676 NOTES ON THE NATIVE FLORA OF N. S. WALES, X., 



not find time to visit it, though Throsby did. They were under 

 the impression that the new river flowed towards the south-east 

 into the ocean, which suggests that, although they were aware 

 of the presence of the river, no white man had actually visited it. 



It was in April, 1821, that Throsby visited the locality of the 

 present Federal Territory, and, after going southerly from Lake 

 George, he wrote :— " I passed over two rivers, exclusive of the 

 one I discovered and on the banks of which I passed a night at 

 the time the Governor was at Lake George." 



The two rivers referred to would be the Molonglo and Quean- 

 beyan, and the one he discovered previously, the Murrumbidgee. 

 He met with vast quantities of limestone, and a good quantity 

 of open forest and plains.* 



On the 31st May, 1823, Captain Mark John Currie, Brigade- 

 Major Ovens, and Joseph Wild reached the vicinity of what is 

 now known as Queanbeyan, and, Currie writes, "encamped by 

 the side of the South Fish River (as called by our attendant, 

 Joseph Wild), on the edge of Lime-stone Plains," They travelled 

 thence south-westerly towards the Morumbidgee (as it was 

 usually spelt in those days), and named the Isabella Plain after 

 Governor Brisbane's daughter. This plain is largely included 

 within Portions 190 and 203, Parish of Tuggeranong. They 

 followed up the right bank of the Morumbidgee, finally crossing 

 the Umaralla, thinking it was the Morumbidgee, and discovering 

 the Monaro Plains or Downs. On the way up, they mention 

 having seen pine-trees of about 2 feet in diameter. These would 

 be the species now known as Callilris calca7'ata, Black or Moun- 

 tain-Pine. 



In returning, the party for some distance kept to the eastward 

 of the Federal Territory, and, on the 8th June, 1823, "met with 

 large rocks of limestone," discovering what is now known as 

 London Bridge, " a natural bridge of one perfect Saxon arch, 

 under which the water passed." 



Settlement followed this visit within the next few months, for 

 among the records of the Chief Secretary's Department is a letter 



* The Australian Magazine, 1821, Vol. i. (Public Library). 



