April, 1908.J THE VICTORIAN NATUllALIST. 183 



in future years they would be so closely linked together in their 

 work. 



This was the great era of exploration in Australia, more 

 especially at that time in South Australia. Sturt had done 

 splendid work, M'Douall Stuart was pressing northwards from 

 Adelaide, and Warburton had reported in favourable terms upon 

 the country, then but little known, lying towards the centre of the 

 continent in the region of Lake Eyre. It was, indeed, the dis- 

 coveries of Warburton, who had the good fortune to cross the 

 country in an exceptionally favourable season, that drew the 

 attention of Melbourne pastoralists to what was then regarded as 

 a " promised land." By this time Alfred Howitt was well known 

 as a capable, careful, and fearless bushman, and in 1859 he was 

 sent out at the head of a small party to explore the " Far North," 

 and to select on behalf of a Melbourne syndicate a tract of 

 country suited for raising cattle. 



His experience was that of so many other travellers in 

 Australia. Where one explorer had found water and grass in 

 abundance, the next one, travelling over the same area, met 

 with nothing but sterility. To use Howitt's own words — " In 

 time we worked our way to Strangways Springs .... but 

 it was not the kind of country that we wanted." After travelling 

 1,500 miles on horseback, and bringing all his party safely back, he 

 returned to Melbourne. "Such," he says, after describing the 

 barren nature of the country, " was my apprenticeship in Central 

 Australia, which in the near future was to stand me in good stead 

 in a far more important expedition." 



After returning to Melbourne, and gaining more experience as 

 the manager of a station near Hamilton, he was chosen to take 

 charge of a party of picked miners sent out by the Government of 

 Victoria at the instance of Mr. Angus M'Millan, the pioneer of 

 Gippsland. His object was to explore and prospect the rugged, 

 mountainous country around the sources of the Mitchell River, 

 and the result of this work was the opening up of goldfields on 

 the Crooked, Dargo, and Wenlworth Rivers. It was during this 

 expedition that he first became really interested in the question of 

 the eucalypt trees, and to the last he retained his interest in this 

 subject, studying them minutely, until, from practical experience 

 in various parts of Australia, he acquired an unrivalled knowledge 

 of this characteristic feature of our Australian flora. He was a 

 rare example of a man who possessed both what is called a 

 practical and at the same time a thorough scientific knowledge 

 of subjects such as this. He knew the eucalypts of Victoria, 

 from a scientific point of view, as well as anyone, including even 

 the late Baron von Mueller, and at the same time he was 

 thoroughly acquainted with their value from a practical point of 

 view. And here I may say that he was an expert in woodwork. 

 This was his favourite pastime and his hobby, and in his workshop 



