Expedition into Central Australia

Although the services recorded in the following pages, which your Lordship permits me to dedicate to you, have not resulted in the discovery of any country immediately available for the purposes of colonization, I would yet venture to hope that they have not been fruitlessly undertaken, but that, as on the occasion of my voyage down the Murray River, they will be the precursors of future advantage to my country and to the Australian colonies. Under present disappointment it must be as gratifying to those who participated in my labours, as it is to myself to know that they are not the less appreciated by your Lordship, because they were expended in a desert. I can only assure your Lordship, that it has been my desire to give a faithful description of the country that has been explored, and of the difficulties attending the task; nor can I refuse myself the anticipation that the perusal of these volumes will excite your Lordship's interest and sympathy. I have the honour to be, My Lord, Your Lordship's Most obedient humble servant, London, November 21,1848. NOTICE. It might have been expected that many specimens, both of Botany and Ornithology, would have been collected during such an Expedition as that which the present narrative describes, but the contrary happened to be the case