Kings In Grass Castles by Mary Durack

Author:Mary Durack
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Published: 2014-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

20

TO FIND A RIVER

The years 1881 to 1882. Organising for the expedition to inspect the Kimberley district. Leavetaking of Stumpy Michael Durack and party from Brisbane. A disastrous beginning and a second start. Arrival at Port Darwin and hiring of the schooner Levuka to Cambridge Gulf. Rough passage. Arrival in a strange land. Letter from Cambridge Gulf. Hard travelling and hostile natives. Deep rivers and open plains.

It was agreed on the return of the travellers from the western State that the proposed journey of inspection called for a party of expert bushmen of proved toughness and resource, including at least one scientist, and that their horses must be the best procurable. A supply of rations and equipment must be selected with an eye to weight and with foresight to any possible emergency and arrangements made for the chartering of three vessels—one to take men, horses and gear from Brisbane to Port Darwin, another to convey them from there to Cambridge Gulf and a third to pick them up when they had battled through to the west coast. Distances and travelling times had to be nicely calculated, for once in the unknown wilds of Kimberley they would be cut off from all means of communication until their journey’s end. The estimated cost of the expedition was £4,000 which Grandfather and Emanuel agreed to share equally.

That Stumpy Michael was to be leader of the party was already a foregone conclusion since he combined all the necessary qualities of bushcraft, leadership and sure judgement of country with a reputation, amounting almost to a local superstition, of always ‘getting through’. There remained only the difficulty of breaking the news to his wife, who with their three children was then awaiting his return in Brisbane. Kate Durack had already said goodbye to the home at Thylungra and she and her husband had been inspecting small properties within reasonable distance of the coast when Grandfather had wired from Sydney suggesting the interview with Forrest: in Western Australia. Leaving his family comfortably enough accommodated at his brother’s recently acquired hotel in South Brisbane, Stumpy Michael had obeyed the call with his wife’s words ringing in his ears:

‘Go to Perth if you must, but remember, Michael, your pioneering days are over. We are settling down in a comfortable home as you promised, where the children can go to school and you can have a rest from all this travelling.’

Even with the support of his elder brother, Stumpy Michael found the interview with his wife one of the hardest hurdles to sumount.

‘It’s an imposition, Patsy!’ Kate gasped when they broke the news. ‘Hasn’t it ever occurred to you that poor Michael has a right to live his own life?’

Grandfather was astonished.

‘But my dear sister, Michael has always led his own life!’

‘If I was your sister, Patsy, I would probably agree with you, but I am a McInnes and a Scot. We never lived each other’s lives like you Duracks. Besides, Michael hasn’t the strength any more. There’s that chest

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