440 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



cost of the outfit. The remuneration which he and they shared 

 was the Government reward of ^1,000 for the discovery of a 

 payable goldfield, added to what gold they found time to pick up. 

 Compared to what fell to those who followed his tracks and 

 systematically worked the ground, Mulligan's own share was 

 infinitesimal. 



In his FIFTH EXPEDITION, Mulligan was assisted by a GOVERNMENT 

 SUBSIDY of 500. His companions were Frederick Warner (after- 

 wards Staff Surveyor, Department of Lands), James Dowdall, 

 William Harvey, Peter Abelson, Jack Moran and the black boy, 

 Charlie. Abelson had been with Mulligan on his second expedition 

 and had been wounded by the blacks. 



The RECORD OF THE EXPEDITION is a Parliamentary Paper 

 entitled " Expedition in Search of Gold and other Minerals in the 

 Palmer District by Mulligan and Party." (Brisbane, by Authority, 

 1876.) The party returned to Cooktown on 23rd September, 

 1875, and Mulligan sent an abstract of his report on the 24th to 

 the Minister for Works and Mines. In that abstract and in the 

 report itself, as finally printed, reference is made to a MAP TO BE 

 PREPARED BY MR. WARNER as an essential adjunct to the report ; 

 but the report appeared without the map. 



As the map was obviously of high importance (indeed, in 

 my view of no less importance than the report itself), I instituted 

 inquiries, and Mr. A. B. Brady, the present Under- Secretary for 

 Works, who was good enough to interest himself in the matter, 

 unearthed a correspondence, from which it appeared that as late 

 as 27th March, 1876, the map had not been prepared. Mulligan, 

 writing from Cooktown on that date to the Under- Secretary, 

 said : " Mr. Warner is going to Brisbane in a few days ; he 

 being our Surveyor will be able to furnish you with all the informa- 

 tion required, and plot a chart of the whole route." In the same 

 letter, Mulligan forcibly insisted on his report being officially pub- 

 lished, observing, " to have my journal shelved for a departmental 

 record without giving me time or opportunity to copy and correct 

 it, is more than I would barter for half the amount received by the 

 whole party." 



The report was officially issued later in the same year (1876), 

 but without the map, which either had not been received in time, 

 or was not considered of sufficient importance to justify the 

 expense of drawing it on stone. Mulligan had quite correctly 

 gauged the official attitude of the time with regard to reports which 

 had no political significance. They were "given to the newspapers," 

 and were printed in full if the " demands on our space " permitted, 

 or, if not, a sub- editor extracted such portions as he judged would 

 strike the popular taste. The same policy was still in vogue when 

 I arrived in the Colony in 1877, and resulted, among other 

 things, in the loss of the map which was to have accompanied 



