Ferdinand von Mueller

Name of house in Camberwell, Vic.

The 'discovery' referred to was an inscribed Boabab tree found 'recently' in the Victoria River district, NT. A copy of the report to the Government was printed in the Northern Territory times and gazette, 24 May 1895, as follows:

This is to certify that we, the undersigned, have seen the Boabab tree on Bradshaw's Creek, bearing the memorial —

Oct 9 (like) 15 or 75

Fred Adams

Southampto

and consider the inscription to be of considerable age. The characters representing the year are indistinct, owing to the age of the engraving, but were evidently originally intended to be 75 or 15, and we are of opinion that the memorial was cut either in the year 1775 or 1815. As both these dates belong to an earlier period than that of any recorded exploration of this part of the Northern Territory (Arnheim's Land), we think an interesting discovery may result from giving publicity to the fact of the existence of the marked tree. The tree is 12 miles up Shaw's Creek, a tributary of the Victoria River, and is at a rough estimate, one hundred miles from the seaboard. The words "Fred Adams, Southampto," and the date "Oct 9," are perfectly clear, the final "N" only being wanted to complete the word (supposed by us to be) Southampton. The existence of the inscription may be due to the presence of some ship's crew sent hither in search of water, as at spring tides a vessel of light draught can be navigated the whole distance from the coast; but it is also probable the carving was done by some shipwrecked seaman making inland for sustenance.

We know of no other tree similarly marked in the neighbourhood.

Shaw's Creek is now known as the Angalarri River. Aeneas Gunn's cousin, Joseph Bradshaw, established a run on its banks in 1894 near the junction with the Victoria River. The origin of the inscription on the tree was resolved by Augustus Gregory who was prompted by the report of its discovery to affirm that Fred Adams had been a member of the crew of the schooner Tom Tough that had helped transport the North Australian Exploring Expedition to the Victoria River in 1855. The crew had camped by Shaw's Creek in October 1855 and had reported at the time that they had marked a boabab tree (see Northern Territory times, 6 September 1895).