8 ANNIVEESAEY ADDEESS. ■ 



in the great oyster beds to the northward of that Colony. It 

 would be a grand consummation of colonial enterprise if a rail- 

 way to the new settlement could enable the south-east of 

 Australia to be so connected with the north-west of it. We 

 should then be free from the jealousies that now trouble the 

 settlement of the postal communication with Europe. 



, It may add to the interest ezcited by ideas of gold in the north- 

 Avest of Australia, to mention that, in a letter lo Sir Henry Ellis, 

 dated 1st May, 1861, Mr, Major has quoted from a Portuguese 

 author an account of a visit to " the Island of Gold, which lies in 

 the sea on the opposite coast, or coast outside Timor, which is 

 properly called the Southern coast." The pamphlet itself was 

 printed at the Eoyal Press, in 1807, and bears in its title that it 

 is an account of the Golden Chersonese, or Auriferous Peninsula 

 and Islands, &c. The discoverers were fishermen, who were 

 driven out of their course by a tempest, and found so much gold 

 that their boat would hold no more. Whether the story be true 

 or not, the land indicated is no other than the north coast of 

 Arnheim's Land, and in the territory now occupied by the Port 

 Darwin Settlement. 



(2.) I can speak more confidently respecting discoveries in the 

 York Peninsula. 



In my Anniversary Address of 1872 I mentioned two expe- 

 ditions — one undertaken iu 1871, the other to be commenced last 

 year. 



The first was under the direction of Mr. Hackett, of Lolworth 

 Station, accompanied by Mr. Hann. 



In Leichhardt's journal of his expedition to Port Essington, 

 mention is made of a " fine conspicuous range," named Kirchner's 

 Range ; and as the geological features were considered by Mr. 

 Daintree and others to be of considerable importance, and as it 

 afterwards proved that it was on the same general strike as that 

 of the schist rocks on the Gilbert River, the search for this range 

 became of interest to those who wished to ascertain whether the 

 metalliferous formations, so important to the southward, extended 



