PREFACE. 
Vll 
To enable the reader to judge of the author’s 
capabilities for the task he undertook, and of 
the degree of confidence that may be due to his 
impressions or opinions, it may not be out of place 
to state, that the Expeditions of 1840-1 were not 
entered upon without a sufficient previous and 
practical experience in exploring. 
For eight years the author had been resident in 
Australia, during which he had visited many of the 
located parts of New South Wales, Port Phillip, 
South Australia, Western Australia, and Van Die- 
men’s Land. In the years 1836, 1837, 1838, 1839, 
and 1840 he had conducted expeditions across from 
Liverpool Plains in New South Wales to the county 
of Murray, from Sydney to Port Phillip, from Port 
Phillip to Adelaide, and from King George’s Sound 
to Swan River, besides undertaking several explo- 
rations towards the interior, both from Port Lincoln 
and from Adelaide. 
To the knowledge and experience which were 
thus acquired, the author must ascribe the confi- 
dence and good opinion of his fellow-colonists, 
which led them in 1 840 to place under his command 
an undertaking of such importance, interest, and 
responsibility ; and to these advantages he feels that 
he is in a great measure indebted, under God’s bles- 
sing, for having been enabled successfully to struggle 
through the difficulties and dangers which beset him, 
in crossing from Adelaide to King George’s Sound. 
With this explanation for obtruding upon the 
a 2 
