PALMER RIVER AND DISCOVERY OF GOLD 385 



Creek." l Eight miles further, CAMP 18 (2nd August) was made on 

 the divide between the MITCHELL and the PALMER. From the 

 Mitchell to Camp 18, Hann's route is now followed by the TELE- 

 GRAPH LINE from Walsh to Palmerville. The country rises north- 

 ward from the Mitchell to the watershed on a gentle grade, the 

 " bottom " being composed of mica-schist, but to the east of the 

 Telegraph Line, and from Camp 18 to about 5 miles south, this 

 rock rises abruptly in MOUNT MULGRAVE to about 1,400 feet above 

 the surrounding country. 



On yd August, a northerly course was followed for 5 miles 

 and a north- westerly for 15, over mica-schist country strewn 

 with small quartz stones which were hard on unshod horses. The 

 last 15 miles appear to have been in the drainage area of the 

 Twelve Mile Creek, and CAMP 19 was pitched on a creek which 

 Hann named Garnet Creek from the abundance of small garnets 

 in the washdirt of his unsuccessful prospecting operations in search 

 of gold. GARNET CREEK, from a comparison of Warner's sketch- 

 map with the modern 4- mile map, is evidently a tributary of the 

 TWELVE MILE CREEK. MOUNT DAINTREE, " a high hill with per- 

 pendicular sides, composed of sandstone and conglomerate 

 resting on quartzite," lay 3 miles east of the camp. The 

 camp, according to a sun- observation, is in latitude 15 51 59" $> 

 but according to the 4-mile map is in 15 58' S. 



On $th August, Hann and Taylor visited Mount Daintree, and 

 after their return to Camp 19 the whole party moved 3 miles 

 north-westward and camped on a river which was named the PALMER 

 in honour of Sir Arthur Palmer, Chief Secretary of Queensland. 

 CAMP 20. The camp must have been about the site of the subse- 

 quent FROME Native Police Station, about 2 miles up the river 

 (east) from LUKINVILLE, which, a few years later, was for some time 

 a busy centre of alluvial GOLD-DIGGING. Hann gives the latitude 

 of the camp as 15 49' 14" S. ; according to the 4- mile map it is 



15 56'. 



It was on the same river, and probably not far from Palmerville, 

 that KENNEDY camped on I5th September, 1848, when the natives 

 displayed a determined hostility, burning the grass and attacking 

 his party several times. 



A sporting offer of a reward of half a pound of tobacco to the 

 first member of Hann's party to DISCOVER GOLD had been open for 

 some time, but it was probable that nothing was needed to whet 

 their appetite for the precious metal. On 6th August, WARNER 

 claimed and obtained the reward, and other members of the party 

 followed up the discovery by obtaining " prospects " from all the 

 little ravines falling into WARNER'S GULLY. 



Hann made CAMP 20 the headquarters of the Expedition from 

 $th to 2ist August, while prospecting operations were vigorously 



1 Maps of Australia are crowded with " Sandy Creeks " ad nauseam, 



ii 3 



