I IO 



A US TRALASIA ILL US TRA TED. 



the explorers discovered a serious loss of provisions, and were compelled to shorten the 

 daily allowance of food, which considerably lessened the effectiveness of the expedition. 



On the 23rcl of June, Oxley and Cunningham again struck the Lachlan, north of 

 the Peel Range, and followed it in a south-westerly direction until' it was lost in stag- 

 nant and impure marshes. Fearful of the rapid diminution of provisions, and ignorant 

 of the immediate proximity of the parent stream, the Murrumbidgee, the party began 

 the return journey on the gth of July, and leaving the course of the Lachlan on the 

 following month, journeyed in a north-easterly route across barren country, which became 

 more fertile as 'they neared the Macquarie, which river was sighted on the 22nd of 

 August and its course followed to the town of Bathurst, where the expedition terminated. 

 The party had been absent for over four months, and had narrowly missed the discovery 

 of the Murrumbidgee, which was effected by Ovens and Currie six years afterwards. 



On the 2oth of 

 May in the following 

 year, Oxley left Syd- 

 ney on a second 

 expedition, and fol- 

 lowed the course of 

 the Macquarie until 

 it ended in country 

 covered with reeds and 

 under water. Crossing 

 successively the Castle- 

 reagh, Peel, Cockburn 

 and Apsley Rivers, he 

 traced the Hastings 

 to Port Macquarie, 

 having journeyed four 



MONUMENT TO HUME AT ALBUKV. 



THE MARKED TREE, ALBURY : 



WHERE HUME AND HOVELL CROSSED THE MURRAY. 



hundred miles in a straight line from 



the extreme western point made by 



the expedition. Finding a boat half-buried in the sand, the explorers carried it on their 



shoulders from inlet to inlet along the coast for about ninety miles until they reached 



Newcastle, whence they proceeded to Sydney after an absence of five months. In the 



month of October, 1823, Oxley went on a survey voyage to Moreton Bay, where he found 



