128 president's address — section e. 



a century ago portions of its north-west coast were indicated 

 by a dotted line with the remark, " No land seen in this 

 direction." The filling up of such portions was often 

 attended with some measure of excitement, the explorer not 

 knowing- when passing one cape what he would meet with 

 beyond ; while an indentation betwixt capes might prove the 

 embouchure of a large river, as was the case when the 

 Victoria River was discovered in the Cambridge Gulf by 

 Captain Wickham, in the Beagle, in November, 1839. In 

 such voyages of discovery intercourse with the aborigines has 

 often been an occasion of considerable interest ; they, 

 possessed with the timidity of children, being easily won by 

 a little tact, and frequently reciprocating kindness shown to 

 them. Indeed, the influence of such men as Sir Stamford 

 Raffles and Rajah Brooke, to whom I before alluded, is 

 most valuable to those who follow them, though, unfor- 

 tunately, the good effect of the conduct of such as these is too 

 often subsequently destroyed by an opposite course of action, 

 when the race is likely to be maligned by their character 

 being reported as treacherous, 1 might here remark on 

 the benefit conferred on explorers by the good influence 

 of missionaries, when they have been the pioneers ; the 

 noble Moravian brethren, who have devoted themselves to 

 winning the friendship of tribes in every zone from the Arctic 

 to the Torrid, have been conspicuously in the front rank. 



In this beautiful island in which we are now assembled, tlu^ 

 science of Geography was most worthily represented just 

 fifty years ago in the person of the late Sir John Franklin, 

 who may be recognised as the founder of the Royal Society 

 of Tasmania, and who, in 1842, while filling the high cffiee 

 of Her Majesty's Representative, undertook an explorative 

 expedition to cross the island from New Norfolk to Macqiiarie 

 Harbour, the district which mining enterprise is now so 

 rapidly developing. 



Without recapitulating geographical researciies in the 

 continents of Asia and Africa, I may be excused for confining 

 my attention to the progress of geography near home in this 

 southern hemisphere. Central Australia half a century ago 

 was considered to be a vast desert and howling wilderness, 

 with possibly a great inland sea ; for an idea once existed 

 that the rivers which empty into the Gulf of Carjientaria 

 drained such an expanse. But Stuart, M'Dowell, Gregory, 

 Forrest, Giles, and others, have dissipated that dream by 

 crossing the continent in various lines, leaving a respectable 



