Cunningham said that the only solution of the problem of the footprints that he could think of was that the tracks were those of a return party who had been looking for new country, and that their horses, having lost their shoes and becoming footsore, they had wrapped their feet in bandages.
*[Footnote.] See Chapter 18.
For his services on this expedition which were of great value in opening up Central Australia, McKinlay was presented with a gold watch by the Royal Geographical Society, and was voted 1,000 pounds by the South Australian Government.
During the early settlement of the Northern Territory, much dissatisfaction had arisen concerning the site chosen at Escape Cliffs.
McKinlay was sent north by the South Australian Government to select a more favourable position, and to report generally on the capabilities of the new territory.

He organized an expedition at Escape Cliffs, and left with the intention of making a long excursion to the eastward.

But a very wet season set in, and he had reached only the East Alligator River when sudden floods cut him off and hemmed him in.

The whole party would have been destroyed but for the resourcefulness displayed by the leader, who made coracles of horse-hides stretched on frames of saplings, by which means they escaped.

On his return, McKinlay examined the mouth of the Daly River, and recommended Anson Bay as a more suitable site, but his suggestion was not adopted.