INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 19 



ornithologist, took a keen interest in natural history. He died soon 

 after the final return of the ship to Sydney, from a severe illness 

 contracted during the last cruise, but not till he had successfully 

 accomplished the chief object of his mission, which was a more 

 detailed examination of the Great Barrier Reef and adjacent coasts. 

 The assistant-surgeon was Thomas H. Huxley, a name familiar to 

 all, who achieved fame at this early period of his career by the 

 zoological researches made during the voyage. The naturalist to 

 the expedition and author of the " Narrative of the Voyage of the 

 Rattlesnake during 1846-50 " (1852) was John MacGilli-\Tay, who 

 had held a similar position in the Fly Expedition, and who had thus 

 through long official service become favorably known as a zoologist. 

 The geological references in the " Narrative " are few, and consist 

 iiierel}' of the names of rocks at certain observed stations. 



Gregory, A. C. — The discouraging nature of the interior of 

 Australia, as made known by Sturt, and the utter disappearance of 

 Leichhardt's Expedition of 1848, checked the progress of explora- 

 tion for a few years; but in 1855 a successful effort was made to 

 penetrate the interior from the north-west by the North Australian 

 Expedition, which was fitted out by the Imperial Government, and 

 was the last of the series. The expedition was placed under the 

 leadership of Mr. A. C. Gregory, who was accompanied by Dr. (now 

 Baron Sir F. von) Mueller as botanist, Mr. J. S. Wilson as 

 geologist, and Mr. Elsey as surgeon. The party was conveyed by 

 schooner to the mouth of the Victoria River, towards the exploration 

 of which nothing had been done since its discovery by Wickham 

 and Stokes. The Victoria River was ascended to its source in 

 latitude 18° 12', and the country to the south of the Dividing Range 

 was explored beyond the northern limits of the great interior desert 

 to latitude 20° 16', longitude 127° 30'. The physiographic features 

 of the Lower Victoria had been made known by the description of 

 Stokes. The region about the Upper Victoria was found to consist 

 chiefly of extensive valleys of good soil, well grassed, and of more arid 

 sandstone tableland, varied with outcrops of basalt, the latter con- 

 stituting rich grassy downs. The tableland rises abruptly from the 

 coastal tracts, and attains an average elevation of 700ft. in the Sea 

 Range,900ft.in latitude 16°, 1,600ft. in latitude 18°, falling to 1,300ft. 

 in latitude 19" and l,100lt. in latitude 20°. By removal of the upper 

 strata deep gorges, 600ft. in height, are formed, which open out into 

 large valleys or plains. Mr. Gregory struck across from the Lower 

 Victoria to the head of Roper River, and thence followed the base 

 of the tableland from which he had descended, passing near the 



