THE “QUEENSLANDER” TRANSCONTINENTAL EXPEDITION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5408, 27 July 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE “QUEENSLANDER” TRANSCONTINENTAL EXPEDITION.

The Toowoomba Chrtfniclc of the 10th inst. gays :— ,c Tliose of our readers who may have given careful consideration to the survey expedition which has been determined upon by the spirited proprietors of the Queenslander must be fully aware not only of the arduousness of the undertaking but of their great anxiety to assist to the utmost of their power in develop-, ing the resources of the vast terra in coy mto embraced in their proposal. Too much praise cannot be awarded to those who are willing tc. devote wealth on the one hand, and brain and sinew on the other, to a project which has for its object the ultimate joining together by rail way of places so remote from each other a* Blackall and Port Darwin. This idea, if carried to completion, would ensure to Queensland thf rapid occupation of the vast N.W. area, which otherwise can never be populated, while to South Australia thedevelopmentof the Northern Territory' (which has hitherto proved only a white elephant to that colony), with Port Darwin as a great commercial depot, would be assuredly secured. . . . . The object smght

eventually to be attained is truly a mighty one, and doubtless bears even colossal proportions ; but all the more honor to those who have determined to undertake it.' . . . . . All honor to Queensland, the , youngest colony in the Australian group, for possessing the willing hearts and open hands of those who projected this great work. All honor to tliose who in.’n few days will leave their homes and go forth into the pathless wilderness, ready to bear with a bold front the dangers and privations tyci dent to such a perilous enterprise, and all iu the confident hope and fervent expectation that they may confer a lasting benefit ou their fellow-colonists ns the result of their labors. But above /ill let it be ilia glory ofJ the members of the Press throughout Australia that those who have planned, those who have undertaken the cost, and those who are about to carry the project on to completion, are all our own brethren, all members of the fourth estate. It may be years before the great idea cau hope to be consummated —it may be that matters nearer home may iu the meantime demand and occupy our attention—but we should never lose sight of the- fact that oue day, however distant, the wholik continent of Australia, vast as it. is,- will be hound together by one continuous network of railways, and that progress and civilisation will assuredly follow iu the track of the iron horse. The project cannot bo regarded as Utopian or even premature. The work has to be done some time, and we should be ready to manifest our hearty gratitude to those who are endeavoring to show us how to do it.”