324 GREGORY'S NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. [March 23, 1857. 



the fate of, and perliaps rescuing, the man who had sacrificed every- 

 thing to the cause of geographical science. 



3. Return of the North Australian Expedition^ under Mr. A. C. Gregory. 

 Communicated by G. F. Leslie, Esq., f.r.g.s. 



Burnett District, 2nd December, 1856. 

 Sir, — I have the honour to inform you of the arrival of the North 

 Australian Expedition within the limits of the settled parts of New 

 South Wales, and transmit for the information of his Excellency the 

 Governor-General a brief outline of the proceedings of the ex- 

 pedition. 



From the time of landing the horses at Point Pearce in September, 

 1855, to the 9th May, 1856, the party was employed in preliminary 

 details, and the exploration of the country to the south of the 

 Victoria River, having penetrated the interior deserts to latitude 

 18° 20' south, and longitude 127° 30' east; a detail of which I forwarded 

 by the ' Tom Tough' schooner, via Copang, and which doubtless has 

 already come to hand. 



The schooner ' Tom Tough ' having been seriously damaged in 

 ascending the Victoria River, and a quantity of stores and provisions 

 thereby destroyed, I instructed Mr. Baines to embark that portion 

 of the expedition which was not required to form the land party, 

 and to proceed to Copang for supplies, and thence to the Albert 

 River in the Gulf of Carpentaria, to co-operate with the land 

 expedition. 



On the 21st June I left the encampment on the Victoria River, 

 with a party of six persons, viz., Mr. H. Gregory, Mr. Elsey, Dr. 

 Muller, and three men — Dean, Bowman, and Melville. 



The arid nature of the country in the interior of Northern Aus- 

 tralia compelled us to increase our latitude to 15° S. in order to 

 pass the central parts of Arnheim-land, after which we kept parallel 

 to the coast as far inland as water could be found in the rivers, the 

 greatest distance from the sea not exceeding 100 miles. 



Reaching the appointed rendezvous at the Albert River on the 

 30th August, the schooner had not arrived, and from some marked 

 trees, it appeared that Her Majesty's Ship ' Torch ' had sent a boat 

 up the River a few weeks previous, but it was evident that this 

 visit had no reference to the expedition, as the only marks left con- 

 sisted of the names of some of the crew, which they had amused 

 themselves by carving on the trees and stumps ; and the ashes of 

 their fire. 



Under these circumstances, I deemed it not advisable to wait the 



