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Updated: May 28, 2025
The roof was of shingles, split, thick, and wedge shaped; the walls of heavy ironbark slabs, and there was a stone chimney. Outside had been a garden; a few rose trees were standing yet, ragged and stunted. The wallabies had trimmed them pretty well, but we knew what they were.
The soil on the basalt was so shallow that it sustained only a scanty vegetation of grass and some few scattered narrow-leaved Ironbark trees. We crossed this dyke, however, and at about three miles descended from it into a fine narrow-leaved Ironbark flat, extending along the river, in which another large creek from the south-west joined the Burdekin.
Calvert and Charley accompanied me in an excursion to the W.N.W., but, having crossed some ridges and coming to scrub, we took a direction to the northward. Fine Bastard-box flats and Ironbark slopes occupy the upper part of Newman's Creek.
Proceeding to the N.N.E. we passed several creeks or watercourses, some fine open Ironbark slopes, and a sandstone range; and, following down a watercourse, came to a creek which seemed to originate in Phillips's Mountain. This creek contained water; it flowed to the south-east and east, and very probably joined Stephens's Creek.
The coldness of the night reminded me too strongly of the pleasures of the fire and the heavy dew which had fallen, though a comfort to my horse, rendered it difficult to light one; by dint of patience, however, I succeeded, and then stretched myself, hungry and thirsty as I was, by the side of a large Ironbark log; whilst my horse, which I had hobbled and tethered, drooped his head over me, little inclined either to feed or move.
We came to Ironbark ridges, and to the very spot where the natives had been burning the grass, but no watercourse, nor lagoon was seen. Brown rode farther to the southward, and observed the tracks of the natives in that direction, but found nothing but box-tree flats.
The ridges were covered with rusty Gum and narrow-leaved Ironbark. An Erythrina and the Acacia of Expedition Range were plentiful. The grass was rich and of various species. The granite rock still prevailed. A larger range to the southward of it was also porphyritic, very hard, as if penetrated by quartz, and containing small crystals of flesh-coloured felspar.
'You're hard on George, says Jim, 'there's no pleasing you to-day; one would think there were lots of chaps fighting how to give us a lift. Good-bye, George, old man; I'm sorry we can't wire in with you; we'd soon knock out those posts and rails on the ironbark range.
"Sandy and I found the two cows and calves a mile this side of the Canton Reef in a gully, but before we could head them off they had got away into the ironbark ridges. Sandy told me to wait, and galloped after them.
At their foot a richer tree vegetation existed, principally composed of the leguminous Ironbark, Blood-wood, and Pandanus. The darker verdure of these trees, which we also observed at the foot of the most distant range, made us believe that a river was near it.
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