Flinders Journal – 30 November

Tuesday 30 November, 1802 Gulf of Carpentaria "I shall now sum up into one view, the principal remarks made during our stay amongst these islands. The stone most commonly seen on the shores is an iron ore, in some places so strongly impregnated, that I conceive it would be a great acquisition to a colony fixed in the neighbourhood. Above this is a concreted mass of coral, shells, coral sand, and grains of iron ore, which sometimes appears at the surface, but is usually covered either with sand or vegetable earth, or a mixture of both ... The soil, even in the best parts, is far behind fertility; but the small trees and bushes which grow there, and the grass in some of the less covered places, save the larger islands from the reproach of being absolutely sterile. The principal woods are eucalyptus and casuarina, of a size too small in general, to be fit for other purposes than the fire; the pandanus grows almost every where, but most abundantly in the sandy parts; and the botanists made out a long list of plants, several of which were quite new to them. We saw neither quadruped nor reptile upon the islands. Birds were rather numerous; the most useful of them were ducks of several species, and bustards ... In the woody parts of the islands were seen crows and white cockatoos; as also cuckoo-pheasants, pigeons, and small birds peculiar to this part of the country. On the shores were pelicans, gulls, sea-pies, ox-birds, and sand larks; but except the gulls, none of these tribes were numerous. The sea afforded a variety of fish ... Turtle abound amongst the islands ... Indians were repeatedly seen upon both Bentinck's and Sweers' Islands; but they always avoided us, and sometimes disappeared in a manner which seemed extraordinary. It is probable that they hid themselves in caves dug in the ground. ... Fire places under the shade of the trees, with dried grass spread around, were often met with... The fern or some similar root, appears to form part of their subsistence; for there were some places in the sand and in the dry swamps, where the ground had been so dug up with pointed sticks ... Whether these people reside constantly upon the islands, or come over at certain seasons from the main, was uncertain." (P144-146)

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