CHAPTER LIV
WILLIAM HANN'S EXPEDITION, continued
THE PALMER RIVER AND THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD
Leave the Mitchell for the North, 1st August, 1872. Camp 17. Telegraph Line. Mount Mulgrave. Camp 18. Garnet Creek. Camp 19. Mount Daintree. Palmer River. Camp 20 at Frome, near Lukinville. Kennedy's Tracks. Discovery of Gold by Warner. Reconnaissance up the Palmer River and Prospecting for Gold. Camps of 9 and 10th August. Mount Fox. Traces of Cattle and an Unsuccessful Hunt for Beef. Camp of 12th August, on Site of Future Township of Palmerville. Better Prospects of Gold. Sandy Creek. Gold. Camps of 13 and 14 August. Site of Future Township of Maytown. Horse crippled by Sharp Slates. Furthest East at Mount Hann. Mischievous Natives. Return Journey. Camp of 15th August on North Palmer River. Reach Camp 20 on 16th August. Sheep and a Horse Missing. Natives Alarmed. Hann did not consider Payable Gold had been Proved. Subsequent Prospecting and its Conspicuous Success.
(See Map G.)
HANN and his companions turned their backs on the Mitchell on 1st August, 1872, and for some distance to the north were favoured with good travelling. This led to an under-estimation of the distances covered, just as bad travelling leads to over-estimation. Those tendencies to estimation by difficulty are a weakness common to all explorers, and allowances have to be made for it in every case. No amount of experience on the part of a traveller will eliminate it, and the "fatigue correction" and the "easy-going correction " have had to be applied to my own estimates as well as to others. In following Hann from the Mitchell to the Palmer, and comparing his diary and sketch-map with the modern 4-mile map, the "easy-going correction" is applied freely and without apology. It may be noted, further, that, especially north of Mount Mulgrave, the Diary and Report both display some carelessness in giving (or omitting) bearings and distances, taking into consideration Hann's initial point at Camp 16 and the point at which he arrived on the Palmer at Camp 20.
Almost from the start at Camp 16 the course was directed towards a conspicuous mountain (Mount Mulgrave) which bore N. 5° E. Eight miles on this course, Camp 17 was pitched in a gully falling into the Mitchell through the medium of "Sandy
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