Page:History of West Australia.djvu/240

 188

by R. McBryde Broun (or Brown) on 10th November of the same year. Mr. Broun was associated with the Government almost from the arrival of the Parmelia, of which vessel he was a passenger, and took a prominent part in different demonstrations. Then on 15th May, 1859, Mr. H. Burges died of injuries received from the explosion of a steam pipe at his flour mill. Mr. Burges, as the historical narrative indicates, was of the practical stamp of pioneers. Among men totally untitled to become foundation builders, he stood out in pleasing relief. In public life and in agricultural and pastoral pursuits he was known all over the colony. A week earlier a pioneer of 1830 in the person of Mr. John Barnard succumbed.

Mr. Joseph V. Bussell, of Busselton and Augusta, died on 3rd September, 1860. Like Mr. Burges, he was a pioneer of the best kind. He was but forty-seven years old. Of him was written in the announcement of his death: "Isolated in the remotest district with a small community, an army severed from its base, he experienced in exaggeration all the difficulties and dangers which attend the first settler. By penury and famine through defective communication, by losses through fire and wreck, by peril from hostile tribes, by crushed hopes and aspirations," he suffered much, but his genial spirit throughout made him the favourite of every settler. His family name is perpetuated at Busselton.

Judge Mackie completed the list up to 1860. He died at Henley Park on 24th November, 1860. In May, 1857, he retired from office on a pension of £400 a year. He was then the recipient of numerous addresses lauding his impartiality as a judge and his general contributions to colonial welfare. He was the first legal official under the Western Australian Government, and as Advocate-General and Commissioner of the Civil Court supplied a worthy example to those who came afterwards. He was among the few members of the Legislative Council who escaped the bitter strictures of an irritated and free-spoken people. Writes a newspaper:—"A sound lawyer, a thoroughly upright man, calm, equable, and impartial, he left as an example nothing for his successors to excel and much for them to equal. Everyone felt that his characteristics were those of the noblest of men—a thorough, uncorrupt, learned, impartial, and just English judge." He was buried in the Upper Swan Church grounds.

By these deaths vacancies were caused in the Civil Establishment. Judge McFarland was appointed from England in place of Judge Mackie. He arrived in the colony early in 1858, but had a comparatively short term of office. In February, 1861, he resigned, and went to Sydney to practise as a barrister. His popularity fell far short of that of his predecessor. Early in February, 1861, Judge A. P. Burt was sworn in as Commissioner of the Civil Court, and began a long local career. Shortly after his arrival he was appointed Chief Justice of Western Australia. Mr. R. McB. Broun temporarily filled the office vacated by Mr. H. C. Sutherland, but in January, 1856, Mr. A. O'Grady Lefroy was appointed Colonial Treasurer. Mr. F. P. Barlee was appointed Colonial Secretary in July, 1855. In December, 1855, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Bruce was commissioned Commandant of the military forces. In April, 1854, Mr. G. F. Stone resigned the Registrar-Generalship, and subsequently became Advocate-General, and was replaced by Mr. C. Sholl; in December, 1856, Mr. A. Durlacher succeeded Mr. Sholl as Registrar-General. Mr. Thos. Brown succeeded Mr. P. McB. Broun as Collector of Customs.

In January, 1860, Surveyor-General Roe left for England on leave of absence. Perhaps on no occasion during the history of the colony were so many addresses and letters of esteem showered on a departing colonist. Lieutenant Roe during his long service had placed the colony in his debt to an incalculable extent; he returned to Western Australia in the following year and resumed his duties. Mr. A. Hillman became Acting Surveyor-General. The members of the Executive Council in 1860 were Governor Kennedy, Commandant Bruce, Colonial Secretary Barlee, Comptroller-General Henderson, Acting Surveyor-General Hillman, Advocate-General Stone, and Collector of Revenue Lefroy. In addition to these, the members (non-official) of the Legislative Council were J. W. Hardey, S. P. Phillips, E. Hamersley, and L. Samson.

The opening up of the new country north of Perth encouraged exploration work. Vigorous attempts were made to discover more land suitable for enterprise, and several expeditions were equipped. The first was that of Assistant-Surveyor R. Austin, who had already exploited tracts north-east and east of Champion Bay. The Government was memorialised to equip this party, and settlers contributed towards the outfit. The principal object laid before Austin was to report upon extensive tracts of fertile land supposed to exist near a large sheet of water known as "Cow-Cow-ing." The party was fated to undergo extreme difficulties and risks; it comprised eight white men, besides Mr. Austin, two natives, and 27 horses.

Leaving Perth on 21st June, 1854, Mr. Austin and his band proceeded to Bucklands, near Northam, whence on 7th July they went into the interior unknown country. A north-east by easterly direction was taken from Mombekine, over open undulating sandy plains, and through a gum forest growing upon ironstone and quartz. They emerged into a scrubby plain of yellow ironstone gravel, and encountered a dense thicket of cyprus and casuarina scrub, in which was crossed the dry bed of the Salt River, or Mortlock, trending south-east. A large herd of wild cattle was disturbed at a spring called Youlanging. From the summit of a hill Mr. Austin saw, to the north-west, a broad expanse of undulating sand plains studded with clumps of gum forest and thicket; the eastward contained wooded granite hills and several patches of grassy land. To the north of this hill, running in a north-east by easterly direction were two immense walls of quartz. A number of natives joined them. These people, among whom were Daren men from the interior, had been hunting in the vicinity of the camp, and brought with them several kangaroos and grey opossums. The latter animals had a most wretched appearance, being devoid of hair which the blacks had pulled out and spun into string the size of whipcord, worn round their waists in a band an inch thick and two inches wide. The natives celebrated the meeting with the whites by a grand corroboree. The further track first lay through a belt of hilly, grassy country of granite formation, extending about six miles to a hill called Twattergunning, abreast of which lay a narrow valley or watershed terminating at the summit of an extensive table-land of red conglomerate rock. The neighbouring country produced several streams shedding into a large brook, which discharged the accumulated waters into the Salt River. This in its course proceeded through a narrow defile between two rugged hills, from which huge granite rocks had slipped and nearly blocked up the intermediate space. The largest rock buried a blackfellow who was passing when it fell. The adjacent country was fairly good second-rate grazing land