president's address — SECTION E. 20S- 



Turning to Australia, the prosperity of the South Australian 

 Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia is a matter for 

 congratulation and pride. Recently that branch has secured the 

 " York Gate Library," a collection of works of the greatest interest 

 to Australia ; and South Australians must be gratified to think that 

 these volumes will, for the future, be housed in their capital city. 

 Whilst we rejoice at the prosperity of the branch we sympathise with 

 it in the loss it has sustained through the death of its veteran honorary 

 secretary, the late Mr. A. T. Magarey. The Queensland Branch of 

 the society has also suffered a severe loss through the death of its 

 illustrious president. Sir Augustus C. Gregory, whose name should 

 always, in view of his valuable services in the exploration of the 

 continent, be a household word amongst Australians. Ripe in years 

 and in honors he passed away, beloved by all who knew him. 

 After 23 years of most arduous and valuable work the veteran 

 Mr. A. C. Macdonald has resigned the secretaryship of the Victoriaa 

 Branch of the society, and I have been elected his successor. I take 

 this opportunity of testifying to the zeal and energy with which Mr. 

 Macdonald has always worked to promote geographical research 

 throughout Australia. 



Recently some Victorians have claimed that the country between 

 the Murrumbidgee and the Murray is legally a portion of Victoria, 

 as defined by the Separation Act, under which it was established as- 

 a colony. Personally, I cannot agree with this view, as, whilst at one 

 time the Port Phillip district did extend to the Murrumbidgee, the 

 boundaries were then clearly defined and described as, inter alia, 

 following that river ; so that when the Imperial Parliament, in consti- 

 tuting the colony and describing the boundaries, excluded all reference 

 to the Murrumbidgee and referred to the Murray alone, it deliberately 

 and intentionally fixed the boundary between New South Wales and 

 Victoria as at present accepted. An examination of Australian history 

 m connection with that boundary shows that an injustice has been 

 done to the memory of the first native Australian explorer, Hamilton 

 Hume, who, during his memorable journey from the New South Wales 

 settlements to Port Phillip, discovered and crossed Australia's greatest 

 river, in November, 1824, at Albury, and named it the Hume in honor 

 of his father, the Rev. A. H. Hume. Captain Sturt, in 1829-30, followed 

 the Murrumbidgee down to its junction with Hume's River (which had 

 not in the interval been traced below Albury), entered the latter, and 

 followed it to its mouth, calling it the Murray after Sir George Murray, 

 a distinguished officer who had served with credit in the Peninsula 

 wars, and was at the time presiding over the Colonial Office. By right 

 of priority Hume's name should stand and be applied to the whole 

 course of the river, from its source to its mouth in Encounter Bay. 

 The New South Wales Government gives a partial recognition to the 

 original discoverer, marking the stream as the " Murray River (or 

 Hume River) " on the official maps. Our geographical societies might 

 with propriety unite in asking their respective Governments to restore 

 the original name. 



