The final return was made down the yet unexplored Maranoa, at the head of
which the depot had been fixed so long; and on the 4th November they
arrived at the Balonne, having passed through splendidly-grassed and
well-watered country the whole way. The party took up their old camp at
St. George's Bridge, where they learnt from the natives that a party of
whites had been in the neighbourhood during their absence. Kennedy was
dispatched to inspect the Mooni ponds, or river, which they understood
was to the eastward of them. He found them occupied by cattle stations to
within a day's ride of the camp, so that the explorer's work may be
considered as at an end.
This expedition, it may well be supposed, fully confirmed Mitchell's
reputation. Once more he had been the means of assuring the colonists
that away towards the setting sun the flocks and herds might advance
unchecked, so far as he had been, and as he thought, across the great
continent. Added to which, he felt convinced, and expected the public
also to feel the same, that along the banks of the Victoria was the great
high road to the north coast.
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