imagination, has, in the
compilation of the journals, attempted in some cases to supplement
what was wanted in the text, so as to give the narrative such color
as would make it more readable than a mere journal, but in every case
rendering the descriptions of the prominent incidents of the journey
almost in the original words of the writers, merely adding as much as
would save the text from abruptness. He has adhered to the diurnal
form of narrative, for the sake of recording, for the benefit of
future travellers, the numbers, marks, latitude, etc., of each camp,
and endeavoured to compass by this composite method the value of a
work of record with the interest of a narrative.

It is also to be regretted that so long a time should have been
allowed to elapse between the end of the journey and the publication
of these pages. The causes of the delay are--first, the
indisposition on the part of the Brothers to "go into print," their
modesty leading them to imagine they had done nothing worth "writing
about," nor was it until the writer pressed them to allow him to
compile and edit their journals that they consented to make them
public; next, the want of leisure on the part of the compiler, whose
official duties have prevented application to his task, save in
detached and interrupted periods; and last, by the difficulty of
making arrangements for publication at a distance.

If his labor secures to the young explorers the credit and praise
which is the just and due reward of a gallant achievement, and adds a
page of interest to the records of Australian Exploration, his aim
will have been attained, and he will be fully rewarded.

The Hermitage, 'Rockhampton, December', 1866.

INTRODUCTION.

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 one of McDouall Stewart. The Search
Expeditions of McKinlay, Howitt, Landsborough, and Walker, have made
it still more familiar, their routes connecting the out-settlements
of South Australia with those of the Gulf Shores and East Coa