94 RANDELL'S VOYAGE [April 23, 1860. 



The second Paper read was — 

 2. Voyage up the Darling and Barwan Rivers. By W. E. Eandell, Esq. 



His Excellency Sir R. Macdonnell reports the successful navigation 

 of the Darling by Mr. Randell, not only beyond Mount Murchison, 

 but to a point 120 miles by land higher than Fort Bourke, or 1800 

 miles by water above the junction of the Darling and the Murray, 

 or, altogether, 2400 miles by water above the sea mouth of the 

 Murray. The same gentleman has from the first been one of the 

 most enterprising and successful navigators of the Australian rivers. 

 His small steamer, the Mary Anne, was the very first that undertook 

 a voyage up the Murray, as, in 1853, it not only preceded the Lady 

 Augusta, but also reached a higher point than that vessel. Great 

 importance is attached by the Governor to Mr. Eandell's recent 

 expedition. That gentleman describes the river above Fort Bourke 

 as even easier to navigate than below it. He was stopped, in about 

 29^ 25' S. lat. and 147° E. long., by a rapid of 8 feet fall in two or 

 three hundred yards, a place where the Blacks have constructed 

 numerous weirs of stone for capturing fish. He believes a passage 

 through this might easily be made, and steamers warped up it, 

 when another 100 miles would be open to navigation. The river 

 banks are occupied by settlers, up to Mount Murchison. Beyond 

 that point the country greatly improves as a sheep country. The 

 timber is not so plentiful as on the Murray, but it is much superior 

 in quality. The natives are numerous above Mount Murchison. 

 Mr. Eandell considers the navigation of the Darling could be largely 

 improved with little difficulty, first by clearing its bed of snags, 

 which might be done at once ; and, secondly, by damming up the 

 backwaters and constructing some locks. 



Colonel Gawler, f.r.g.s., regretted that Sir Kicbard Macdonnell was obliged 

 to stop short in his journey, for fifty or sixty miles to the north-westward of 

 the point he reached was that mysterious river which Stuart described, in some 

 places three miles wide, flowing from east to west. It must be an extraordinary 

 river, for the breadth and volume of water indicated a long course. Its source 

 was probably far away to the westward, and, judging from the observations of 

 Eyre, the atmospheric indications seemed to lead to the conclusion that there 

 was a well- watered country in that direction. The mountains of South Australia 

 were primary, and probably the same formation reappeared in the interior, rising 

 perhaps to still greater elevations than in the south. Then came the interesting 

 question of where was the embouchure of that river ? It was impossible that 

 it sh(fuld liave a mouth upon the coast, and the probability was that there was 

 a great inland sea into which it emptied itself. He was of opinion that these 

 inland bodies of water once had their waste-pipe by Lake Torrens into Spencer 

 Gulf. The Governor found a deficiency of surface-water over large tracts of 

 country, but a great abundance pouring out in an extraordinary manner from 



