EXPLORERS 2

The arrival of Ludwig Leichhardt and his band of explorers by ship in  Sydney on 25 March 1846, caused a sensation.  It was more than 18 months since they had left to travel overland from Brisbane to Port Essington - and they had long been given up for dead. But on their trek north-west, the Leichhardt explorers - with the exception of John Gilbert who was killed by Aborigines - had discovered large tracts of new land for settlement and many important rivers in what became Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Ludwig Leichhardt, a German Botanist

Leichardt's journeys in red up the eastern side of continent through Queensland

They had survived great difficulties caused by terrain, shortages of food and water, and inexperience. In December 1846, Leichhardt set out to cross Australia from the Darling Downs to the west coast, but his party was forced by heavy rain to turn back after 700 kms. In February 1848, he set out again, from a point near what is now called Roma with a party of 6 men to try once more to cross Australia through its centre, but they were never heard of again. Leichhardt and his companions took 77 animals with them.  Despite 9 major search trips and many reports of the

finding of "Leichhardt" relics in western Queensland over the next century, the fate of the intrepid explorers remains a mystery.

Irishman Robert O'Hara Burke, a former Police Inspector at Castlemain, Victoria,  and William John Wills, a young Surevyor, led the best-equipped exploration team to tackle the Australian wilderness last century. They achieved their goal - to traverse the continent from Melbourne in Victoria, to the Gulf of Carpentaria, via the south-west corner of what is now called Queensland.

Robert O'Hara Burke & William John Wills

journey through centre in red marking

They and most of their colleagues died hideous deaths because of Burke's haughty stubborness and refusal to accept help from the Aborigines. On August 20,1860, a huge Melbourne crowd cheered farewell to the expedition of 15 officers and men, 26 camels from India, imported camel drivers, horses and

wagons and food/supplies for 2 years.  After establishing a depot at Minendee, on the Darling, Burke then moved on with 6 men and 15 camels to Coopers Creek, where he again divided his party before pressing on with Wills, Charles Gray and John King for the Gulf area. The 4 reached the tidal reaches of the Flinders River on February 11, 1861 and turned back for Coopers Creek.  Suffering from sickness and exhaustion, they ran low on supplies and then encountered bad weather. Gray died on April 17, and the others struggled on to Coopers Creek where they found, on April 21,  a cache of supplies buried and a note showing that other members of the party had left for Menindee only hours before.  A freshly carved message on a coolibah tree told them to dig and this is where they found the note. It was ironic that they  had waited 18 weeks for this party that had just left.

Shocked and depressed, the explorers made attempts to press on.  On June 25 John wills wrote a last letter to his father, and died June 28 1861.  2 days later, at 8 am, Burke also died.  John King survived to tell the true story of the inland, and was rescued by a search party of September 15, after accepting offers of help from the Aborigines.

The carving of Robert O'Hara Burke on the Dig Tree was made in 1898 & still stands today. This tree also has other messages carved in it from the expedition.

John McDougall Stuart, a young Scottish Surveyor, made a trip in, 1858, through the north-west of South Australia and the forbidding country of the Salt Lakes and discovered ranges which now bear his name.

From 1844 he had made several journeys  to the north of Adelaide, South Australia.  In 1860 he made his first attempt to cross the continent from south to north, but was driven back from the Macdonnell Ranges by thirst and heat. Stuart lost his sight in his right eye during this trip. Refusing to accept failure, the exhausted man and 11 other men tried and failed again in 1861.

journey is the red line up through the centre of the continent.

Stuart would not give up.  In 1862 he fought his way through and finally sighted the Indian Ocean in the north-west.  By the time he arrived back in Adelaide, Stuart was white-haired, exhausted and almost blind. But he had become the first expedition leader to cross south to north and back again. He paved the way for the telegraph line which finally linked the Australian colonies with the rest of the world.

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