MEETING OF COLONISTS. 
11 
offered, and thankfully accepted, to convey a part 
of the heavy stores and equipment to the head 
of Spencer’s Gulf, that so far, the difficulties of the 
land journey to that point, at least, might be les- 
sened. 
I was now fairly pledged to the undertaking, 
and as the winter was rapidly advancing, I became 
most anxious to get all preparations made as soon 
as possible to enable me to take advantage of the 
proper season. On the first of June I commenced 
the necessary arrangements for organizing my party, 
and getting ready the equipment required. To 
assist me in these duties, and to accompany me as a 
companion in the journey, I engaged Mr. Edward 
Bate Scott, an active, intelligent and steady young 
friend, who had already been a voyage with me to 
Western Australia, and had travelled with me over- 
land from King George’s Sound to Swan River. 
Meetings of the colonists interested in the under- 
taking were again held on the 2nd and 5th of June, 
at which subscriptions were entered into for carrying 
out the object of the expedition ; and a brief outline 
of my plans was given by the Chairman, Captain 
Sturt, in the following extract from his address. 
“ The Chairman went on to state, that Mr. Eyre would first 
proceed to Lake Torrens and examine it, and then penetrate as 
far inland in a northerly direction as would be found practicable. 
With regard to an observation which he (the Chairman) had 
made on Friday evening, regarding this continent having been 
formerly an archipelago, he stated, that he was of opinion that a 
considerable space of barren land in all probability existed 
