NOTES OF TRAVEL. 
BrissangE to Port Curtis sy Lanp in 1861. 
By HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 
Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 21st July, 1904. 
In 1860, after three years of continuous bush travel in many 
parts of New South Wales, and some districts of Victoria, 
I found my way to the Port Curtis district of Queensland, 
having followed an overland route from Raymond Terrace to 
Gladstone. I had inspected some pastoral properties in 
the Lower Burnett and Port Curtis districts, with the view 
of purchasing, and, having made an offer for one of these, 
which the managing partner favoured, I took steamer (the 
Sampson) from Maryborough to Sydney, in March, 1861, to 
settle the matter one way or the other, with the senior partner. 
This gentleman invited me to dine with him at his very com- 
fortable suburban residence, and we became good friends at 
once, but when we talked over business, we differed over 
about £200. Anticipating a possible failure in this case, 
I had arranged with its owner a price at which I could secure 
Rodd’s Bay station, unstocked and unimproved. I wrote 
at once therefore accepting this offer, and determined to go 
without delay; and take possession. Before leaving Sydney, 
I purchased a draft of cattle from Bundock, Barnes and Co., 
on the Richmond River, to be delivered to me on Rodd’s 
Bay. Then I put two horses I had bought on board the s.s. 
Eagle, and paid £5 each freight on them to Brisbane ; for 
my own passage I was charged £8, and in due course I arrived 
at the metropolis of the recently separated colony. I put up 
at MacAdam’s Hotel, a one-storied building in Queen Street, 
with a veranda along the front. This was Brisbane’s crack 
hotel. This occured in May or June. 
