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Rh Partner of R. Towns & Co. in the north) pointed out the claims of a site at the mouth of, and, in June of that year, organised a party who made it their business to connect the site with the squatting runs of the interior. (See Map O.) In 1865, the port of was proclaimed, and the town of  was founded.

The Brothers and, who had settled at Maryvale, on a branch of the Clarke River, a tributary of the Burdekin, had the honour of being the first to take wool to the new port for shipment. It may be mentioned that Townsville is now a "city" of nearly 28,000 inhabitants. It is also the starting-point of a RAILWAY, through the sugar lands of the Lower Burdekin to the older town of Bowen, of another to the sugar lands at the mouth of the Herbert River (Ingham), and of a main trunk line through the Cloncurry Copperfield (480 miles) and Mount Cuthbert Copper Mine (70 miles), passing through Charters Towers Goldfield and the great pastoral centre of Hughenden, with a branch to Ravenswood Goldfield ; and it must, at no distant date, reach the Gulf of Carpentaria. The early developed a passion for exploration, and their friendship and business connection with Richard Daintree had an influence in directing their energies. The achievement of the elder brother, William, who died in the eighties, alone comes within the province of this investigation, but it may be noted that the younger brother, Frank, during a long and adventurous life, has added greatly to our knowledge of the interior of Australia, from the east coast to the west, and until quite recently was still active in exploring the less known lands on the borders of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

was, to some extent, assisted by the Government, and had for its object "ascertaining, as far north as the I4th parallel of latitude, the character of the country and its mineral resources, with the view to future settlement and occupation." Its members were William Hann (Leader), Norman Taylor, formerly of the Geological Survey of Victoria (Geologist), Thomas Tate (Botanist), Frederick Warner (Surveyor), Stewart, William Nation, and Jerry, an aboriginal.