THE FITZROY DIGGINGS.
FROM OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER
No. 3.
IF any person will take a good chart of the North-western coast of Australia, he will see
immediately to the north of Keppel Bay a large indentation of the land, running down
almost due south, and marked as Broad Sound. At the distance of ten or twelve miles
from the head of the Sound a range of mountains is marked on the chart, stretching nearly
east and west, and described as barren, rugged peaks. It is on the southern face, the
opposite to that which fronts Broad Sound, that the Canoona gold-field is situated. This
range joins in at its westerly point with the main coast range, which here takes a direction
slightly to the east of north. As regards the range, or, rather, spur of the range, upon
which the present diggings are situated, I am not inclined to believe that any very
extensive deposits of gold will be found there. Patches, similar to the one already
denuded of its riches, may perchance he hit upon, but I fear they will be but few and far
between; and if even such a one were to be found weekly, what would be the 900 ozs.
raised, when divided amongst the number, between 4000 and 5000, now congregated on
and near the spot? As yet, exploration, in so far as gold mining is concerned, has not been
pushed to any very great distance. This has been owing partly to the all but unknown
nature of the country, and partly to the danger that accompanies travelling in small parties
from the fierce and implacably hostile character of the blacks. Now that Captain
O'Connell has fitted out, and to a certain extent given official sanction to strong
prospecting parties, there are some hopes that the interior may be pierced towards the
west, and that a passage of the main coast range may be effected, when that line of
country will be reached that was formerly traversed by Leichhardt, and which he
described to be of that character where a geologist would expect to kick up nuggets with
the toe of his boot. It is there, on the western face of the main range, that I anticipate the
real deposits of gold are to be found. Should deposits bearing in this direction be
occasionally hit upon, this result will in the end be attained; but should prospecting in this
direction be unsuccessful, I fear that the fatigue and danger of such a journey as that from
Canoona to the western face of the coast range, a distance of some 80 or 100 miles, will
for some years retard discovery in that direction.
The squatters, however, are continually pushing on and on. Like their own flocks when
feeding, one is always pushing on a-head of another, and to them, in case of failure at
Canoona, must the diggers look to open up this country for the pick, the shovel, and the
cradle. But all this is only speculation, being no more than my own individual opinion,
not by any means advanced authoritatively, or based upon any certain information. It is
only right that I should say this much that none may be misled.
With regard to Canoona and its vicinity, my opinion has been borne out, in almost every
instance, by those of all the old practical miners who have visited the spot. Many such
men were on the ground with me, and a first look at the country invariably gave an
impression unfavourable to its auriferous character. With such men, a hasty judgment is
never come to, and something more than a look is necessary to satisfy them. Thus they all
gave it a fair trial, by sinking in the most likely places, but all experienced the same result
-- not even the colour of gold was obtained. You may remember that some eighteen
months ago, when on my tour to the Northern gold-fields, I wrote you from the Oban. In
that letter, I mentioned the name of a Mr. Maxwell, a remarkably intelligent and
persevering gold-miner, that I met there. This gentleman has been at work since then on
the extreme Northern diggings, and some short time before I arrived, he travelled with his
party across the country from Boonoo Boonoo to Canoona. He reached the latter place on
the evenings of one day, and the prospecting of the day following was sufficient to satisfy
him. On the succeeding day he and his party packed up, and sloped for more promising
ground. A party of old diggers, that went up in the Yarra with me, and headed by an
American of no mean mining experience, gave two hard days' work to prospecting, but
could find nothing to give them the slightest hope of ultimate success. It is needless,
however, to multiply cases that all tend to the one conclusion, and which all bear out my
own impressions.
I have said that the native blacks are exceedingly savage and hostile in this district, and
numerous instances of their depredations were given to me. Only about three months
prior to this date, the station of Mr. Elliott, some five miles from Canoona, was regularly
invested by them in midday. Luckily all hands were on their guard, or a general massacre
of the whites would have been the result. As it was, one man was speared, and, after
lingering two months in agony, died from the injury received. Another man received a
terrible gash in the arm from a boomerang. Information of the foray was immediately
given to the native police, and in the course of the following week ample satisfaction was
taken, no less than thirty-eight blacks having been shot down during that period. With
such a deadly feud existing between white and black, it is not to be wondered at that he
who travels solitarily carries his life in his hand. The shepherd who tends his flock,
carries his loaded carbine slung from his shoulder, and a dozen rounds of ammunition in
his belt. There is no sleeping and losing sheep here, for too many quick eyes are
perchance following his movements, to allow of one moment's relaxation of vigilance by
the shepherd. I learnt, on the authority of an old resident in Rockhampton, that only a few
days before our arrival, two blacks were shot late at night, immediately in front of his
residence. The shots were heard and wondered at by my informant. In the morning two
pools of blood that stained the ground gave a suspicion of what had occurred, and this
suspicion was rendered certainty by two black corpses that were borne down by the
ebbing tide past the spot where their death wounds had been received.
All this, no doubt, reads melancholy enough, as there is something exceedingly shocking
to the feelings of civilised man in such a destruction of human life; but here, the thing is
looked upon as a necessity, as, but for the heavy blows that fall in reprisal upon the tribe
that commits a depredation, there would be no security whatever for life and property in
these outlying and comparatively unprotected districts.
In my journey up to Canoona, I had a sight of a dead alligator, but on my travels down to
Rockhampton I was introduced to two real living specimens of the genus. Prior to
crossing the river, the road passes along its northern bank, at a distance of about two
hundred yards from the stream, for very nearly a mile. A black boy, on horseback,
accompanied us down, and where the road first touches upon the river bank with that
"look-out "
propensity of the Australian aborigine, he rode off quietly to have a
peep down into the river. As we were wondering what he was up to, we saw him making
signs to us to come to him, at the same time putting his arms up in the attitude of firing,
thereby indicating that we were to bring firearms. A German, a hutkeeper, from Elliott's
station, who was armed with the invariable carbine ran down to the spot, followed by
your humble servant, revolver in hand, not exactly knowing whether, like Robinson
Crusoe, I was to be called upon to fire into a tribe of cannibal blacks, on a flock of ducks,
or a herd of wallaby. We were warned by a sign from the black boy to be cautious, so
crawling to the edge of the bank, under shelter of a large gum tree that stood near it, we
peered over into the river bed, and there sure enough we saw two of the most
disagreeably ugly animals that ever I clapped eyes on. They were alligators, one having
the appearance of being at the very least eighteen feet long, and exceedingly thick and
bulky; the other smaller, and of more thin and genteel proportions, being not more than
from thirteen to fourteen feet in length. I pointed out the larger of the two to the German,
as his share of the game, in consideration of his having the more formidable weapon,
whilst I took a steady aim at the lesser brute. We fired, nearly at the same moment, the
ball from my revolver striking the tough hide of the Saurian, glancing off and falling into
the water some fifteen yards beyond him. More alarmed, as I imagine, by the noise of the
report than injured by the bullet, the two monsters scuttled down with astonishing
rapidity into the water, from which they were not distant more than eight or ten yards; the
only effect of our sporting having been to disturb the sunny siesta of these two interesting
animals.
Whilst on the subject of sporting, I may mention that the country abounds in wallaby,
some of them, to judge by their tracks, of a pretty good size. Wallaby soup was by no
means an uncommon dish on the diggings and on the road. Emus are also plentiful on the
plains, but I only saw one during my journeyings, and this seemed to have been a solitary
kind of animal, of an inquiring turn of mind, for it walked backwards and forwards in
front of our camp at the Round Waterhole for nearly half-an-hour, apparently in the last
stage of surprise at the twenty or thirty tents that intervened between it and the natural
basin in which it had been accustomed to take its morning draught. Not being able to
come to any distinct conclusion on the subject, it seemed to stalk away in disgust at such
an unwarrantable intrusion on our parts. Ducks and water fowl of every description are to
be found in myriads upon the lagoons and the river. Never having been disturbed by
powder and shot, they appear almost tame in their very wildness, for they make not the
least attempt to escape as the deadly tube is levelled at them, but seem almost to court
their death-wound by swimming up to gratify their curiosity by a closer inspection of the
pale faces. Parrots of many various kinds, of a good size and of exceedingly plump
proportions, are numerous in the trees, and form by no means a contemptible mess as a
change from the eternal fried mutton, which is the three times a-day dish in every tent at
Rockhampton.