BY JAMES BACKHOUSE WALKEH. 



161 



Sydney and complete his voyage in the Lady Nelson, 

 which he fell in with at Kent's Group. 



The Lady Nelson entered Port Dalrymple on New 

 Year's Day 1804. William Collins immediately pro- 

 ceeded with his examination. The Lady Nelson anchored 

 above Upper Island (now Pig Island), and from thence 

 the examination of the yet unvisited portion of the river 

 was made in a boat. William Collins was delighted 

 with the appearance of the country about the present site 

 of Launceston, diversified with hill and plain, with good 

 land both for pasture and agriculture. He went some 

 distance up the Main River (North Esk) and found 

 excellent land. Then he entered the Cataract Gorge. 

 Grand as its towering rocks are now, the Gorge in its 

 natural state, when clothed with the wild beauty of its 

 native bush, and full of wild fowl, must have been mag- 

 nificent. William Collins says of it : " The beauty of 

 the scene is probably not surpassed in the world. The 

 great waterfall or cataract is most likely one of the 

 greatest sources of this beautiful river, every part of 

 which abounds with swans, ducks, and other kinds of 

 wildfowl. On the whole I think the River Dalrymple 

 possesses a number of local advantages requisite for a 

 settlement." 



Collins had been 18 days in Port Dalrymple, and was 

 anxious to get back to the Lieutenant-Governor with his 

 good news. A fair wind carried the Lady Nelson across 

 the Straits in two days, and on the 21st January 

 Lieutenant Symons brought his ship to an anchor off the 

 Camp, inside Port Phillip Heads. The Camp was a 

 scene of busy activity, and when Wm. Collins landed to 

 present his report, he found that the Lieutenant-Governor 

 bad at last made up his 'hesitating mind, and that the 

 establishment was on the point of sailing to the Derwent. 

 It so happened that Governor King had heard such a 

 bad account from the captain of a schooner which had 

 touched at Port Dalrymple for water, who painted 

 such a picture of the dangers of the entrance and the 

 hostile attitude of the blacks, that he had written advising 

 Collins to give up all idea of the northern port. The 

 Lieutenant-Governor, therefore, had the satisfaction before 

 sailing of having his superior officer's approval of his 

 final choice. 



The reports of the explorers had now lost their im- 

 mediate interest, and the Lieutenant-Governor forwarded 

 them to King with the despatch announcing his 

 departure. 



Collins' 

 Report, 

 January, 1804. 

 Clark's 

 Report. 



Collins to 



King, 



28 Feb., 1804. 



King- to 

 Collins, 

 30 Dec., 1803. 



Collins to 



King, 



27 Jan., 1804. 



