The main portion of eastern Australia was now fairly well known; it had been crossed from south to north, and from east to west, and it was only the elongated spur of the Cape York peninsula that stood in urgent need of detailed exploration.

Amongst what may be called the minor pastoral expeditions of that period, was one conducted by G.E.  Dalrymple, who penetrated the coastal country north of Rockhampton as far north as the Burdekin.  In 1859 he followed that river down to the sea, and found that the mouth had been located further to the south than was really the case.  His party then struck inland, examined the head of that river, and found the Valley of Lagoons.  The following year another party, consisting of Messrs. Cunningham, Somer, and three others, explored the tributaries of the Upper Burdekin, and opened up several good tracts of pastoral country.  The permanent running stream which flows through a rugged wall of basalt into an ana-branch of the Burdekin, was first noticed by this party, and called Fletcher’s Creek.

[Illustration.  Frank L. Jardine.

Illustration.  Alec W. Jardine.]

Frank and Alec Jardine jointly led up the Cape York Peninsula an expedition that in its hardships and dangers emulated that of Kennedy’s, but fortunately without a tragic ending.  The year 1863 was one of great activity in the northern part of eastern Australia.  At Cape York, the Imperial Government had, on the recommendation of Sir George Bowen, the first governor of Queensland, decided to form a settlement.  John Jardine, the police magistrate of the central town of Rockhampton, was selected to take charge, and a detachment of marines was sent out to be stationed there.  Somerset, the new settlement, was formed on the Albany Pass, opposite to the island of the same name.  Jardine was to proceed by sea to his new sphere of office, but, anticipating the want of fresh meat at the proposed station, he entered into an arrangement with the Government whereby his two sons were to take a small herd of cattle thither overland, and on the way make careful observations of the land through which they were to pass.  Somerset was situated near the scene of Kennedy’s death, and knowing what tremendous difficulties that explorer had met with on the eastern shore, it was decided that the expedition should attempt to follow the western shore through the unknown country that faced the Gulf of Carpentaria.  Both the Jardine brothers were quite young men at the time when they started on their exceedingly adventurous trip, which combined cattle-droving with exploration:  Frank, the accepted leader, being only twenty-two years old, and his brother Alexander but twenty.  Their father had come from Applegarth, in Dumfriesshire; they had both been born near Sydney, and had been educated by private tutors and at the Sydney Grammar School.