When I first determined on committing to the press a detailed account of
the two expeditions, which I conducted into the interior of the Australian
continent, pursuant to the orders of Lieutenant General Darling, the late
Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, it was simply with a view of
laying their results before the geographical world, and of correcting the
opinions that prevailed with regard to the unexplored country to the
westward of the Blue Mountains. I did not feel myself equal either to the
task or the responsibility of venturing any remarks on the Colony of New
South Wales itself. I had had little time for inquiry, amidst the various
duties that fell to my lot in the ordinary routine of the service to which
I belonged, when unemployed by the Colonial Government in the prosecution
of inland discoveries. My observations had been in a great measure
confined to those points which curiosity, or a desire of personal
information, had prompted me to investigate. I did not, therefore, venture
to flatter myself that I had collected materials of sufficient importance
on general topics to enable me to write for the information of others.
Since my return to England, however, I have been strenuously urged to give
a short description of the colony before entering upon my personal
narrative; and I have conversed with so many individuals whose ideas of
Australia are totally at variance with its actual state, that I am
encouraged to indulge the hope that my observations, desultory as they
are, may be of some interest to the public. I am strengthened in this hope
by the consideration that some kind friends have enabled me to add much
valuable matter to that which I had myself collected. It is not my
intention, however, to enter at any length on the commercial or
agricultural interests of New South Wales. It may be necessary for me to
touch lightly on those important subjects, but it is my wish to connect
this preliminary chapter, as much as possible with the subjects treated of