general; John Harris, Esq., late surgeon of the 102nd regiment, (who most liberally volunteered to accompany the expedition); Mr. Evans, deputy surveyor general; and Mr. Charles Fraser, colonial botanist; together with twelve men, having eighteen horses and two boats, and provisions for twenty-four weeks, took their final departure on the 4th of June last, from a depot prepared for the occasion in the Wellington Valley, at about ninety miles west of Bathurst; and those gentlemen, and the entire party, having a few days since arrived at Port Jackson by sea, from the northward, his excellency is happy in offering his most cordial congratulations to John Oxley, Esq., the conductor of this expedition, and to John Harris, Esq., Mr. Evans, and Mr. Fraser, on their safe return from this arduous undertaking.

The zeal, talent, and attention manifested by Mr. Oxley, considering the perils and privations to which he and his party were exposed, in exploring a tract of country so singularly circumstanced in its various bearings, are no less honourable to Mr. Oxley than conducive to the public interest; and although the principal object, namely, that of tracing the Macquarie River to its embouchure, has not been so favourable as was anticipated, yet the failure is in a great degree counterbalanced by other important discoveries made in the course of this tour, which promise, at no very remote period, to prove of material advantage to this rising colony.

Whilst his excellency thus offers this public tribute of congratulations, he desires to accompany it with expressions of his high sense and approbation of Mr. Oxley’s meritorious services on this occasion; which his excellency will not fail to represent to His Majesty’s ministers, by the earliest opportunity.

The personal assistance and support so cheerfully and beneficially afforded to Mr. Oxley by the gentlemen associated with him on this expedition, demand his excellency’s best acknowledgments, which be is happy thus publicly to request them to accept.

The following letter received from Mr. Oxley on his arrival at Port Stephens, on the 1st of November last, is now published for general information on the interesting subject of this tour.

By his excellency the governor’s command,

J. T. Campbell, Secretary.

* * *

Port Stephens, November 1, 1818.

Sir,

I have the honour to inform your excellency, that I arrived at this port to-day, and circumstances rendering it necessary that Mr. Evans should proceed to Newcastle, I embrace the opportunity to make to your excellency a brief report of the route pursued by the western expedition entrusted to my direction.

My letter, dated the 22nd of June last, will have made your excellency acquainted with the sanguine hopes I entertained, from the appearance of the river, that its termination would be either in interior waters, or coastwise.  When I wrote that letter to your excellency, I certainly did not anticipate the possibility, that a very few days farther travelling would lead us to its termination as an accessible river.