I argue, therefore, that if Leichhardt's animals and equipment had not been buried by a flood, some remains must have been since found, for it is impossible, if such things were above ground that they could escape the lynx-like glances of Australian aboriginals, whose wonderful visual powers are unsurpassed among mankind.

Everybody and everything must have been swallowed in a cataclysm and buried deep and sure in the mud and slime of a flood.
The New South Wales Government made praiseworthy efforts to rescue the missing traveller.

About a year after Leichhardt visited Port Essington, the Government abandoned the settlement, and the prevailing opinion in the colony of New South Wales at that time was, that Leichhardt had not been able to reach Eyre's Creek, but had been forced up north, from his intended route, the inland-sea theory still prevailing, and that he had probably returned to the old settlement for relief.

Therefore, when he had been absent two years, the Government despatched a schooner to the abandoned place.

The master of the vessel saw several of the half-civilised natives, who well remembered Leichhardt's arrival there, but he had not returned.