Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/92

 66 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY The citizens and Blunden in 1838 discovered the Gawler River, named after the Governor; and Messrs. Cock and Janiieson travelled as far as Yorke Peninsula. An association was fomietl to take up land by special survey on the Peninsula, but the proposal was aban- doned. Some of those who were interested lied to regret the circumstance, for the land proposed to be purchased comprised the rich mineral country at Wallaroo and Kadina. An important triji, which had a tragical outcome, was made by Edward John Eyre. This gentleman proved himself to be one of the most famous and expert bushmen who ever visited the unknown lands of Australia. After he completed his explorations, he w;is apjX)inted to supervise the aborigines on the Murray ; in subsequent years, as Governor of Jamaica, he obtained great notoriety in the means he employed to suppress native insurrection, described by Justin McCarthy as a carnival of blood. Eyre, with Messrs. Scott, Baxter, and Coles, accompanied by two native boys, went north beyond Gulf St. Vincent and Spencer Gulf to Lake Torrens. His object was to explore the interior, and find a way to Western Australia, but the desolation north of Spencer Gulf forced him Ixick. Instead of returning to Adelaide he struck south-west to .Streaky Bay, where he formed a depot. In order to make a final and decisive effort to reach his goal, he reduced the size of his party by sending Scott and Coles back to Adelaide, and then, notwithstanding the request of Governor Gawler to abandon the enterprise, he set out in January, 1841, with Baxter, as his only white companion, and three natives. The sterile expanses flanking the head of the Great Australian flight were crossed with difficulty, and long stretches traversed without water. In the midst of country as desolate as any ever pictured, the tragic episode of his expedition occurred. The border line of the colonies had been crossed, and the five men were camped on a waste of hard rock with sickly bu-shes growing from the cracks. . At night Eyre watched the horses feeding on the sparse vegetation a little distance from the camp ; clouds scudded above him ; and the wind howled around him as it only can in such abandoned wildernesses. Presently Eyre heard a musket shot, and then one of the natives — Wylie — ru.shed up, calling wildly to him. The remaining natives had lately been grumbling, and while Eyre's old servant Baxter was sleeping, had shot him and decamped with most of the provisions and all the serviceable firearms. AH night long, with nothing to repulse an attack. Eyre and Wylie watched over the dead man, expecting every moment to be shot. They were unmolested, and when day broke they .sought to bury Baxter, but the rock was so hard, that they could not dig a grave. In that awful place they left him, and with provisions sufficient to last only for a few days, they continued their journey. Once or twice they saw the murderers following their trail, and then they lost sight of them altogether, and no doubt they perished miserably in the huge natural graveyard surrounding them. With unsurpassed hardihood and re.solution, Eyre and Wylie reached Thistle Cove, on the Western Australian coast, where they were fortunate enough to sight a whaling vessel at anchor. They procured sustenance, and after a few days' rest started again, and eventually reached Albany in safety. No journey ever made in Australia, and the annals are full of stirring stories of courage and suffering, surpa.sses this in sternness of purpo.se, endurance, and unbending fortitude.