Ixxii PROGRESS OF INLAND DISCOVERY. 
elusions which that able and intelhgent officer 
drew from his personal observation of the coun- 
try into which he penetrated, as an acquaintance 
with his opinions will not only tend to throw a 
clearer light on the following details, but will, 
also, convey much necessary information to those 
of my readers who may not have perused his 
journals. It is necessary, however, in order to 
divest the subject of all obscureness, to trace, 
in the first instance, the progress of inland dis- 
covery, in New South Wales, from the first 
foundation of the colony to the period when Mr. 
Oxley’s exertions attracted the public 'attention. 
In the year 1788, the British Government 
took formal possession of the eastern coast of 
Australia, by the establishment of a penal co- 
lony at Port Jackson. The first settlers, under 
Governor Phillips, had too many difficulties to 
contend with to submit themselves to be thwart- 
ed from pursuits essential to their immediate 
safety and comfort, by the prospect of remote 
and uncertain advantages. It was by perse- 
verance and toil alone that they first established 
and ultimately spread themselves over that part 
of the territory, which, flanked by the ocean on 
the one hand, and embraced as it were by the 
