270 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



September must have been at or very near the modern FLORAVILLE 

 STATION. It was visited in the evening by a party of nine armed 

 BLACKS, who seemed at first inclined to be hostile, but eventually 

 retired. On the following morning, however, they returned, 

 reinforced to the number of nineteen, and rushed the party, when it 

 was about to make a start, with poised spears, " but just as their 

 leader was in the act of throwing a spear," says Gregory, " he 

 received a charge of small shot. This checked them, and we charged 

 them on horseback, and with a few shots from our revolvers put 

 them to flight, except one man, who climbed a tree, where we 

 left him." 



Without notable incidents, the expedition, travelling eastward, 

 crossed PUNCHBOWL and " M " CREEKS, heads of MORNING INLET, 

 " L " and ARMSTRONG CREEKS, tributaries of the Flinders, and 

 reached the FLINDERS on ytb September (18 8' 41"). Still keeping 

 an easterly course, the camp of the loth September was on BROWN 

 CREEK, a tributary of the Norman River. The NORMAN RIVER 

 itself was crossed next day and followed up, on its right bank, to 

 SSE. to the camp in 18 18' 5". (SEE MAP L.) 



On the i^th September, they steered ENE., through box flats 

 for five or six hours, and must have crossed BELMORE CREEK 

 probably not recognisable some 50 miles below (west of) the 

 present CROYDON GOLDFIELD. The course was then altered to 

 the north till a dry creek in a rocky channel was met with, falling 

 to the west, and this was followed down till 6.15 p.m. when a 

 waterless camp was made. This was, no doubt, CLARINA CREEK. 

 Next day water was found some distance down the creek, in 

 17 59' 26", and the camp was shifted. This was probably about 

 a mile south of the HAYDEN Station on the present Normanton- 

 Croydon Railway. 



On i$th September, a course of N. 10 E. (mag.) brought the 

 party in six hours to " a small water-hole in a sandy creek, 

 15 yards wide," in 17 46' 11". This must have been the CARRON 

 RIVER ( = CREEN CREEK), some 35 miles below (WNW. of) the 

 " CREEN CREEK " TELEGRAPH OFFICE of the " seventies." 



On the i6th, on a general NNE. course, the party travelled to 

 what must have been WILLS CREEK, and then followed the creek 

 down to the west in search of water. The camp had been made 

 in 17 34' 5", before water was found in a hole half a mile lower 

 down. A day's halt was made for the sake of the horses. 



On iSth September, a day's march to North 10 East (mag.) 

 brought them to a fine lagoon on the bank of WALKER CREEK, in 

 17 21' 20", about 36 miles below (west of) where the creek leaks 

 out of the Gilbert River. Walker Creek is one of the mouths of 

 the Gilbert, and falls into the Norman River a few miles before 

 the latter reaches the Gulf. Two days were spent here in refreshing 

 the horses, with the exception of one unfortunate which was killed 



