F and A Jardine...

F and A Jardine Somerset Cape York Map of the northern part of Queensland showing the route of Messrs Jardine from August 1864 to January 1865. [see bottom of map to display in higher resolution]...

The Settlement of Northern Australia has of late years been of such rapid growth as to furnish matter for a collection of narratives, which in the aggregate would make a large and interesting volume. Prominent amongst these stands that of the Settlement of Cape York, under the superintendence of Mr. Jardine, with which the gallant trip of his two sons overland must ever be associated. It was a journey which, but for the character and qualities of the Leader, might have terminated as disastrously

In presenting the following pages to the Reader, it may not be out of place to take a retrospect of the progress of Australian Settlement generally, and particularly in the young northern colony of Queensland. During the last six years the great question of the character of Central Australia, in the solution of which the lives of the unfortunate Leichhardt and his party have been sacrificed, has been set at rest by the memorable trip of Burke and Wills, and no less memorable, but more fortunate

On the 14th of May, 1864, the overland party which was to take cattle to the new settlement at Cape York, was started by Mr. Frank Jardine, from Rockhampton, under the charge of his brother Alexander. It comprised ten persons, with thirty-one horses. The instructions were to travel by easy stages to Port Denison, and there wait the arrival of the Leader. In the following month, Mr. Jardine, senior, taking with him his third son John, sailed for Brisbane, and shortly after from thence to Somerset

October 11.—At sunrise the cattle was started with Cowderoy and two black-boys, Eulah and Barney, the former acting as pilot. Their instructions were to camp at the swamp at the junction of Pluto Creek, seventeen miles from McDonald's station, mentioned on 3rd. September. The pack-horses were not got away until half-past 12, two, "Rasper," and the mule (as often provokingly happens when most wanted) being astray, and having to be hunted for. There was also the usual amount of "bucking" incident

December 5.—Turning their backs on the Ferguson or Staaten the party steered north, and at starting crossed the head of the sand-flats, described by Leichhardt. The rest of the day's stage was over sandy ridges covered with tea-tree and pandanus, tolerably grassed, no creek or water-course of any description occurred along the line, and the party had to camp without water at about 13 miles: but as the Leader had not expected to find any at all for at least 40, this was not thought much of. The c

January 1.—Kendall Creek was crossed early on the morning of this, New Year's Day, and subsequently at distances of 10 and 14 miles, two small creeks of running water, coming from the eastward, named respectively Sinclair and New Year's Creeks, in which lilies were abundant ( Blue Nympheas ), and on the last of which the party camped. The progress was rendered very tedious and difficult, by the large trunks and branches of trees, which had been blown down by the storm of the 30th December, over

January 30.—This morning, Mr. F. Jardine with his Brother and the Blackboy, Eulah, started to find the Settlement, leaving the rest of the party encamped with the cattle, in charge of Mr. Scrutton. They took with them a week's ration of 25 lbs. of flour, and 12 lbs. meat (tea and sugar had long been things of the past), intending to follow the supposed river down to the head of the tide. It was accordingly followed for about 21 miles, but to their astonishment, instead of trending N.N.E., its ge

On the afternoon of their arrival in Somerset, the Brothers, after a "slight" luncheon, in which Mr. Jardine's preserved vegetables received very particular attention, manned the whale-boat belonging to the Settlement, and pulled over the Straits to Albany Island to get fresh horses. Two were got over, but night coming on, the crossing of the rest was deferred until the next day. The Strait is three-quarters-of-a-mile wide, which, with a current running upwards of five knots an hour, makes it an

This tree, of which there are several varieties, is very common to Northern Australia; the drooping kind ( Melaleuca Leucodendron ), occupying the beds and margins of the rivers, where its long pendant branches weeps the stream, as does the graceful willow of Europe. Its bark is in thin paper-like layers, whilst its leaves are like that of the gum, but thinner and straighter. It is remarkable for containing an extraordinary quantity of brackish water, which pours out in a torrent, when the bark