March 27. This day being Sunday I halted; especially as the cattle had made an unusually long journey the day before. I wished to take sights for the purpose of ascertaining the rate of my chronometer, and to lay down my surveys. I found that Mr. Oxley’s points on this river were much too far […]

March 28. Continued our journey and, at only a mile and a half from our camp, I was surprised to find myself at the foot of Mount Amyot, better known to stockmen by its native name of Camerberdang. I gave the party a bearing or distant object to advance upon; and I lost no time […]

March 29. Our next point was Mount Cunningham (Beery birree of the natives) and we travelled towards it along the margin of Field’s Plains as the angles of the river allowed. CRACKS IN THE SURFACE. This was our straightest course, but we had to keep along the riverbank for another reason. The plains were full […]

MR. OXLEY’S TREE. I ascertained accidentally this morning that we were abreast of the spot where Mr. Oxley left the Lachlan and proceeded southward. This I learnt from a marked tree which a native pointed out to me distant about 250 yards south from our camp, on the opposite side of a branch of the […]

March 31. It rained during the night and this morning the sky seemed as if it would continue; the mercury in the barometer also falling, we halted. On a dry sandhill, with wood and water at hand, we were well prepared to await the results of a flood; some good grass also was found for […]

April 1. The rain continuing, the party remained encamped. The barometer had fallen since we came here from 29.442, at which it stood last night at ten, to 29.180, which I noted this morning at six: the thermometer continuing about 60 degrees of Fahrenheit. LARGE FISHES. On dragging our net through the muddy pond we […]

HEAVY RAIN. April 2. The rain continued through the night and this morning it fell rather heavily, so that enough of water could be gathered from the surface of the plains near our camp to preclude the necessity for our having recourse to the muddy pool. The barometer began to rise slowly from seven in […]

April 3. ASCEND MOUNT ALLAN. Thick fog in the morning. The day being Sunday the party remained in the camp; but I do not think we could have left it from the soft state of the plains, however desirable it might have been to proceed. After twelve I rode to Wollar (Mount Allan) with the […]

April 4. The surface being sufficiently dry to enable us to travel we accordingly continued our journey and, crossing the Goobang at 5 1/4 miles, we kept the right bank of it during the day. The surface on that side was dry and firm; and it may be remarked that if ever it becomes desirable […]

ASCEND HURD’S PEAK. April 5. As soon as the party had started I gave the overseer the bearings and distances to be pursued; while I proceeded to the cone named Hurd’s peak by Oxley, but by the natives Tolga. It was distant about four miles from our line of route. A low ridge of quartz […]