CHAPTER I



LEAVE THE LAST STATION--FOSSIL REMAINS--DARLING DOWNS--ENTER THE
WILDERNESS--WATERLOO PLAINS--THE CONDAMINE--HEAVY RAINS--CHARLEY'S
MISCONDUCT--MURPHY AND CALEB LOST--KENT'S LAGOON--COAL--MURPHY AND CALEB
FOUND AGAIN.


It was at the end of September, 1844, when we completed the necessary
preparations for our journey, and left the station of Messrs. Campbell
and Stephens, moving slowly towards the farthest point on which the white
man has established himself. We passed the stations of Messrs. Hughs and
Isaacs and of Mr. Coxen, and arrived on the 30th September, at Jimba,
[It is almost always written Fimba, in the Journal; but I have corrected
it to Jimba.--(ED.)] where we were to bid farewell to civilization.

These stations are established on creeks which come down from the western
slopes of the Coast Range--here extending in a north and south
direction--and meander through plains of more or less extent to join the
Condamine River; which--also rising in the Coast Range, where the latter
expands into the table-land of New England--sweeps round to the
northward, and, flowing parallel to the Coast Range, receives the whole
drainage from the country to the westward of the range. The Condamine
forms, for a great distance, the separation of the sandstone country to
the westward, from the rich basaltic plains to the eastward. These
plains, so famous for the richness of their pasture, and for the
excellency of the sheep and cattle depastured upon them, have become