It might be mentioned the club was 
founded in 1904. and of the 40 original 
members the following have given con¬ 
tinuous support to the club:—Messrs. 
J. W. Beat tie, R. A. Black, A. U Butler, 
C. H. Elliott, E. A. Elliott, Clive Cord, 
\V. E. May, A. R, Reid, and L. Rodway. 
In selecting The Schoutens, which is 
the name generally given to i'reycinet 
Peninsula (Schouteu Peninsula) and 
Schouten Island, for the 1025 camp there 
were several objects in view. Firstly, 
at Easter time there is a b etter chance 
of tine weather on the East Coast than 
localities more in the south-west. Se¬ 
condly, the memories of former camps 
amidst the scenic charms of the granite 
hills of The Schoutens exercised a great 
effect. Added to these was the recol¬ 
lection that last year we camped amidst 
surroundings made histone hy the faet 
of Tasman’s expedition and were privil¬ 
eged to study them, whilst the round 
mountains of the Freycinet Peninsula, 
being the Vailderiin's Islands of Tasman, 
promised that a visit further north 
would permit the localities visited by 
early explorers to he further examined. 
With such allurements the commit¬ 
tee felt that, in spite of expense (post¬ 
war conditions) of such a trip that 
members would rally in support, and the 
response to a preliminary circular was 
particularly encouraging. The s.s. Koo- 
meela, a vessel of 200 tons, was chart¬ 
ered for the five days, and other ar¬ 
rangements entered into. In the light 
of previous experience, it was consider¬ 
ed necessary to limit the number ot 
members to 50, and also, in order to 
ensure their comfort., to strictly limit 
the proportion of lady members. It ts 
with regret that several of the latter 
had to be refused owing to the available 
positions being over-applied for. 
Thursday, April 9. at midnight, saw 
the members all aboard the Koomeela, 
the ladies being accommodated with 
bunks in the saloon, whilst the men folk 
showed the benefit of their previous ex¬ 
perience by making comfortable, ‘‘possics" 
in the various sheltered situations avail¬ 
able on the steamer. One party rigged 
a tent fly over the large lifeboat, and 
formed quite a comfortable camp. 
As frequently happens nowadays, the 
stokehold complement was not complete 
at the appointed starting time, but even¬ 
tually a start was made, and during the 
whole ot the trip the skipper (Captain 
Howells) anti crew did everything pos¬ 
sible for the comfort and enjoyment of 
the party. The steward (Mr. Parkin- 
son-Cumine) worked particularly hard in 
order to make the journey a pleasant 
one for the lady members of the party. 
Dunalley was reached soon after day¬ 
break, and the canal safely negotiated. 
Passing through The Narrows, the sight 
* f our last Easter's camping place serv¬ 
ed to revive memories, and in a short 
time we were out in Marion Bay, where 
the heave of the open sea indicated that 
we were well on our way up the coast,. 
Ahead loomed Maria Island, whilst out 
to starboard in the misty early morning 
light appeared the rounded outlines of 
the higher hills of The Schoutens. 
Breakfast was served whilst passing 
Marion Bay, and some time later a stav 
of a few minutes was made at Maria 
Island. This eastern isle has a most 
interesting history. Discovered by Tas¬ 
man in December. 1042, it was so named 
after I he wife of Anthony van Dieman, 
the Governor of Batavia. Over a century 
later Marlon Dufresne’s expedition 
sighted the isle, and hi- boats may have 
landed upon it; whilst Captain Ftirneaux 
(who anchored in Adventure Bay in the 
following year, 1773) mistook Tasman 
Peninsula for the Maria Island of Tas¬ 
man. and it is due to this fact that much 
of the confused nomenclature of South- 
Eastern Tasmania is due. Cook (1777) 
failed to notice llie error, but Captain 
• I. II. Cox in the brig Mercury spent 
•nine time anchored in Oyster Bay. which 
lie named (and which is now generally 
known as Chinaman’s Bay) in 1789. 
Others of the early explorers noted the 
island, but the first to improve upon 
Cook’s rough survey were the members 
of Baudin’s expedition in 1802. They 
made a comprehensive coastal survey, 
and named most of the prominent head¬ 
lands and bays 
Even before the settlement of Tas¬ 
mania in 1803 the island had undoubt¬ 
edly been visited by whaling and sealing 
vessels. l''or instance, on March 10. 
1802. the French exploring vessels sight¬ 
ed a ship in Bass Straits, which was on 
the wav to Maria Island to catch seals. 
3 
