460 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



On Jth September, a progress of 13 miles was made to N. 13 W., 

 down a fertile valley between green hills. " This is," says 

 Mulligan, " SPLENDID COUNTRY FOR SQUATTERS, open forest, well 

 grassed in all directions. The country has been lately burnt, and 

 the new blue grass is long. The horses mow it down and will soon 

 pull up for past starvation from the Mitchell to the Palmer and 

 in that miserable country south of the King. At one time I 

 had thought that the western slopes of the Gulf were all poor 

 sterile country, but now I see different. What a change ! How 

 far this country will continue, I do not know. It is a pity to be 

 influenced and only interested in the one indefatigable search for 

 gold, which is the chief object and the only one of any consequence 

 to me. I remember a time when my knowledge of this country 

 could have been turned to profitable account for myself, but now 

 there is no inducement to explore and see the extent of such 

 fine country as this. We will stop to-morrow to examine this 

 river a little, and will then return. It is only FUTILE LOOKING FOR 

 GOLD in such deep alluvial country." 



The river alluded to, and on which Mulligan pitched his 

 CAMP 74, was larger than the King, and he named it the LUKIN, 

 after Gresly Lukin, proprietor of the Queenslander newspaper, 

 which had published his previous reports not the least of its 

 services to the pastoral and mining industries. 



The grassy valley which I named the MACDONALD (Camps 8 to 

 9) on 1 5th December, 1879, lies about 4 miles east of the 

 valley by which Mulligan approached the " Lukin " River. 



One hundred and thirty miles to the west of Mulligan's Camp 74, 

 the JARDINE BROTHERS had crossed a river which they named the 

 HOLROYD (Camps 52 to 54) on 28th December, 1864, and 

 traverses and run-surveys connected with the pastoral occupation 

 of the country subsequent to Mulligan's, and my own, journeys, 

 leave no room for doubt that MULLIGAN'S LUKIN is identical with 

 the JARDINES' HOLROYD. The river has many mouths. Mulligan 

 was too far from the west coast of the Peninsula to attempt the 

 identification of his river with that of the Jardine Brothers. 



Mulligan had now, as he believed, exhausted the last chance 

 of finding a new goldfield north of the Palmer. He had, indeed, 

 found traces of alluvial gold on both the Holroyd and Coleman 

 Rivers, but not enough, in his opinion, to be payable ; as well as 

 numerous quartz reefs between the Coleman and the King, 

 though these, as far as his own observation went, appeared to be 

 practically barren of gold. His Camp 74 was actually within the 

 limits of the FUTURE HAMILTON GOLDFIELD, but the surroundings 

 of the camp were not sufficiently promising. He therefore deter- 

 mined to turn back and MAKE FOR COOKTOWN. As it had been 

 his dream for years to get to the Coleman, which he pictured to 

 himself as a Promised Land or an El Dorado, the decision must 



