Exploration work was now energetically carried on, and officers of the Army and Navy eagerly followed this interesting occupation. They suffered severe hardships in exploiting new country and advancing the posts of civilisation. There was romance and adventure in first stepping into virgin valleys, wandering over rocky hills, and peering among interminable woodlands. Moreover, while assisting settlement and serving their country, they found relaxation in making these excursions. They were some relief to the secluded life they were compelled to lead in Western Australia. Ensign Dale and Lieutenant Preston were the most successful pathfinders, the former on land, the latter round the coast. The next important outing of Lieutenant Preston was begun on 6th November, 1830, when he sailed up the western coast in the hired cutter Colonist to search for ports, anchorages, and inlets, and to report on the nature of the coastal country. He went northwards until he obtained a view of Mount Fairfax and Wizard Hills near Geraldton, and while he reports inspecting some good bays he observed no country suitable for settlement. The coast was often exceedingly rocky, and in the neighbourhood of the Abrolhos the cutter grounded on a coral reef.
Before this, however, Mr. Dale had astonished the colonists by the extent of rich country that he proved they possessed. He groped his way amid the jarrah forests, surmounted the eastern ranges, and from his keen observation and good judgment, was able to supply the local Government with useful information. His most notable exploration up to this time was that upon which he set out on 31st July, 1830. He decided to penetrate the mysteries of the ranges of mountains to the east, so often seen from summits of the Darling Range, and he left the Swan River in company with Mr. Brockman, a storekeeper, and a soldier, prepared for an extensive journey. The party was equipped with horses and ample provisions. The weather was excessively cold and the low lands swampy. After crossing the swamps the travellers spent days in struggling over a continuation of rough hills or mountains. The swollen streams which divided the valleys and declivities in the hills gave them much trouble, and required much ingenuity in fording. Not knowing the easiest and quickest route, they naturally traversed an unnecessary distance, and on ascending each rugged hill they hoped that upon the other side would lay the plain they so much wished to see. They pioneered their way first among stunted growth and then among jarrah trees, which grew to enormous heights and dimensions on the ironstone ridges; were checked by boggy swamps in places, and found it difficult to keep the desired course owing to the density of vegetation. To get their baggage over one stream a long rope had to be attached to a tree growing upon its banks, and the packages pulled separately across. Some of the ridges were sterile and uninviting, while others were rendered glorious by those stately monarchs of the West Australian woodland—the jarrah. A rich and picturesque valley was descended on the 6th August, whose banks, ornamented with verdure and sloping down to a small rivulet, presented the exact appearance of a lawn. Near there they camped the night wrapt in the almost dreadful silence of the mountains. On the other side of a hill which they surmounted next day they fell in with a brook too rapid and deep to ford. But the chasm was crossed by bridging the swollen waters with poles cut in the forest. An elevated hill was ascended which was named Mount Mackie, in compliment to the chairman of the Court of Quarter Sessions.
At sunrise on 8th August the thermometer indicated 31½° and the travellers were glad to resume their march to maintain the circulation of blood. The soil was so soft and yielding during the next two days that little headway could be made. On the 10th, after following a river some distance, the horses were completely exhausted by their severe exertions, and tethering them, Dale and his companions proceeded on foot. They had meanwhile extricated themselves from the jarrah, and had entered open forest country. Through this they had toiled, meeting groves of the strange looking "blackboys" whose dark bodies and bower of grass at the top bore a remarkable resemblance to human beings. Then came the rugged, gnarled paper bark trees with their bright garniture of leaves, the zamia palm, the red gum, and finally the white gum trees rising like ghosts in the forest. The first glimpse of these unclothed bodies and giant arm-like limbs was startling, and the weird effect was assisted by the wind eerily soughing in the neighbouring casuarina.
Dale took two days' provisions with him from the camp, and after walking six miles along a stream, an abrupt and in some places almost perpendicular range of hills was met and named the Dyott Range, in compliment to General Dyott, the colonel of the 63rd Regiment. The southern base of this range presented a wall-like barrier. Strewn over the hills were large masses of granite. The elevated lands had a rich and verdant appearance, and were clothed in grass to the summits, and moderately wooded with gum trees. While examining a mass of granite a cavern was discovered with arched interior. The explorers were greatly astonished to observe a remarkable looking carving on the walls. They knew not that the natives practise this art, rude and simple though it be. On one wall the artist had evidently attempted to carve an image of the sun. The circular figure was about 18 inches in diameter, and emitted rays from its left side. Within the circle were lines which met each other nearly at right angles. Near this representation were the impressions of an arm and of several hands. Listening, they heard the natives themselves some distance away among the hills hailing each other. The rain poured down in torrents, but the band was fortunate enough to obtain good shelter for the night under a shelving rock of considerable size, which had the shape and appearance of the thatched roof of a cottage. They had walked eighteen miles that day and were glad to rest. A litter of native dogs was found and two were subsequently taken to Perth.
Proceeding north by west, on 11th August they reached he most abrupt and conspicuous summit of the Dyott Range, which, on the suggestion of Mr. Brockman, was named Mount Bakewell, in honour of a friend, Lord Bakewell. They then went back to their horses. The next day was passed in exploring the hills and the fine river which, washing their base, was afterwards named the Avon. From Mount Bakewell, Dale was, owing to the clouded atmosphere, only able to obtain a dim view of a fertile looking valley on either side of the stream undulating north to S.S.E. in forest lands. Greatly impressed with the excellent country examined, he returned to Perth on the 15th, and delighted Government and settlers with the reports of his success. He took back with him several specimens of minerals, such as varieties of granite, rock crystal, and limestone.
These discoveries of Ensign Dale were deemed the most promising of all yet made in the west of Australia, and led to the opening up of lucrative agricultural and pastoral areas. It came as an encouraging feature to the minds of settlers on the Swan that behind the Darling Ranges were expansive stretches of pasture for their stock, and lightly wooded valleys and plains
