Journal of an overland expedition in Australia

the Primitive Rocks - Thacker's Range - Wild Fi

r our operations, and I took two sets of lunar observations, the first of which gave me longitude 146 degrees 1 minutes, and the second, 145 degrees 58 minutes. The mornings were genera

ched by that route the junction of the Suttor with the newly discovered river, which I called the Burdekin, in acknowledgment of the liberal assistance which I received from Mrs. Burdekin of Sidney, in the outfit of my expedition. The course of this river

rved sienite. The bed of the river furnished quite a collection of primitive rocks: there were pebbles of quartz, whi

eavy cumuli, which dissolved towards sunset; a

the rivers, received the name of Mount Graham, after R. Graha

n by the waters. Several other very interesting cucurbitaceous fruits, and large reeds,

were of the size of a small apple, of an agreeable flavour when ripe, but were full of small flies and ants. These trees were numerous, and their situation was readily detected by the paths of the natives leading to them: a proof that the fruit forms one of their favourite articles of food. The drooping tea trees, which had increased both in number and size, grew in company with an arborescent Calistemon, along the water's edge; and a species of Eucalyptus, somewhat resembling Angophora intermedia, was discovered at this spot: it occurs frequently t

gged crests, were composed of granite of many varieties, red and white, fine grained without hornblende, or containing the latter substance, and changing into sienite; and, at one place, it seemed as if it had broken through Psammite. I observed quartzite in several localities, and a hard pu

belonging to the Cyprinidae, was caught. Wind prevailed from the n

the gullies so deep, that we were compelled to cross it at a place where it was very deep, and where ou

The character of the country changed very little: open narrow-leaved Ironbark forest on a granitic sand, full of brilliant leaflets of mica. Some deep creeks came from the eastward. To the west and north-west nothing

s; and a bitch came fearlessly down to the river, at a short distance from our camp. Our

ontributor to my outfit. A large creek very probably carries the waters from this range to the Burdekin, in latitude 20 degrees 23 minutes. The country was very ridgy and hilly; and we found it exceedingly difficult to proceed along the river. We observed

ed of the river, the same rock was of a greenish colour, and contained a great number of pebbles of various rocks, giving it the aspect of a conglomerate; but recognisable by its crystals of felspar, and from its being connected with the rock of the hill. From the to

light showers: the morning of the 5th was very hot, and the

lmost exclusively granitic isolated blocks; detached heaps, and low ridges composed of it were frequently met with in the open forest. We passed two small hillocks of milkwhite quartz; fragments of this rock, as well as of calcareous spar, were often observed scattered over the ground. The river here made a large bend to the northward,

probably carries off the water from the country round a fine peak, and a long razorback mountain which we saw in that direction. North-west of Porter's Range, and between it and the razorback, were two small peaks. The timber is of the same kind, but larger. The poplar-gum was more frequent, and

om N. and N.E. In the morning of the 7th some drops of rain fell, but the weather cleared up during the da

narrower, but still had a fine stream. Thunder-storms had probably fallen higher up its course, causing a fresh; for its waters, hitherto clear, had become turbid. Narrow patches of brush were occasionally met with along its banks, and I noticed several brush trees, common in other parts of the country. Besides the clustered fig, and another species with rough leaves and small downy purple fruit, there were a species of Celtis; the Melia Azederach (White Cedar); a species of Phyllanthus, (a shrub from six to ten feet high); an Asclepiadaceous clim

0 degrees W.; they were about three miles distant. I called them "Thacker's Ran

hich were comparatively small, and much bent by the force of floods, the probable frequency of which may account for the reduced size of the tree. The ridges were covered with rusty Gum and narrow-leaved Ironbark. An Erythrina and the Acacia of Expedition Range were plentiful. The grass was rich and of various species. The granite rock still prevailed. A felspathic rock cropped out near the second creek, where I met with a dark rock, composed of felspar and horneblende (Diorite.) Our camp was pitched at the foot of a series of small conical hills, composed

rocky slopes to the grassy glens below. A stu

vy; the morning was calm; a breeze from the south-east set in at nine o'clock a.m

und ground. We crossed the river I had seen the preceding day from the hill, and found it running. Two large creeks, one from the right and the other from the left, also joined the Burdekin. I observed Pegmati

ld reach. Farther on, however, we occasionally met with patches of Vitex scrub, and crossed some stony ridges. A small river joined from the north-east, at about a mile and a half from the last camp, and also two large creeks from the south-west. I ascended the hills opposite our camp,

s climbing shrub (Abrus precatorius). Phonolithic or basaltic pebbles made me suppose th

lular Basalt. The river here formed a large sheet of water; large masses of a white Sienite protruded out of it, opposite the junction of the creek. The opposite bank exhibited a very perfect and instructive geological section of variously bent and lifted strata of limestone, which was afterwards found to contain innumerable fossils, particularly corals and a few bivalve shells. The Rev. W. B. Clarke, of Paramatta, kindly undertook to examine the fossils brought from this locality. One he determined to be an undescribed species of Cyathophyllum, and has done me the honour to give my name to it.* The others belonged principally to the following genera, viz., Asterias, Caryophyllea, and Madrepora. The right bank of the river rose into steep cliffs of basalt, under which the clustered fig tree, with its dense foliage, formed a fine shady bower. The basaltic dyke was about a mile and a half broad, and I followed it about five miles up the river. Its summit was flat, rough, and rocky; at the distance of four miles from our camp it receded a little from the river, and there limestone was observed, crowded with fossils like that on the opposite side of the river. Two miles farther, the bed of the river wa

n interrupted by a basaltic dyke, over which we were compelled to travel, as the steep banks of the river were on one side, and black bare rocks, forming sometimes regular walls with a dense scrub between th

g creek from the N.N.W. From the limestone hill of yesterday, no other hill was visible to the westward, t

e detritus of basaltic rock, had a lanceolate glossy leaf, uniting the character of the box with glossy orbicular leaves growing generally on the whinstone soil of the northern parts of the colony, and of the box with long lanceolate leaves which prefers stiff flats on the tributary creeks of the Hunter. A Bottle-tree with a Platanus leaf (Sterculia?) grew in the scrub on the fie

ize, and of a yellowish grey colour, and seeme

full of fish or mussels form a greater attraction to the natives than a stream too shallow for large fish, and, from its shifting sands, incapable of forming large permanent holes. Wherever w

his was the same breeze which we had observed at the Mackenzie at eight o'clock, and which set in earlier and earlier, as we travelled along the Isaacs

a scanty vegetation, with a few small narrow-leaved Ironbark trees and Erythrinas; the river now approached it, now left it in wide sweeps enclosing fine narrow-leaved Ironbark flats. To the south-west side of this ridge or

tly spread. Farther on, the ridge enlarged and formed small hillocks, with bare rock cropping ou

nding note of the bower bird was heard all along the river; the fruit of the fig trees gro

ive. Sandstone cropped out in deep gullies, and in the bed of the river; it was naturally soft and coarse, but where it rose into hillocks near basalt, it changed into a fine baked sandstone, resembling quartzite, which, when in contact with the igneous rock, looked like burnt bricks. Near our camp, a dyke or wall of the aspect of a fl

ce for about three miles, when the ridges re-appeared. Between four and five miles from the bar of red rock above mentioned, a fine large creek joined the Burdekin from the westward. The box and Ironbark forest was interrupte

e to the nature of the red rock I described yesterday. In the thicket which covered the rock, I observed Pomaderris of Moreton Bay. In decreasing our latitude, both Mr. Gilbert and myself were inclined to think that, whenever a bird or a plant disappeared, it was owing to that circumstance. In this, however, we were frequently mistaken: trees and herbaceous plants disappeared with the change of soil, and the decrease of moisture, and the birds kept to a certain vegetation: and, as soon as we came to similar localities, familiar forms of plants and birds re-appeared. Almost all the scrub-trees of the Condamine and Kent's Lagoon were still to be seen at the Burdekin; and the isolated waters near grassy flats were visited by swarms of little finches, which Mr. Gilbert had observed at Port Essington, and which, in all probability, belonged to the w

rom our last camp, a large creek joined the river; beyond that creek, the country was, without exception, open, and rather of a more undulating c

er, became much finer; but the soil was rotten: the poplar-gum grew on the stiff soil of the hollows. About six miles from our last camp, we came to ranges of high hills of a conical form, and with rounded tops, striking from west to east, and then entered a narrow valley, bounded on each side by rocky hills. Mr. Roper observed a rugged country to the northward, and a fi

ally very steep, and covered with a dense vegetation, whilst, on the opposite side, the banks sloped gently into the br

ducks; and Brown brought me a piece of indu

The hills were covered, as usual, with stunted silver-leaved Ironbark. A large creek came from the range, and entered the river. A good section on its right bank exposed to view the strata of indurated clay and sandstone; and I was induced to believe that coal might be found below them. As we were passing over the flat between the creck and the river, we saw a native b

m the northward; another range extended along the left side of the Burdekin above the junction; and basaltic ridges, which had broken through the sandstone, approached on its right. The cucurbitaceous plant with palmate leaves, bore a fruit of the size of a large orange, of a fine scarlet colour when ripe; its rind is exceedingly bitter, but the seeds are eaten by birds. Mr. Phillips

ense, however, for the difficulty of the ascent, I had the pleasure of finding some very interesting plants on its summit; particularly a small Acacia with verticillate leaves, which Dr. Binoe, the surgeon of H. M. S. Beagle, had found on the north-west coast; and two other Acacias equally new to me, and which were afterwards found to extend to the heads of the South Alligator River. From t

ssed flats, on which the timber grew to a greater size than we had observed it at the lower part of the river. The poplar-gum was very frequent in the hollow, and low stiff flats extended pa

d on the rocky slopes I found a new species of Hakea, having linear lanceolate leaves with axillary fascicules of small brownish

ange was visible

following the north-west branch. I called the south-west branch the "Clarke," in compliment to the Rev. W. B. Clarke of Paramatta, who has been, and is still, most arduously labouring to elucidate the meteorology and the geology of this part of the world. About three miles above the junction, a creek of considerable size joined the Burdekin from the northward. Wherever the ridges approached the banks of the river, gullies which were scrubby at their heads, became numerous. After having encamped, I rode over to the "Clarke," to examine the intervening country. The flat along the Burdekin was about two miles and a half broad, and was skirted by silver-leaved Ironbark ridges. In approaching the Clark

arrot was very freq

found it to be the large end of the tap root of a Potamogeton, or a plant nearly allied to that genus; I found it w

eon (Peristera histrionica). Talc-schiste cropped out in one of the deep creeks. Whilst travelling on the Burdekin, with the exception of some ducks and a few kangaroos, we had seen but very little game; but yesterday, when riding to the Clarke, two flocks of kangaroos passed me: a proof that the country is not so destitute of game as I had thought. The waters are inhabited by four varieties of fish; one was probably a Gristes, about eight inches long, and from one and a half to two inches broad, of a lanceolate shape, with bright yellow spots all over the body; a second smaller than Gristes, with dark stripes; a third about a foot long, and three inches broad, belonging to the Percidae; and a fourth, a small fish, which seemed to

by a river coming from the northward, which I now take the liberty of naming the "Perry," after Captain Perry, Deputy Surveyor–General, who has most kindly mapped my route from the rough plans sketched during the jou

creek joined the Burdekin; a range of high hills extended along its left side, and its right became equally hilly as we approached our camping place. After establishing our camp, and making the necessary preparations, we killed one of our little steers, and found it in excellent condition. The graziers will judge by this simple fact, how well t

144 degrees 14 minutes. As usual, we greased our harness, although not without considerable discussion, as to whether it would not be more a

miles N. 70 degrees W.; making our latitude 18 degrees 59 minutes. The range

, had found the route by the river quite practicable. The ranges were composed of a Psammite, which was frequently baked, probably by neighbouring out-bursts of igneous rock. Several familiar forms of plants were discovered; also a new Eucalyptus, with a glaucous suborbicular subcordate leaf, and the bark of the rusty gum: a stunted or middle-siz

again 18 degrees 59 minutes; but we had left the mountains behind us, and had travelled, during the latter part of the stage, over well gras

erous limestone of the Burdekin, was commun

line, greyish-brown marble, very lik

assed provisionally as Cyathophyllum, to which in many respects it bears a great resemblance; and although it is somewhat contrary to the present rules of classification to assign a specific name from a person, yet, in order to do honour to my f

on may be giv

thus distinguished from Caryophyllia), grouped

verlap on a latitudinal axial line, and are divided by rectangular or outwardly convex and upwardly oblique dissepiments, which become, occ

med by the coalescing lamellae, which, at the extremities, seem to be occasionally denticulated, owing

athophyllum; but there are patches of broken transverse s

surfaces of the stone, exhibits the characters of Favosites. There are also traces of casts of

the exposed surfaces of ancient limestones in Australia; the result probably of the acidulous properties of rain water, or of the atmosphere, which, in a tropical climate, where violent showers alternate with great drought, is capable of producing various sen