Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/164

124 as near by is the most remarkable gold quarry—it is scarcely a mine—in the world, the famous Mount Morgan.

When the town of Gladstone was surveyed and laid out in 1853 it is said that at “South Tree Point” there was found in the sand a brass cannon, a pivot gun about 5 feet long, with a bore of 1½ inches, in very good preservation and inscribed “Santa Barbara, 1596” (Santa Barbara was patron saint of artillery in Spain).

High up amongst the bush on the eastern side of Facing Island the remains of a very ancient ship with oaks growing through her gaping sides were discovered. The existence of this interesting relic was vouched for by Mr. Friend, the oldest surviving resident of Gladstone, and it was inspected by Mr. Richard Ware, one of the original surveyors of Gladstone, and by Mr. Colin Archer of Gracemere, a pioneer landowner. Mr. Archer had been originally a shipwright and shipbuilder—he long after this designed the Fram for Nansen—and he pronounced the build of the vessel to be Spanish.

They also found on a projecting detached rock at Auckland Point a carving in stone of a man's face with a partly obliterated date below. At some remote period timber had been cleared at South Tree Point, two wells sunk and lined with “imported timber.” There were traces of a building, and “a stone erection had been founded some feet in the loose soil.” A large block of stone with smooth sides was marked with crosses, and was thought to have been an altar.

Mr. William Archer, the well-known author, is a relative of the Mr. Archer of Gracemere whose name is given.

[Mr. William Archer writes that his uncle, Mr. Colin Archer, mentioned above, and now resident