Kov. 22, 1858.] AND THE AUSTRALIAN DESERT. §1 



went away from a former meeting grieved to think that Mr. Gregory's report 

 would tend to hinder the settlement of Northern Australia. This paper of 

 Mr. Clarke's has revived my hopes as to the early colonisation of the country 

 round the Gulf of Carpentaria. Let it be recollected that the two expeditions 

 sent out to connect the northernmost bend of the Barcu Kiver with the 

 bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria failed, not from the difficulties of the country, 

 Tbut from the failure of provisions ; for Sir Thomas Mitchell describes the 

 country to the northward of the Barcu as the finest he had seen in the whole 

 of Australia. 



The Peesident. — The discussion has somewhat diverged from the point at 

 which we started — the expedition in search of the remains of Leichhardt. 

 I rejoice, however, that it has taken this turn, because it has brought 

 forward my friend Mr. Crawfurd, who, upon certain subjects connected with 

 North Australia, may be called our " objector-general." His objections are 

 indeed always of great use, and on this occasion they have elicited from gentle- 

 men who have lived upon the spot, that this very region, which ipy friend 

 stigmatises as unfertile, and not fitted for the maintenance of sheep and the 

 growth of wool, is in the highest degree productive, well- watered, and adapted 

 for the sustenance of sheep as well as cattle. I regret that Sir John Pakington, 

 one of Her Majesty's Ministers most interested in this discussion, so far as it 

 regards the establishment of a great naval depot in the northern part of Aus- 

 tralia, should have left the room just as we were beginning to debate that 

 point. To me indeed it is not a new subject. In the years 1844 and 1845, 

 when I was your President, I argued earnestly for the establishment of a 

 .great naval entrepot upon that coast ; and I supported with all the energy in 

 my power the enlightened views of Admiral Sir Gordon Bremer, a most 

 experienced navigator in those seas. I have long thought that Great Britain 

 ought not to hold three sides of the great continent of Australia without 

 having on its northern frontier any one settlement. Provided only a port be 

 established, it is unimportant to me whether it be at Cape York or Port 

 Essington ; though, if I were consulted, I should like to see a settlement 

 established also in Cambridge Gulf, which is well watered by the Victoria 

 River, navigable for some distance, where our men were encamped for eight 

 months, enjoying perfect health, and where the wool of the sheep did not 

 deteriorate; these animals having been pastured up to their knees in gravSS. 

 Judging from the experience of Gregory's expedition, I feel certain that 

 Englishmen could live there to their own advantage, as well as to that of the 

 mother country. I rejoice indeed that gentlemen who have resided in 

 Australia are ready to enforce the necessity of establishing some great entre- 

 pots, particularly as ports of refuge, to provide against the possibility of these 

 seas being swept by a hostile fleet ; for with the knowledge that the French 

 have now occupied and settled New Caledonia, with its splendid natural bays 

 and harbours, which were discovered and named by our own Cook, it is abso- 

 lutely essential that we should be better prepared. 



