156 SETTLING IN QUEENSLAND, ETC. 



but Carlo O'Connell, at Iveragh, was the botanist of the district, 

 and knew the names of all the flowers in the bush. He could 

 tell me all about it, they felt sure ; but Carlo was no more of 

 a botanist than some I could name who profess to be, and he 

 was not one of those who make false pretences. He had never 

 known the tree to flower before, he said, and could not tell me 

 anything about it. I afterwards found it was Barklya synnfjifolia, 

 and it seldom missed flowering in succeeding years. That 

 night we slept at Riverstone, where Pocklington was in charge. 

 At one time he was employed by the Australian Agricultural 

 Company, and on two or three occasions, when I lived on New 

 England, he paid us a passing visit at Waterloo. Here I parted 

 with my companions, and next day I had lunch with " The 

 Britisher " at Barmundoo. 



By this time I had come to the conclusion that if I was 

 going to bring sheep to Queensland I must look for country 

 further back from the coast, and by going further west it seemed 

 probable that I should strike country which was subject to such 

 droughts as they had in the western part of New South Wales. 

 Since I had left Juandah and Hawkwood I had seen no country 

 on which I would have cared to put sheep. There was plenty 

 of grass everywhere after the rain, but it was unlike any grass 

 on which I had known sheep to thrive. Most of the runs had 

 been stocked with sheep, but at this time the owners were 

 realising the necessity for substituting cattle. Even where I 

 was then, it seemed certain that the seasons were sometimes 

 very dry indeed, and a place in Fuller's Creek was pointed out 

 to me where there was a splendid waterhole and plenty of water in 

 the creek above it to its very head. From this point upwards, 

 at the time when I was droving cattle to Victoria in 1858 and 

 leaving numbers of dead ones by the roadside, this hole was 

 dry, and there was not a drop of water in any part of that 

 creek above the crossing at Barmundoo. The fact was un- 

 pleasently suggestive, but there were reasonable grounds for 

 believing that when the country had been stocked for two or 

 three years it might improve by reason of the surface soil 

 hardening. After a time I went on to the Callide where, and at 

 the Prairie adjoining it, there was a patch of very pretty 

 country, and I offered to inspect the Kroombit, which I had 

 heard was for sale. John Landsborough, to whom it belonged, 

 changed his mind about selling when he met a possible pur- 

 chaser. After this I quite determined to give up the search for 



