who, beset by danger from within and without, brought the colony through
its infancy without any tragedy happening. Apparently, these early
adventurers were no whit behind travellers of the present day in bringing
back wonderful tales of their discoveries whenever they essayed a trip
into the unknown. One of the officers writes:--

"We found the convicts particularly happy in fertility of invention and
exaggerated descriptions; hence, large fresh-water rivers, valuable ores,
and quarries of limestone, chalk, and marble were daily proclaimed soon
after we had landed. At first we hearkened with avidity to such accounts,
but perpetual disappointments taught us to listen with caution, and to
believe from demonstration only."

Amongst these gentry was a convict named Daly, afterwards banged for
burglary, who distinguished himself by instigating the first gold
prospecting party in Australia. Having broken up a pair of brass buckles,
he mixed the fragments with sand and stones, and represented the result
as specimens of ore he had found. A party was sent out under his guidance
to examine the locality, but, needless to say, failed in the endeavour,
the perpetrator of the hoax confessing to it in the end, and suffering
the punishment common at that period.

The discovery of the Hawkesbury River, in the year following the
settlement, may be looked upon as the first effort emanating from the
colony to push exploration to any appreciable distance.

On the 6th of June, 1789, Governor Phillip, accompanied by a large party
in two boats, proceeded to Broken Bay. After spending some time without
result, they pulled into an inlet, and suddenly found themselves at the
entrance of a fresh-water river, up which they rowed twenty miles in a