E21 - Off to the Rush - North West Corner to Lake Bonney

A river can be a map, a memory, and a meeting place all at once.  We follow the Murray’s sweep from Charles Sturt’s gruelling 1830 voyage and the collapse of the inland sea myth, to Joseph Hawdon’s cattle drive that carved the overland stock route, and then into the gritty detail of our 1852 party wrestling a stubborn Timor pony through sand toward Overland Corner and Lake Bonney.  The story unfolds in raw diary lines, vivid landscapes, and the older truths of Country that surface in shell middens and trade paths.

Sturt’s crew linked the Murrumbidgee, Darling, and Murray, reached Lake Alexandrina, and found a mouth barred by lagoons and sand.  Their triumph rewired maps but came at a physical cost.  Hawdon’s journal picks up where the boats could not: on the top of cream limestone cliffs and along plains thinly brushed with grass, he meets First Nations travellers carrying mussels and news, trading on an ancient network that ran the river long before drays.  Our 1852 trekkers move within that web, buying sheep from Jacob Hart, negotiating rain and sand, and learning how an untamed Murray set every pace, flood, and crossing.

Overland Corner turns from a bend into a hub: police station, smithy, hotel, and a staging point for drovers and coaches.  Devlin’s Pound holds two tales at once, a natural corral and a red-bearded ghost riding storm light above rumours of illegal grog and stolen cattle.  At Lake Bonney, or Nukamka, the night echoes with swan calls and the slap of wings, and the camp fills with First Nations families whose presence, ceremony, and trade point to older sovereignty.  Later, locks and weirs tame flows for navigation and water supply, but in these pages, the river still breathes in floods and droughts, reminding us why routes bent where they did and why stories pooled where cliffs meet water.

If this journey stirred your curiosity about the Murray’s layered past—explorers and drovers, middens and myths—follow the show, share it with a friend who loves Australian history, and leave a review so more listeners can find these river stories.

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Transcript

Setting The Scene At Overland Corner

SPEAKER_00 0:03

G'day, I'm Peter.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

And good day, I'm Greg.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to today's Stories from Our Past, a podcast about a history of Australia from about 1800 onwards.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

The Overland Corner Hotel was delicensed in 1898 but continued as a general store and post office for many years. The hotel reopened in 1965 at the centre of what is now the National Trust of South Australia's Overland Corner Reserve. Today it is a pleasant watering hole on the old Coach Road just off the Goida Highway. Flocks of sheep on the river flats are now replaced with flocks of grey nomads.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

In the last episode, our hardy trekkers had convinced their bullocks that they were really leaving South Australia, and they'd reached the northwest bend in the Murray River on 15 August 1852.

Slow Start And Diary Language Warning

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Yeah, it had taken a lot of effort to convince those bullocks to leave, and their progress had been hampered by constant rain, even though they were travelling through what was supposed to be a saltbush desert. They'd only been travelling at five miles per day, which is a very slow rate for bullock trays.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Yeah, a very tedious start to the trip. Now, just a warning here: along this and the next sections of their journey, our party and other Europeans who traveled along the route before them encountered groups of First Nations people. As usual, we will use diary entries from those Europeans who are involved in our story. The language used in the diaries wouldn't be appropriate today and may be offensive to some listeners. However, we don't want to filter or alter the content of those diaries, so throughout, we are quoting the diaries verbatim.

Sturt’s Murray Voyage And Aftermath

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Okay, so who were the other Europeans who followed this route?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Well, the first Europeans to cite Northwest Corner were Captain Sturt and his crew on their historic voyage of discovery down the River Murray. They rode past on 3 February 1830. We've previously discussed Sturt in episodes 1 and 7.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah, I can remember being taught about Sturt at school, but I can't really remember exactly what he did.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yeah, to be honest, I was a bit the same. So I looked into him. Sturt was one of the early explorers who believed that there was a great inland sea in the middle of Australia.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Okay, so what did he do to prove this theory?

Horden Opens The Overland Stock Route

SPEAKER_00 2:30

In 1829, Governor Darling approved an expedition to solve the mystery of where the inland rivers ended up. Sturt proposed to travel down the Murumbidji River, whose upper reaches had previously been seen by human hovel. Sturt and his fellow explorers, seven of them, carried with them a whale boat built in sections. On 7 January 1830, they assembled their boat near modern-day Jingjong, which is upstream of Gundagai, and began the great voyage down the Murumbidji. On 14 January 1830, Sturt's party reached the confluence of the Murumbidji and a much larger river, which Sturt named the Murray. Sturt proceeded down the Murray until he reached the river's confluence with the Darling on 23 January 1830. Sturt then knew that all the western flowing rivers eventually flowed into the Murray. They reached northwest corner on 3 February 1830, and on the 9th, the party reached a large lake, which Sturt called Lake Alexandrina. Soon after, they reached the Southern Ocean. There they made the disappointing discovery that the mouth of the Murray was a maze of lagoons and sandbars, impassable to shipping. Then the party faced the ordeal of rowing back upstream on the Murray and the Murumbidgee against the current in the heat of an Australian summer. Their supplies ran out, and when they reached the site of Narandra in April, they were unable to go any further. Sturt sent two men overland in search of supplies, and they returned in time to save the party from starvation. But Sturt went blind for some months and never fully regained his health. By the time they reached Sydney again, they had rowed and sailed nearly 2,900 kilometers of the river system.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

It seems that most of the early European explorers had a hard time of it. But if Sturt and his crew were all in the boat all of the way, they wouldn't have been able to inform people back in Sydney about the surrounding lands.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Yeah, you're right there. They couldn't provide any real information about the lands either side of the river. The first European people to trek overland along the Murray were Joseph Horden and his droving crew.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Well, you'd better tell us all about him.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Joseph Horden passed Northwest Corner on 19 March 1838 on his memorable troving trip with a mob of over 300 cattle. Horden pioneered the overland stock route from the eastern states to Adelaide. He kept a diary of his trip and we'll use extracts from his diary. For about two-thirds of their trek, our Hardy group will follow Hordon's route, but going in the opposite direction. Horden was the first European to see many of the features that our trekkers encounter, and he describes what happened in each site.

SPEAKER_06 5:41

On 19 March 1838, Horden wrote, Today we got round that bend where the Murray ceases flowing to the west and suddenly turns round to the south-southwest, which course it pursues until it enters Lake Alexandrina. We now appeared to be done with the loose sandy country, entering one consisting of open plains thinly sprinkled over with bushes and producing more grass than I had seen on the journey.

Trekkers Push Past Rain And Locks Context

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Well, Horton seems to be happy leaving the salt bush and moving into the Maui. Let's get James O'Donahu to tell us how our trekkers next progressed.

SPEAKER_04 6:17

Monday, 16th August, started about nine o'clock, very much disappointed at not having some fish for breakfast, Mr. Neal having promised us some, went on beyond Yates about 18 miles' journey that day, camped on the bank of the river.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

If they'd travelled about 18 miles along the Murray that day, they would have been about the location of Lock No. Lock No. These structures are essential for maintaining water levels and facilitating navigation on the river. Weir and Lock No. 1 at Blanchtown was the first to be completed in 1922. Other weirs and locks were progressively constructed, with the Yarrawonga weir being the last to be completed in 1939, and it's the only weir that doesn't have a lock. There are 14 weirs along the Murray. The weirs at Mildura, Turumbury, and Yarrawonga were constructed primarily for water supply rather than navigation. In addition to these weirs, there is the massive Hume Dam upstream of Albury.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Okay, that's interesting. But what have the weirs built in the 1920s got to do with our trekkers in 1852?

Bullocks, A Stubborn Colt, And Sand

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Well, today the Murray is a controlled stream where houseboats ply up and down. It's now unlikely for any section of the river to run dry completely. Similarly, the effects of major floods are mitigated by these structures. However, in 1852, the Murray was an untamed river, ranging from massive floods to long periods of low flows and droughts. It's during these periods of drought that drovers and others could easily cross the Murray. James O. O'Donohue then continues his story.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

Tuesday, 17th August. Stayed here all day putting in a poll on Jack Stray. Again, disappointed no fish. Wednesday, 18th August. Started about half past nine, went as far as Hart Sheep Station, travelled about 12 miles that day. James O'Donohue shot three crested pigeons.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

By now, they were on the opposite side of the river from modern-day Wakery. Just downstream from Wakery is Hart Lagoon, which is named after Jacob Hart, who took up pastoral lease number 92 in July 1851. It comprised land along the riverfront. The run was described as running for 35 miles west of Overland Corner along the Moray.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Okay, so they're starting to make some steady progress. They've done 30 miles in three days, which is twice as fast as their earlier efforts.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Yep. It's Bill's turn to tell us now how they went.

SPEAKER_05 9:12

Thursday, 19th August. Already and Bullocks started. Mr. Neal had to go for two sheep but was disappointed, the shepherd having gone out with the sheep. Mr. Neal came back and attempted to start, but the colt said he did not intend to pull. Tried him for a long time and he would not move. At last sent for the bullocks and pulled him up the hill. A gentleman travelling with three horses told Mr. Neal his horse would pull the Dre up the hill. He was good enough to try, but his horses would not pull together. But he took the spring cart with his own horse up to the top of the hill. The colt would not move, obliged again to send for the bullocks, about three miles away on the road. Bill Emmett returned with four bullocks and hooked on before the colt, which delayed us for about four hours that day. The colt worked pretty well next day, the road being level, and was rather heavy, being very sandy.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Okay, what do they mean when they say that the shepherd had gone out with the sheep?

First Nations Trade Networks And Contact

SPEAKER_00 10:12

In those days, there wouldn't have been any fencing on the vast squatter runs. So every day a shepherd would take a flock of sheep, up to a thousand head depending on the local circumstances, out to new pasture. He would oversee the flock during the day and bring them back in the evening to the homestead, or a hut, if the property was very large. The sheep would be penned up for the night, and the hutkeeper would look out for predators during the night while the shepherds slept. The routine would recommence early the next morning. Clearly, William Henry Neil was a bit late arriving, and they went without roast lamb for dinner that night.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

What do we know about this colt?

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Yeah, he wasn't keen on working. Later in the diary, they describe him as a Timor pony.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Okay, so what is a Timor pony? And is it too small to be pulling the spring cart on the sandy track?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

The Timor pony is a breed that was developed on Timor Island in Indonesia. It was likely bred from Indian breeds of horses and ponies that were imported to the island. The breed is used by local people for cattle work as well as riding and driving and light farm work. Many of these ponies have been exported to Australia, where they have had an influence on the breeding of the Australian pony. Timor ponies are known for being strong, frugal, and agile, and have a quiet and willing temperament.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Okay, well that sounds like a sturdy breed, uh, even though they describe the animal as a cult or a pony, it really is a fully grown horse. Perhaps the pony was just in a bad mood that day.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Who knows? By now, I estimate they are near Devlin's Pound. They are about sixteen kilometers downstream from the Overland Corner, which is their next stop along the Warut, as Bill explains.

SPEAKER_05 12:14

Friday, the 20th of August, started about nine o'clock. The Colt refusing for a time to pull. He, however, with thrashing did and worked very well. Met Hart with his sheep and bought two for sixteen shillings. Arrived at Overland Corner about three o'clock, ten miles. Blacks brought us one fish and seven duck eggs, and promised us more next day at Lake Bonnie. Rained heavily during the night.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

So Jacob Hart has bought them two sheep. It sounds like they can have roast lamb for dinner now.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Yep. And the local First Nations people have supplied them with some other fresh food. As we will see, our trekkers have constant contact with the First Nations people for the next six weeks. It's time to discuss the First Nations people that they encounter.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Well, what do you know about these First Nations people?

Devlin’s Pound And The Red-Bearded Ghost

SPEAKER_00 13:05

As they travel along the Murray, our party will go from one nation's country to another. I found the names of these nations, but I'm afraid that I can't pronounce them properly. And I think it would be disrespectful to try and then just butcher the pronunciation. So I'll refer to all the people that they encounter as First Nations people. Before Europeans arrived, First Nations people had extensive trade networks all across the continent. Goods traded included ochre, stone axes, boomerangs, spears, shells, and even food resources. The trade wasn't limited to just physical goods. It also involved the exchange of songs, stories, and ceremonies. The River Murray was a well-established trade route, so it's not surprising that the First Nations peoples that our trekkers encounter are familiar with trade, both in terms of physical items and labour. We'll discuss this in a lot more detail when our group comes to cross the Murray River. The contact between our trekkers and the locals is not violent, but rather more like a commercial activity. The First Nations people know that our party and others travelling along the Sydney to Adelaide coach route need assistance and they appear willing to provide help.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Okay, so the locals supplied them with food and labour. What did the trekkers give them in return?

SPEAKER_00 14:33

I've checked both diaries and I can't find any information about what the First Nations people got as payment. I'd like to think that it might have been something useful like a steel tomahawk or other useful equipment, but it could have been alcohol. If you remember from episode 19, our trekkers had a large cask of port with them as part of their cargo.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Hmm. Let's hope they weren't being paid with grog. In the Dorothy, the party had described some of the locations along the track, namely the overland corner and Lake Bonnie, and you've mentioned Devlin's Pound. What do you know about these locations?

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Well, let's start with Devlin's Pound. Devlin's Pound is an amphitheatre enclosed by the river and high cliffs. It was once the spot where Brumbies were caught and where Patrick Devlin did a spot of cattle duffing.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

Okay, so they named the pound after a cattle duffer?

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Actually, no. The pound is named after his ghost. Supposed sightings of Devlin's ghost were made back in the 1890s. It's been alleged that the ghost of a man with a long red beard and flowing red locks was seen riding on a white horse around the area of Devlin's Pound, not far from the Overland Corner. It was thought to be the spirit of Patrick Devlin.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Okay, so why was the spirit of a man haunting the area?

Middens, Deep Time, And River Country

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Well, in 1846, cattle were sent via different routes from New South Wales to Adelaide. To get across the Murray, one route crossed near Renmark. An area not far from the pound was found to be a good place to hold the cattle where they wouldn't wander off or need to be watched the entire night. Due to the constant traffic of drovers with their herds, a crafty young man named Patrick Devlin erected a wine shanty where stockmen could drink and refresh themselves, eat a meal and safely sleep. The wine shanty was illegal and attracted many unsavory types, including prostitutes and bush rangers. It is said that Devlin got tired of eating fish daily and began to hunger for some prime beef. He produced a cunning plan and began to help himself to stock at the pound, herding them up into safety in the cliffs around the pound. Devlin got away with his cattle rustling for some time. He had begun small, but he got even more confident and even less cautious. His greed soon took him to rustle his neighbour's cattle, and that proved to be his mistake. Patrick Devlin suddenly disappeared without a trace. For a while, the locals thought he'd packed up his swag and set off up country somewhere with all the money he'd made selling illegal grog. A few years later, a shallow grave was found. In it was the skeleton of a man with a bullet hole in his skull and matted red beard across his face. The person who found the grave knew straight away that he'd found the body of Patrick Devlin. Legends began to string up straight away about his death. Some suggested he was killed for the treasure of a few sovereigns hidden under the wine shanty's floor. Others say he was killed by a local stock drover who caught him red-handed. Then there were rumors it was the local constable. The constable confronted Devlin and a gunfight erupted. Whatever the cause, Devlin was dead. Not long after his body was found, on a dark and stormy night, as a flash of lightning lit the cliff, Devlin was seen again. A man on a white horse was seen on the ridge of the pound, his long red hair and red beard flowing in the strong wind. He was seen on many nights when the weather was bad, and all who saw him knew it was Patrick Devlin, returned from the dead, seeking vengeance for his death upon whoever's gun had dealt the final blow. To this day, there is supposed to be a buried saddlebag somewhere in the pound that was put there by a bush ranger who never returned to claim it. Well, if they did, they didn't record it in their diaries. Horden also describes Devlin's Pound.

Schill’s 1914 Memories Of The Track

SPEAKER_06 19:10

He wrote March 14th, travelled fourteen miles on the top of the outer bank of the river. This bank is about 300 feet high, its sides generally perpendicular. The formation is of soft cream coloured limestone and clay, the river running in the valley below, wending about alternately against these natural walls, dividing the valley, as it were, into so many small farms. I think the tide must some centuries ago have run up this far, for in some places I saw large heaps of very old oyster shells. In a cave overhanging the valley, there was a heap of these shells, evidently left there at some distant period by the natives. During the journey I saw every day when on the river, similar heaps of fresh Freshwater mussel shells, which are daily piled there by the present generation of blacks. Whilst riding down in the valley during the day in search of a pass through which to bring the cattle down to water and feed, I tasted the water in many of the holes and found it perfectly salt. Three blacks passed me on their way to acquaint the next tribe of our approach. They carried a small net full of muscles slung across their shoulders on a spear. As they passed me, trotting along their native path, they saluted me with a laugh and their native menera. We are friends. The language of these tribes is different from that of the tribes near the junction of the Murrumbidgee, and the people are of a much milder and more friendly disposition. In camping on the top of the outer bank, my men found a pass and got the stock down to the river to water and to feed on such herbage as the valley produces.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Auden is describing middens left by First Nations people. A midden is a heap of waste material thrown away by people in the past. In this case, the shells of river mussels. The recent discovery of ancient river mussel shells by researchers at Flinders University has confirmed that First Nations people have occupied South Australia's riverland for at least 29,000 years.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

So clearly Hordon was not aware that the First Nations people had been there for a very, very long time, and that they were the ones who put the shells in the cave, not some ancient high tide.

Overland Corner Grows Into A Hub

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Yeah. Now, unfortunately, we don't have time to include all of Hordon's diary, but it is a really good read.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

Okay. But Horden trekked along the route 14 years earlier that our group had moved along. Is there a diary written closer to the time of our Hardy Mobile?

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Yeah. As we mentioned in episode 19, lots of miners from the Boroughborough mine went overland to the goldfields. The majority took one of the southern routes, but some did take the same northern route as our group. One such person was John Schill. In 1914, in the wonderfully named newspaper The Murray Pioneer in Australian River Record, John told his story. John was born in Adelaide in 1848 to German parents. His father ended up working at the Boroughborough mine, and in 1852 the family trekked overland to the goldfields. John was only four years old when the family did their overland trek. He had some memories of it and had been told many stories of the trek by his parents and siblings. John starts explaining his family's trek thus.

Lake Bonney: Food, Birds, And Camps

SPEAKER_01 22:52

My father settled at Nuriutpa, but in 1952, like hundreds of others, he left for the gold diggings of Victoria, about which the wildest rumors were afloat at that time. I noticed Harry Brand and his family went by the southeastern track, and as my family came up the Murray and crossed at Paringa, you may like to hear of the journey, which not many in those days had made before us. Starting out with two teams of bullocks and drays, we struck through Truro and camped at a place then called the Dust Hole at the foot of the hills. There was no such place as Blanchtown then, but Morund, a very old camping ground of the Overlanders, boasted a pub called the Whipstick. This used to be the regular place of call. From Moorundi, we made McBean's Pound, a river flat, with cliff all round it, except at the narrow opening. When one camped at this opening, Stock could not wander from the natural paddock thus formed without being observed. Devlin's Pound, eight miles below Overland Corner, is exactly the same sort of place. From McBean's Pound, we struck what is now called Morgan and camped for the night at the Northwest Bend Station, which was at that time managed by Stephen Jarvis. From this point, we made Reed's Flat, and so on up to the Yarra, not taking the coach track of today, which from Boggy Flat to Devlin's Pound used to be known as Baggart's Track, after Ned Baggart, who was the first to cut through it, but keeping in closer to the river. At Overland Corner, we came across great numbers of blacks on the flat and in the river bends. Of course, at that time no one was living there, and so the black man was unmolested. At Lake Bonnie, the natives were also in great numbers, but I am bound to say that during the whole course of my life I never had any trouble with the aboriginals of this country. My father always carried firearms, but we had no occasion to use them. And to my mind, at any rate, in places such as Bendigo and Ballarat, it was the white man and not the black we had to fear.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

So what do you know about the Overland Corner?

Lake Bonney Hotel And What Comes Next

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Overland Corner is the point on the River Murray where it takes a 90-degree bend. As time passed, others followed the northern track with both cattle and sheep to stock up the new pastoral areas of South Australia. The corner became a recognized stock camp before striking up the Murray to Devlin's Pound and points further west. Owing to trouble with the local First Nations people and cattle duffers, in 1855 the authorities decided to open a police station at the Overland Corner. By this time, the locality consisted of the new police station, a horse staging building, a blacksmith and wheelwright shop, and a general store. In 1859, the Overland Corner Hotel was opened. The pub was built by the Brand Brothers for pioneer pastoralist James Chambers of Cogdolai Station to cater for the Overland Rovers and to provide a staging point for the coach route from New South Wales to Adelaide. Sometimes up to 30,000 sheep grazed on the river flats below the hotel. The Overland Corner was delicensed in 1898 but continued as a general store and post office for many years. The hotel reopened in 1965 at the centre of what is now the National Trust of South Australia's Overland Corner Reserve. Today, it's a pleasant watering hole on the old Coach Road, just off the Goyda Highway. Flocks of sheep on the river flats are now replaced with flocks of grey nomads.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Okay, so our trekkers have reached the overland corner. What happens next?

SPEAKER_00 27:14

We'll let Bill Emmett tell us their story.

SPEAKER_05 27:18

Saturday, 21st August. All packed up and started about nine o'clock. The colt working very well on a very heavy road, and arrived about two o'clock within two miles of Lake Bonnie and camped. Again disappointed in not getting some fish. Seven miles. Baked bread and nearly half a sheep, and made damper. The blacks came round saying there was too much water to catch fish. Continued raining and obliged to go to our houses about sundown. Bill Emmett and black boys shot three opossums in the evening. Sunday, 22nd August. This being Sunday, determined not to travel. James O'Donohue took the kangaroo dogs and soon returned with a kangaroo on his back. Saw plenty of ducks, but they were very wild. Also pelicans, cockatoos, crested bronze wing pigeons, plovers, and various other birds. The weather very cold and showery. Kept hind quarter of the kangaroo and gave the rest to the natives. The quarter we intended to cook next day.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Okay, so they've reached Lake Bonnie. I presume that you know something about this place.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Yep. Well, firstly its name. Joseph Horden named the lake after his travelling companion, Charles Bonnie. On 12 March 1838, Horden reached the lake. He described the lake and its naming thus.

SPEAKER_06 28:41

At sunset we opened on plains, sprinkled with tufts of grass. I discovered a fine lake of fresh water about thirty miles in circumference, and on its margin we encamped. Kangaroos appeared to be rather numerous here. The blacks were encamped further along the lake, and from the noise they made, we knew they must have noticed our arrival. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and I strolled out along the edge of the lake to shoot some ducks which were seen on the water in thousands. On discharging our guns, the echo of the report rolled along the water magnificently. One would have supposed that a hundred shots had been fired at the same moment. As the reports died away, the lake became perfectly alive with the myriads of live fowl in motion on its surface, screaming and cackling with alarm at the novel sound. Gradually, the flapping of their wings and the splashes as they alighted in the water ceased, and they again settled upon the lake in solemn stillness. The wild, sweet, musical note of the swans was heard over our heads as they returned to rest upon the bosom of the lake after feeding during the day amongst the reeds on the river. As we lay enjoying this delightful scene, we could now and then catch the distant noises of a tribe of natives as they were disputing, with much emotion about this our extraordinary inroad upon their territory. The native name for this fine lake is Nukamka, but in virtue of my privilege as its first European discoverer, I named it Lake Bonnie, after my friend and fellow traveller, Mr. M. C. Bonney, whose company contributed so much to the pleasure of my expedition.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

I find it interesting that Horden seems to be able to communicate with the locals sufficiently well that he can work out their name for the lake. After all, Hordon is supposed to be the first European to have travelled through the area. Horden then describes what happens on the next day.

SPEAKER_06 30:45

March 13th. At daybreak, two of our men went back to the place where we depastured the stock yesterday to bring up a heifer that had been left behind, and after galloping the whole way there and back, they rejoined us about noon. They told me that, on arriving at the place, they found the blacks approaching the heifer with their spears, with the intention, as was supposed, of killing her. But no sooner did they catch sight of the men galloping up the hill towards them than they took to their heels and soon disappeared. On the edge of Lake Bonnie, I collected a quantity of nitre. The water has rather a sweet taste, but not unpleasantly so. After a good deal of ceremony, the natives were induced to approach our tent, accompanied by their women and children. I counted in all 163. They informed me that most of their men were gone to a fight, at a lake to the northward. Amongst these who were left to protect the women and children, there were not more than thirty able men. They afforded us a good deal of amusement during our halt. Our dogs did not like to see so much familiarity between us and the blacks. But although they did not interfere so long as the natives kept a respectful distance, yet whenever one of the tribe laid his hands upon a single article belonging to us, one or other of our canine friends would be sure to catch him by the heels, and when the fellow, on recovering himself, lifted up his spear and in his rage endeavoured to kill the dog, two or three of his companions would promptly interfere and hold his arms until his passion had cooled down. On the plains around this lake, the grass is rather more plentiful, though still very thinly scattered.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

So Lake Bonnie sounds like a very pleasant place full of bird life, a good place to stop and mortar the bullocks and horses. I assume from the diaries that there wasn't any European settlement when they passed through.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

Yep. When our trackers passed through, there wasn't any permanent settlement there, but within a few years Lake Bonnie Hotel was constructed. William Naper and William Parnell emigrated to Adelaide from Guernsey in 1855. They found work timber cutting along the Murray, but the work was often uncertain, so in 1859, Parnell and Napor managed to build open the Lake Bonnie Hotel. In 1863, Naper purchased the land and hotel from Parnell. The Overland Route was still being used for driving and was now also a mail route. But it eventually declined in use, and in about 1876, Naper left Lake Bonnie to run the Overland Corner Hotel. Today, the ruins on the site are the remains of the 11-room hotel that they built and a separate hut for stores.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Well, that's good. So our hardy trick has really seem to you making some good progress now. But what happens next?

SPEAKER_00 33:54

You'll have to wait until our next episode to see if their good luck holds. So it's goodbye from me.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

And it's goodbye from me. Thank you.