United States or Saint Martin ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Bank messenger in Sydney at thirty bob a week; used to lend money to the clerks at high interest, and did very well; for when he pegged out he left the old woman a couple of thousand. His name was Trappem John Trappem, but he was better known as 'Old Jack Trap. When they came on board the Barcoo they put on no end of side, and they were 'Mrs., the Misses, and Master Lee-Trappème."
When Barcoo and the others re-entered the bar it soon became evident that Sally Thompson had been thinking, for presently he came to the general rescue as follows: "There's a blessed lot of tommy-rot about dead people in this world a lot of damned old-woman nonsense. There's more sympathy wasted over dead and rotten skunks than there is justice done to straight, honest-livin' chaps.
Accordingly, on the 13th of August we moved down the river, and at 4 1/2 miles crossed over to its proper right bank; the Victoria is there bounded on the south by a low sand-stone ridge, covered with brigalow; and on the north by fine grassy plains, with here and there clumps of the silver leaf brigalow; at seven miles we passed a fine deep reach, below which the river is divided into three channels, and inclines more to the southward; at thirteen miles we encamped upon the centre channel; the three were about half a mile apart, the southern one under the ridge being the deepest; we found water in each, but I believe it to be only permanent in the southernmost, which contains a fine reach, one mile below our encampment, in latitude 24 degrees 17 minutes 34 seconds; an intelligent native, whom we met there with his family on our return, gave me the name of the river, which they call Barcoo.
This may or may not be considered a corroboration that the first was Leichhardt's, there being arguments on both sides. From the Barcoo he struck north-west to the Alice, seeing some old horse-tracks, which he thought must be Leichhardt's, but which were probably those of Landsborough and Buchanan.
The meanest blank if he is a man at all will do that." "Oh, to blazes with the old sot!" shouted Barcoo. "I gave my opinion about Macquarie, and, what's more, I'll stand to it." "I've got I've got a point for the defence," the old man went on, without heeding the interruptions. "I've got a point or two for the defence." "Well, let's have it," said Stiffner.
They now made for the Thomson, which is formed by the junction of the Landsborough and Cornish Creeks, but did not follow it down to the Barcoo, striking that river higher up. On the Barcoo they had a slight skirmish with the blacks, who nearly surprised them during the night.
In the interior he was the finder of Eyre's Creek and Cooper's Creek; one of the tributaries of the latter was soon afterwards discovered by Mitchell, and named by him the Victoria, now called the Barcoo. In these two creeks, as he called them, on account of the absence of flowing water in their beds, Sturt unwittingly crossed the second and only other great inland river system of the continent.
He consequently began to dread that he might follow the course of it, so far as not to be able to carry out the second part of his instructions, namely, to look for a road to the Gulf, not having enough means with him for both journeys. He decided to follow with two men along the Barcoo, far enough to the south to leave no doubt about its not being a north coast river.
Now he slipped quietly in. "Keep the old fool off, or he'll get hurt," snarled Barcoo. Stiffner jumped the counter. There were loud, hurried words of remonstrance, then some stump-splitting oaths and a scuffle, consequent upon an attempt to chuck the old man out. Then a crash.
Frederick Walker was the leader of the Rockhampton search expedition. He was an old bushman, had had much to do with the formation of the native police of Queensland, and took a party of native troopers with him on this occasion. On receiving his commission he pushed rapidly out to the Barcoo, and in the neighbourhood of the tree marked L, found by Gregory, discovered another L tree.
Word Of The Day