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HZSTOEICAL SECTZOIT. 



The first meeting of the newly-formed 

 Historical and Geographical Section was 

 held on Friday, June 29th, 1899, at the 

 Royal Society's rooms. The President 

 (the Right Rev. H. H. Montgomery, U.D.), 

 presided. 



The Hox. Secretary (Mr. Alex. 

 Morton) stated that the following Fellows 

 of the Royal Society had sent in their 

 names as members of the section : — The 

 Hon. Adye Douglas, M.E.C. (President of 

 the Legislative Council), Messrs. J. R. 

 McClymont, M.A., and W. H. Dawson. 



PAPERS. 



The President read the following in- 

 teresting paper, entitled, 

 A Survey of Two Early Journeys 

 Westward— Mr. W. S. Sharland 

 IN 1832, AND Sir John Franklin in 

 1842. 



In 1S32 the countrj'^ up to Lake Echo 

 seemed to have been known, but beyond it, 

 westward, no white man appears to have 

 ventured. I have asserted this as a fact, 

 but it is in order to elicit a contradiction, 

 if possible. Had anyone penetrated west 

 of Lake Echo in these regions before 1832? 

 I proceed to sive the details of Mr. Shar- 

 land's first trip so far west. When de- 

 scending a tier, after leaving Lake Echo, 

 Mr. Sharland states that he saw the 

 Frenchman's Cap southward. It is clear, I 

 think, that he saw Wyld's Craig, which has 

 so often been mistaken by its shape for a 

 mountain that no one sees till he has 

 ascended Arrowsmith in that latitude, or, 

 of course, from Olympus and the Cuvier 

 Valley. Sharland then discovered theNive, 

 but called it the Derwent— having just 

 passed through the Marlborough Plains, 

 which were then a forest. But five years 

 afterwards, in 1837, a severe frost is sup- 

 posed to have killed all the trees over an 

 area of 20,000 acres. In 1842 nothing was 

 visible here, according to Mr. Burn, but 

 dead timber. Sharland, after crossing the 

 Nive, named Mount Charles and Darcy's 

 Bluff; and from a spurof Mount Charles he 

 made his great discovery. Lake St. Clair, 

 beingthree miles from it,but went no nearer 

 to it, thinking nothing would be gained 

 thereby. Having mistaken the Nive for 

 the Derwent, it is natural that he should 

 now have mistaken the Derwent for the 

 Gordon. In this vicinity he saw native 

 huts, but no natives. Their huts and the 

 results of their fires extend right over 

 Arrowsmith down to the Loddon ; and, I 

 suppose, as far as Macquarie Harbour in 

 that case, making this their usual track. 

 If this is established, then, the present Linda 

 track more or less justifies itself as being 

 the most feasible passage to the inhabited 

 West Coast regions at the present day. 



Passing on— did Sharland name King 

 William ? William IV. came to the 

 throne in 1830, and it is to be supposed 

 that the grand mountain so near the edge 

 of our central plateau on its western side 

 was named after the reigning jKing. All 

 travellers westward make for the same 

 spot in descending from this great central 

 plateau. And all speak with admiration 

 of the magnificent view from Arrow- 

 smith of the Western country. This 

 guardian of the plateau was first 

 called Fatigue Hill by Calder. Then 

 later it was named by Strzlecki 

 Arrowsmith. All who descended west- 

 w;ird from Arrowsmith into Wombat 

 Glen, 1,400ft., before the track was made, 

 speak with respect of the effort needed. 

 Sharland, I suppose, was the first who 

 accomplished the feat. Wombat Glen is 

 the name given to the spot by Sir John 

 Franklin. Sharland then cro'^sed the 

 Franklin with difficulty, but called it the 

 King, and advanced to what was after- 

 wards called Painter's Plains. The name 

 was given because on the bark of an old 

 native hut two drawings in charcoal were 

 discovered, one of an emu, the other of a 

 savage killing a kangaroo with a spear. It 

 is not to be supposed that these v.eie 

 executed by ?. native, but by some run- 

 away from Macquarie Harbour proceeding 

 eastward. This is all the more probable 

 because Sharland found in 1832 the bones 

 of a man in the Loddon Plains close by. 

 He called the Loddon "the Adelaide." 

 Mr. Calder gave the river its present 

 name, not knowing that Mr. Sharland had 

 already named it. Then in due course he 

 ascended the Frenchman's Cap from the 

 north, from which quarter it is a rounded 

 hump, which is cut perpendicularly down in 

 the southern face into a 2,000ft. precipice. 

 He almost reached the top, and saw the 

 ocean south of Macquarie Harbour, and 

 mentions a peak about 25 miles south — 

 calling it the Peak of Teneriffe. This must 

 be Goodwin's Peak on the present map, 

 and he speaks of it as the line-mark the 

 convicts made for in their attempted 

 esccipes. He also says that it probably led 

 to their destruction, and that no one could 

 hope to escape eastward on that latitude. 

 The valleys and hills run north and 

 south, and are most difficult in their 

 character. He also makes the reflection 

 that even if a runaway had reached the 

 Loddon Plains more northwards, he would 

 see before him the tremendous mass of 

 Arrowsmith and the King William 

 Ranges, and seek to avoid it, whereas it is 

 the only feasible way to the inhabited 

 regions. I suppose there can be no doubt 

 that Sharland was the first to ascend the 

 Frenchman's Cap. Let us now pass 

 over 10 years. In 1842 Sir John and 



