Vol. Xiv.-| j-iig Mallacoota Excursion. 1 27 



along, the ornithologists had regretfully to leave without the 

 inclusion of either a leading botanist or entomologist. Numbers, 

 however, were not lacking. 



The party taking part in the annual camp-out was a large 

 one. It was also strong oihcially, for it contained the president, 

 Capt. S. A. White ; two ex-presidents, Messrs. A. H. E. Mattingley 

 and J. W. Mellor ; and a vice-president. Dr. J. A. Leach. The 

 following also attended :— Mrs. White, Mrs. J. W. Israel, Miss 

 Thom, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Hosking, Mr. and Mrs. Bews, Mr. and 

 Mrs. G. A. Dyer, Master and Miss Dyer, Miss Ure, and Messrs. 

 O. W\ Rosenhain, Ladwig, Cutler, J. T. Hamilton, Molesworth, 

 Phillips, A. H. Chisholm, Watson, Hill, and Elster. Mr. Mattingley 

 proved a good leader ; he spared no trouble, and secured complete 

 success. The accommodation was good, and all were satisfied. 

 The only regret was that time had passed so quickly that work 

 had to be left unfinished. 



Leaving Melbourne about 8 o'clock on the morning of 9th 

 November, the party trained pleasantly through green-veiled 

 areas that came as a sharp reUef to eyes long dazzled by the 

 dust-glare of this extraordinarily dry season. Bairnsdale was the 

 railway terminus, and by 5.30 passengers and baggage were 

 aboard the s.s. Wyrallah, and were steaming down the broad 

 face of the Mitchell. Some small diversion was created by the 

 discovery of the fact that an intending passenger had mislaid 

 himself and was aboard a fishing smack. He was picked up 

 before Lake King was reached. The most attractive scene 

 vouchsafed that evening was the vivid, vital sunset over the 

 Mitchell ; the lake views could not be grasped in the darkness. 

 The passage round the coast to Mallacoota was fair, though the 

 tossing of the httle steamer disturbed the equihbrium of most 

 of the party, and passengers were taken off by motor launch, 

 reaching Lake View Hotel, Mallacoota (Miss E. Dorron, pro- 

 prietress) about midday on Tuesday, loth November. 



To many of the visitors the first impression of the locality — 

 after a deep breath of admiration had been drawn at the 

 picturesque inlet — was one of surprise at the amount of settle- 

 ment scattered about the far-reaching shore-hne. Dorron's hotel 

 —an old-established institution— has the eastern fringe practi- 

 cally to itself, but across at Mallacoota West a httle colony is 

 springing up. The impression — or expected impression — of 

 lonehness was further dispelled by the sight of English Starhngs 

 {Sturnus vulgaris) flocking about the homestead paddocks. Is 

 there any locahty in southern Austraha to which this cosmo- 

 pohtan vagabond has not penetrated ? 



After lunch there was time and inclination to view properly 

 the shining sheet of water stretching away from the foot of the 

 settled rise. And it was good to see. One could not borrow 

 Her Majesty of Sheba's exclamation, " The half was never told 

 me " ; but of a surety Mallacoota could not be regarded as aught 

 but " a lovely place." Running inland from a sand-bar just west 



