Section E. 



GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY. 



ADDRESS BY THE PEESIDENT. 



ijOwing to the absence of the President, no address was delivered.) 



1. NOTES ON THE DISCOVERY OF THE VICTORIAN 

 COAST-LINE. 



By Thomas Walker Fowler, M.Inst.C.E., F.R.G.S., &c. 



Comparatively recently, a certain amount of discussion has 

 taken place as to the identity of points named by the early 

 explorers of our coasts, and requests have been made for the adop- 

 tion of names given by the French in connexion with the Baudin 

 expedition. Hence it may be of interest to trace briefly the work 

 of the various navigators in connexion with its discovery. 



Some traditions exist as to the coast-line of the western dis- 

 trict of Victoria having been discovered and visited by early 

 Spanish or Dutch navigators, and, in support thereof, reference 

 has been made to a "Mahogany Ship " said to have been wrecked 

 on the shores of the Southern Indian Ocean, between Warrnam- 

 bool and Port Fairy. Interesting papers have appeared in the 

 Journal of the Ro)jal Geographical Society of Australasia (Victoria 

 Branch), more especially one from the pen of Mr. George Gordon 

 McCrae. Nothing definite, however, has been ascertained upon 

 the subject, and the first well authenticated event in Victorian 

 history undoubtedly was the discovery of a portion of its eastern 

 coast-line, in April, 1770, by Captain Cook, during his first voyage 

 round the world. 



It has been suggested that, had Captain Cook, when he sighted 

 our coasts, traced them westerly instead of northerly, the subse- 

 quent history of Australia would have been completely altered, 

 and that in such case the earliest settlements would probably have 

 been in Port Phillip Bay, instead of at Port Jackson. The route 

 actually followed by the great navigator was not, however, the 

 result of any accident, but in accordance vv^ith a well thought-out 

 plan, adopted after consultation with his officers prior to his leav- 

 ing New Zealand. He would have preferred to have sailed from 

 there for Europe, via Cape Horn, so as to determine definitely 

 whether the Great Southern Land, then supposed to exist between 



