UC-NRLF $B 5b7 531 fOHfoPAirST I I I I ByA& MMMMM r/mw/m^mmrw/ '/////////////////J///1/UA m//////////////////j/////////////////////m^^^^ W^ N^==^- %m i^i .^.^^ ^_t^. fiiiv %: ^Jl,,? 'isr ,_j^ > I lit ^^' V^rfe t'-sl Bh:-: t*-» . _t^_-^ \o\ \ 2S68: i THE LIBRARY -^mXi^ 4L-.I i-i-:5 "f^ f? ^ OF tr' t?_ THE UNIVERSITY :%. OF CALIFORNIA ^. / ''^ _^—^ k I \':j . c t^ ^ ^.^'^^Cf^ J-<i / <X p) THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA FROM 1606 TO 1888 BY ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND, M.A. AND GEORGE SUTHERLAND, M.A. GEORGE ROBERTSON AND COMPANY MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, AND ADELAIDE MDCCCXCII GIFT PREFACE TO THE FOURTEENTH EDITION. As this little book has had the good fortune to retain its popularity for twelve years, during which time it has appeared in thirteen editions, with a total of fifty-eight thousand copies, it has seemed only fair to its future readers to make it advance with the times. It has, therefore, been completely revised, in the light of the valuable original work that has of late years been carried out in respect to the original records of Australian history. Where errors have in the course of years been observed, they have been corrected. Where the information supplied has been found somewhat meagre, it has been amplified. The insertion of a number of authentic engravings will lend it an additional value, it is hoped, for school purposes. THE AUTHOHS. 330 CONTENTS. CnAPTRR PAGE I. —The Early Discoverers - • -1 11. —Convict Settlement at Sydney • 13 III. —Discoveries of Bass and Flinders 21 IV.—New South Wales, 1800 to 1S08 - 29 v.—Tasmania, 1803 to 1836 - - 37 VI.—New South Wales, 1808 to 1837 - • 45 VII,—Discoveries in the Interior, 1817 to 1836 - 55 VIII.— Port Phillip, 1800 to 1840 - 65 IX.—South Australia, 1836 to 1841 - 79 X.—New South Wales, 1838 to 1850 88 XI.— South Australia, 1841 to 1850 - 98 XII.—The Discovery of Gold - - 105 XIII.—Victoria, 1851 to 1855 - • - 116 XIV.—New South Wales, 1851 to 1S60 - 128 XV.—West Australia, 1829 to 1886 - 133 XVI.—Queensland, 1823 to 1SS6 - 140 XVII.—Explorations in the Interior, 1840 to 1860 - 152 XVIII. —Discoveries in the Interior, 1860 to 1886 - 167 XIX.—Tasmania, 1837 to 1886 - - - 182 - - XX.—South Australia, 1850 to 1876 . 191 XXI.—New South Wales, 1860 to 1888 - - 196 XXII.—Victoria, 1855 to 1888 - - - 202 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, PAGE Cook - • - 10 Captain _ View of Early Sydney, and Portrait of Phillip • 19 Flinders - - - - - 27 John Macarthur . ... 33 Governor Collins, and View of Mount Wellington - 39 Maequarie, and Scene in the Blue Mountains - 48 Hamilton Hume - - - - - 58 Captain Charles Sturt - - - - 61 John Pascoe Fawkner - - - 65 Edward Henty - - - - 72 Early Melbourne - - - - - 75 Governor liatrobe - - - - 78 Governor Hindmarsh • - - - 82 Early Adelaide . • - - 86 - - Edward Hargraves - - 109 Distant View of Ballarat • - - 114 Governor Hotham - - - - - 122 View of King George's Sound - - - 133 Robert O'Hara Burke - • - -167 William John Wills - - - - 174 Governor Franklin - - - - • 182 THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA. CHAPTER , " I,,, ' JO "3 "3 ' THE EARLl DIrfCOVEREKS. 1. To the people who lived four centuries ago in Europe only a very small portion of the Earth's surface was known. Their geography was confined to the regions lying immed- iately around the Mediterranean, and including Europe, the north of Africa, and the west of Asia. Eound these there was a margin, obscurely and imperfectly described in the of merchants but far the of reports ; by greater part the world was utterly unknown. Great realms of darkness stretched all beyond, and closely hemmed in the little circle of light. In these unknown lands our ancestors loved to picture all that was strange and mysterious. They believed that the man who could penetrate far enough Avould find countries where inexhaustible riches were to be gathered without toil from the gem-covered shores, or from the gold- and marvellous stories teeming valleys ; though were related of the appalling dangers supposed to fill these regions, yet to the more daring and adventurous such tales of peril only made the visions of boundless wealth and enchanting loveliness seem more fascinating. Thus, as the art of navigation improved, and long voy- ages became possible, courageous seamen were tempted 2 2 THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. [chap. to venture out into the great unknown expanse. Columbus carried his trembling sailors over great tracts of unknown ocean, and discovered the two continents of America ; Vasco di Gama penetrated far to the south, and rounded the of Good the Cape Hope ; Magellan, passing through straits now called by his name, was the first to enter the Pacific Ocean and so in the case of a hundred ; others, courage and skill carried the hardy seaman over many seas and into many lands that had lain unknown for ages. Australia was the ^cist part of the world to be thus visited and explored. In the year 1600, during the times of Shakes- peare, rhe regicr*. to the south of tha East Indies was still as little known as ever the rude of ; maps those ages had little more than a great blank where the islands of Austral- asia ought to be. Most people thought there was nothing but the ocean in that of the world and as the part ; voyage was dangerous and very long—requiring several years for its completion—scarcely anyone cared to run the risk of exploring it. 2. De Quiros.—There was, however, an enthusiastic sea- man who firmly believed that a great continent existed there, and who longed to go in search of it. This was De Quiros, a Spaniard, who had already sailed with a famous voyager, and now desired to set out on an expedition of his own. He spent many years in beseeching the King of Spain to furnish him with ships and men with which to seek this southern continent. King Philip for a long time paid little attention to his entreaties, but was at last overcome by his persever- ance, and told De Quiros that, though he himself had no money for such purposes, he would order the Governor of Peru to provide the necessary vessels. De Quiros carried the king's instructions to Peru, and two ships were soon prepared and filled with suitable crews—the Capitana and the Almiranta, with a smaller vessel called the Zahra to act I.] DE QUIEOS. as tender. A nobleman named Torres was appointed second in command, and they set sail from Peru, on a prosperous voyage across the Pacific, discovering many small islands, and seeing for the first time the Coral Islands of the South Seas. At length (1606) they reached a shore which stretched as far as they could see both north and south, and De Quiros thoujrht he had discovered the Great Southern Continent. " He called the place Tierra Australis del Espiritu Santo," " that is, the Southern Land of the Holy Spirit." It is now known that this was not really a continent, but merely one of the New Hebrides Islands, and more than a thousand miles away from the mainland. The land was filled by high mountains, verdure-clad to their summits, and sending down fine streams, which fell in hoarse-sounding waterfalls from the edges of the rocky shore, or wandered amid tropic luxuriance of plants down to the golden sands that lay within the coral barriers. The inhabitants came down to the edge of the green and shining waters to make signs of peace, and twenty soldiers went ashore, along with an officer, who made friends with them, exchanging cloth for pigs and fruit. De Quiros coasted along the islands for a day or two till he entered a fine bay, where his vessels anchored, and Torres went ashore. A chief came down to meet him, offering him a present of fruit, and making signs to show that he did not wish the Spaniards to intrude upon his land. As Torres paid no attention, he drew a line upon the sand, and defied the Spaniards to cross it. Immediately Torres stepped over it, and they launched some arrows at him, which dropped harmlessly from his iron armour. Then the Spaniards fired their muskets, killing the chief and a number of the naked savages. The rest stood for a moment, stupefied at the noise and flash ; then turned and ran for the mountains. The Spaniards spent a few pleasant days among the fruit THE EARLY DISCOVERERS. [chap. plantations, and slept in cool groves of overarching vegeta- tion ; but subsequently they had quarrels and combats with the natives, of whom they killed a considerable number. When the Spaniards had taken on board a sufficient supply of wood and of fresh water they set sail, but had scarcely got out to sea when a fever spread among the crew, and became a perfect plague. They returned and anchored in the bay, where the vessels lay like so many hospitals. No one died, and after a few days they again put to sea, this time to be driven back again by bad weather, Torres, with two ships, safely reached the sheltering bay, but the vessel in which De Quiros sailed was unable to enter it, and had to stand out to sea and weather the storm. The sailors then refused to proceed further wdth the voyage, and, having risen in mutiny, compelled De Quiros to turn the vessel's head for Mexico, which they reached after some terrible months of hunger and of thirst. 3. Torres —The other ships waited for a day or two, but no signs being seen of their consort, they proceeded in search of it.