THE NEW COUNTRY TO THE NORTHWARD.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 646, 11 October 1851, Page 4

THE NEW COUNTRY TO THE NORTHWARD.

[From the Western Australian Inquirer, October 10, 1849.] THIRD NOTICE. We have now come to that eventful period when the Beagle made her voyage to Champion Bay —eventful as it affected Captain Grey, whose reputation received its final and most discouraging blow, in consequence of the report published by Captain Stokes, commander of that vessel, which gave such a description of the country and its capabilities, so completely the reverse of that formerly made public by Grey, as to silence, if not convince, the most strenuous of that gentleman’s defenders—and eventful as it affected the colony, which, through the account given by Captain Stokes, for ever lost the chance of the settlement of the Western Australian Company in that fertile district; thus forfeiting (with her usual misfortune) the most happy chance she ever had, before or since, of equalling, if not excelling, the surrounding colonies. The prospect held forth of the speedy settlement of Champion Bay and its neighbourhood, even at this, the eleventh hour fills us all with the highest gratification and the brightest anticipations for the future, which are exhilarating and enlivening to the whole colony; but what would it have been if the settlement of Australind had been from the first established at Champion Bay, instead of the station afterwards selected for it? It does not require many words to point out the probable result that would have ensued. The site originally fixed upon was certainly in the neighbourhood they finally chose. The resumption of Col. Latour’s grant by Governor Hutt, upon the part of the Government, was the ostensible reason given for changing the locality for the future settlement of Australind from Leschenault to Port Grey. This was a shock which, for a period, paralysed the company, but from which it might have eventually recovered, had the settlement been established at Port Grey and matters had gone on favourably. But they were compelled to endure another panic from Leschenault to Port Grey—and from Port Grey to Leschenault was too much, and the shareholders speedily withdrew from a company which had been guilty of—to say the least—-

so much inconsistency. Suppose, however, that this second change had not been nia( ]e — ( i ia t the settlement at Champion Bay had become established, with a man of Mr. Clifton’s talents and untiring energy at its head—it would not have been long before the resources of the district became known. With a man so given to action and observation, but a short time would have elapsed before the luxuriant pastures, the rich arable land upon the banks and in the neighbourhood of the several rivers, would have figured in his reports —but a short time would have elapsed" ere the mineral products, great or small, of the country, would have been made public, and the directors of the company been trumpeting forth to the hitherto backward and dispirited shareholders, that their settlement at Port Grey was already becoming rich in metallic wealth, and richer far in the possession of coal. We might then reasonably presume that confidence would be restored, capital and population flow into the newly discovered district, and long ere this we should have heard of the flocks and herds depasturing on the Buller, the Bowes, the Greenougb, and the Irwin —we should long ere this have escaped the reproach of not growing sufficient corn for our own consumption—ere this Western /Australia might have been competing with South Australia in the export of its metals, and the south-west portion of this vast island been rejoicing in the acquisition of coal.

In reviewing the trip of the Beagle, we must beg to disclaim any desire of attacking the motives or intentions of any party concerned in the expedition ; our purpose is to produce facts, favouring Captain Grey’s character for veracity, and not to attack his opponents, or those who might have dissented from him ; feeling assured that such opposition has generally, perhaps always, proceeded from the most praiseworthy motives; and in the voyage of the Beagle an unfortunate mistake—a mistake unforeseen and easily fallen into—has been the cause of so much injustice towards an individual, and of so much detriment to the colony. Holding, as we do, the highest opinion of Captain Grey, and of the parties who undertook the survey in the Beagle, it would indeed afford us satisfaction to be able to reconcile the apparent discrepancy or contradiction between their accounts without leaving a stain upon the veracity or honesty of either. H.M.S. Beagle left Gage’s Roads on the 12th December, 1841, for the purpose of determining the existence or non-existence of Port Grey, and the nature of the country in its neighbourhood. With regard to the firstmentioned object of the Beagle s expedition, we have already admitted that the Port Grey of Captain Grey was incorrectly laid down, and have given our reasons for concluding that this error (ten miles) was perfectly excusable, situated as Grey was at the time; it will not, therefore, be necessary again to advert to it. We shall confine ourselves to the simple statement that the Champion Bay where the party landed from the Beagle on the 15th December and the Port Grey of the traveller, are one and the same place. The course taken by the parly was E. by S., in the direction of Mount Fairfax. Captain Stokes says—“ About one mile and a half from the beach, we crosed a dry bed of a stream, trending N. by W. and S. by E.” The country between Mount Fairfax and the sea is described as most worthless. Upon leaving Mount Fairfax, they continued their journey to the S.E. in the direction of Wizard Peak: —“Two miles over a still scrubby, sandy plain, brought us again to the Chapman or Greenough river, the same dry stream we had crossed on landing." Here lies the error: the confounding of two rivers of such opposite characters as the Chapman and Greenough will readily explain the conflicting accounts of the two parties. Let us hear what Grey himself says of the country in the neighbourhood of the Chapman :—“We fell in with a native path, which wound up through a thick scrub ” “found a watercourse, with water in pools, and named the stream the Chapman,” After leaving this stream, he speaks of descending “from the elevated scrubby plains,” and passing through “low, grassy, swampy plains, thickly wooded with clumps of acacias, and then entered low, scrubby plains.” So that Grey’s description of the country round the Chapman tallies exactly with that of Captain Stokes—that is to say they both considered it worthless. Of the Greenough River, Captain Stokes does not speak, neither does Grey set so much value upon it as is generally supposed. He, however is constantly referring to the “ apparent fertility” nf the country to the Eastward. Mr. Stokes’ party then proceeded towards Wizard Peak, the summit of which they attained upon the afternoon of the 15th. We may here observe that we have it on good authority, that Mr. Grey’s position of Wizard Hill is about four or five miles too far South — an error,” says our informant, “ which Captain Stokes has also fallen into, in conse-

quence of another peak resemhr farther to t’m cr? V, A res . e ®bhng u, . I ing to the nutureTf iho“?X°r S y t ° k 8 >l.O hill, 0 „ ,i,„ moudutg. To tho N.N.W. ooJV'J’o* 10 to 20 miles, 1„ wluch appeared, thrmgl. a the same and nature.” That : ’ ° l)6 of the country was similar to a p or Hnl° ll >«t to the northward which Captain L, ta “ge m the sentence immediately H cribed to be "absolutely , stone. 1 his country, thus surveyed 7 a spyglass, has since been proved tn most fertile description. We do° be ° fl|le Captain Stokes of wilfully mist a V Ot ture of the country, as we are well 8 the Dj ‘ ata distance, the appearance of with regard to its fertility is verv a C ° UBI, J and that a plain of patchy, thin grass l ”’."' ' in the wind, may, and very often do ’ the resemblance of a luxuriant mead still the optical instrument of Captai °q ’ which converted fertile valleys ironstone,” has unfortunately had upon the public than the naked ev’e Captain Grey, who innocently adv™ j the “ apparent fertility of the country.’- to We thus see that the expedition .t Beagle, instead of falsifying the stat» e of Captain Grey b„e, on the fied them in the fullest degree. The that Captain Stokes inadvertently fell ini" 0 ' 5 the first place, confounding the Rivers Ch man and Greenough, and, in the secondoi’ receiving a false impression of the natL i the country to the Eastward, both of whi have been since rectified, have turned out t be most confirmatory of Grey’s statements lhe accounts given by Captains Stokes and Grey of the country they actually travelled over correspond in a most satisfactory manner they both declare it to be bad. The apparent fertility of the country as seen by Grey, and its apparent sterility as viewed through th e spyglass of Captain Stokes, has been referred to the judgment of after-explorers, and their verdict is in favour of the former gentleman' consequently we must C"™ tn Iho rnnrUl..' tnat ms account was a correct account, avencious account, and that of Captain Stokes, though accurate so long as he confined himself to a description of what he saw, was incorrect, in so far that he assumed that the Chapman and Greenough Rivers were one and the same, and that the country as viewed from Wizard Hill, for many miles to the N.E., was ofamoji dreary description ; neither of which assump. tions have since been confirmed. Therefore the survey of the Beagle is directly and indirectly corroborative of the accuracy of Grey's account. Before we conclude, we may as well advert to an error in Captain Grey’s description of the Hutt Estuary which has been pointed out to us. Captain Grey makes the Hutt River to fall into this estuary, which is not the case. The Surveyor-General discovered that it emptied itself into the sea rather to the southward of it. The error might easily have occurred, as the existence of a large sheet of water so near the mouth of the river might have led any one naturally Io suppose that they were connected, and so have heard from one who had been on the shores of the Hutt Estuary that there is every probability of their having communicated at no very remote period, being separated from each other by “ a narrow tract of marshy land.”

We must now take leave of this subject, which has occupied more space than we cooceived it would have done when we commonced. We therefore feel that an apology is doe to our readers for trespassing so long and so often upon their time and patience ; but the nature of the subject was such that we couM not well have made it shorter, without injwj to the individual whose narrative we b ave been reviewing, and we preferred beingj“ sl > even if, by so doing, we incurred the censar® of prolixity. We trust that our objecth aS been attained, and that for Captain Grey there will henceforth exist a feeling °PP 0S ' le to that which has hitherto, at least in' 1 colony, prevailed. He is a man wb° ’ done much and endured much for Australia ; let us not, therefore, be wanu in common gratitude ; let us not longerwi hold from him what he has so hardly eartG what he so richly deserves —the chara c ' an intrepid and successful explorer, a f ‘ cious and painstaking narrator, and an right, impartial, and honest man.