The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1869-03-03
Translated By EN-. FENARD.
Proposed Exploration of Cent
raj Australia.

If ever the mystery which overhangs the
fate of Leichardt is to be cleared up it
must be by some such exploration as that
which was suggested in May last before
the Royal Geographical Society. On that
occasion DR.. Neumayer, who was formerly
Director of the Melbourne Observatory,
read paper, in which he proposed that
there should be an exploration of the con-
tinent from east to west-from Queens
land to Swan River. In this paper short
account is given of the character of the
Australian Continent as far as it is known,
and opinions are expressed as to the prob
able nature of that part of the interior
which has not yet been visited. The whole
country, it is remarked, may be considered
to consist of two nearly equal portions
that in which the waters drain to the coast,
and that in which they flow toward the in
terror Concerning this latter portion,
DIR. Neumayer proposes that there should
be careful and scientific investigation.
Of much of the country we have already
received a great deal Of information from
Stuart, Burke, and McKinlay. But the
Doctor would start from Queensland, and
would cross the routes of those explorers
at right angles. So far the country would
not be entirely new; but to the west Of
Stuart's tracks the explorers would come
upon the unknown country, 1.-The interior
desert" of the Australian Continent
This region, in fact, is the only part of the
continent which now remains UNEMPLOYED.
1t is here that the vast desert or inland
sea must exist, if it exist at all +; and it is
here, in all probability, that the remains
of the unfortunate Leichardt expedition
would be found. The object of that expe-
dition was to cross from east to west, and
it struck out into the interior for that pur-
pose. Seeing, then. that the continent
has been crossed and recrossed by various
explorers to the east Of the centre, and
that 70 such remains have been met with,
/ it is probable that the destruction of the
party took place to the west, and that
there some discovery of its fate might be
made.
DR.. Neumayer, it is said, gives strong
reasons for believing that the country be-
tween Stnart's route and Western Austria
liza is not more impracticable than the rest;
and foremost amongst those reasons is the
almost certain presumption that an explor-
ing expedition would meet with some ex-
tensive watercourses, flowing probably into
lakes to the north of the Australian Blight,
Just as the Barcoo River in the East has
been found to drain into Lake Eyre and
Lake Gregory. This opinion of DR.. Neu-
mayors is one which is also held by other
writers; and Mr.. Eyre, the explorer, gives
US strong reasons for believing in the exis-
tence of inland waters to the west, that
when he was journeying round the Aus
tralian Blight, the wind from the north, in
stead of being dry and hot as before, be-
came moist and cold whilst he also MOTTO
ed that large parrots flew from the same
quarter towards the sea, as though they
had come from country which was well
wooded. Extensive inland waters may
therefore yet be discovered.
In proposing this new exploration DR..
Neumayer hopes to be supported partly
by the mother-country and partly by the
colonies. He says that the work can be
done-the continent scientifically examined
from east to west in about three years and
half and he now appeals to the friends
of science in England before laying his
scheme fully before the people of Austria
Ina. At the Royal Geographical Society
the proposition has been received most ia
vourably; for it is pointed out that by such
an exploration as this, new light would be
thrown on the fora and fauna of Australia
ancient and modern-particularly with
regard to the distribution of plants and
animals through the whole breadth of the
continent. "The science of terrestrial
magnetism and geology" also, it is said,
"would necessarily be benefited In an
equal degree by an expedition organized
on such a scale as to allow of due atten-
ton being paid to those branches of
science" Such enquiries, it is argued,
would be the more certain of bearing fruit
from the fact that the extensive scientific
labours partly completed and still carried
on in the colonies afford an excellent base
line from which to start.
At present there is lull as far as the
colonies are concerned in the matter of
interior exploration. Victoria and New
South Wales have no object to induce
them to extend their investigations beyond
their own boundaries whilst Queensland
finds quite sufficient outlet for her explor-
ing energy in the country which lies adjae
ent to the northern coast. There her sett-
lers have pushed forward to Somerset, on
Cape York, and to Port Burke in the Gulf
of Carpeutaria. whilst land has also been
occupied within the boundary of our own
Northern Territory. Several pastoral
leases, indeed, have been formally taken
up from the Government of this colony
under the regulations which we're made
for letting runs in North Australia two
or three years ago, whilst in other cases
there is reason to believe that the Queens
landers are occupying South Australian
territory without any authority whatever.
In this direction. then, they find abundant |
scope for their energy, without seeking for
fresh fields in Central Australia.
As to our own share in the work of
Australian exploration, there is now moth
ing which the colony can be fairly expect
ed to undertake on her own account, ex-
pecting an examination Of the q No Mans |
Land which lies to the westward and |
even in this matter, it would seem from
the questions of MIR. Meals in the House /
Of Assembly, that private explorers have !
been obtaining useful knowledge since the !
time when Major Warburton was turned |
back by the drought