THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN GOLD-DISCOVERER. SEVERAL claimants have come forward to
put in a title for them- selves or others as the earliest discoverers or indicators of gold in Australia • and amongst them, a claim has been put in on behalf of Mr. George Windsor Earl, who is now abroad. Mr. Earl is , well known to geographers and the readers of popular works, as I the author of an interesting and animated book on the Indian Seas ; and he can be denied no merit which should be accorded to an energetic voyager and an acute observer. The information collected by Mr. Earl, his personal experience, and his attractive writing, have proved of great service in rightly understanding the geography, social as well as political, of a region which is daily rising in importance. The pamphlets, however, which have been submitted to us on behalf of his claim as the earliest indicator of gold in Australia do not appear to sustain that claim. The statement made is, that he pointed out the probable exist- ence of gold, and that gir Roderick Murchison denied the proba- bility of Mr. Earl's speculation. Now this is not a strictly correct statement of the case, as we gather it even from the "Correspond- ence relating to the Discovery of Gold in Australia," published by Mr. Earl himself last year. At a meeting of the Geographical Society, in rune 1845, Mr. Earl made a comparison between the geographical aspect of Australia and Asia, particularly in the ex- istence of the longitudinal range of mountains ; with the inference that in some past ages the two regions must have been connected, and that probably Australia would prove to be as rich in metals as the Asiatic range. This appeared the more likely since South Aus- tralia was known to be rich in minerals. It does not appear from these reports, however, that the dispute between Mr. Earl and Sir Roderick Murchison turned upon the question of metalliferous riches. South Australia had produced no minerals more valuable than copper; and the very remark made by Sir Roderick, in the year 1844, that the Australian ranges had not been known hitherto to fulfil their resemblance to the 17ral Mountains by ex- hibiting veins of gold, proves that his attention had already been drawn to the analogy. The dispute really turned upon the pro- bable connexion of the two continents; which Sir Roderick Mur °bison questioned, upon what appear to us to be very sufficient grounds,—the absence of identity in the fossil remains of the two regions.: Our correspondents are mistaken in supposing that we desig- nated Sir Roderick as the first discoverer or indicator of gold in Australia. On the contrary, we have expressly stated that the riches of that country are so self-evident as to have attracted the notice of many observers. But Sir Roderick was the first to place the analogy with the -Ural Mountains, and the consequent pro- bability that gold existed, in a specific and practical form. He was the first, therefore, to draw the attention of Government to the subject in a manner which almost commanded the adoption of suitable measures,—measures that official authority nevertheless refused. If Government had attended to the recommendation of Mr. Earl to explore the mineral riches of Australia, it is probable that Sir Roderick linrchison's more specific suggestion would have been anticipated and superseded ; but to both observers must be granted all the merit to which their native intelligence and saga- city are entitled.
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