Spinifex and Sand<br />A Narrative of Five Years' Pioneering and Exploration in Western Ausralia by David Wynford Carnegie (popular books of all time TXT) 📕

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPINIFEX AND SAND *** Produced by Col Choat and Colin Beck Spinifex and Sand by David W. Carnegie

In 1896-1897, the Hon. David Wynford Carnegie, born in 1871, youngest son of the Earl of Southesk, led one of the last great expeditions in the exploration of Australia. His route from Lake Darlôt to Halls Creek and return, took thirteen months and covered over three thousand miles. Carnegie financed his expedition from the results of a successful gold strike at Lake Darlôt.

David Carnegie returned to England in 1898, was awarded a medal by the Royal Geographic Society and in 1899 was appointed Assistant Resident and Magistrate in Northern Nigeria. On November 27, 1900 while on an expedition to capture a brigand he was shot in the thigh with a poisoned arrow and died minutes later. He is buried at Lokaja, Nigeria and a memorial to his memory is in St. George's Cathedral, Perth.

SPINIFEX AND SAND A Narrative of Five Years' Pioneering and Exploration in Western Ausralia By The HON. DAVID W CARNEGIE (1871-1900) Illustration 1: David W. Carnegie.

To MY MOTHER CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PART I - EARLY DAYS IN COOLGARDIE Early Days In The Colony “Hard Up” A Miner On Bayley's PART II - FIRST PROSPECTING EXPEDITION The Rush To Kurnalpi—We Reach Queen Victoria Spring In Unknown Country From Mount Shenton To Mount Margaret PART III - SECOND PROSPECTING EXPEDITION The Joys Of Portable Condensers Granite Rocks, “Namma Holes,” And “Soaks” A Fresh Start A Camel Fight Gold At Lake Darlôt Alone In The Bush Sale Of Mine PART IV - MINING Quartz Reefing And Dry-Blowing PART V - THE OUTWARD JOURNEY Previous Explorers In The Interior Of Western Australia Members And Equipment Of Expedition The Journey Begins We Enter The Desert Water At Last Woodhouse Lagoon The Great Undulating Desert Of Gravel A Desert Tribe Dr. Leichardt's Lost Expedition The Desert Of Parallel Sand-Ridges From Family Well To Helena Spring Helena Spring From Helena Spring To The Southesk Tablelands Death Of Stansmore Wells Exploring Expedition Kimberley Aboriginals At Hall's Creek Preparations For The Return Journey
Appendix To Part V PART VI - THE JOURNEY HOME Return Journey Begins Sturt Creek And “Gregory's Salt Sea” Our Camp On The “Salt Sea” Desert Once More Stansmore Range To Lake MacDonald Lake MacDonald To The Deep Rock-Holes The Last Of The Ridges Of Drift Sand Woodhouse Lagoon Revisited Across Lake Wells To Lake Darlôt The End Of The Expedition APPENDIX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

(47 illustrations appeared in the original text, published in 1898. A number have not been reproduced in the html version of the etext.)

Hon. D. W. Carnegie Jarrah Forest, West Australia General store And Post-office, Coolgardie, 1892 The first hotel at Coolgardie The “Gold Escort” Grass trees, near Perth Death of “Tommy” Fresh meat at last Bayley Street, Coolgardie, 1894 Condensing water on a salt lake Fever-stricken and alone Miner's Right Typical sandstone gorge Crossing a salt lake Entrance to Empress Spring At work in the cave, Empress Spring Alexander Spring Woodhouse Lagoon A buck and his gins in camp at Family Well Cresting a sand-ridge Helena Spring The only specimen of desert architecture The Mad Buck Southesk Tablelands A native hunting party Plan of sand-ridges Exaggerated section of the sand-ridges Charles W. Stansmore Native preparing for the emu dance Spears Woomera Iron Tomahawks Stone Tomahawks Boomerangs Clubs and throwing-sticks Shields Quartz knife Ceremonial sticks Rain-making boards Message sticks Group Of Explorers Just in time A wild escort of nearly one hundred men Establishing friendly relations The tail-end of a miserable caravan A karri timber train A pearl shell station, Broome, N.W. Australia INTRODUCTION

“An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told.”

The following pages profess to be no more than a faithful narrative of five years spent on the goldfields and in the far interior of Western Australia. Any one looking for stirring adventures, hairbreadth escapes from wild animals and men, will be disappointed. In the Australian Bush the traveller has only Nature to war against—over him hangs always the chance of death from thirst, and sometimes from the attacks of hostile aboriginals; he has no spice of adventure, no record heads of rare game, no exciting escapades with dangerous beasts, to spur him on; no beautiful scenery, broad lakes, or winding rivers to make life pleasant for him. The unbroken monotony of an arid, uninteresting country has to be faced. Nature everywhere demands his toil. Unless he has within him impulses that give him courage to go on, he will soon return; for he will find nothing in his surroundings to act as an incentive to tempt him further.

I trust my readers will be able to glean a little knowledge of the hardships and dangers that beset the paths of Australian pioneers, and will learn something of the trials and difficulties encountered by a prospector, recognising that he is often inspired by some higher feeling than the mere “lust of gold.”

Wherever possible, I have endeavoured to add interest to my own experiences by recounting those of other travellers; and, by studying the few books that touch upon such matters to explain any points in connection with the aboriginals that from my own knowledge I am unable to do. I owe several interesting details to the Report on the Work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia, and to Ethnological Studies among the North-West Central Queensland Aboriginals, by Walter E. Roth. For the identification of the few geological specimens brought in by me, I am indebted to the Government Geologist of the Mines Department, Perth, W.A., and to Mr. W. Botting Hemsley, through the courtesy of the Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, for the identification of the plants.

I also owe many thanks to my friend Mr. J. F. Cornish, who has taken so much trouble in correcting the proofs of my MSS.

PART I EARLY DAYS IN COOLGARDIE CHAPTER I Early Days In The Colony

In the month of September, 1892, Lord Percy Douglas (now Lord Douglas of Hawick) and I, found ourselves steaming into King George's Sound—that magnificent harbour on the south-west coast of Western Australia—building castles in the air, discussing our prospects, and making rapid and vast imaginary fortunes in the gold-mines of that newly-discovered land of Ophir. Coolgardie, a district then unnamed, had been discovered, and Arthur Bayley, a persevering and lucky prospector, had returned to civilised parts from the “bush,” his packhorses loaded with golden specimens from the famous mine which bears his name. I suppose the fortunate find of Bayley and his mate, Ford, has turned the course of events in the lives of many tens of thousands of people, and yet, as he jogged along the track from Gnarlbine Rock to Southern Cross, I daresay his thoughts reverted to his own life, and the good time before him, rather than to moralising on the probable effect of his discovery on others.

We spent as little time as possible at Albany, or, I should say, made our stay as short as was permitted, for in those days the convenience of the passenger was thought little of, in comparison with the encouragement of local industries, so that mails and travellers alike were forced to remain at least one night in Albany by the arrangement of the train service, greatly to the benefit of the hotel-keepers.

We were somewhat surprised to see the landlord's daughters waiting at table. They were such tremendously smart and icy young ladies that at first we were likely to mistake them for guests; and even when sure of their identity we were too nervous to ask for anything so vulgar as a pot of beer, or to expect them to change our plates.

Between Albany and Perth the country is not at all interesting being for the most part flat, scrubby, and sandy, though here and there are rich farming and agricultural districts. Arrived at Perth we found ourselves a source of great interest to the inhabitants, inasmuch as we announced our intention of making our way to the goldfields, while we had neither the means nor apparently the capability of getting there. Though treated with great hospitality, we found it almost impossible to get any information or assistance, all our inquiries being answered by some scoffing remark, such as, “Oh, you'll never get there!”

We attended a rather remarkable dinner—given in honour of the Boot, Shoe, Harness, and Leather trade, at the invitation of a fellow-countryman in the trade, and enjoyed ourselves immensely; speech-making and toast-drinking being carried out in the extensive style so customary in the West. Picture our surprise on receiving a bill for 10s. 6d. next morning! Our friend of the dinner, kindly put at our disposal a hansom cab which he owned, but this luxury we declined with thanks, fearing a repetition of his “bill-by-invitation.”

Illustration 2: Jarrah Forrest, West Australia

Owing to the extreme kindness of Mr. Robert Smith we were at last enabled to get under way for the scene of the “rush.” Disregarding the many offers of men willing to guide us along a self-evident track, we started with one riding and one packhorse each. These and the contents of the pack-bags represented all our worldly possessions, but in this we might count ourselves lucky, for many hundreds had to carry their belongings on their backs—“humping their bluey,” as the expression is.

Our road lay through Northam, and the several small farms and settlements which extend some distance eastward. Very few used this track, the more popular and direct route being through York, and thence along the telegraph line to Southern Cross; and indeed we did pass through York, which thriving little town we left at dusk, and, carrying out our directions, rode along the telegraph line. Unfortunately we had not been told that the line split up, one branch going to Northam and the other to Southern Cross; as often happens in such cases, we took the wrong branch and travelled well into the night before finding any habitation at which we could get food and water.

The owner of the house where we finally stopped did not look upon our visit with pleasure, as we had literally to break into the house before we could attract any attention. Finding we were not burglars, and having relieved himself by most vigorous and pictorial language (in the use of which the teamsters and small farmers are almost without rivals) the owner showed us his well, and did what he could to make us comfortable. I shall never forget the great hospitality here along this road, though no doubt as time went on the settlers could not afford to house hungry travellers free of cost, and probably made a fair amount of money by selling provisions and horse-feed to the hundreds of gold-fever patients who were continually passing.

Southern Cross, which came into existence about the year '90, was a pretty busy place, being the last outpost of civilisation at the time of our first acquaintance with it. The now familiar corrugated-iron-built town, with its streets inches deep in dust under a blazing sun, its incessant swarms of flies, the clashing of the “stamps” on the mines, and the general “never-never” appearance of the place, impressed us with feelings the reverse of pleasant. The building that struck me most was the bank—a small iron shanty with a hession partition dividing it into office and living room, the latter a hopeless chaos of cards, candle ends, whiskey bottles, blankets, safe keys, gold specimens, and cooking utensils. The bank manager had evidently been entertaining a little party of friends the previous night, and though its hours had passed, and a new day had dawned, the party still continued. Since that time it has been my lot to witness more than one such evening of festivity!

On leaving Southern Cross we travelled with another company of adventurers, one of whom, Mr. Davies, an old Queensland squatter, was our partner in several subsequent undertakings.

The monotony of the flat timber-clad country was occasionally relieved by the occurrence of large isolated hills of bare granite. But for these the road, except for camels, could never have been kept open; for they represented our sources of water supply. On the surface of the rocks numerous holes and indentations are found, which after rain, hold water, and besides these, around the foot of the outcrops, “soaks,” or shallow wells, are to be found.

What scenes of bitter quarrels these watering-places have witnessed! The selfish striving, each to help himself, the awful sufferings of man and beast, horses and camels mad with thirst, and men cursing the country and themselves, for wasting their lives and strength in it; but they have witnessed many an act of kindness and self-denial too.

Where the now prosperous and busy town of Coolgardie stands, with