At 10 a.m. on the 9th we prepared to move over to the branch creek, as I really required rest and quiet, and knew very well that as long as I remained where I was, we should be troubled by our sable friends, who, being sixteen in number, would require being well looked after.  Before we finally left the neighbourhood, however, where our hopes had so often been raised and depressed, I gave the name of Cooper’s Creek to the fine watercourse we had so anxiously traced, as a proof of my great respect for Mr. Cooper, the Judge of South Australia.  I am not conversant in the language of praise, but thus much will I venture to say, that whether in his public or private capacity, Mr. Cooper was equally entitled to this record of my feelings towards him.  I would gladly have laid this creek down as a river, but as it had no current I did not feel myself justified in so doing.  Had it been nearer the located districts of South Australia, its discovery would have been a matter of some importance.  As it is we know not what changes or speculations may lead the white man to its banks.  Purposes of utility were amongst the first objects I had in view in my pursuit of geographical discovery; nor do I think that any country, however barren, can be explored without the attainment of some good end.  Circumstances may yet arise to give a value to my recent labours, and my name may be remembered by after generations in Australia, as the first who tried to penetrate to its centre.  If I failed in that great object, I have one consolation in the retrospect of my past services.  My path amongst savage tribes has been a bloodless one, not but that I have often been placed in situations of risk and danger, when I might have been justified in shedding blood, but I trust I have ever made allowances for human timidity, and respected the customs and prejudices of the rudest people.  I hope, indeed, that in this my last expedition, I have not done discredit to the good opinion Sir C. Napier, an officer I knew not, was pleased to entertain of me.  Most assuredly in my intercourse with the savage, I have endeavoured to elevate the character of the white man.  Justice and humanity have been my guides, but while I have the consolation to know that no European will follow my track into the Desert without experiencing kindness from its tenants, I have to regret that the progress of civilized man into an uncivilized region, is almost invariably attended with misfortune to its original inhabitants.

I struck Cooper’s Creek in lat. 27 degrees 44 minutes, and in long. 140 degrees 22 minutes, and traced it upwards to lat. 27 degrees 56 minutes, and long. 142 degrees 0 minutes.  There can be no doubt but that it would support a number of cattle upon its banks, but its agricultural capabilities appear to me doubtful, for the region in which it lies is subject evidently to variations of temperature and seasons that must, I should say, be inimical to cereal productions; nevertheless I should suppose its soil would yield sufficient to support any population that might settle on it.