342 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS— AUSTRALIA. [May 23, 1859. 



region ; whilst Dr. Mueller, on whose shoulders as an Australian 

 botanist has fallen the mantle of Eobert Brown, is continually 

 issuing new works on the plants of the continent, whether those 

 which he collected in tropical or northern Australia, when he was 

 the companion of Gregory, or those of Victoria. 



These, then, are excellent materials, ready to be used in the 

 publication of the Opus Magnum of our colonial empire which is 

 projected by Sir W. Denison. Let us hope, therefore, that the Old 

 Country may willingly respond to this demand for knowledge made 

 by her children in the colonies. Let us follow the admirable ex- 

 ample in this respect set to us by our kinsmen in the United States 

 as well as by our fellow countrymen in Canada, where the publica- 

 tions on geography and geology have already demonstrated how 

 much can be done by the hearty goodwill of the several states 

 of the American Union and by one great colony of the British 

 empire. 



Before, however, I quit the consideration of Australia and the 

 adjacent lands, let me remind you of the endeavour which I made 

 as early as the year 1844 (see Address, vol. xiv. p. xcvii) to rouse 

 the attention of the public to the necessity of keeping up the esta- 

 blishment we then possessed at Port Essington, whether as a port 

 of refuge for our merchantmen in peace, or as a roadstead during 

 war, in which a fleet could assemble, to protect the northern and 

 eastern coasts of this vast continent. In the absence of such, it 

 was clear that an enemy might sweep the eastern archipelago on 

 the one side, or attack the slightly protected colony of New South 

 Wales on the other. 



In the mean time, although we have long ago abandoned the soli- 

 tary station of Port Essington on the north coast of Australia— con- 

 trary to the entreaty of that excellent naval officer the late Sir 

 Gordon Bremer and his associates now living, Captafhs Stokes and 

 Drury, as well as in the face of a protest on the part of this Society 

 — not only has no substitute for it been obtained by occupying 

 Cape York or any other station, but we seem to have been heedless 

 of the efforts made in the interim by the French to establish other 

 ports in these seas, and to fill them with a naval force. Thus, 

 whilst the picture of New Caledonia, as discovered by Captain 

 Cook, still hangs in the rooms of the First Lord of our Admiralty, 

 that great island has been taken possession of by the French, and 

 is now their "Nouvelle Caledonie." Now, if our allies (and may 



