Page:Tracks of McKinlay and party across Australia.djvu/99

 danger to his small party from the Aborigines, and also finding a scarcity of water, as the time (December) was towards the end of the dry season. The country otherwise, however, was of the most promising description. He reached the depôt on the 19th January, 1862, and on the 10th February took his course across Australia by way of the Flinders, guided to this course by the information given by Walker. It was only on reaching the settlements of the Darling, four months afterwards, that he learned the fate of Burke's party.

The Queensland Government co-operated with that of Victoria in forwarding the northern expedition. That of South Australia organized a special "Burke Relief Expedition" of its own. The parliament of the colony promptly voted the necessary funds, and the charge of the party was offered to Mr. John McKinlay. That gentleman being at the time in Melbourne, the offer was made to him through the electric telegraph. It was accepted as quickly as made, and within three weeks, as Mr. Davis tells us, of the parliamentary vote, Mr. McKinlay and his party were already at Kapunda, fifty miles beyond Adelaide, all prepared for the great journey before them. It was not indeed contemplated at starting that they would have to cross the entire of Australia, but they were equipped for that contingency, and their leader having decided further on to accomplish