Intensely mortified at finding that he was on a tributary of the Burdekin, and approaching the ground already trodden by Leichhardt, he returned to the head of the Nogoa, once more subdivided his party, and formed a stationary camp to await his return from a westward trip.
This time, however, he was blessed with the most splendid success.

He found the Barcoo, a river that seemed to him to promise all he sought for.

The direction of its upper course easily led him to believe that it was an affluent of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and after tracing it for some distance he returned to camp.

The newly-discovered river he named the Victoria, thinking it would prove to be the same as that found by Captain Stokes on his survey expedition.

It was on the Barcoo, or Victoria, that Mitchell first noticed the now famous grass that bears his name.