Page:Northmost Australia volume 2.djvu/25

 CHAPTER LII

WILLIAM HANN'S EXPEDITION, 1872

FROM FOSSILBROOK, DOWN THE LYND RIVER AND ACROSS THE TATE AND WALSH TO LEICHHARDT'S MITCHELL RIVER

HE seven years which followed the return of the Jardine Brothers' Expedition in 1865 witnessed the steady march of settlement in Northern Queensland. In 1865, and  were opened as ports. A hardy and adventurous population had been drawn to the interior by the discovery of in widely separated localities, such as the  (1868), the  and  (1869),  (1870),  (1869-71) and  (1872). With a view to the supply of the goldfields and ports with meat, and to the export of wool, numerous "squatters" spread out and occupied such tracts of country as were suitable, available and accessible.

In the usual course of events, the discovery and opening of the interior radiate inwards from the harbours of the coast. Townsville, however, formed an exception to this rule. Pastoral occupation, with and the town of  as a base, had pushed out to the west of the Coast Range, and reached the  and  valleys. The growing necessity for access to the coast at some point nearer than Bowen led to a lookout for a more convenient port. Early in 1864, (Managing