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to the Exploration Committe, 12 November 1861
Monday, 4 November 1861.
A Special Meeting of the Exploration Committee was held in the afternoon at the Society's hall for the purpose of considering and ordering upon the despatches received yesterday from Mr Howitt.
Present: Barkly, Mueller (chair), Stawell (arrived late), McCoy, Mackenna, Elliott, Selwyn, Hodgkinson, Ligar, Iffla, Watson, Wilkie, Cadell, Eades, Smith, Macadam and Gillbee.
There was a large number of persons present, and Dr Mueller was voted to the chair in the temporary absence of his Honour W F Stawell. His Excellency the Governor was present throughout the meeting, as also the father of the late Mr Wills, and Mr Brahe of the Victorian Contingent Party.
Sir Henry Barkly thought it would be satisfactory to those present if Mr Brahe would give some explanation of the melancholy affair that had happened, especially with regard to his not finding the traces of Mr Burke; also what steps were taken.
Mr Brahe, who seemed much affected, and spoke in a very low tone, said that on one morning towards the end of May he saw, at the Cooper's Creek depot, different tracks, and the traces of what he supposed to be some of the camels which had strayed; also places where fires had been lighted. The cachettes appeared to have been undisturbed. Had Mr Burke arrived at the depot ten days later than his (Mr Brahe's) departure the soil would have shown signs of having been disturbed, but as he arrived on the same day there was nothing to show that it had been disturbed. He did not attempt to open the cachette thinking the provisions were in it. All he found was a piece of leather that he had previously thrown away. On their way back they opened the cachette, as King told them there were letters deposited in it.
Dr Eades (to Mr Brahe) - You stated when in Melbourne before with Mr Howitt, that on your return to Menindie you fell in with Mr Wright’s party, and that you then returned with him to the camp, and made search to see if anyone had disturbed the plant. Is that right? Mr Brahe - Yes.
Dr Eades - Now, if you searched the place to find if the plant had been disturbed, should we not expect that you satisfied yourselves that it had not been disturbed ? Mr Brahe - Yes.
Mr Sizar Elliott - What search did you make? What was the nature of it? Did you remove the camel and horse dung that was laid over the cachette ? Mr Brahe - We did not like to open the cachette, as it had not been opened by the natives. We were afraid if we opened it that the natives would observe it and open it afterwards.
The Chairman (Stawell) - Was there any alteration in your marks on the trees ? Mr Brahe - No, none whatever.
Mr Sizar Elliott - When you covered up the plant you threw the manure from the camels and horses over it;-did Mr Burke do the same thing when he opened the cachette ? Mr Brahe - He did; I pointed that out to Mr Wright. The Chairman suggested that the same feeling would actuate all parties.
Mr Ligar, (to Mr Brahe) - I see in one of the letters that Mr Wills accuses you of leaving the place without authority to do so. Mr Brahe - I stated last when last before the Committee what my instructions were-namely, to remain at Cooper's Creek for three months. Mr Burke said he should be that time away exactly. I remained four months and a week. I had with me a most useful man-Patten-to whom I repeated Mr Burke's instructions. Patton was ill and he had a good right to expect to be removed when that time expired.
Professor McCoy thought it was desirable that no wrong impression should go abroad. As far as he recollected, when Mr Brahe was last before the Committee he stated that he remained at Cooper’s Creek a month beyond his time, and his reason for leaving then was that he had only enough food left for him to go down to Menindie, after leaving some behind him. He mentioned that in fairness to Mr Brahe, as on a former occasion the Committee thought it was sufficient.
Mr Elliott said he differed with Professor McCoy. Mr Brahe said he was told by Mr Burke to wait three months, and that then Mr Wills asked him to remain four months. How long after had he remained? One week only. That did not show any great spirit of endurance. He thought there was a large amount of blame attached to Mr Brahe for leaving so soon. He certainly waited the full amount of his time, but only one week beyond it.
Mr Brahe knew when he left that he would have to leave the party to search for water, and would perhaps have to make his way to the Darling.
By Mr Selwyn - When I returned with Mr Wright, we had plenty of provisions, but we did not take any to leave at Cooper's Creek.
Mr Elliott - The Committee would remark that those men who had a large amount of strength had plenty of food, but very little was taken for those who were weak. Mr Brahe - Mr Burke told me that he was bound to be back in three months' time, and he agreed with me that if not back by that time he would be on his way to Queensland. It was my impression that I should hear of his being there when I returned to Menindie.
Mr James Smith thought Mr Brahe was right; for had he remained, and one or two deaths had occurred, he would have been blamed.
Mr Elliott said that they looked upon Mr Wills as being the cautious man. They knew that Mr Burke was determined to go through at any rate. But it was the cautious man of the party who mentioned four months as the time. Mr Mackenna did not agree with such remarks being made. Mr Elliott - We thought so at any rate.
Dr Mueller remarked that under the circumstances in which Mr Brahe and the men were placed, and the likelihood of Mr Burke going into the settled districts, he had only acted from a desire to preserve the lives of the men under his charge.
Sir Henry Barkly thought there would be no advantage in pursuing that inquiry further and he considered that every allowance should be made for a person in Mr Brahe's place.
Tuesday, 12 November 1861
57 Little Collins-street west, Melbourne, To the Editor of the Argus, Sir, I have not tried to rebut the intemperance accusations brought against me by the press, because I know that I can do so only by means of an investigation by a board composed of gentlemen unconnected with the Royal Society. When I read in Friday's Argus that Mr. Heales was inclined to leave the inquiry to the Royal Society, I at once sent a letter to the Chief Secretary, urging him to reconsider his decision, and to institute the strictest possible inquiry. Although I cannot do full justice to myself by replications to newspaper articles, I shall now, without any further delay, prepare a statement of my reasons for acting as I did, and lay the same before the Exploration Committee, with a view to see it published in all the daily papers. My defence, however, will be necessarily incomplete until the evidence of some of the surviving members of the first Expedition can be obtained. Yonr obedient servant, |
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Thursday, 14 November 1861
57 Little Collins-street west, Melbourne, Various charges having been advanced in the public journals against my conduct while in the service of the Exploring Expedition, I am most anxious to vindicate my character without any further delay. It was my intention to leave the public to judge from the result of the proposed investigation; but as the press does not seem inclined to wait until I am fairly tried, I am induced to take this step. It is material for my purpose that I should have the evidence of Mr Wright in corroboration of some of the following statements, and it is also important that I should be enabled to refer to the journal of the medical officer, Dr Beckler; but as any delay on my part may be misjudged in a manner injurious to myself, I shall no longer withold any remarks upon the imputations that have been thrown upon me. The chief accusation appears to be, that I left the depot at Cooper's Creek earlier than I should have done, and contrary to instructions. In my report to the Exploration Committee, having date June 30, 1861, I stated that my instructions received by word of mouth, were, to remain at the depot three months, or longer if provisions and other circumstances would permit. Mr Burke's despatch from Cooper's Creek dated 13th December 1860, published in the Argus of the 1st July last, contains the following:-
Mr Burke, it will be observed, having spoken of the period of his return as being within the next three months at latest is a clear indication of his impression as to the time we should remain at the depot. Mr Burke also repeatedly said that he should run no risks, and would not advance without seeing his retreat secure. Also, upon my asking Mr Burke whether we should put ourselves on short allowance as a prudent measure in regard to the uncertainty of his return, he said that there was no reason for so doing as it was impossible for him to be longer away than three months with the provisions he had. He also handed me a small parcel of pocket books, which he described to me as being of a private nature, which he directed me, in the event of his not having returned before my departure, to destroy. This packet I accordingly burnt, in the presence of McDonough, before leaving the depot. It should be mentioned here that Mr Will's field-book records that they took only three months' provisions. A short time before Mr Burke's departure from Cooper's Creek, when talking with him about the time of his probable absence, I mentioned that he might be compelled to make for Queensland. The thought then seemed not to have struck him. On the last day, when I accompanied him on his journey from the depot, he again told me that he must be back in three months, or I might consider him perished. I remarked upon this, 'Or on your way to Queensland;' and his answer was, 'Just so'. This much I mention to account for the belief that I felt that Mr Burke had taken some other course, and would not return to Cooper's Creek. The opinion which I had arrived at as to the probability of Mr Burke's party having succeeded in making the Gulf, and afterwards traversing the shorter distance and known practicable track to Queensland, I often spoke of to Mr Wills and my companions. But more than all of this determined my proceeding. I was no longer in the same position as when I had merely to follow our leader's daily instructions. I had an authority deputed to me, and a discretionary power to act, after the expiration of the time to which my definite orders supplied. I was responsible to my employers and to my conscience for the exercise, in this position, of the judgement I possessed. The serious illness of Patten, and the other reasons stated in my report fully justified to my mind the course I took, and at no moment since have I been able on reflection, to reproach myself for it. My final instructions from Mr Burke were to remain three months, certainly; or longer, according to circumstances. I waited five weeks longer than this period, and then decided to return, in the exercise of discretion with which I was entrusted. The accident of my leaving the depot by so few hours before the arrival of Mr Burke and his companions is a misfortune that no one can deplore more deeply than myself. Had I disregarded any specific instructions, or left myself open to any charge of neglect of duty, it is quite certain that so strict a disciplinarian as Mr Burke would have left a record of his opinion, or at least expressed himself strongly on the subject to his companions. Mr Burke, however, only writes on this point in his last despatch:- 'Greatly disappointed at finding the party gone'. The evidence of his surviving companion, moreover, will show that on the way back from Carpentaria Mr Burke and Mr Wills discussed their movements in the event of their not finding a party at Cooper's Creek. The allusion in the latest memorandum of Mr Wills to 'the depot party having left contrary to instructions' I can merely say I cannot explain. Mr Wills, in conversation at departure, expressed a hope that I would be able to wait four months; and, recollecting this wish, I felt glad that I was enabled to prolong my stay for that period. However, my ultimate instructions were distinctly given to me by Mr Burke, as already stated. I was very anxious to proceed from Cooper's Creek with Mr Burke, and his parting orders were, that if Mr Wright's party should arrive at the depot within two days after his (Mr Burke's) leaving, I was to follow his tracks with the despatches brought by Mr Wright, and to join him for the remainder of his journey, in which case Gray was to return. This statement can be corroborated by King, and I merely introduce it in justice to myself as evidence that I had never shown any unwillingness to share the dangers of the expedition, or to be ready to contribute to its success in any manner that our leader might think fit to direct me. The imputation cast upon me by a Melbourne weekly paper, that I had shown cowardice, or a mean-spirited anxiety for my own comfort and safety, I repel with the strongest indignation. The second charge against me is, that I exhibited a want of attention or discernment in not discovering, when I returned to the depot with Mr Wright, that the cache had been disturbed and that Mr Burke and his companions had visited the depot. I have already stated that, upon careful examination, the cache presented no appearance of having been touched; that there was no discoverable mark upon the trees, and no indication of white men having been there. Mr Burke's return being so soon after my departure, caused the tracks of his camels to correspond in the character of age exactly with our own tracks. The remains of three separate fires left is to suppose that blacks had been there. The fires had turned to mere ashes, and left no perceptible evidence from the disposition of the sticks as to the well-known custom of the natives to light numerous fires, but it was obviously very improbable that three white men should have made three separate fires. This I afterwards spoke of to King. Some scraps of clothing which I remembered to have left had all disappeared, including minute fragments, such as only the natives we considered likely to have taken. The ground above the cache was so perfectly restored to the appearance it presented when I first left it, that in the absence of any fresh sign or mark of any description to be seen near, it was impossible to suppose that it had been disturbed. I can only further remark that Mr Burke's party not having left any sort of record of their visit to the depot was an omission that seems perfectly incomprehensible. We well knew that, if the blacks had discovered the cache they would have left it open, and we felt a natural, full assurance that if Europeans had disturbed the cache, and had reason to anxiously desire that their followers should be made aware of it, they would have left some mark conspicuously adjacent. I have been charged with inconsistency in having alleged, as an urgent reason for my departure, the serious illness of Patten, and also having said that McDonough and myself felt alarming symptoms of being similarly affected. The truth of all this is borne out by subsequent events and the doctor's evidence. In my hurried memorandum I stated that 'two of my companions and myself are quite well'. The explanation of this is, that we did not understand the nature of the severe rheumatic pains we had suffered from when I wrote this document, and I did not consider it important to give a more particular account. Also I did not expect that there was any chance of Mr Burke's returning and finding the paper, and I must here state distinctly that I never spoke of illness of McDonough and myself to the committee as a reason for my departure from the depot. My belief that it would take us seven or eight weeks to reach the Darling was founded on the knowledge of the dry condition of the country, and on the illness of Patten necessitating our travelling slowly. Mr Burke's track, I was convinced it would be impossible to follow, as I could hardly hope to find any water from Bulloo to Torowato, a distance of 140 miles. My after experience confirmed this opinion as to the scarcity of water. It has been stated, also, as an accusation against me of thoughtlessness or neglect of duty, that when I returned to the Cooper's Creek Depot with Wright from Bulloo, I did not take provisions to increase the stock at the cache. In reply to this charge, I have to say that I believed that if we did not hear of Mr Burke's party at the depot, there would be no reasonable expectation of their returning there at all, and if they should be met with by us, the store of provisions was amply sufficient to enable them to return with us to Bulloo. Moreover, we had to traverse eighty-five miles of perfectly waterless country, and of course we were obliged to travel quickly. We were also anxious to return to Bulloo as soon as possible on account of most of the men there being sick and the apprehended hostilities of the natives with whom Mr Wright's party had been in continual collision. Every point in this statement I am ready and anxious to refer to and explain more fully when the opportunity is afforded to do so. I have the honour to be, The Hon. Secretary of the Exploration Committee. |
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