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1884, reported on the country to the south of Perth. He observed the presence of metamorphic rocks of many varieties, and advised that, as metalliferous veins were so frequently met with, careful and systematic prospecting should be commenced in the valleys of the Preston and the Blackwood. A few weeks previous to the issue of this report Governor Broome, in a despatch to Earl Derby, predicted that gold would be discovered in payable quantities in Western Australia, and thought that suitable regulations should be prepared "for immediate application in case of necessity."

It was heartily hoped that gold would be found in the neighbourhood of the Ord River. Mr. Hardman accompanied Mr. Harry F. Johnston in his expeditions of 1883-4, and though his examination was necessarily hurried, and subject to the exigencies of the survey party, he supplied a report which led to the equipment of prospecting bands, and the discovery of gold. In his first detailed description (21st April, 1884) he deals with the country from Roebuck Bay to the Fitzroy and Yeeda Rivers; from Yeeda River to Escape Point, thence north-west to the May and Meda Rivers; from the Meda northwards through the Usborne Ranges to Port Usborne; and with the Fitzroy, Margaret, May, Lennard, Richenda, and Meda Rivers, and adjoining country. He discovered a considerable area of carboniferous limestone, which extended in a wavy line from Alexander Creek, through the Napier, Oscar, and Geikie Ranges, as far as the Margaret River, and ended within a few miles of the Leopold Ranges. The limestone was extremely cavernous. Large caverns with stalactites were found in the hills near Alexander Creek, and at Mount Pierre there were several interesting caves, with large stalactites forming pillars, and depending icicle-like from the roof. On the sides of one cave were various representations of men and animals executed by natives. One scene portrayed an alligator apparently about to seize an emu; the figures were painted black on the grey limestone surface, and the outlines were pricked out in broad white lines. There was also the representation of a man throwing a kylie, or boomerang. The drawings, although rude, showed a considerable amount of imitative art.

Of the prospects of finding precious or other metals, Mr. Hardman was hopeful. The hurried nature of the survey prevented him from making a systematic examination for gold, but he considered it "extremely likely that that part of the district occupied by the metamorphic rock will eventually prove to be, in some degree at least, auriferous." He recommended that a thorough search be made in the country between the Napier Range and Mount Broome, on the Lennard and Richenda Rivers, particularly about ten or twelve miles up, where the principal slate country commenced. He observed continuous exposures of metamorphic rocks and numerous quartz veins, varying in width from a few inches to thirty feet, and apparently bearing north-west. The quartz was of various characters, usually milk-white, often colourless, and sometimes coloured with various oxides of iron.

Settlers who penetrated as far as the Ord River had already reported the discovery of the "colour" of gold there. During the surveys of 1884, Mr. Hardman examined this country, and supplied a very hopeful report. The river gravels on the Elvire, Panton and Ord Rivers, he said, were made up of fragmentary metamorphic rocks, together with great quantities of quartz, all more or less showing the result of water-carriage. The banks of gravels along these rivers were often from twenty to forty feet in thickness and wherever prospected yielded good colours of gold. Thick deposits of such gravel sometimes extended for over a mile on each side of these rivers. In the Ord Ranges, and in the basaltic country, he observed a great quantity of quartz. Moss-agates were found in abundance on the south side of the Mary River, and he thought that good opals might be discovered. Quartz veins were seen in the granites below the Leopold Ranges, and the country, stretching from the McClintock Range to the north-north-east, was traversed by an enormous number of them, of a yellowish or gray colour, in which minute specs of gold were noticed in a few cases. He found alluvial gold of very encouraging character over many miles of country; sometimes good colours were obtained in every pan washed in different trials in the same locality. Indeed, he found gold distributed for about 140 miles along the rivers mentioned; in several instances he obtained good colours at a considerable distance from the quartz reefs, from which the gold could only have been derived. In conclusion, he expressed great hopes of payable gold being obtained in this district. It was singular that although Mr. Hardman believed that rich deposits would be found in the Kimberley district, he did not obtain sufficient gold to cover a threepenny bit; in the very localities where he sometimes camped gold was afterwards picked up on the surface. This was due partly to the limited opportunities he had for prospecting, for Mr. Johnston could seldom spare him an assistant. The promising country was the broken rough country whence Mr. Johnston hurried away as quickly as possible. Notwithstanding these difficulties, Mr. Hardman was invariably correct in his predictions, and where he advised that a careful search be made gold was generally found.

Soon after Mr. Hardman's first report of April, 1884, preparations were set in motion to equip a party to prospect the Kimberley district. The predictions of an experienced geologist following the reports of squatters influenced private people to render monetary assistance to the band. In August, 1884, Mr. Grant proposed in the House that the Government should afford the men the loan or help of horses not being used by the Kimberley Survey party during the summer months. The Commissioner of Crown Lands considered that it would be better to vote a sum of money, but Mr. Grant's proposal was carried. As indicative of the great expectations held in Perth that a goldfield would be discovered in the north, Mr. McRae asked in the House in September whether the Government intended to prevent the supposed goldfields being monopolised by Chinese.

Messrs. John Slattery, Chas. Hall, Jos. McCaque, John Campbell, Alex. Nicholson, and H.A. Poult, who came from the Eastern colonies, comprised one prospecting party. They proceeded up the coast, and on the 30th August, 1885, left the Yeeda Station for the supposed locality. They held to the Panton River until it joined the Elvire. After following a dry creek for about ten miles they reached a waterhole, near where they found payable gold. In five or six days they had collected ten ounces from the bed of the creek under a layer of drift sand. The dirt had to be carried two miles to the water. Not remaining at this point for any length of time they prospected one of the branches of the Margaret River, down the Ord River, and on to the Panton. On the last-named they obtained colours, and on the Elvire they found the colour in every hole sunk. Finally, they were compelled to return for provisions to Derby, where they arrived at the end of July or early in August. They estimated that the payable gold was found some 400 miles from Derby.

It is not clear who was actually the discoverer of the Kimberley Goldfield, as apart from the prospectors named, Mr.