As no one had invited him to stay in this delectable country, he had returned.
The story, which bore every evidence of having been invented to save his back, received a certain amount of credence, and Sir Patrick Lindesay, then Acting-Governor, gave the Surveyor-General instructions to investigate the truth of it.

It was in this way that Mitchell's first expedition originated.
On the 21st of November, 1831, Mitchell left Liverpool Plains and reached the Namoi on the 16th December.

He crossed it and penetrated some distance into a range which he named the Nundawar Range.

He then turned back to the Namoi, and set up some canvas boats which he had brought to assist him in following the river down.

The boats were of no use for the purpose, one of them getting snagged immediately, and it was clear that it would be easier to follow the river on land.