Ferdinand von Mueller

Charles Sturt was involved in the discussions concerning the planning of the expedition, and believed in the likelihood of fertile land being found that would facilitate land communication between Western Australia and the eastern colonies (see his letter, dated 12 February 1854 to the Society read at the meeting of 27 February 1854, but not published by the Society. It was published in Sun (London), 13 March 1854, p. [8], as 'Observations on the proposed North Australian Expedition, under Captain Stokes, R.N., by Captain Sturt'. No indication has been found that Sturt was responsible for the wording of the penultimate object of the instructions given to Gregory that included 'There can be no question b ut that the interests of the eastern provinces, and of commerce, will be greatly promoted by the establishment of a practicable road between them and the Gulf of Carpentaria, in as much as it is impossible to foresee the extensive and beneficial results w hich might lead in facilitating our intercourse with the islands in the China Seas ' ( A. Gregory (1857c), p. 4).

In a comment following the reading of A. Gregory (1857b), dated from the Victoria River , 14 June 1856 , to a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on 10 November 1856, Mr Merivale {Under-secretary in Colonial Office ] reported that ‘it was believed that supplies had been sent by Sir William Denison from New South Wales in a vessel called the " Torch "' . When Gregory reached the Albert River on the Gulf of Carpentaria on 31 August 1856, signs of a visit by Torch were found, but Gregory ‘came to the conclusion that it had no reference to the Expedition’ ( A. Gregory ( 1858), p. 100 ) . In fact, when Torc h reached the Albert r iver on 1 August, the commander with two boats ascended to ‘the Tongue of land at the fork of the river, 50 miles from the mouth’ where they ‘left substantial indications of our having been there, on the larger trees, and enclosed full particulars in a bottle suspended from a branch’ ( Inquirer and commercial news (Perth, WA ), 25 March 1857, p. 3) . Torch , commanded by Lieut. William Chimmo, had been engaged in survey work and other duties in NSW waters and the Pacific since 1853. It was sold in May 1856 and was on its delivery voyage to Singapore during which it was engaged in several g overnment tasks, including seeking news of Gregory’s expedition (various Australian newspapers of the period) . See also Chimmo (1857), read to the Royal Geographical Society on 12 January 1857.

Gregory’s report ( A. Gregory (1857a) ) , dated Victoria River , 24 September 1855, on the ‘Progress of the North Australian Expedition’ , contain ing his account of the grounding on the reef and his plans to delay any distant exploration to the end of October was ‘communicated by the Colonial Office’ and read at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on 11 February 1856. It was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society , vo l. 1 sessions 18 5 6–6 and 1856–7 (1 857), pp. 32-3 .