Pioneering Days: Thrilling Incidents

Here (at the junction of the Gregory and O'Shannessy) in party started off up the river with the sheep, it was necessary for our party to divide. Along the O'Shannessy the country was too rough to attempt taking the teams that way and out further back there was a danger of not sufficient water for the sheep, so the main party started of up the river with the sheep, and I with a blackboy took in hand the piloting of the teams and finding a passage through the rough rangy back country. By Landsborough's diary we would have four large watercourses to cross--the Seymour River, the Douglas River, the Thor ton River, and Harris Creek, all named by him--before striking in for the O'Shanesy, towards a part of the river where we were likely to meet the sheep.

Starting from the Junction we steered by compass for the Seymour, here and there zig-zagging in and out to avoid the rocky ridges and the beastly old man spinnifex, which grew in big tussocks and skinned the bullocks' and horse' feet. Striking the Seymour--a sandy, gravelly watercourse--no water could be found, so had to take the animals back to the junction to get a drink; a long way over broken stones and spinnifex. Following up the Seymour we found a small hole of water in a cave, which supplied ourselves, but had to take the cattle on to the Douglas--another long way for a drink--once there we had plenty of water, also in the Thornton and Harris Creeks, but the way execrable. One place, the "Devil's Elbow" the drivers called it, gave us a lot of trouble, being a long wall of rocks without a break to allow us to pass, so we had to make a sloping bank of stones, timber and earth to get the drays over. Crossing Harris Creek we followed it to the Junction, where we found the sheep had passed up the O'Shannessy, and in a day or two came to their camp.