Forbes — Bowerman Plain Finds the "Gap's" Eastern Face — Threads the "Pass" Contents. XI PAGE View of Darling Downs — Mount Mitchell — Mount Sturt — Tempest in the " Gap " — Return — Bainbrigge Plain — Mount Fraser — Mounts Edward and Greville — Arrive at Limestone — Remarks — Lockyer's Boat Excursion — Cook — Cunningham — Arthur Hodgson — Patrick Leslie — Leslie's Diary — Dobie — ■ Peter Murphy — Falconer Plains — Walter Leslie — New England — The River Clarence — Admiral King — Garden and Bennett's Station — Toolburra — - Glengallan Creek — Canal Creek — Bannockburn Plains — Fresh Start with Stock- — Wyndham's — Condamine — Further Exploring of Darling Downs — Hodgson — Etonvale — King and Sibley — Fred Isaac — Leslie's Recollections ....... 127

Chapter VIII

Petty's Hotel — Letters of Introduction — Aldis' Cigars — Arthur and Pemberton Hodgson — Todd — Buying a Horse — Brown the Saddler — Major Barney — Disadvantage of a Name — Sydney as it seemed to me — Australian Club — En route to New England — Newcastle — Cox's Hotel — -Paddy Grant — Lettsome and Archibald Boyd — Black Creek — Hughes and Isaac — Colburne " Old Soldiers " — Patrick's Plains — Cullen's Inn — Singleton's — Muswellbrook — Skellatar — Bengalla — Overton — Nagoa — St. Helier's — Cox — Allman — Aunty Bell — Nowland's Inn — Aberdeen — Potter Macqueen — Scone — Chivers' Inn — The River Page — Denny Day — Currabubbula — Charles Hall — Killalla — Salisbury — Hodgson's Highwayman — Denne's Station — Cashiobury — " Cocky" Rogers — Back to Sydney — Reverend Robert Allwood ...... 172

Chapter IX

John Allman — Arthur Maister — Dr. Bland — -Owen Stanley — H. H. Browne — Gilbert Elliot — Rape of the Coat-tails — Boydell — Owen Macdonald — Ride to the South — Murrumbidgee — Sharp — The Station Sold — Cavan — Hallett, of Oriel — Yass — Road back to Sydney. . . . 185

Chapter X

Patrick Leslie — The s. "Victoria" — Henry and Alfred Denison — Edward Hamilton — Hodgson and Elliot — Frank Forbes — Archibald Bell — Stephen Ferriter — Glennie — Dr. Bowman — Loder's — Allan Macpherson — Charles Hall again — River Peel — Stubbs and Irving — Dalzell — Milne — Rusden — Werris' Creek — St. Aubin's — Captain Dumaresq — Denny Day and Frank Allman — Magnus McLeod — Butler —St. Helier's— Henry Denison and Paddy Grant — Pemberton Hodgson — " Tinker " Contents. XII PAGE Campbell — Cameron — McAllman — George Gammie — Bergen-op-Zoom — George Macdonald — Captain O Connell — Cash's— The River Bundarrah — Clark and Ranken's — Wyndham's — Fraser's Creek — Gregory Blaxland — Leslie's Marked-tree Line — The Severn — The "Fiver" — A. Hodgson and Fred. Isaac from Darling Downs. . . . . 191

Chapter XI

The Condamine Grass Trees — Cocky Rogers again — Exploring Etonvale Creek — A Yahoo — Cunningham's "Gap" — Westbrook — Hodgson's " My Word I" — Limestone — Arrest — George Thorne — George Thome's Wife — Pleasant Quarters. 199

Chapter XII

Owen Gorman — John Kent— Dr. Ballow — Andrew Petrie — Eagle Farm — Stephen Simpson — William Henry Wiseman — Mrs. Gorman — Logan's Reign — Cunningham's Gap — Joe Archer — Gorman's Gap — Baker or " Boralcho " — The Drummer's — Toolburra — Clifton — Novel Watch-pocket — Dalrymple — A Headlong Meeting — Blacks at Lockyer's Creek — Hell's Hole — Etonvale — Elliot — Shearing — Black Tommy. . . 210

Chapter XIII

George Leslie — The first Clip — Trip to Brisbane — Arthur Hodgson again — Mosquitos — Thorne and Cunningham's "Gap" — Plough Station — Ralph Gore — To Sydney with Hughes — Henry and Fred. Isaac — Westbrook and Jock Maclean — Gowrie — Denis — Scougall — Coxen — Myall Creek — Jimbour — Samuel Stewart — Wingate — Tummavil — Rolland and Taylor — Yandilla — Talgai — Ellangovvan — George Mocatta — Tent Hill — Helidon — Somerville — Fred, and Francis Bigge — Evan and Colin Mackenzie — McConnell — Balfour — My Brother Sydenham — Run to a Rencontre — How Syd. trumped a Trick Frank Allman— Pagan — Skellatar — Milburne Marsh and Miss Marsh — David Scott — Bengalla Races — Helenus Scott Glennie — Bundock — John Cox — " Dick " Glover— Matthew and Charles Marsh — Darby and Goldfinch — Morse — Armidale — Ben Lomond — Horses Lost — Etonvale — Murray Rose Brooks — Frank Hodgson — Arthur's Round Table Frank Forbes— Search for a " Run "—Cecil Plains— Back at Petty's Hotel, in Sydney — John Allman — Campbelltown — Captain Allman— John Hurley— Sir Thomas Mitchell— Dr. Wallace 222

Chapter XIV

The " Shamrock " to Moreton Bay— Governor and Suite — Jolliffe — Milburne Marsh's Flying Shot— Cleveland Point— First Contents. XIII Queen of May on Darling Downs— Dr. Goodwin — James Canning Pearce — Fife— Aikman— Simpson's Homœopathy- Quixotic — Chambers' "Edward" — Pint's Petriana— An Agreement. ........ 242

Chapter XV

Boat Trip to Wide Bay— Edward Baker— Walter Wrottesley — Jolliffe — Mocatta — The River " Morouchidor" — " Petrie's Head " Aboriginal Doctoring — Bracefell — Brown's Cape — The " Stirling Castle"— Wreck — A "Tourr" — Mrs. Fraser — Her Escape — Boppol — Southern Entrance into Hervey's Bay — Capsize — A Chorus — A Fog — Sheridan — Puzzled — Fire-flies — "Gammon Inch " . . . . . .250

Chapter XVI

Bunnia-Bunnia Range — Jolliffe's Beard — The River Monoboola(now " Mary") — Difficulties on nearing Mount Boppol — " Old Bill" — Arthur Hodgson in the " Canopus" — Derhamboi — Strange Scenes — A Watch Found — Back to Brisbane — Pamby-Pamby's Good-bye — " Makromme" — Derhamboi's Au Revoir ! — Life with the Ginginbarah — Native Character — Shells for my Sisters in England — The Hunting Phocœna — My Leaf Written in Gaol — Hopes of the Forlorn — Cannibalism — Cooking — Stolen Pleasures ...... 270

Chapter XVII

Narratives of the " Stirling Castle's " Wreck — Death by Torture — ■ Gathering Doom — Choice of Two Horrors— Garbled Account of Rescue — Base Ingratitude — Bunnia-Bunnia — Araucaria Bidwellii — Female Cannibal Priviliges— The Bundinavah — Courting on the Monoboola — Contract Sealed — Character of the Contract — Aboriginal Domestic Habits — -Natural Learning. 300

Chapter XVIII

Patrick Leslie — Denny Day — Sir Thomas Mitchell — Stapylton — Execution of His Murderers — The " Piscator" — Leslie and Darling Downs — Lettsome and Boyd — The River "Albert" — Moreton Bay Progress — Glover, from Bathurst — Peter Quack — John Hill and Christopher Gorry — New Road Over the Range — Francis Bigge Shot — Overland to Wide Bay — Eales' Sheep — Superintendent Last — A Christmas Eve Night — Overland to Port Essington — Orton — Black Jemmy — The "Gulf Stream" — A Comet — Bell and Cameron — Thomas Sutcliffe Mort — Cooranga— Blacks Surprised — Henry Denis — A One-eyed Murderer . . . . . Contents. XIV

Chapter XIX

page Sir Charles Malcolm — Glover — Sydenham Russell — Letters — Cecil Plains— Burrandowan — A Day and a Month of Dying — Commissioners Macdonald and Rolleston — Cambooya — Pot Luck — Hodgson a Butcher-Boy — Pie-bald Strife — " Gourmand's " in Brisbane — Egg Trick — Table-d' -hote in Queen Street — The Horse " Mentor " — Benedict Bracker. . . 342

Chapter XX

Ludwig Leichhardt — Our First Meeting — G. K. Fairholme— Pipe Ponderings Over — Port Essington — -Sandy Blight — The Doctor opens our eyes, and his own are fixed Northward — My Stockman, William Orton — Deliberations — Leichhardt Prepares himself in Sydney — Return — Route — Ruin — Resurrection — Reaction — Second Start — Swan River — Sickness— Third Start — Fading away . . . . . 359

Chapter XXI

Robert Little — Kearsey Cannan — Contemporaries — Duncan — Thornton — -Sheridan — Brisbane Celebrities — Ralph Gore — Invitation to Bustard Breakfast — An Unforgotten Rebuke — The Loss of the "Sovereign" — Waste Lands — Port Curtis Settlement — Wickham — Moreton Bay Courier — Darling Downs Gazette — Brisbane v. Cleveland — A Visit by Night — Brisbane Racecourses — Butterflies — Caterpillars — Land — Wentworth — Labour — Tea-fight — Burnett — H. M.S. "Orpheus" — Dr. Lang's Emigrants — The Close of my Darling Downs Days. . 377

Chapter XXII

Edmund Kennedy — From Sydney by Sea to Rockingham Bay — Thence by land starts for Cape York — William Carron's Journal — Bad beginning has a worse end — Carts useless and left behind — Horses dying are eaten — Terrible Obstacles Rain — Food filched — Watching Stores — Party left at Weymouth Bay — Doom's Dallyings — A Skeleton Remnant Carron and Kennedy — Kennedy's Death — Jacky's "Ariel" A Canoe Chase — Dust and Ashes — Faithful to the end . 390

Chapter XXIII

New South Wales' Leap Year — Her growth — Charles Kemp Spectre of Separation — Ghost of Ruin — Prevention A Continuance Bill — Sir Robert Peel and Vernon Smith Power of a Word — London Colonial Gazette , ,,_ Contents. XV

Chapter XXIV

A Day with the "Separation" Pack — Lang and Lowe at the Meet — Philippic from Port Phillip— Lang and the " Lima " — Hobson's Choice — A Hook for Separation — Moulding for a new Cast — -Lang impeaches Grey — Lang's aim at Separation — His Land Orders — Lang's portly President — Lang's League — - — Lang for Sydney — Henry Parkes for Lang — Lang elected — " In the name of the Prophet Figs !" . . . 444

Chapter XXV

Patrick Leslie and Separation — Separation Strifes — Grey's odd trick — Leslie and Lang — Sydney Wrath— Five to three against "Jackeroo" — Hodgson on Separation — Public Sentiment- Apology for " Exiles " — New Constitution Bill — Clauses fifty-one and fifty-two — -Denunciation — Indignation — Exultation — Termination. ... . . 473

Appendix

A. Extracts from Cook's Journal (Hawkesworth). — Cape Byron — Mount Warning — Points Danger and Look-out — Moreton's Bay — Cape Moreton — Glass Houses — Double Island Point — - From Bustard Bay to Cape Townshend — Thirsty Sound — Conway — Gloucester — Whitsunday — Grafton to Cape Tribulation — Coral stricken — The Endeavour River — Capes Bedford and Flattery — Breaking through the Barrier Reef — Providential Channel — Weymouth Bay — Bolt Head — Sir Charles Hardy's and Cockburn's Isles — Cape York — Newcastle Bay — Possession Island — Cape Cornwall — Booby Island — Return by Timor, Batavia, and Cape of Good Hope — Lands at Deal. . 513

APPENDIX.

B. Extract from Flinders' Journal. — Epitome of his Introductory Review of Early Discoveries — What Flinders had to do in the sloop " Norfolk " — Sugar Loaf Point — Shoal Bay — Point Skirmish — Pumice Stone River — Hervey's Bay — H. M.S. "Investigator" — Do Wide and Hervey's Bays join ? — Gatcombe Head — Port Curtis — Keppel Bay — The " Lady Nelson " — Parts company — Threads the " Needles " — The Gulph garnished — "Xenophon" will not Retreat — Sink or Swim with the " Investigator's " Rottenness — By North and West Coasts round Cape Leeuwin in his rotten Ship — To Port Jackson. . . . Contents. XVI

APPENDIX.

C. page Journal of an Excursion up the River Brisbane in the Year 1825, by Edmund Lockyer, Esq., J. P., late Major in His Majesty's 57th Regiment of Foot .... 589

APPENDIX.

D, General Order. — With respect to the Military posted at Penal Stations. Government Order. — Coasting Service. Proclamation. — Port Macquarie, Moreton Bay and Norfolk Island as Penal Settlements La Perouse's Relics. — Brought to Port Jackson by Captain Dillon, commanding the Honourable East India Company's ship " Research." Government Order. — Major Mitchell's appointment as Surveyor- General. Government Order. — The Rev. W. G. Broughton, Archdeacon, Member of the Legislative and Executive Councils. Proclamation. — General Thanksgiving. Proclamation. — -Port Macquarie open to Settlers . 602

APPENDIX.

£ . Account of Logan's Murder. — The Funeral— Captain Clunie's Letter. ....... 610

APPENDIX.

F. Proclamation.— Checks upon Excessive Punishment of Convicts 615

APPENDIX.

G. Major Campbell's Journal. — Record of Settlements on North Coast — Melville Island — General Description. . . 616

APPENDIX.

H. Proclamation.— Boundaries of the District of Moreton Bay Stephen Simpson appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands 634

APPENDIX.

I . First Sale of Land at Brisbane.— Buyers and amounts. . 635

APPENDIX.

K . Extract Sydney Gazette.-— Arrival of the horse St. George and Stock from Bathurst. . , ,

Chapter I

King Arthur made new knights to fill the gap Left by the the Holy Quest.— Tennyson. (The Holy Grail.) ASSUREDLY the gallant Pedro Fernandez de Quiros must have been possessed by some of the " sacred madness " of King Arthur's bard when as he first gazed, as he thought, upon the coral-gripped coast of the new land which King Philip of Spain had sent him to seek, he shouted in reverent joy with doffed sombrero : " Australia del Espiritu Santo !" But was "Australia" the utterance, or was it "Tierra"? 'Twas not for de Quiros to discover his own error. Choosing one course for further discovery, he directed his Lieutenant to take another in the second ship, and so they parted in 1606. Superstitious dread prevailed over the discipline of his own, and he was compelled by his mutinous men to return to Peru, which he reached in disgrace, ever attendant upon failure.

His Lieutenant, Luis Vaes de Torres, soon found that the Admiral had saluted but an island — probably one of the New Hebrides — continued his course westwards, bore away along the south coast of New Guinea; unwittingly fixed his eyes upon the true "Tierra Austral "; upon the " very large islands" which the Cape, since called York, presented to his bewildered sight, ere he stood away to the north, threading his way through the mazy channel which exposed his commander's mistake. Torres had unconsciously fulfilled the Holy Quest. The memory of and monument to his name are baptised and bathed by the isle-fretted waters which bear it. In John Bull justice did a native of our own British island stamp " Torres" with his hand of authority as hydrographer to the Admiralty upon that strange channel which had already begun to be the promise of a grand highway claimed by, but not destined for the sovereignty of that flag under which Torres had sailed.

The most authentic registration of Queensland's birth was thus declared from the far north ; her future growth was nourished and confirmed from the far south. Among the first forms of a new shore brought to light, she has derived her existence from that which was delivered last by the labour of B our Yorkshire countryman, James Cook, into the arms of our glad motherland. But through what throes has the first colony planted in this our Australia been nursed to its stature, that it may bear its own part, and send forth its own offspring to bear theirs on the great stage upon which in these years of grace, 1887-8, it and they are summoned to enact the several characters allotted to them, and as yet rehearsed by the help of the common prompting of religion, race, kindred, and country. It is by the finger-posts of incident in colonial life that the tracks of a community's social rise and progressive ability may be faithfully followed and run out, irrespective of the governing element.

Whether of good or evil, worthy or unworthy, noble or ignoble report, the course of events proves a people's character ; whereas a religious and political history, even of a new country, compiled from a mass of wrestling opinions, can be taught and learnt but by the commonwealth's outcome up to a present — a present which can find no end while the world is. The former — my task — is an easy one : the latter, one which only rare ability and genius dare challenge. Yet the one may allure the interest and amused attentiveness of the many, who do not care to dig up or into the thirsty ground of theory, nor sink into the quicksands of inquiry which cannot be solidified. For instance, who that dwells in this land of bright token can take up an almanac, and fail to exult in his secret soul that on the 20th day of January, 1788, our fellow countryman, Arthur Phillip, had saved it for us "Britishers" but by a few days from becoming the rightful refuge for the Frenchman's " folies "; that two days after he had taken possession of the country in the name of the United Kingdom, established his head-quarters on the bay-sporting waters of Port Jackson, and in all chivalrous courtesy "fended off" "l'Astrolabe" and "laBuffole" with their gallant commanders, Jean Francois Galamp de la Perouse, and his friend Delangle, to the less hospitable shores on which they met their sad fates ?

Is the fact that the same month of the same year — 1788 — hailed the birth in our realm of a people's new and giant power — the power of the press, the fourth estate — in a dingy room at Printing-House Square, whence on the first of its days issued forth the first cry of the infant Times, now stalking forth in strength equal to a nation's leverage, worth no grateful glance ? Can the nascent glow -of Shadows of a Substance. 19 Australia's poetic aspirations bear no reflective companionship with the spark which kindled the simultaneously new-born Byron's genius ? Are all incurious to the fact that Norfolk Island was made a dependency of New South Wales on the 13th day of the month following, under Lieutenant, afterwards Captain, and then Governor King? Is it not worth a glance that on the 26th of September, 1791, Lieutenant-Governor, afterwards Governor King, had arrived in the "Gorgon," having received our territorial seal, with authority to grant pardons absolutely or conditionally ?

Nothing to any housewife that in 1796 coals were being received in Sydney from Newcastle ? nor to the admirers of sea-bred pluck that Dr. Bass had thrown open the straits which wear his name, and returned in his whaleboat thence to Port Jackson in February, 1798 ? Are there none now who would be surprised that until December, 1 800, no copper coin was in circulation in the colony? None now living who may read with namesake interest the first noteworthy death in New South Wales, that of Judge-Advocate Richard Dove ; none to lift up their eyebrows at the recorded name of his successor, Richard Atkins ? And then, a smart step onward on March 5, 1803, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, published " by authority," coupled with the drawback — important enough in those days — of the report brought to Sydney by him to whom the coast of New Holland had become so much indebted for development, Matthew Flinders, of the loss of the " Porpoise" and " Cato," upon his arrival within the Heads on September 8th. in an open boat.

Is there no sensation attendant upon the announcement of horrors presumably lawful (in the type of the period), and ten dered in a somewhat cynical regard for authority one day of this year: " Memorable execution (!). — Joseph Samuels, for burglary, was three times suspended ; first, the rope separated ; second, it unrove at the fastening ; third, it snapped short ! The Provost Marshal, Mr. Smith — a man universally respected — compassion ating the criminal's protracted suffering, represented the case to the Governor, who was pleased to reprieve him " ? Was there no thought for defence in those troublous days of antipodean wars ? Nor for light in those days of darkness ? There was; for on the 18th of July, 18 16, Governor Macquarie laid the first stones of the tower which makes his name redoubtable, and of the South Head Lighthouse, pulled down not long ago, and then put up again the brightest beacon of the seas !

The old Seal, too, worn out, not probably by the frequency of pardoning, but by ceaseless attachments to hanging warrants, was replaced by a new Territorial Seal, sent with a warrant, by the clemency of the Prince Regent, in the November following. Why should we decline to refresh our knowledge of the stirring times during the chaotic reign of Governor Bligh for one year, five months, and thirteen days ; or mark the record of a new era which set in with the arrival of John Thomas Bigge, the Honourable Commissioner of Inquiry, consequent upon Bligh's eviction, in the ship " John Barry," with his secretary, Thomas Hobbes Scott, on the 25th September, 1819? Or, beginning already to creep away to the northward, to mark that a gallant officer of the 48th Regiment, Captain Allman, whose name is still held high in Campbelltown esteem, and in our midst, in memory of a fine old soldier and impartial magistrate, was sent forth to establish a penal settlement at Port Macquarie ?