Part 16

W. LANDSBOROUGH,

Commander of the Victorian and Queensland Expedition.

The Honourable the Colonial Secretary, Queensland.

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ROYAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA.

An ordinary meeting of this society was held on the 18th August and was numerously attended. His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly (president) occupied the chair.

PRESENTATION TO JOHN KING.

The first business was the presentation to John King the explorer of the gold watch awarded him by the Royal Geographical Society.

The Secretary (at the request of His Excellency the President) read the following extract from a private letter from Sir Roderick Murchison, the president of the Royal Geographical Society, dated May 20 1862:

I told you in my last that I thought it probable we should grant one of our gold medals to the family of Burke; and I am happy to announce to you that at the last meeting of council the award was made as I anticipated, on my own proposition, strengthened as it was by your favourable opinion.

We also give to the good and intrepid King a gold watch, with an inscription.

The Duke of Newcastle has promised to attend and receive these donations on the 26th.

P.S. (June 23): the watch sent to King cost much more than the gold medal; and I hope the good soldier will like it.

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The Secretary next read the following despatch from his Grace the Duke of Newcastle to Governor Sir Henry Barkly:

Downing Street, May 26 1862.

Sir,

I have to acquaint you that this morning I attended the annual meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, and that, at the request of the president, Lord Ashburton, I undertook to forward to you the accompanying gold watch, which the president and council had determined to present to John King, in testimony of his meritorious conduct during the late Victorian Exploring Expedition, in which Messrs. Burke and Wills unfortunately lost their lives.

I have therefore to request that you will accordingly, on behalf of the president and council, place this watch in the hands of John King and that you will at the same time express to him the satisfaction it has been to me to be the channel of making known to him that his conduct has been appreciated as it deserves.

I have the honour to be, etc.,

Newcastle.

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His Excellency (addressing John King) spoke as follows:

I feel, Mr. King, that it would be almost superfluous on my part to add much to the encomiums passed upon you by such high authorities; and to one so modest, as I know you are, I dare say it would be even painful if I were to enter at any length upon a recital of the claims which I consider you possess upon the gratitude and admiration of your fellow colonists. (Hear, hear.) Gratifying as it must be to you--after the liberal honours and rewards which the legislature and people of Victoria have bestowed upon you--to receive this crowning mark of recognition of your services from your fellow countrymen at home, I can quite conceive that it would be more congenial to your own feelings if I had delivered it to you in my own private room. Still I felt it to be a matter of duty, on an occasion of this kind, to make the ceremony as public as possible, not only in justice to yourself but for the sake of the example which your conduct has afforded to all who may be placed in similarly trying circumstances. I feel sure that, even if you entertained any idea of surviving, nothing was further from your thoughts than any considerations of glory or honour when you knelt by the side of the dying Burke to receive his latest injunctions, or when you turned back to perform the last sad offices for your departed comrade, Wills. You did your duty, I am sure, simply because you felt it was your duty. A Christian, you knew it was a privilege to minister to suffering humanity; a soldier, you never dreamt of swerving from the unalterable fidelity which you knew you owed your leader. (Applause.) In such a trying position as that in which you were placed, with the bands of discipline relaxed, the instincts of self-preservation have often led men to act selfishly. Others in your position might have thought that, being stronger than the rest of the party--able perhaps to pursue game, catch fish, or to pound nardoo--it would have been consistent with duty to escape to the nearest settlement, perhaps with the vague idea of sending back assistance to your comrades. I feel satisfied that any thought of deserting never crossed your mind--that you abandoned all desire to serve yourself alone, and that they were determined to share the fate of your companions. The result has proved that you acted rightly and properly. Your example may serve to teach us that the path of duty, generally, under Providence, is the path of safety. And what is about to take place tonight will also teach us another lesson:

That duty never did yet want its meed.

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(Applause.) I may just refer to the fortunate circumstance that our meeting should be graced by the presence of a gentleman who, partly from motives of humanity, and partly with a view to share in the glory of the enterprise, volunteered to lead one of the subsidiary expeditions sent in search of the missing expedition of which you formed a member. Those subsidiary expeditions, it is well known, have led to a great increase of our geographical knowledge of the interior of the continent; and I believe, among the most brilliant exploits which grace the history of Australian exploration, there is not one more brilliant to be found than the passage made by the party under our friend Mr. Landsborough from the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Darling River. (Applause.) I hope Mr. Landsborough will be kind enough tonight to give us some information as to his route on the occasion. We all know, without waiting for that explanation, that his journey has conferred a most substantial benefit on all these colonies. It has, there can be no doubt, very much accelerated the formation of a great settlement in North Australia, which may be expected to become, some day, a separate and independent colony. In fact it has formed a fitting addition to the noble efforts which have been made by this colony in the cause of Australian exploration. Those efforts, as we all know, are now about to terminate. Instructions have been despatched to Mr. Howitt to return as speedily as possible; and when he brings back the remains of the lamented explorers, Burke and Wills, we shall approach the closing scene of the great drama--or tragedy, as I believe I may call it. I trust on that occasion the public funeral promised to those brave men will be carried out with the enthusiasm which was manifested a year ago, and that active exertions will be used by all concerned to raise an appropriate monument to their memory. (Hear, hear.) I have now great pleasure in handing to King, on the part of the Royal Geographical Society of London, this watch, which bears within, as he will find, an inscription setting forth that it was "Presented by the President and Council of the Royal Geographical Society of London to John King, for his meritorious conduct in the expedition under the lamented Burke and Wills." (Great applause.)

John King, who seemed overpowered with emotion, replied in the following terms: