calculation, though they could not now be appreciated as they would be
hereafter. They deserved well of their country. In all ages such services
as they had rendered had been regarded as national benefactions. The
principle of the state rewarding such services had been recognised in
this colony and had been reduced to practice. Recompense was decreed by
Parliament to the discoverers of new goldfields, and the admirable
constitution of this colony had provided a most soothing consolation, in
the shape of 1800 pounds per annum, to requite the devotion of those
self-sacrificing spirits who consented to bow their studious heads and
delicate shoulders to the responsibilities of government for the weary
space of two whole years. (Laughter.) If such were the case, what was the
debt which the country owed to those great national benefactors, the
explorers. Their discoveries had opened the eyes of the people of
Australia to the fact that God had given them a most wealthy inheritance,
which might be compared to the whole world in miniature. It had the best
of every clime under the sun, and the gifts of nature were scattered with
great profusion. As to the precious metals it might turn out that what
had been found was only an earnest of what was to follow; but there could
be no doubt that Australia was to be the woolgrower of the whole world,
and that it would grow cotton to feed all the mills of England. Dr.
Cairns concluded by moving the following resolution:

That this meeting begs, in the most cordial manner, to welcome the
explorers, Messrs. Landsborough and McKinlay, on their safe return, and
to express admiration of the many excellent qualities displayed by them
in the prosecution of their arduous enterprise, and considers that it is
a duty to acknowledge the hand of Divine Providence in preserving them in
the midst of danger.

...