Z INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



and nature of tlie western interior. The quotation by Sturt is, shortly, 

 this — " There is a vast area of depressed country in the interior between 

 the parallels of 34° and 27° which is subject, in periods of prolonged 

 rain, to partial inundation. It would seem, therefore, that either a 

 portion of the distant interior is occupied by a lake of considerable 

 magnitude, or the confluence of rivers — such as the Castlereagh, Gwyder, 

 and Dumeresque — with many more waters form one or more noble 

 rivers, which may flow across the continent to the north and escape to 

 the sea." (6) 



The belief in an " inland sea " was held fast by Sturt, who says, 

 in the introductory chapter to the work in which he records his expe- 

 dition into Central Australia — " I am still of opinion that there is more 

 than one sea in the interior of the Australian continent ; but such may 

 not be the case." (c) 



It seems that in the communication which Sturt sent to Lord 

 Stanley, the Secretary of State, in 1843, he said — " If a line be drawn 

 from lat. 29° 30' and long. 146° N.W., and another from Mount Arden 

 due north, they will meet a little to the northward of the tropic, and 

 there, I will be bound to say, a fine country will be discovered." He 

 also postulated a range of mountains about the 29th parallel of latitude. 



Sir J. Barrow, to whom Sturt's communication was referred, also 

 held the opinion that " about the 28° or 29° the surface rises to a 

 sufficient height to cause a division of the waters, those on the northern 

 side taking a northerly direction and those on the southern side a 

 southerly direction." {d) 



Even John McDouall Stuart, who was draughtsman in Sturt's party, 

 evidently had this hypothesis in his mind in 1858, on his first expedition 

 to the north-west of South Australia. According to his route-plan he 

 was about at lat. 26° 20' and long. 134° 15', and remarks in his journal 

 of July 9th — " We camped on a gum creek, about three miles to the 

 west of the range. My only hope now of cutting Cooper's Creek is on 

 the other side of the range. * • • • If it is not there, it must run 

 to the north-west and form the Grlenelg of Captain Grey." (e) In his 

 subsequent expeditions he followed up the waters which find their way 

 into Lake Eyre through the Macumba, and it is therefore not surprising 

 that no more is said of Cooper's Creek and the Glenelg. 



Such were some of the opinions formed of the physical geography 

 of Central Australia. But there is another opinion which materially 



(6) Sturt, op. cit.. Vol. I., pp. 154-5. (c) Sturt, " Central Australia," Vol. 1 , p. 34. 

 (d) Sturt, op. cit. Vol. I., pp. 53-5. 

 (e) "The Journals of John McDouall Stuart" (William Hardman), 1864, p. 18. 



