is
incumbent on a settler to provide for his establishment, or to retain
the means of providing for it as circumstances may require.
Farming implements are as cheap in Sydney as in England. Horses and
cattle are cheaper. It requires little, therefore, to stock a farm in a
reasonable manner. On the other hand, the climate is so mild that the
want of a house is scarcely felt, and a temporary residence easily
constructed. On the whole I am convinced, that a man who regulates his
conduct by prudence, and who perseveringly follows up his occupations,
who behaves with kindness to those around him, and performs his social
and moral duties with punctuality, will ultimately secure to himself a
home that will make up for the one he has quitted in the land of his
fathers, and place him in as respectable and as happy a situation as
that which he there enjoyed.
*****
PROGRESS OF INLAND DISCOVERY.
Having thrown out the foregoing remarks for the information of the
general reader, and of persons who look to Australia with the more
earnest views of selecting a colonial home, I now return to the
immediate object of these volumes; but before entering on the narrative
of my own expeditions, I think it necessary to advert cursorily to the
discoveries previously accomplished.
The journeys of Mr. Oxley, far into the western interior of Australia,
gave rise to various and conflicting opinions as to the character of
the more central parts of that extensive continent, of which the colony
of New South Wales forms but a small portion. I feel, therefore, called
upon briefly to advert to the conclusions which that able and
intelligent officer drew from his personal observation of the country
into which he penetrated, as an acquaintance with his opinions will not
only tend to throw a clearer light on the following details, but will,
also, convey much necessary information to those of my readers who may
not have perused his journals. It is necessary, however, in order to
divest the subject of all obscureness, to trace, in the first instance,
the progress of inland discovery, in New South Wales, from the first
foundation of the colony to the period when Mr. Oxley's exertions
attracted the public attention.
In the year 1788, the British Government took formal possession of the
eastern coast of Australia, by the establishment of a penal colony at
Port Jackson. The first settlers, under Governor Phillips, had too many
difficulties to co
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