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Updated: May 20, 2025
Crossing Cockburn Creek the Brothers bore away N.N.W. for 9 or 10 miles, over sandy bloodwood ridges, intersected with broad tea-tree gullies, to two sandy water courses half-a-mile apart, the first 100 and the second 50 yards in width, running west. These they supposed to be heads of the Mitchell.
We gathered some blossoms of the drooping tea-tree, which were full of honey, and, when soaked, imparted a very agreeable sweetness to the water.
Dillis, fish spears, a roasted bandicoot, a species of potatoe, wax, a bundle of tea-tree bark with dry shavings; several flints fastened with human hair to the ends of sticks, and which are used as knives to cut their skin and food; a spindle to make strings of opossum wool; and several other small utensils, were in their camp. The poor people had evidently not yet ventured to return.
These were very grassy and verdant, but I could find no fresh water, nor did I observe any timber except the tea-tree. After tracing the stream until it had ceased running, and merely became a chain of ponds of salt water, I returned to the camp a good deal fatigued; Wylie came in soon after, but had got nothing but a few yams.
On our left was a lofty and well wooded range, distant only about four miles, and on our right lay extensive plains, the western extremity of which, distant about sixteen miles from us, was by the sea; these plains appeared tolerably fertile, being covered with tea-tree swamps, now apparently dried up.
The idea of paying anything did not occur to him; he was doing me a favour. He was one of the simple natives. As I did not like to take favours from an entire stranger, the sheep and the shepherd sought other pastures beyond the winding Tarra. The dense tea-tree which bordered the banks of the river was the home of wild hogs, which spent the nights in rooting up the soil and destroying the grass.
It was running strongly W.N.W., and seemed distinctly to divide the good and bad country, that on the south side being richly grassed, open and lightly timbered, lucerne and other fine herbs occurring frequently, whilst on the north side it relapsed into the old barren tea-tree country of which so much had been traversed.
With stout hearts and naked legs, therefore they faced forward driving the horses and cattle before them, and by the end of the day placed ten miles between them and "Poison Creek," as it was then named. This however was not accomplished without great toil, the country traversed being red soil ridges, with black soil tea-tree flats between them, which were so many bogs.
Tietkens gave the alarm that all the rocks overhead were lined with natives, who began to utter the most direful yells so soon as they found themselves discovered. Their numbers were much larger than before, and they were in communication with others in the tea-tree on the opposite side of the creek, whose loud and inharmonious cries made even the heavens to echo with their sounds.
The country became flatter, more densely wooded, and gently sloping to the northward, when we entered a tea-tree hollow, through which the mirage indicated the presence of an immense plain, which we all mistook for the Ocean. We crossed over it to a belt of trees, which I thought to be its northern boundary.
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