422 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



fell. Thereupon the blacks ran away and were pursued as far as a large lagoon, and 

 all that went there stayed there. 



" In the meantime some of the horses rushed up to the camp, in a state of great 

 alarm. Onp horse went into a water-hole almost up to hie back. Then, about a mile 

 away, a party of blacks had got 14 horses, and were driving them away. The blacks 

 were yelling loudly and the horses (which had hobbles and bells on) were mad with 

 fright, when Johnnie Anderson, Jack the Blower, Jimmy the Poet, and a tracker 

 jumped (bareback) on four of the horses that had come into the camp and went for 

 the blacks who were driving the 14 horses. With the first shot fired by the little party, 

 the blacks ceased to yell and made off. The horses were brought back to the camp. None 

 of them had been speared, as they were too wild to let the blacks ccme within spear 

 range of them. 



" I may add that a Government Inquiry was held in Cooktown a few months later, 

 and it was settled that the diggers were justified in defending themselves. 



" We started from ' Battle Camp,' as the place was called afterwards, about 8 a.m., 

 and when we had gone about 4 miles we were halted at a place we named Consultation 

 Hill. Mr. Macmillan told us that he estimated we were about 70 miles from the 

 Palmer. The Government party were getting short of rations and would push on 

 ahead, marking a line of trees for us to follow. Then there was an upioar ! All 

 hands set to work to lighten their loads by throwing away everything but the barest 

 necessaries. Some of the more heavily loaded even abandoned quantities of flour, 

 tea and sugar. In half an hour we started again for the promised land. We had now 

 rounded the northern end of the range and our next course was to the south-west. 

 The Queenslanders some 25 of us got away first and tried to keep up with the horses 

 or at least to keep them in sight, and the others called after us, threatening to shoot 

 us unless we kept together, but we kept on and reached the WELCOME WATER-HOLES, 

 on Cabbage Tree Creek, by night and camped there. That was our longest stage 

 without water. 



"Next day, 6th November, 15 miles from the Welcome Water-holes, we came to 

 a river which Mr. Macmillan named the DEIGHTON, after the Under-Secretary for 

 Mines, and camped. Some 25 of us got into this camp by sundown. As night fell, 

 and all night long, we heard firing miles and miles behind us. It was the stragglers 

 trying to keep in touch with one another and with us after it became too dark to 

 distinguish the marked tree line. They kept dropping in to the camp all through the 

 night, the last of them only coming up next morning (yth November) about 7 o'clock, 

 as we were starting again. 



" We Queenslanders were still keeping up with the leader, Mr. Macmillan. About 

 4 miles from the Deighton that morning (jth November) we came on a big river, and 

 Mr. Macmillan said, ' I am calling this river the LAURA, after my wife.' It is still 

 the Laura River, but Mr. Macmillan did not know that Mr. Hann (who crossed it 

 higher up) had already named it the HEARN, after his wife. About 4 miles further 

 we came to a fine stream running from south to north. Mr. Macmillan named it 

 the ' Streamlet,' but it has since come to be known as the ' LITTLE LAURA.' After 

 running it up about 5 miles, it was going too much south and we crossed it and 

 traversed, to the SW., the plains now known as FAIRVIEW. At sundown we camped 

 on a fine running stream, now known as PINE TREE CREEK, and a tributary of the 

 Little Laura. [Alluvial gold was discovered on this creek in 1893. R. L. J.] 

 Between the Little Laura and Pine Tree Creek it was very hot and dry. Half-a-crown 

 was offered by one thirsty soul for a drink of water from the ' billy ' of a more provident 

 man, who refused the offer, not knowing where the next drink would come from. [SEE 

 MAP G.] 



" On Saturday morning, 8th November, we started again, south-west, and came 

 to Pine Tree Creek again, and 3 miles further were at the foot of the ' Conglomerate ' 

 Range, or tableland. We mounted on the top, and when we had crossed the tableland 

 we could not get down, as the cliffs were perpendicular. There was a deep valley in 

 front of us, 2 miles wide, and then more cliffs, so we had to go back to where 



