CHAPTER LII 

 WILLIAM HANN'S EXPEDITION, 1872 



FROM FOSSILBROOK, DOWN THE LYND RIVER AND ACROSS 

 THE TATE AND WALSH TO LEICHHARDT'S MITCHELL RIVER 



ADVANCE OF SETTLEMENT SINCE THE JARDINE EXPEDITION. AIM OF HANN'S EXPEDITION. 

 PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT. PARALLEL CREEK AND EINASLEIGH RIVER. START 

 FROM FOSSILBROOK. CAMP I. SITE OF MODERN LYNDBROOK RAILWAY STATION. 

 DOWN LYND RIVER. CAMPS 2 AND 3. HACKETT'S CREEK. LYND RIVER AGAIN. 

 CAMP 5. KIRCHNER RANGE. PROSPECTING FOR GOLD. PINNACLE CREEK. 

 CAMP 6. TATE RIVER. NONDA CREEK. NATIVES. CAMPS 7, 8 AND 9. WALSH 

 RIVER. CAMP 10. EXCURSION UP THE VALLEY. HILLS OF MAGNETIC IRON ORE. 

 NATIVES. MAIN JOURNEY RESUMED. WALSH RIVER. CAMP II. FOSSILS. AN 

 AREA OF LOWER CRETACEOUS ROCKS. MODERN TELEGRAPH LINE AT CAMP 12. 

 ELIZABETH CREEK. O.K. COPPER MINE. WROTHAM PARK CATTLE STATION. 

 NOLAN CREEK. CAMP 13. MITCHELL RIVER. CAMP 14. 



THE seven years which followed the return of the Jardine 

 Brothers' Expedition in 1865 witnessed the steady march 

 of settlement in Northern Queensland. In 1 865 , MACKAY 

 and TOWNSVILLE were opened as ports. A hardy and 

 adventurous population had been drawn to the interior by the 

 discovery of GOLD in widely separated localities, such as the CAPE 

 RIVER (1868), the GILBERT and PERCY RIVERS (1869), RAVENSWOOD 

 (1870), ETHERIDGE (1869-71) and CHARTERS TOWERS (1872). 

 With a view to the supply of the goldfields and ports with meat, 

 and to the export of wool, numerous " squatters " spread out and 

 occupied such tracts of country as were suitable, available and 

 accessible. 



In the usual course of events, the discovery and opening of 

 the interior radiate inwards from the harbours of the coast. Towns- 

 ville, however, formed an exception to this rule. Pastoral occu- 

 pation, with PORT DENISON and the town of BOWEN 1 as a base, 

 had pushed out to the west of the Coast Range, and reached the 

 FANNING and BURDEKIN valleys. The growing necessity for access 

 to the coast at some point nearer than Bowen led to a lookout 

 for a more convenient port. Early in 1864, J. M. BLACK (Managing 



1 In 1859, while the negotiations for the separation of Queensland from New South 

 Wales were in progress, Captain H. D. Sinclair left Rockhampton in the " Santa 

 Barbara " in search of a suitable harbour on the north-east coast. Port Denison was 

 recommended by him. The township of Bowen, on the new port, was established in 

 1861. 



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