THE LATE ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, ESQ. 269 
The vacant situation was again offered to Mr. Cun- 
ningham, and he now accepted it, and made immediate 
preparations for quitting England, to whose shores he was 
unhappily never destined to return. The few months which 
elapsed previous to his embarkation, were principally em- 
ing at breakfast, I had secretly cherished in my bosom a hope that still he 
lived, and that it only required a diligent search in the Bogan country for 
the tribe that detained him, to rescue him from their grasp and restore 
him to civilized society, and to the duties of his appointment. All hope, 
however, is now lost—the slender thread by which the little cherished 
hope was attached to the best feelings of my nature, has just been severed 
by afriendly communication I have received from Downing Street, from a 
gentleman in the New South Wales division of the Colonial Department, 
informing me that despatches had been received from Sir R. Bourke, con- 
firmatory of my poor brother's death. His geg s report has been 
given to me in these words, dated 30th Nov. 1835 
* <I have now to inform your Lordship (Lord Glenelg), with great 
regret, that I have ascertained, by means of a party sent out to search for 
Mr. Cunningham, that he was murdered by the blacks (natives), soon 
after his separation from his companions. The circumstances of the case 
have not been yet officially reported to me, but shall be communicated as 
soon as received, 
(Signed) Richard Bourke.’ 
" My brother, it seems therefore, was deprived of life about the third 
week of April, 1835; proving clearly to me, that those natives had been 
previously greatly irritated by white men, convict stock-men, most pro- 
y. l have again the wide world before me, but of my final move- 
ments I shall let you know in a few days. 
Believe me, my dear Heward, 
ver very sincerely yours, 
Allan Cunningham." 
12 o'clock, 17th May, 1836. j 
When Mr. Cunningham returned to New South Wales, he took with 
him a monumental tablet (which was subsequently erected at the Scotch 
Church at Sydney) to his brother’s memory, with the following inscription : 
** Richard Cunningh&gi, Government Botanist in this ipei mee 
to an explorative expedition into the interior, under the c of 
Major Mitchell Surveyor-General, wandered, in his nied dës E 
tanical investigation, from his companions, and losing himself i in the desert 
