the position of leader by the veteran
A.C. Gregory, and on the 14th of August he left Brisbane in the Firefly,
having on board a party of volunteer assistants who had been stirred by
the widespread sympathy with the missing men to take an active part in
the relief expedition. Unfortunately, those under Landsborough were, with
one exception, unacquainted with bush life. The exception was George
Bourne, the second in command, an old squatter who had seen and suffered
many a long drought, and whose services proved to be of great value.
After some mishap the Firefly, convoyed by the Victoria, reached the
mouth of the Albert River, where the party was safely landed.

After starting from the Albert, Landsborough came unexpectedly upon a
river hitherto unknown. It flowed into the Nicholson, and both Leichhardt
and Gregory had crossed below the confluence. It was a running stream
with much semi-tropical foliage on its banks, running through
well-grassed, level country, and he named it the Gregory. As they neared
the higher reaches of the Gregory, they found the country of a more arid
nature. They ascended the main range, and on the 21st of December,
Landsborough found an inland river flowing south, which he named the
Herbert. The Queensland authorities subsequently re-christened the stream
with the singularly inappropriate name of Georgina. In this river two
fine sheets of water were found, and called Lake Frances and Lake Mary.
An ineffectual attempt was then made to go westward, but lack of water
compelled them to desist.

Landsborough now returned to the depot by way of the Gregory, and, on
arriving there, learnt that Walker had been in and had reported having
seen the tracks of Burke and Wills on the Flinders. Landsborough
thereupon resolved to return by way of the Flinders, instead of going
back by boat. They had very little provisions, but by reducing the number
of the party, they managed to subsist on short allowance. On this second
trip, he followed the Flinders up, and was rewarded by being the first
white man to see the beautiful prairie-like country through which it
flows. He named the remarkable isolated hills visible from the river Fort
Bowen, Mount Brown and Mount Little. From the upper Flinders he struck
south, hoping to come across a newly-formed station, but was
disappointed, though he saw numerous horse-tracks showing that settlement
was near at hand. At last after enduring a long period of
semi-starvation, t