152 SETTLING IN QUEENSLAND, ETC. 



way about much better than some other people, had made it a 

 practice in good seasons to travel stock which they had bought 

 further north down the river, and many of these they sold as 

 fats when they arrived at Swanhill. At Breewarrina, sometimes 

 called " The Fisheries," not far above the Bogan junction, a 

 station which belonged to Gapp and Loder, I was informed that 

 there were 600 head of cattle when a drought desolated the 

 country. Thpse all disappeared, and no trace of them could be 

 found until some years afterwards a few of them with their 

 unbranded progeny were reported to have been found on some 

 swampy country far away to the westward. I followed the 

 river downwards on both sides for many miles below the junction 

 of the Warrego. The season was not what one might call a 

 drought, but the weather was dry, grass except along the 

 frontages was scarce, and the showers that occasionally fell 

 dried up at once. I should not have had the temerity to settle 

 in a district which had so droughty a reputation, but when to 

 this disadvantage were added the fearful heat, the dust-storms, 

 the millions of little tormenting flies which were always in 

 evidence, the blight, and quite a number of other hateful 

 circumstances, I could see no inducement to remain there longer 

 than was absolutely necessary. So I returned to Sydney and 

 commenced my preparations for a northward flitting. This did 

 not occupy much time, and once more I took the Port Stevens 

 road for New England, for I still had an interest in Waterloo 

 and Tiara, and my intention was to secure sheep country, if 

 possible, and stock it up from those stations. 



On New England I purchased a number of horses, and 

 with one assistant started for the new Northern colony about 

 August, 1860. My latest recollection of the high country on 

 that occasion was a smart fall of ram and sleet the night before 

 we crossed the Queensland border at Ballandean. Up to this 

 time my horses had been behaving admirably, but after passing 

 "Warwick we found a scarcity of feed, for the spring had not 

 fairly set in, and my first impression of the Darling Downs was 

 less favourable than I had anticipated. The horses, too, 

 experienced some disappointment, and the green spots which we 

 passed in our travels remained fresh even in their dreams and 

 induced them to return at night by the road we had travelled by 

 day. After a day's rest in a snug bend in Glengalen Creek we 

 pushed onwards past Eton Vale and Drayton to Toowoomba, 

 which was then commonly spoken of as the Green Swamp. 



