Oxley naturally took the
opportunity to question them as to the knowledge they had gained of the
surrounding country during their enforced stay in it. On one important
point both of them were confident, and this was that, in the southern
portion of the bay, a large river was to be found which appeared
navigable, having a strong current.

Taking Finnegan with them, Oxley and Stirling started in the whaleboat
the following morning to verify this information. They found the river
and pulled up it about fifty miles. Oxley was greatly pleased with such a
discovery, and landing, ascended a hill which he named Termination Hill.
From the top he obtained a view over a wide extent of country, through
which he was able to trace the river for a long distance. Strangely
enough, the hasty glimpse he thus caught of a new and untrodden part of
Australia seemed to confirm his fixed belief in the final destination of
the Lachlan and the Macquarie as an inland sea.

"The nature of the country and a consideration of all the circumstances
connected with the appearances of the river, justify me in entertaining a
strong belief that the source of the river will not be found in
mountainous country, but rather that it flows from some lake, which will
prove to be the receptacle of those inland streams crossed by me during
an expedition of discovery in 1818."

Oxley named the river the Brisbane, and, taking aboard the two rescued
men, the Mermaid set sail for Port Jackson, where she arrived on December
13th. This ended the chapter of Oxley's discoveries in the field of
active exploration.

CHAPTER 4. HAMILTON HUME.

[Illustration. Hamilton Hume, in his later life.]

[Map. Hume and Hovell's Route 1824; Sturt's Route, 1829 and 1830; Major
Mitchell's Route 1836.]

4.1. EARLY ACHIEVEMENTS.

Hamilton Hume was the son of the Reverend Andrew Hume, who came to the
colony with his wife in the transport Lady Juliana, and held an
appointment in the Commissariat Department. Hamilton was born in
Parramatta in the year 1797, on the 18th of June. He seems to have been
specially marked out by Nature for prominence as an explorer, for, from
his earliest boyhood he was fond of rambling through the bush, and his
father encouraged him in his desire for a free country life and his love
of adventure. School facilities were lacking, but fortunately his mother
attended to his education and saw to it that he did not grow up destitute
of that instruction commo