The impression which the long period which had brought no tidings from Burke's expedition across the continent had produced, was general throughout the colonies, and whilst Victoria was preparing to send a party in quest of the missing one, Queensland in the east, and New South Wales in the south were doing the same. Walker with his blacks set out stoutly from Rockhampton, and McKinlay did the same from Adelaide. From McKinlay's report addressed to his own government, and printed by order of the House of Assembly, 9th of October, 1862, and from Westgarth's account, including extracts from the journals of McKinlay, and of Davis, one of the party, we have a very full and clear narrative of this expedition, which although too late to discover the wreck of the Burke expedition, was successful in making its way across the continent, and having the honour of being the second in time which had performed this great passage, as would appear from the following dates.

PARTIAL TRANSITS

1. Leichhardt's Journey from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, in 1844-5.

2. Walker's ditto from Rockhampton, in Queensland, to the Gulf Carpentaria, which he reached December 7, 1861.

ENTIRE TRANSITS

1. Burke and Wills reached the mouth of the Flinders, Feb. 11, 1861.

2. McKinlay reached the mouth of the Albert from Adelaide, May 18, 1862.

3. Landsborough reached the Darling from the Gulf of Carpentaria, June 1, 1862.

4. […]