'^^''-'l Exctirsion to National Park. 143 



1915J ^^ 



EXCURSION TO NATIONAL PARK, WILSON'S 

 PROMONTORY. 



On two previous occasions the Club has undertaken extended 

 excursions to the National Park — the first during Christmas, 

 1905, before the whole of the Promontory had been per- 

 manently reserved, when the western coast as far south as 

 Oberon Bay was visited ; and the second during Christmas, 

 1912, when the Vereker Range and the adjacent country was 

 explored. 



On the present occasion, while necessarily covering much of 

 the ground traversed on these earher trips, some new locahties 

 which have been recently opened up by the Committee of 

 Management of the Park were visited. Our party of twelve 

 consisted of the following : — Messrs. E. Allman, F. G. A. 

 Barnard, J. Barr, W. Kernot, L. N. Kershaw, L. K. M'Nab, 

 J. G. O'Donoghue, O. W. Rosenhain, J. Shephard, B. L. 

 Stanton, H. Whitmore, and J. A. Kershaw (leader). 



Leaving Melbourne by the 6.30 a.m. train on Saturday, 26th 

 December, we reached Foster (no miles), where lunch had been 

 provided, shortly after mid-day. Bennison, three miles further 

 on, completed our railway journey, and here we were joined 

 by some members of the Committee of Management, who were 

 also visiting the Park on their annual inspection. Among the 

 latter were two of our members — viz.. Prof. A. J. Ewart, who 

 represents the Club on the Committee of Management, and 

 Dr. T. S. Hall, representing the Royal Society. Continuing 

 our journey by horse tram for another mile and a half, we 

 reached Port Frankhn, a small fishing village on the Franklin 

 River, where we found our motor-boat awaiting us. Trans- 

 ferring our baggage to the boat, we proceeded down the river. 

 We were fortunately able to leave on a rising tide, the 

 extensive mud -flats bordering the river to its mouth being 

 still uncovered, and, as usual, swarming with countless numbers 

 of the small Mangrove Crab, Helcecuis cordiformis. Here and 

 there groups of birds, including Curlews, Blue Cranes, Hooded 

 Dottrels, together with Pacific and Silver Gulls, wandered over 

 the mud, while on the sand-banks at the mouth of the river 

 were seen numbers of Black Swans, Pelicans, and Cormorants. 

 The river, more especially on the western side, is margined with 

 a thick growth of the Spurious Mangrove, Avicenaria officinalis, 

 whose green foliage is a pleasing contrast to the bare, muddy 

 banks. Leaving the mouth of the river, we steered a course 

 for Doughboy Island, where we landed and spent an hour or 

 so while waiting for the incoming tide to rise sufficiently to 

 enable us to cross the shallow sand-banks between the channels. 

 Our trip across had been a rather wet one, as, besides some 

 slight showers, we had been running against wind and tide, 



