The A to Z of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia (The a to Z Guide Series)

OTHER A TO Z GUIDES FROM THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

The A to Z of Buddhism by Charles S. Prebish, 2001. The A to Z of Catholicism by William J. Collinge, 2001. The A to Z of Hinduism by Bruce M. Sullivan, 2001. The A to Z of Islam by Ludwig W. Adamec, 2002. The A to Z of Slavery & Abolition by Martin A. Klein, 2002. Terrorism: Assassins to Zealots by Sean Kendall Anderson and Stephen Sloan, 2003. The A to Z of the Korean War by Paul M. Edwards, 2005. The A to Z of the Cold War by Joseph Smith and Simon Davis, 2005. The A to Z of the Vietnam War by Edwin E. Moise, 2005. The A to Z of Science Fiction Literature by Brian Stableford, 2005. The A to Z of the Holocaust by Jack R. Fischel, 2005. The A to Z of Washington, D.C. by Robert Benedetto, Jane Donovan, and Kathleen DuVall, 2005. The A to Z of Taoism by Julian F. Pas, 2006. The A to Z of the Renaissance by Charles G. Nauert, 2006. The A to Z of Shinto by Stuart D. B. Picken, 2006. The A to Z of Byzantium by John H. Rosser, 2006. The A to Z of the Civil War by Terry L. Jones, 2006. The A to Z of the Friends (Quakers) by Margery Post Abbott, Mary Ellen Chijioke, Pink Dandelion, and John William Oliver Jr., 2006 The A to Z of Feminism by Janet K. Boles and Diane Long Hoeveler, 2006. The A to Z of New Religious Movements by George D. Chryssides, 2006. The A to Z of Multinational Peacekeeping by Terry M. Mays, 2006. The A to Z of Lutheranism by Günther Gassmann with Duane H. Larson and Mark W. Oldenburg, 2007. The A to Z of the French Revolution, by Paul R. Hanson, 2007. The A to Z of the Persian Gulf War 1990–1991, by Clayton R. Newell, 2007. The A to Z of Revolutionary America, by Terry M. Mays, 2007. The A to Z of the Olympic Movement, by Bill Mallon with Ian Buchanan, 2007.

27. The A to Z of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia, by Alan Day, 2009. 28. The A to Z of the United Nations, by Jacques Fomerand, 2009. 29. The A to Z of the “Dirty Wars,” by David Kohut, Olga Vilella, and Beatrice Julian, 2009. 30. The A to Z of the Vikings, by Katherine Holman, 2009. 31. The A to Z from the Great War to the Great Depression, by Neil A. Wynn, 2009. 32. The A to Z of the Crusades, by Corliss K. Slack, 2009. 33. The A to Z of New Age Movements, by Michael York, 2009. 34. The A to Z of Unitarian Universalism, by Mark W. Harris, 2009. 35. The A to Z of the Kurds, by Michael M. Gunter, 2009. 36. The A to Z of Utopianism, by James M. Morris and Andrea L. Kross, 2009. 37. The A to Z of the Civil War and Reconstruction, by William L. Richter, 2009. 38. The A to Z of of Jainism, by Kristi L. Wiley, 2009. 39. The A to Z of the Inuit, by Pamela R. Stern, 2009. 40. The A to Z of Early North America, by Cameron B. Wesson, 2009. 41. The A to Z of the Enlightenment, by Harvey Chisick, 2009. 42. The A to Z Methodism, by Charles Yrigoyen, Jr. and Susan E. Warrick, 2009. 43. The A to Z of the Seventh-Day Adventists, by Gary Land, 2009. 44. The A to Z of Sufism, by John Renard, 2009. 45. The A to Z of Sikhism, by William Hewat McLeod, 2009. 46. The A to Z Fantasy Literature, by Brian Stableford, 2009. 47. The A to Z of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands, by Max Quanchi and John Robson, 2009. 48. The A to Z of Australian and New Zealand Cinema, by Albert Moran and Errol Vieth, 2009. 49. The A to Z of of African-American Television, by Kathleen FearnBanks, 2009. 50. The A to Z of of American Radio Soap Operas, by Jim Cox, 2009. 51. The A to Z of the Old South, by William L. Richter, 2009. 52. The A to Z of the Discovery and Exploration of the Northwest Passage, by Alan Day, 2009. 53. The A to Z of the Druzes, by Samy S. Swayd, 2009. 54. The A to Z of the Welfare State, by Bent Greve, 2009.

55. The A to Z of the War of 1812, by Robert Malcomson, 2009. 56. The A to Z of Feminist Philosophy, by Catherine Villanueva Gardner, 2009. 57. The A to Z of the Early American Republic, by Richard Buel Jr., 2009. 58. The A to Z of the Russo-Japanese War, by Rotem Kowner, 2009. 59. The A to Z of Anglicanism, by Colin Buchanan, 2009. 60. The A to Z of Scandinavian Literature and Theater, by Jan Sjåvik, 2009. 61. The A to Z of the Peoples of the Southeast Asian Massif, by Jean Michaud, 2009. 62. The A to Z of Judaism, by Norman Solomon, 2009. 63. The A to Z of the Berbers (Imazighen), by Hsain Ilahiane, 2009. 64. The A to Z of British Radio, by Seán Street, 2009. 65. The A to Z of The Salvation Army, by Major John G. Merritt, 2009. 66. The A to Z of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, by P. R. Kumaraswamy, 2009. 67. The A to Z of the Jacksonian Era and Manifest Destiny, by Terry Corps, 2009. 68. The A to Z of Socialism, by Peter Lamb and James C. Docherty, 2009. 69. The A to Z of Marxism, by David Walker and Daniel Gray, 2009. 70. The A to Z of the Bahá’í Faith, by Hugh C. Adamson, 2009. 71. The A to Z of Postmodernist Literature and Theater, by Fran Mason, 2009. 72. The A to Z of Australian Radio and Television, by Albert Moran and Chris Keating, 2009. 73. The A to Z of the Lesbian Liberation Movement: Still the Rage, by JoAnne Myers, 2009.

The A to Z of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia Alan Day

The A to Z Guide Series, No. 27

The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 2009

Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2003 by Alan Day All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The hardback version of this book was cataloged by the Library of Congress as follows: Day, Alan Edwin Historical dictionary of the discovery and exploration of Australia / Alan Day. p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of discovery and exploration ; no. 1) Includes bibliographical references. 1. Australia—Discovery and exploration—Dictionaries. 2. Australia— History—Dictionaries. 3. Australia—Dictionaries. I. Title. II. Series. DU97.D39 2003 994'.003—dc21 2002154853 ISBN 978-0-8108-6810-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8108-6326-2 (ebook)

⬁ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America.

For Paul Wilks and John Nicholson— true Aussies, good mates of the author, and keen supporters of this venture

Contents

Series Editor’s Foreword Jon Woronoff Preface

xi xiii

Acronyms and Abbreviations

xv

Maps

xvii

Chronology

xix

Introduction

xxxiii

THE DICTIONARY

1

Bibliography

237

About the Author

321

ix

Series Editor’s Foreword

Launching a new series of historical dictionaries is always a bit of an adventure. In this case, a series on discovery and exploration, it is even more so. This first volume deals with Australia, and others should follow soon on Africa, America, and other places. But there is still room for further additions to fill the blank spaces. Although much, but not all, of the discovery and exploration lie far back in time, and we inhabitants of the 21st century have become somewhat jaded, the contents of this book still overflow with adventure. In this case it is a double adventure, first of discovering a continent that was not quite where it was expected and then of exploring its lengthy coastline and vast inland reaches. Like all other historical dictionaries, this volume adheres to a standard format. The introduction provides the general context; the dictionary goes into further detail on persons, organizations, and events, in this case expeditions of all sorts, and also some of the places discovered and explored. The chronology charts the progress over time. And the bibliography allows readers to learn more about the general process or specific aspects. The big difference is again “adventure.” The material contained in many entries, despite their matter-offact approach, is truly gripping. So much so that one tends to pass from entry to entry rather than coldly consulting just the desired one and closing the book. The A to Z of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia was written by Alan Day. For decades he studied the subject from afar, thanks to the very copious literature, which is laid out in the bibliography he took special care with as a professional librarian. Finally, in 2001, he went on his own tour of the Outback, not your standard tourist’s excursion but to reconnoiter some of the places he had only read about. Aside from authoring the first volume in the new series, he was actually the one who initially came up with the idea of such a series, which will gradually shed more light on similar experiences elsewhere in a handy form that can be consulted by beginner and expert alike. Jon Woronoff Series Editor

xi

Preface

The purpose of this historical dictionary is to outline the voyages of discovery and the inland explorations that were instrumental in adding Australia to the global map. To that end the entries feature ancient cosmographers; speculative cartographers; influential geographers who pressed for voyages to discover the precise location of the continent, generally agreed to exist in the southern hemisphere; discoverers and explorers; surveying and land-measuring instruments; place-names and geographical locations; diseases that commonly afflicted exploring expeditions; learned societies and research library collections; and even a snatch or two of verse. A few terms encountered in explorers’ narratives and historical accounts, familiar to Australians but perhaps less so to overseas readers, are also incorporated. A question mark is used throughout the dictionary to denote uncertainty about facts. One of the pleasures of compiling a reference work of this nature is the help received from professional colleagues and others. At home, in England, most of my research was carried out in the John Rylands University Library in Manchester, in the Map Room of The British Library, and at the Royal Geographical Society in London. In Australia, I very much enjoyed working in the State Library of Queensland’s John Oxley Library in Brisbane; in the library of the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach; in the Northern Territory Alice Springs Public Library; at the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia Library in Adelaide, where Valerie Sitters was assiduous in pointing me in the right direction and providing me with much-appreciated take-home material; and in the La Trobe Library of the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, where Dianne Reilly went to some effort to find me a particularly desirable issue of the La Trobe Library Journal to add to my collection. By post I received practical help from Dorothy Rooney, Liaison Library, Warrnambool Campus, Deakin University; Paul Brunton, of the State Library of New South Wales, in Sydney, who kindly sent me a copy, on request, of the illustrated catalog of the national touring exhibition Matthew Flinders: xiii

xiv •

PREFACE

The Ultimate Voyage; Rod Cramer, of Alice Springs, who supplied me with details of his treks across the Simpson, Great Sandy, and Little Sandy Deserts retracing the routes of Cecil Madigan and Lawrence Wells; and Kenneth Wilks, of Buderim, Queensland, who saved me hours of research time by sending up-to-the-minute newspaper reports. I am also indebted to James C. Docherty for readily allowing me to reproduce two maps, “Australia: Evolution of States, 1494–1863” and “Australia: States, Territories and Capitals,” from his Historical Dictionary of Australia (2nd ed., 1999).

Acronyms and Abbreviations

fl HMCS HMS NSW OBE QLD RGS RGSASA SA SS TAS VIC VOC WA

Floruit (flourished)—indicates when a person whose birth and death dates are not known was prominently active His (Her) Majesty’s Colonial Ship His (Her) Majesty’s Ship, depending on the sex of the reigning monarch New South Wales Order of The British Empire Queensland Royal Geographical Society Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch South Australia Steam Ship Tasmania Victoria Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie Western Australia

xv

Chronology

3rd Century B.C.

Ancient Egyptian voyagers land on Australian shores?

7th Century A.D. Arab seamen visit western, northern, and northeastern coasts of Australia? 14th Century

Macarrese voyages to northern shores begin?

1406 Chinese ships sail to Australia? 1421 Hong Bao and Zhou Man sail independently along Australian coastlines? 1475 First printing of Ptolemy’s Geographia prolongs the ancient world’s concept of a southern continent maintaining the Earth’s equilibrium. 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, signed by Portugal and Spain, delimits their claims to newly discovered lands. 1503 According to 17th-century French sources, Binot Paulmyer de Gonneville lands on the southern continent. 1518?–1528? Jean Alphonse visits Australia’s west coast? 1519 Ferdinand Magellan sights Tierra del Fuego, which contemporary cartographers wrongly assume to be part of the southern continent. 1521 Christovão de Mendonca sails down the east coast of the southern continent? 1529 Treaty of Saragossa amends the Treaty of Tordesillas. All Australia, apart from the eastern seaboard, is now situated within the Portuguese sphere. 1531 Oronce Finé’s world map consolidates Tierra del Fuego into Terra Australis, which extends northwest across the Pacific to merge with New Guinea. 1542 Jean Rotz presents his “Boke of Idrography” to King Henry VIII of England. It is the earliest surviving work of the Dieppois hydrographers depicting “the londe of Java.” xix

xx •

CHRONOLOGY

1547?–1550? Dauphin Map gives positive and exact detail of Java-laGrande’s west coast. 1568 Alvaro de Mendaña discovers the Solomon Islands, not seen again by Europeans for another 200 years. 1569 Gerard Mercator’s world map follows Oronce Finé’s representation of Terra Australis. 1574 Richard Grenville petitions Queen Elizabeth I for a charter to explore and colonize Terra Australis. 1578 Francis Drake confirms Tierra del Fuego to be an island and not part of a southern continent. 1602

Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) is formed.

1606 Pedro Fernandez de Quirós lands on Austrialia del Espiritu Santo (present-day Vanuatu). Luis Vaez de Torres discovers the strait named after him. Willem Jansz makes the first authenticated European discovery of the Australian continent when he sails down the east coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. He goes ashore in Albatross Bay. 1614?–1621? Juan Luis Arias addresses “A Memorial to His Catholic Majesty, Philip III, King of Spain,” advocating a Spanish discovery and occupation of the great southern continent. 1615–1616 Jakob Le Maire and Willem Schouten abandon the search for Terra Australis after sailing 1,600 miles west from South America. 1616 Dirck Hartog sights the West Australian coast. He lands on Dirk Hartog’s Island at the southwestern entrance to Shark Bay. 1618 Leenaert Jacobszoon discovers North West Cape peninsula. Haevic Claeszoon van Hillegom also makes a landfall on the northwest coast. 1622 Unknown Dutch ship sights Cape Leeuwin. The English East India Company ship Trial (John Brookes) founders on reefs of Barrow Island. 1623 Following up Willem Jansz’s 1606 discoveries, Jan Carstensz sails down the east coast of Gulf of Carpentaria. Willem Colster discovers Arnhem Land. Klaas Hermanszoon sails north up the west coast. 1625 Sir William Courteen petitions King James I for a trading monopoly to Terra Australis.

CHRONOLOGY

• xxi

1627 Frans Thijssen cruises along the southern coastline, through Recherche Archipelago, along the Great Australian Bight shoreline, to the Nuyts Archipelago. 1629

François Pelsaert’s ship, Batavia, founders on Abrolhos Islands.

1636 Ambitious Dutch voyage of discovery to Arnhem Land and down west coast to the Abrolhos Islands is aborted when Gerrit Pool is killed by hostile natives in New Guinea. Pieter Pieterszoon, who assumes command, explores shores of Arnhem Land and sails along northeast and north coasts of Melville Island. 1642–1643 Abel Tasman discovers Van Diemen’s Land and circles New Holland in a wide arc, thus proving it was not part of the conjectured great southern continent. 1644 Abel Tasman establishes that no channel runs southward from the Gulf of Carpentaria but fails to notice Torres Strait. 1653 Jean Paulmyer de Courtonne’s Memoirs Touchant L’Etablissement D’Une Mission Chrestienne Dans Le Troisième Monde, Autrement appellé, La Terre Australe is published. 1656 Vergulde Draeck, commanded by Pieter Albertsz, founders off Ledge Point, near Cape Leschenault; 75 survivors go ashore. 1658

Jacob Peereboom anchors in Géographe Bay and ventures ashore.

1688 William Dampier lands in the northwest corner of King Sound and remains there for five weeks. 1696–1697 Willem de Vlamingh conducts a close examination of New Holland’s west coast from the Swan River to the North West Cape. 1699 William Dampier reaches Shark Bay and discovers the Dampier Archipelago. His plans to examine the Torres Strait and to sail down Australia’s east coast are thwarted. 1705

Maarten Van Delft explores the northwest coast of Australia.

1713 John Welbe submits “Scheme of a Voyage Round The Globe for the Discovery of Terra Australis Incognita” to the British government. 1715 Guillaume de l’Isle’s map Hemisphere Meridional pour voir plus distinctement Les Terres Australes is published.

xxii •

CHRONOLOGY

1718 Jean Pierre Purry’s proposals for the establishment of a colony in Nuyts Land are rejected. 1727 The Zeewijk (Jan Steyns) founders on Half Moon Ridge, Abrolhos Islands. 1744–1748 John Campbell edits a revised version of John Harris’s Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca. 1755 Records of the early Portuguese voyages are lost in the Lisbon earthquake and fire. 1756 Charles de Brosses publishes Histoire de la Navigation aux Terres Australes. 1759–1760 Jean de Surville sails over a huge expanse of ocean where Terra Australis is commonly supposed to be located. 1766 Phillip Carteret rediscovers the Solomon Islands, not visited by Europeans since Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568. 1766–1768 John Callander publishes his Terra Australis Cognita; or Voyages to the Terra Australis or Southern Hemisphere. 1767 Alexander Dalrymple issues An Account of the Discoveries made in the South Pacifick Ocean previous to 1764. 1768 Louis-Antoine de Bougainville narrowly fails to discover the east coast of New Holland. 1770 James Cook sights the east coast of New Holland, makes his first landing at Botany Bay, sails north, and rediscovers Torres Strait. 1770–1771 Alexander Dalrymple publishes An Historical Collection of the several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean. 1771 Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne sails from L’Île de France to rediscover the southern continent reported by Binot Paulmyer de Gonneville. 1772 François de Saint Allouarn reaches Flinders Bay, behind Cape Leeuwin, before sailing up the coast to Shark Bay. Marion du Fresne visits Van Diemen’s Land. 1773 James Cook’s second Pacific voyage demolishes the concept of a vast rich southern continent. Tobias Furneaux explores the south and east coasts of Van Diemen’s Land.

CHRONOLOGY

• xxiii

1774 French government rejects de Latouche-Tréville’s proposal to explore Van Diemen’s Land, the east coast of New Holland, and the Gulf of Carpentaria. 1788 Arthur Phillip arrives in Botany Bay but transfers settlement to Port Jackson. He explores Broken Bay, travels along Paramatta River, and confirms the inhospitable character of Botany Bay. 1789 Arthur Phillip discovers the Hawkesbury River, explores upstream as far as Richmond Hill, and sights the Blue Mountains. Watkin Tench discovers the Nepean River. William Dawes leads a party in an attempt to penetrate the Blue Mountains. John Cox sails along the coast of Van Diemen’s Land. William Bligh navigates the Torres Strait in an open boat. 1791

George Vancouver explores King George Sound.

1792 Antoine D’Entrecasteaux examines the Derwent River estuary in Van Diemen’s Land. He surveys the Great Australian Bight coastline. 1793 William Paterson discovers the Grose River. John Hayes retraces D’Entrecasteaux’s route round the coast of Van Diemen’s Land and follows him up the Derwent River. 1794

Henry Hacking attempts to find a pass through the Blue Mountains.

1795 Matthew Everingham follows the Grose River into the Blue Mountains. 1796

George Bass makes an attempt to cross the Blue Mountains.

1797

George Bass and Matthew Flinders explore the St. George River.

1797–1798 George Bass examines the south coast of New South Wales in an attempt to determine whether Van Diemen’s Land was an island. 1798 Matthew Flinders and George Bass circumnavigate Van Diemen’s Land. John Wilson leads a party of convicts into the southern highlands of New South Wales. 1801 French government naval and scientific expedition to complete the cartography of Australia, commanded by Nicolas Baudin, arrives off Cape Leeuwin. James Grant surveys Western Port, the Bass Strait, and Jervis Bay. 1801–1803 Matthew Flinders circumnavigates the continent of Australia, proving it to be a single island landmass. 1802 Francis Barrallier’s Blue Mountains expedition. John Murray surveys Port Phillip Bay. Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin discuss their explorations

xxiv •

CHRONOLOGY

and discoveries at Encounter Bay. Baudin visits Tasmania, visits Sydney, and surveys Australia’s southern coast. 1804 David Collins founds a settlement on the Derwent River, naming it Hobart Town. George Caley explores the Blue Mountains. 1807 Thomas Laycock pioneers an overland route from Port Dalrymple to Hobart. 1813 Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson, and William Charles Wentworth discover a promising route over the Blue Mountains. George Evans completes the crossing. 1814 Matthew Flinders literally puts Australia on the map in his General Chart of Terra Australis or Australia. 1815–1816 James Kelly circumnavigates Van Diemen’s Land in a small whaleboat and discovers Macquarie Harbor and the Pieman River. 1817 Philip Parker King surveys the Goulburn, Bathurst, and Melville Islands and explores the Alligator River. 1817–1818 Rivers.

John Oxley determines the course of the Lachlan and Macquarie

1818 James Meehan discovers Lake Bathurst and the Goulburn Downs. Louis-Claude de Freycinet surveys Shark Bay and retrieves the Vlamingh Plate from Dirk Hartog’s Island. 1818–1819 Land.

Philip Parker King surveys Macquarie Harbor in Van Diemen’s

1819 Philip Parker King examines the northwest coast from Clarence Strait to Cambridge Gulf. 1820

Philip Parker King surveys the Prince Regent River.

1821 Philip Parker King examines the Swan River and sails 50 miles up the Prince Regent River. James Blackman explores a route from Bathurst to the Cudgegong River. 1822 William Edwardson investigates the southern channels of Moreton Bay. John Bingle surveys Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Channel. 1823 Allan Cunningham pioneers a new route to the Liverpool Plains discovered by John Oxley in 1818. Oxley examines Moreton Bay and discovers the Brisbane River. Charles Hardwicke sails along the north coast of Van Diemen’s Land from Port Dalrymple to West Point.

CHRONOLOGY

• xxv

1824 James Hobbs circumnavigates Van Diemen’s Land, surveying its harbors and rivers suitable for settlement. Thomas Scott’s Chart of Van Diemen’s Land from the best authorities and from actual Surveys and Measurements is published. Hamilton Hume and William Hovell lead a party from the east coast overland to Corio Bay, an inlet on Port Phillip Bay. They sight the Australian Alps en route. 1825 Edmund Lockyer explores the Brisbane River, discovers the Stanley River and Lockyer Creek, and reaches the Brisbane Mountains. Van Diemen’s Land Company is founded. 1826 Jorgen Jorgensen attempts to find an overland route from Hobart to Circular Head on the northwest coast of Van Diemen’s Land. Joseph Fossey explores Circular Head and Cape Grim by boat and on foot. Jules Dumont d’Urville surveys the southern coast of Australia including the previously uncharted Jervis Bay. 1826–1827 Patrick Logan discovers the Logan and Coomera Rivers in Queensland. 1826–1831 Henry Hellyer explores the northwestern region of Van Diemen’s Land and discovers the Arthur and Hellyer Rivers. 1827 Allan Cunningham discovers the rich and fertile Darling Downs. James Stirling ascends the Swan River. 1828

John Wedge explores in the far northwest of Van Diemen’s Land.

1828–1829 Charles Sturt and Hamilton Hume trace the Macquarie River and discover the Darling River. 1829–1830 Charles Sturt follows the Murrumbidgee River, first on foot, then in a whaleboat, to its confluence with a previously unknown river, which he names the Murray, and continues to the Murray’s end in Lake Alexandrina. 1830–1831 George Robinson travels inland round the coastline of Van Diemen’s Land. 1831 Collet Barker sights Gulf St. Vincent, the site of Adelaide. Thomas Bannister opens up an overland route from Perth to Albany. 1831–1832 Thomas Livingstone Mitchell searches for the mythical Kindur River supposedly located north of the Liverpool Plains. 1832 Lieutenant Nixon allegedly finds a Dutch settlement 500 miles inland from Australia’s north coast.

xxvi •

CHRONOLOGY

1834 John Lhotsky explores the Australian Alps and reaches the Snowy River. 1835 Thomas Livingstone Mitchell sails down the Darling River but returns 150 miles from its confluence with the Murray. John Batman discovers the Yarra River and selects a site for a settlement. George Frankland and John Wedge explore the central river system of Van Diemen’s Land. 1836 Thomas Livingstone Mitchell clarifies the river drainage configuration of southeastern Australia but the full course of the Darling is still not established. George Moore conducts an expedition east and north of the Avon and Mortlock Rivers in Western Australia. William Light sails into St. Vincent Gulf and selects the site for the city of Adelaide. First reports of the Mahogany Ship. 1837

George Grey explores islands and promontories near Brunswick Bay.

1837–1843 HMS Beagle (John Clements Wickham 1837–1841; John Lort Stokes 1841–1843) discovers the Adelaide and Victoria Rivers and charts the Abrolhos Islands, Bass Strait, and Torres Strait. 1838 George Grey discovers the Glenelg River, Western Australia. Later in the year he explores course of the Swan River to the northeast. Joseph Hawdon pioneers stock route from Howlong, on the Murray River, to Adelaide. 1839 George Moore examines the Champion Bay coast of Western Australia, explores the Shark Bay region, and discovers the Gascoyne River. 1839–1840 Edward Eyre twice fails to penetrate beyond Lake Torrens and Lake Eyre South. Angus McMillan pioneers a route through the mountainous regions of Gippsland. 1840 Benjamin Helpman surveys and charts long stretches of the Western Australian coastline north of Fremantle. Paul de Strzelecki explores the Australian Alps. 1841 Edward Eyre crosses the Nullarbor Plain from South Australia to Albany, Western Australia. 1841–1846 Nathaniel Kentish explores much of the northern and northwestern regions of Van Diemen’s Land and discovers the Kentish Plains. 1842 Richard Harris and George Cummings explore westward of Port Lincoln. James Calder opens up a route from Hobart to Macquarie Harbor. 1843 Henry Landor and H. M. Le Froy search for an inland sea, east of York, in Western Australia. Edward Frome searches the country east of the Flinders

CHRONOLOGY

• xxvii

Ranges and adheres to Edward Eyre’s poor opinion of the country around Lake Eyre and Lake Torrens. 1843–1845 Francis Blackwood surveys 500 miles of the outer line of the Great Barrier Reef. 1844–1845 Ludwig Leichhardt crosses overland from Brisbane to Port Essington and discovers the Burdekin River. Charles Sturt leads an expedition into the center to determine whether a chain of hills forms a natural division of the continent and, if so, what rivers rise from it. 1845–1846 Thomas Livingstone Mitchell discovers the Warrego, Belyando, and Barcoo Rivers. But the Victoria River, which Mitchell thought would lead to the Gulf of Carpentaria, is later proven by Edmund Kennedy to be a tributary of the Thomson River. 1846 Augustus Charles Gregory explores the interior of Western Australia. He discovers Lake Moore and coal deposits around the River Irwin. 1846–1847 Ludwig Leichhardt attempts unsuccessfully to make a transcontinental crossing from the Darling Downs to the Indian Ocean. 1847 Edmund Kennedy determines the course of the Barcoo River and discovers the Thomson River. James Barnett explores the river system beyond the headwaters of the Upper Brisbane River. 1848 Owen Stanley surveys and charts the Inner Reef Passage. Edmund Kennedy travels up the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula before being killed by Aborigines in the mangrove swamps of the Escape River. 1848–1849 Ludwig Leichhardt makes a second attempt to make an eastwest crossing of Australia but disappears without a trace. John Roe travels over 2,000 miles in the southwestern corner of Australia. 1854 Robert Austin searches the interior of Western Australia for agricultural land and mineral deposits. 1855–1856 Augustus Charles Gregory explores the Northern Territory from the Victoria River across the southern shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria and the southern regions of the Cape York Peninsula and finds a route through the Great Dividing Range to Rockhampton and Brisbane. 1856 Benjamin Babbage makes geological and mineralogical surveys north of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. 1857

George Goyder explores east of Lake Torrens.

xxviii •

CHRONOLOGY

1858 Augustus Charles Gregory journeys overland from Brisbane to Adelaide, confirms that the Barcoo River and Cooper’s Creek are one river, and demonstrates a practicable stock route south to north. He also proves that no large horseshoe lake bars routes north from Adelaide. Frank Gregory explores headwaters of the Gascoyne, Lyons, and Murchison Rivers. Benjamin Babbage surveys the Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner regions. 1859 Alfred Howitt journeys through the Flinders Ranges to the Davenport Range. George Dalrymple leads a small private expedition across the coastal range of Queensland to explore the Burdekin River region. John McDouall Stuart breaks through the Lakes barrier that hemmed in South Australian expansion for 20 years. 1860 Stuart arrives at the Geographical Center of Australia and continues 700 miles into the Northern Territory. Alfred Howitt explores Alpine country northeast of Melbourne. John Mackay ventures into untrodden country between the Burdekin River and the Isaac watershed and discovers the Pioneer River. 1861 Robert O’Hara Burke, William Wills, John King, and Charles Gray become the first Europeans to cross the continent south to north. Only King survives the return journey. Albert Howitt leads the Victoria Relief Expedition to Cooper’s Creek, rescues John King, and explores a large tract of the Barcoo River region. John McKinlay explores country between Eyre’s Creek when leading the South Australian Burke Relief Expedition. Frank Gregory discovers the Fortesque River and the Hammersley Range. 1861–1862 William Landsborough discovers the Gregory and Georgina Rivers and the Barkly Tableland when he becomes the first to cross Australia north to south. 1862 John McDouall Stuart, after two unsuccessful attempts, crosses the continent from Adelaide to Van Diemen Gulf. 1863

Charles Hunt explores the coast around Nickol Bay, Western Australia.

1863–1864 James Martin explores bays and river mouths along the Western Australian coastline. 1864 Boyle Finnis establishes a short-lived settlement at Adam Bay on the Northern Territory coast. He ventures up the Adelaide River. Charles Hunt discovers Lake Lefroy and the Hampton Plains, east of York, in Western Australia. 1864–1865 Frank Jardine drives cattle from Rockhampton up the Cape York Peninsula to the Somerset settlement.

CHRONOLOGY

• xxix

1865 F. Howard makes voyages up the Adelaide and Victoria Rivers and along the Arnhem Land coast. Fred Litchfield discovers the Finnis and Daly Rivers in the Northern Territory. Goyder’s Line of Rainfall is delineated. 1865–1866 Edward Hooley explores the Fortesque, Murchison, and Gascoyne Rivers region in Western Australia. 1866

Thomas Elder begins large-scale importation of camels.

1867 Francis Cadell surveys the Arnhem Land coast and the Liverpool, Albert, Roper, and Victoria River regions. 1868 John Ross explores the region on the southwest edge of the Simpson Desert. George Goyder surveys the site of Port Darwin. 1870 John Forrest leads an expedition from Western Australia, along the shores of the Great Australian Bight, to Adelaide, retracing the steps of Edward Eyre in the reverse direction. Ralph Milner drives cattle from Port Augusta to Port Darwin. George McLachlan blazes an overland trail from Darwin to the Roper River. 1870–1871 John Ross surveys the country through which the central and northern sections of the Overland Telegraph will be constructed. 1870–1872

Construction of the Overland Telegraph.

1871 William Mills discovers Alice Spring and Heavitree Gap. James Smith explores the wooded country in the northwest of Tasmania. 1872 William Hann explores the Cape York Peninsula interior and finds good grazing land. Ernest Giles penetrates into the Red Center and sights Mount Olga on his first attempt to cross the desert to Western Australia. 1872–1873 George Dalrymple explores the mouths of the Moresby, Johnstone, Mulgrave, Bloomfield, and Daintree Rivers in Queensland. 1872–1876 James Mulligan explores southern parts of the Cape York Peninsula. 1873 Peter Egerton Warburton makes the first east-to-west crossing of the central deserts. William Gosse discovers Uluru (Ayers Rock) and penetrates to the Townsend Range in his attempt to cross to Western Australia. 1873–1874 Ernest Giles makes a second attempt to cross to Western Australia but is forced back from the Gibson Desert. 1874 John W. Lewis establishes the course of the Diamantina River and reveals the true extent of Lake Eyre. John Forrest crosses the central deserts to

xxx •

CHRONOLOGY

the Overland Telegraph and becomes the first man to cross west to east. Thomas Moore explores Tasmania’s west coast. 1875 William Hodgkinson investigates country west of the Diamantina River. 1877

Christie Palmerston explores the Queensland interior.

1878 Nathaniel Buchanan pioneers a stock route from Burketown, Queensland, to the McArthur, Roper, and Katherine Rivers. 1878–1879 Ernest Favenc investigates the viability of a transcontinental railroad from Brisbane to Darwin. 1879 Henry Vere Barclay makes a triangulation survey between Alice Springs and the Queensland border. Alexander Forrest explores little-known areas in the northwestern corner of Australia and opens up the grasslands of the Nicholson Plains. Thomas Moore explores south of the Arthur River and maps Tasmania’s southwestern river system. 1883 David Lindsay leads a South Australian government expedition to examine the central and eastern parts of Arnhem Land. 1883–1885 Francis Durack makes an epic 3,000-mile trek with 7,250 head of cattle from Thylunga Station in Queensland to the Ord River region in Western Australia. 1884 Nathaniel Buchanan herds cattle from Queensland to the Ord River in northwestern Australia. 1885 Charles Chewings explores the MacDonell Ranges. W. J. O’Donnell explores a vast area from the Overland Telegraph to Roebourne on the Indian Ocean. David Lindsay surveys east of Alice Springs. 1889 William Tietkens discovers Lake MacDonald and defines the western limits of Lake Amadeus. 1891–1892 David Lindsay crosses the Great Victoria Desert between John Forrest’s 1874 route and Ernest Giles’s 1875 route. 1895 William Carr-Boyd crosses from Lake Carey, in Western Australia, to the Warrina railroad depot in South Australia. Charles Winnecke conducts a scientific examination of the MacDonnell Ranges. 1896–1897 David Carnegie makes a south-to-north and north-to-south crossing of the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts from Coolgardie to Hall’s Creek and back to Coolgardie.

CHRONOLOGY

• xxxi

1897 Harry Lasseter claims the discovery of a vast gold-bearing reef on the western edge of the MacDonnell Ranges. 1898

Frank Hann explores the King Leopold Range.

1900 Allan Davidson explores the region between Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and the Western Australian border, prospecting for gold. 1901 The Commonwealth of Australia is inaugurated. Frederick DrakeBrockman makes a six-month circular exploration of the far northwestern region of Western Australia. 1902 R. T. Maurice and W. R. Murray complete a seven-month transcontinental journey from Fowler’s Bay, an inlet of the Great Australian Bight, to Wyndham, on the Cambridge Gulf. 1904 Henry Vere Barclay and Ronald McPherson explore a vast region to the east of Alice Springs. 1906 Alfred Canning surveys a practicable stock route from the Kimberley Ranges to Hall’s Creek. 1908–1910 Alfred Canning blazes the Canning Stock Route across Little Sandy, Great Sandy, and Tanami Deserts. 1910 Stuart Love leads an expedition into eastern and northeastern Arnhem Land. 1915 Herbert Basedow leads a federal government prospecting expedition to Australia’s far northwest. 1916 T. E. Day travels from the Anacoora Bore to the Todd and Hale Rivers in Central Australia. 1923–1925 George Wilkins leads a scientific survey expedition through southeastern Queensland to the Roper River region in Arnhem Land. 1926 Donald Mackay and Herbert Basedow explore the southwestern corner of the Northern Territory. 1928 Michael Terry embarks on the first of several prospecting expeditions in Central Australia. 1929 Cecil Madigan conducts aerial surveys over 28,000 square miles of Central Australian desert. 1930 Central Australian Gold Exploration Company is formed. A motorized prospecting party leaves Alice Springs to look for Lasseter’s Reef.

xxxii •

CHRONOLOGY

1930–1937 Donald Mackay supervises a series of aerial surveys in Central and Western Australia. 1935 Donald Thomson travels through Arnhem Land to investigate the causes of Aboriginal unrest. 1939 Cecil Madigan leads a party from Andado Station across the Simpson Desert to Birdsville. 1955–1963 Len Beadel’s Gunbarrel Road Construction Party opens up the Gibson, Great Sandy, and Great Victoria Deserts. 1957 Donald Thomson reconnoiters north and west of Lake Mackay into the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts. 1977 Tom Bergin follows Robert O’Hara’s 1861 route to the Gulf of Carpentaria. 1979 Rod Cramer retraces Cecil Madigan’s 1939 route across the Simpson Desert. 1990 John Streich reenacts the Western Australian sections of David Lindsay’s 1891–1892 Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition. 1996 Rod Cramer’s Calvert Centenary Project retraces Lawrence Wells’s Calvert Exploring Expedition of 1896. Greg and Vicki Warburton travel from Kalgoorlie to Hall’s Creek to commemorate David Carnegie’s south-to-north, north-to-south crossings of the Western Australian deserts. 1999 Kieran Kelly reenacts the Victoria River stages of Augustus Charles Gregory’s 1855 Northern Australian Expedition. 2000 Robert Bednarik discovers a rock carving cut by a European sailor, dated 1771, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Introduction

Thirty-three names for the land that was eventually limited to Australia are listed on the front endpapers of Miriam Estensen’s Discovery: The Quest for the Great South Land (1998). If we disregard 2 relating to the geological era, 3 mislocated from Marco Polo’s narrative, and 6 essentially the same in 3 languages, that still leaves over 20 for a continent, or parts of it, that did not take definite shape in European geography until the 18th century. Most of them illustrate the historical record as various regions of Australia’s north and west coasts became known, either by design or by accident. The reasons for this multilingual and spatial complexity must be sought in the classical and medieval worlds when the fathers of geography, and the early cosmographers, struggled to name a continent that they were sure existed in the southern hemisphere although nobody had ever seen it or could be certain as to its exact location. At its greatest extent the southern continent stretched across the entire southern half of the world. On a 1483 map, printed to accompany a treatise by the fifth-century Roman philosopher Ambrosius Macrobius, it is portrayed as being equal in area to Europe, Africa, and Asia combined. It is described as Temperate Antipodum Nobis Incognita (“an unknown temperate southern land”), that is, one that signified that it was suitable for human habitation, which was depicted as facing the northern hemisphere across an ocean extending round the world. Even when the South Land and New Holland began to assume a definite outline, it was considered not to be the continent that had been generally supposed for centuries to exist. Not until British and French ships had sailed over great swathes of ocean, where Terra Australis was still presumed to be located, was it finally acknowledged to exist only in the imagination. The long-sought-after, rich, and fertile continent, perhaps peopled by millions who had attained a fair measure of civilization, offering unprecedented trading opportunities, was transformed, in reality, to the icy, inhospitable, intemperate, uninhabited, and apparently barren wastes of Antarctica. And, although Terra Australis survived on the map until the 19th century, it now designated only present-day Australia, not the vast southern continent that it xxxiii

xxxiv •

INTRODUCTION

once, more gloriously, represented. To that extent, Australia was physically and geographically a sad disappointment. Before European mariners, for whatever reason, chanced upon, or deliberately sought, the southern continent, there is tantalizing evidence that ships from Asia preceded them. To avoid a totally Eurocentric approach, and to acknowledge that Arab and Chinese seamen undoubtedly enjoyed sufficient nautical experience and the technical capacity to equip oceangoing vessels that would enable them to arrive on Australian shores, their possible participation in the discovery of the south land in medieval times is reflected in a few dictionary entries and the bibliography. The likelihood that Macassarese fishermen made routine visits to Australia’s northern coastline, at an early date, is also recorded. The possibility remains that Chinese ships reached Australia in the first half of the 15th century.

PORTUGAL Three European nations—Holland, Britain, and France—took the preponderant role in the discovery of the Australian continent with two others, Portugal and Spain, making pioneering voyages. Whether or not the Portuguese actually sailed in Australian waters, sighting the continent, perhaps even landing on its shores, is not conclusively proven although, on balance, the weight of probability suggests that they may claim priority of discovery. But the late15th- and early-16th-century surge of maritime expansion that took their caravels across the Equator, round the southern tip of Africa, into the Indian Ocean, to establish trading factories along the Indian coast, in Malaysia, and to present-day Indonesia, in fact to within less than 300 miles of the Australian coast, is well documented. It stretches the bounds of credibility, the argument runs, that Portuguese mariners who had advanced halfway round the world in search of treasure and spices, and to reach Malacca, Java, Sumatra, and the East Indonesian archipelago, where they almost certainly picked up local knowledge of a southern continent, should not sail the extra 300 miles to satisfy their curiosity and to discover its trading potential. The story begins when Henry, third son of King John I of Portugal, and known to history as Prince Henry the Navigator, assembled cosmographers, shipbuilders, and seamen to realize his dream of Portuguese ships exploring down the west coast of Africa, not only to the source of the gold transported by caravans across the Sahara Desert but also eventually to discover a sea passage to the gems, silk, and spices of the East, shattering the Venetian and

INTRODUCTION

• xxxv

Genoese monopoly of eastern trade through their contacts with the merchants of the Levant, and to circumvent the Muslim strongholds along the North African littoral. Should their grand venture succeed, the Portuguese would simultaneously frustrate their commercial rivals and outflank their religious enemies, thus blending and pursuing the objectives of God and Mammon. And this was not all: even allowing for a less direct route, the Portuguese profits would outstrip those formerly enjoyed by the Venetians and Genoese by cutting out a whole procession of middlemen, each imposing their own tariff at every stage on the long journey from China and the East Indies. From the beginning the Portuguese were not seeking territorial aggrandizement in the East, they were a small nation and had no reserves of manpower to consolidate a mighty empire. Their sole objective was trade to boost the home economy, according to the mercantile tenets of the day. If a number of heathen souls could be rescued along the way, so much the better. By 1511 the Portuguese had seized the important trading entrepot of Malacca (now Molaka) on the Malay Peninsula. A year later, the energetic governor, Afonso de Albuquerque, sent a reconnaissance expedition of 3 ships and 120 men to the islands of Ternante, Tidor, and Banda, in the Moluccas. Their objective appears to have been twofold: to secure direct trading relations before the Spanish should arrive, sailing west across the Pacific, and to determine the islands’ location in relation to the Portuguese and Spanish spheres of influence as outlined in the Treaty of Tordesillas. Other reconnaissance voyages at this period for the purpose of establishing the commercial potential of islands within the region allocated to Spain are shrouded in secrecy. The Portuguese saw no advantage in alerting their rivals to the existence of unknown islands or in arousing Spanish antagonism. From extant Portuguese records it seems likely that Christovão de Mendonca departed with three ships on a voyage south of Sumatra. Exactly where he voyaged remains unknown. His ostensible objective was to search for the Isles of Gold but it is conjectured that his real purpose was to intercept, or at least to track, the Spanish circumnavigation fleet under the command of Ferdinand Magellan, which would, of necessity, sail through or close to the Portuguese-dominated Spice Islands. This theory falls into improbability in view of the imbalance of power between Portugal and Spain. More probably Mendonca’s instructions were to explore and chart unknown lands and islands to the southeast in order to give the Portuguese valuable information, which they could use to their advantage when the time came to renegotiate the Line of Demarcation and its countermeridian in the Pacific. Their prescience was rewarded in the terms of the Treaty of

xxxvi •

INTRODUCTION

Saragossa. The secrecy surrounding the Portuguese voyages adds weight to the argument for an undeclared Portuguese Priority in the European discovery of Australia.

SPAIN Speculation and conjecture surround possible early Spanish 16th-century voyages in Australian waters that precede well-documented Spanish participation in the search for the southern continent culminating in 1606 when Luis Vaez de Torres became the first known European ship’s captain to come in sight of Australia’s coastline. What is not disputed is that, in 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa first gazed on the Southern Sea from the Panamanian shore and took possession of it and its adjacent lands in the name of the King of Spain. Or, that on September 20, 1519, Ferdinand Magellan sailed from Seville, with 5 ships and 270 men, to circumnavigate the globe by finding a strait through South America and to cross the Southern Sea to the Moluccas with the aim of proving that these islands lay within the sphere allocated to Spain under the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas. If, in the early years of the century, Spain was preoccupied with the Philippine Islands, and a northern route to the American colonies, that did not signify that the Spanish had no interest in the yet-to-be-discovered southern continent. In 1546, somewhat precipitately, Sancho de la Hoz was appointed governor of the still undiscovered land. Manifestly, the prime impetus behind the early Spanish voyages was commercial in origin as were later sweeps into the Pacific from South America in search of gold. By the 1560s, however, a new factor had been introduced. Although Alvaro de Mendaña was fiercely motivated by his belief that the south land was rich in gold and silver, perhaps even the location of the biblical lands of Tarshish and Ophir, the official purpose of his 1567 voyage was to search for Terra Australis and to convert its habitants to Christianity. In fact he reached a chain of islands, afterward known as the Solomon Islands, but after six months, his “settlement” was abandoned and he sailed back to Peru. His second voyage in 1595 was altogether more ambitious. This time a permanent settlement was to be established, the first real attempt at European colonization of the unknown land, almost 200 years before the First Fleet sailed. But this second expedition was no more successful than the first. Chief pilot to Mendaña, and captain of the flotilla’s flagship, was Pedro Fernandez de Quirós, who was convinced that the islands they reached could not be far distant from the long-sought southern land and who was fervently

INTRODUCTION

• xxxvii

imbued with the desire to place its peoples under the Spanish Crown and to be the instrument of God in receiving them into the Catholic faith. His chance came in 1605, after nine years seeking support from Pope Clement VIII, who finally interceded on his behalf with Phillip III of Spain. Quirós was given three ships to sail once again to discover Terra Australis. Landing on the largest island of the present-day Vanuatu chain of islands, he named it Austrialia del Espiritu Santo, planned a magnificent city to be called New Jerusalem, created an order, Knights of the Holy Ghost, immediately embarked on missionary work, and determined to request 3,000 Franciscan friars to convert the islanders. Three weeks later the disillusioned Quirós announced the expedition’s return to Mexico. Quirós’s dream of a new Catholic empire for Spain was enthusiastically adopted by the friars, long accustomed to hazardous missionary missions in Mongolia and China. The friars submitted a series of memorials to the Spanish Crown, reminding the King of his obligations to spread the holy faith of the Catholic Church, the certain advantages to be derived from the possession of a fertile southern continent likely to be much richer than Spain’s South American possessions, and not least of the need to frustrate English and Dutch heretics, “who are instigated by the Devil as much as in his power, roam about avariciously to reconnoiter, discover, and settle the principal ports, which, on this great land, face the South Sea, and to establish there the most poisonous venom of their apostasy” (Memorial by Juan Luis Arias). Nothing came of these memorials and Arias’s worst fears were soon realized as the power of Spain declined in a welter of political and religious war in Europe, which sapped and ruined its economy. Although Spain continued to proclaim and, occasionally, attempted to enforce its declared suzerainty over the entire South Sea, such claims were shattered in the 18th century when its dreams of colonizing Terra Australis were abandoned. Long before then the ships of a new maritime power were cleaving the Eastern seas.

THE NETHERLANDS In 1579 the cities and provinces of the Netherlands united to gain their independence from Spanish dominion. They were not to succeed until 1648 but, throughout this period, their naval and commercial power steadily increased. A marked step forward came in 1602 when the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) was formed from various independent companies, which had experienced disappointing trading results from voyages to the Spice Islands. Competition between companies led to low selling prices at home for

xxxviii •

INTRODUCTION

the goods obtained, while in the Indies, buying prices were high as the companies’ agents bid against each other. In addition, the ships of the separate companies were no match for the Portuguese fleet, which was based on a string of secure fortresses on the Indian coast. They were soon persuaded that unity promised economic and military strength. Within 16 years the VOC had established a permanent base on the island of Java, capturing Jakarta and renaming it Batavia. Portuguese and English traders were excluded as the VOC swiftly developed into a tightly disciplined monopoly organization with firm control over its agents and administration in the East Indies. But it has to be underlined, the Company’s sole mission was commerce, not discovery, and certainly not colonization. Dutch exploratory voyages to the south land were designed to boost commerce by finding new products and new markets. All VOC ships sailed with a high-ranking officer who was concerned not with navigation but who was ever alert to the Company’s best trading interests. This is not to say that individual governors in the Indies had no concern for discovery, even discovery for its own sake, but they always needed economic reasons, at the very least an optimistic forecast of the voyages’ commercial potential, if they were to gain the approval of the Heren XVII back in Amsterdam. A case in point was Governor-General Anthoniij van Diemen, who dispatched Abel Tasman’s voyages of discovery. He was anxious to settle the question of the south land in order to gather reliable intelligence of its trading worth and to find a new route to the Spanish settlement in Chile, for purposes of illicit trade. In the end the VOC had to face a hard truth: the south land offered nothing of commercial interest and, after 50 years of intermittent endeavor, it simply lost interest in further exploration and concentrated on its profitable trade in the Spice Islands. Nevertheless the Dutch contribution to the discovery of Australia is clear. They were the first Europeans indisputably known to have landed on its shores, by intent in the Gulf of Carpentaria and by accident on the storm-wracked west coast. What is more, Tasman’s two voyages had virtually proven that New Holland was not part of a globe-encircling southern continent.

GREAT BRITAIN Not until the 1580s was English maritime power of any consequence in a global context, later than that of Portugal and Spain, but a shade earlier than France or the Dutch rise to predominance. And, although Tudor England dabbled in speculation as to the existence of a southern continent, notably by Dr.

INTRODUCTION

• xxxix

John Dee, there was no practical venture set in motion to discover it beyond Sir Richard Grenville’s abortive 1574 plans and the elusive possibility that, at one stage, Francis Drake’s 1577–1580 circumnavigation was intended to shed some light on Terra Australis. All that transpired from Drake’s sevenweek endurance of violent storms after passing through the Strait of Magellan, confirming Ferdinand Magellan’s belief that Tierra del Fuego was an island and that open sea extended far to the south, was proof that if, in fact, a southern continent existed, it did not stretch as far as the tip of South America. Although Grenville’s plans mentioned exploration and colonization, it is safe to assume that his backers were more interested in trade, as was Sir William Courteen half a century later. William Dampier, whose A New Voyage Round the World (1697) reawakened English interest in Terra Australis, was also primarily interested in commerce and trade on his 1699 voyage to New Holland, entertaining hopes of coming across hitherto undiscovered islands, rich in spices, not under Dutch control, between the known shores of New Guinea and New Holland. As his instructions from the Admiralty confirm, this aspect of his voyage took priority over the discovery of a southern continent. He was ordered to sail to New Holland first, then to New Guinea, and to search for Terra Australis afterward. If there was an element of scientific curiosity in this voyage, it was undoubtedly expected to reap commercial rewards. Although Dampier discovered the islands he named New Britain, he failed to investigate New Holland’s east coast because of his ship’s parlous condition. After the excitement had died down, a further period of inactivity followed until the 1760s when the discovery of Terra Australis, although still rooted in the expansion of commerce, also became enmeshed in global geopolitics and strategy with a series of Royal Navy voyages. The first was that commanded by John Byron in 1764 whose instructions included a preamble: “Whereas nothing can rebound more to the honour of this nation as a Maritime Power, to the dignity of the Crown of Great Britain, and to the advancement of the Trade and Navigation thereof, than to make Discoveries of Countries hitherto unknown,” and continued “Whereas there is reason to believe that Lands and Islands of great extent hitherto unvisited by any European Power may be found in the Atlantick Ocean between the Cape of Good Hope and the Magellanick Streight, within Latitudes convenient for navigation.” It could not be more plain that the overriding aim of his voyage was to advance British trade. To further this end, Byron was directed to search for a southern continent in the most distant and navigable reaches of the Atlantic Ocean and, at the same time, secure British possession of the Falkland Islands and, subsequently, to revive British claims, dating back to Drake’s circumnavigation, to New Albion, on the coast of California. But, fearful of his ship’s condition after running through the Strait of Magellan, Byron sailed west across the Pacific.

xl •

INTRODUCTION

This strategic interest on the part of the British government is again visible in Samuel Wallis’s voyage two years later, which redirected the search for Terra Australia to the Pacific. By now the grand strategy embarked upon by the British government was becoming clear. Its aims were not only to infiltrate and reduce the Spanish outdated claim to the hegemony of the entire Pacific region, but also to block and frustrate possible rival French pretensions. The Falkland Islands were to be an advance base dominating the southeastern approaches to the Pacific; New Albion would assume a similar role at the western end of the long-sought Northwest Passage, either through the North American continent or by a sea route along its northern coastline; and the discovery of the unknown south land would ensure that its fabled riches would be open, solely and unchallenged, to British trade. It was a grandiose project, which far exceeded that envisaged by the VOC a century earlier. But the south land had still to be found. The ostensible purpose of James Cook’s first Pacific voyage, 1768 through 1771, was to observe the Transit of Venus from the island of Tahiti, but his secret instructions from the Board of Admiralty make it clear that the discovery of the southern continent was paramount in their Lordships’ thoughts. On leaving Tahiti, Cook was to proceed southward “in order to make discovery of the Continent” until he arrived in latitude 40º South and, if the continent had eluded discovery, he should set a westward course between latitudes 35º and 40º South until he either found it or had reached “the Eastern side of the land discovered by Tasman and now called New Zeland.” If he should locate Terra Australis, Cook was to explore the coast and to return with charts, views, and hydrographic details. In addition, he was to gather information about the nature of its soil, products, beasts, birds, fishes, and minerals and to report on the nature of its inhabitants. Behind the Admiralty’s requirement of such a comprehensive report lay the fear of a French or Spanish empire in the southern ocean and a determination that such a project would never materialize. If there was a rich continent awaiting European discovery, whose peoples had reached a reasonably developed economic level, it was imperative that it would be English merchants who enjoyed advantageous trading privileges. Because Cook failed to discover Terra Australis within the prescribed latitudes, the existence of a continent was still in doubt, although he had traversed a wide swathe of the southern Pacific and, on his return voyage, had sailed up the previously unknown eastern coast of New Holland. Another voyage would be necessary to confirm once and for all the existence and location of a southern continent. The Admiralty was fully aware that there was no time to lose. The French were becoming increasingly active in the South Seas; Louis-Antoine de Bougainville had just completed a circumnavigation voyage that had taken

INTRODUCTION

• xli

him to within 250 miles of New Holland’s northeastern shoreline, by way of the Falklands, and even while Cook was sailing home, England was drifting perilously close to war with the two Bourbon powers, France and Spain, over those remote windswept South Atlantic islands. Cook’s instructions for his second Pacific voyage, from 1772 through 1775, were so drafted that if a southern continental landmass, other than New Holland, existed, in habitable latitudes, then it must surely be discovered. With the area of search drastically reduced by his previous voyage, Cook was ordered to sail to the Cape of Good Hope, then to proceed southward to rediscover Cape Circumcision, reported by the French navigator Jean-Baptiste Bouvet de Lozier 40 years earlier to lie in approximately latitude 54º South, and then, whether he found it or not, to sail as far south as possible before setting an eastward course for a circumnavigation voyage in the highest possible latitudes during the summer months, returning northward in the winter and resuming the voyage at winter’s end. In this manner Cook would cover the entire Southern Ocean. That strategic issues were directly involved is witnessed by the Admiralty’s order that strict secrecy was to be maintained should significant discoveries be made.

FRANCE Deriving from Binot Paulmyer de Gonneville’s 1503 voyage to the East Indies, France’s claim to first discovery of the southern land was asserted as early as the mid-17th century but it was not until 1738 that a voyage was prepared to exploit this early claim. Jean-Baptiste Bouvet de Lozier was despatched to explore the unknown continent. His objectives were to establish a lucrative trade, to advance the cause of science, and to promote the glory of France. Although this voyage never quite measured up to these high objectives, or to the strong patriotic fervor that sped it southward, its disappointing results were not allowed to obscure France’s South Sea destiny. Charles de Brosses, who along with Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis was responsible for the renewed French interest in the South Pacific in the latter half of the 18th century, described Gonneville’s voyage as “having secured without difficulty to the French nation the honor of the first discovery of the Austral lands sixteen years before Magellan’s departure” in his Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes (1756), which was to exert a seminal influence over French and, by extension, over British policy in the South Seas. Based on extracts from the accounts of 47 navigators, de Brosses adopted a

xlii •

INTRODUCTION

moral, philosophical, and intensely patriotic tone, reproaching his countrymen for not following up Gonneville’s reported discovery and allowing Portugal and Spain to rob them of the fruits of first discovery, ignoring the potential commercial benefits and the consequent increased power at sea. Looking about him, he could discern a neighboring power affecting the universal monarchy of the sea without respect or consideration for any other nation. He also deplored that global discovery had become the prerogative of trading companies seeking immediate profits rather than of national sovereigns. True national glory could be attained by the discovery of a southern continent, which, it was believed, would amass to 8 or 10 million square miles, onethird of the globe. Who could doubt that such a large region would furnish not only great opportunities for trade but also for scientific research? New light would be shed on astronomy, on the earth’s configuration, on navigation, and on magnetism and gravity. For France, the time was ripe to seize these opportunities opening up before it; its people should settle and colonize the new continent, in the spirit not of conquest but of commerce and enlightened scientific cultivation. And then, slipping a little from these high ideals, de Brosses advocated that the colonies, once developed, could become a suitable destination for convicted felons. His first preference for a colony, and advance base, was either New Britain, discovered by William Dampier, or Austrialia del Espiritu Santo, which should be explored by an expedition sailing from Pondicherry, the French enclave on the southern Bay of Bengal coast of India. But de Brosses’s ambitious schemes faltered in France’s decisive defeat in the Seven Years’ War, which started in the year his book was published. Ironically, his vision for the future edged closer to reality in Britain where John Callander and Alexander Dalrymple plundered his facts and theories. A new series of French voyages in the latter half of the 18th century provoked increasing apprehension on the part of the British government, which suspected that the settlement of New Holland was the prime motive of these voyages and not, as was sometimes heralded, scientific research. François Alesno de Saint Allouarn’s proclamation of French sovereignty over part of New Holland’s west coast in 1772, although never asserted by the French government, tended to harden these suspicions. They were certainly not allayed by Nicolas Baudin’s expedition at the turn of the century as can be seen in an intemperate review of François Peron’s Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes (1807), probably penned by Sir John Barrow, which appeared in the Quarterly Review 4, no. 7 (August 1810): “In June, 1800, M. Otto, the resident commissary for French prisoners of war, addressed an application to the Lords of the Admiralty, to obtain the nec-

INTRODUCTION

• xliii

essary passports for two armed vessels, Le Géographe and La Naturaliste, which the French Government had appointed for a voyage of discovery round the world . . . the good natured Minister, without farther inquiry into the tenor of Captain Baudin’s instructions, or the particular object of his mission, obtained his Majesty’s commands that the French vessels ‘should be permitted to put into any of His Majesty’s ports in case of stress of weather, or to procure assistance, if necessary, to enable them to prosecute their voyage.’ “The perusal of M. Péron’s book has convinced us that M. Otto’s application was grounded on false pretences, and that the passport was fraudulently obtained; that there never was any intention to send these vessels on a voyage of discovery round the world . . . but that the sole object of it was to ascertain the real state of New Holland; to discover what our colonists were doing, and what was left for the French to do, on this great continent, in the event of a peace; to find some port in the neighbourhood of our settlements, which should be to them what Pondicherry was to Hindostan; to rear the standard of Buonaparte, then First Consul, on the first convenient spot; and, finally, that the only circumnavigation intended in this voyage d’espionage, was that of Australia.” Current opinion as to the French scientific interest in New Holland is now considerably more charitable; at the time the British governors of New South Wales reacted sharply to any manifestation of French activity anywhere around the coast of Australia. Small detachments of soldiers or marines were immediately ordered to the vicinity of any real or suspected French landings in order to assert British sovereignty, to the northern shores, to the west coast, and to Van Diemen’s Land. In reality, France was never quite in a position to challenge the British colonial monopoly in Australia. Too many dynastic wars in Europe and a fragile sea power that often appeared to be on the verge of mounting a challenge to the Royal Navy, but that never quite materialized, always hindered and finally thwarted French ambitions coming to fruition.

SETTLEMENT Once its American colonies had asserted their independence, Great Britain, so the history books tell us, was forced to look elsewhere for a convenient destination to send its unwanted felons. And where more convenient for them to be transported than New South Wales, on the other side of the world, thousands of miles away? There they could languish out of sight and probably out of mind. But rarely is anything so simple; far more complex issues were at stake when the British government ordered the First Fleet to be fitted out.

xliv •

INTRODUCTION

As has already been seen, a global strategy to encourage and to protect growing British trade in the Pacific and Indian Oceans regions was already in place. A secure, strategically located base would give Britain a desirable advantage over its European rivals, and it should be no surprise that the sailing of the First Fleet in 1787 was a naval operation whose mission was to take possession of a suitable harbor and to establish a port that would constitute a selfsupporting naval station in times of war. A suitable harbor was quickly found, without too much difficulty, at Port Jackson, where “a thousand ships of the line could ride in perfect safety.” Besides these commercial and geostrategic aspects, other considerations came into play. Not least was the acquisition of a certain supply of pine timbers, to be found on Norfolk Island, not only for the masts of British merchantmen, but also for the ships of the Royal Navy on which Britain’s economic prosperity ultimately rested. No longer would Britain be exposed to the vagaries of power politics on the part of Russia, Sweden, and other Baltic Sea states for these crucial naval items. Also in the offing was flax for equally essential cordage supplies to rig and fit out its ships. No doubt all these factors combined to persuade the government that a settlement in New South Wales was desirable. A dumping ground for what was perceived as a growing convict population was irrefutably a powerful argument in its own right. But it was by no means the only reason why the British arrived in Australia in numbers. And, once a settlement was established, colonization, and exploration of the continent, would inevitably follow.

EXPLORATION It is plain that the discovery of Australia in historical times was predominantly a European exercise. But the first arrivals were, of course, the Aborigines, who are thought to have reached its northern shores some 50,000 years ago, island-hopping from Southeast Asia. Slowly they dispersed over much of the continent, either by coasting round it or by following its numerous rivers. What is known of their 20,000 years of wanderings derives from the growing archeological record, and the well-documented modern exploration of Australia during the last 200 years obviously bears little relation to these nomadic journeys in prehistory. However, the debt owed by European explorers of the continent to the survival skills and expertise accumulated over the millennia by their remote predecessors, at one time in danger of being ignored, is now increasingly recognized.

INTRODUCTION

• xlv

According to Ernest Favenc, “A complete history of the exploration of Australia will never be written. The story of the settlement of our continent is necessarily so intermixed with the results of private travels and adventures, that all the historian can do is to follow out the career of the public expeditions, and those of private origin which extended to such a distance, and embraced such important discoveries, as to render the results matters of national history” (The History of Australian Exploration, 1888). Beyond this, Favenc might have added, the history of exploration translates into local history, a separate discipline, which for reasons of space and thematic unity has no place here. Since chronology and geography usually march forward together it is possible to impose some sort of order on the various stages of exploration in Australia. The immediate problem that faced the first settlement was to break out of the coastal strip in order to reach expanses of grazing land, which were so desperately needed if it were ever to reach some degree of self-sufficiency and not continue to be entirely at the mercy of a tenuous and distant logistical link to Britain. For the first 10 years progress was blunted by what was seen as the formidable barrier of the Blue Mountains. Not until these were crossed in numbers could the daunting task of exploring a continent be set in motion. Once inside the Great Dividing Range the settlement’s attention next turned to the nature of its river system, notably the course of the Lachlan, Murray, and Murrumbidgee, which the efforts of John Oxley, Charles Sturt, and Thomas Livingstone Mitchell clarified in the years 1817 through 1836. An initial problem in the mind of these early explorers was Australia’s refusal to conform to accustomed geographical principles operating in all other parts of the world. First and foremost the great rivers all seemed to flow into the interior not toward the sea. This perplexing problem gave rise to the theory that there must be an inland sea somewhere in the unknown interior of the continent. Other linked factors were that the mountainous regions seemed to be the most fertile while the plains were sometimes sterile and useless for farming. The incessant demand for more grazing land ensured that the exploration of Australia’s southeastern corner carried on apace for the first four decades of the 19th century. By 1827 Allan Cunningham had found an inland route to the north and had reached the Darling Downs, west of the future city of Brisbane. Tasmanian exploration, in the early years of the 19th century, replicated the pattern established by the original settlers on the mainland. Early settlement on the coast, and along the river valleys, and coastal surveys preceded the exploration of the northwest of the island by Van Diemen’s Land Company surveyors seeking good grazing land. Subsequent exploration was spurred on by the prospect of finding commercial quantities of minerals, and especially precious metals.

xlvi •

INTRODUCTION

If, by the early 1840s, southeastern Australia was generally known, the next 20 years were to see an eventful advance to the north and west, into and across difficult terrain, much of which was desert, although extensive grasslands were uncovered inside the Great Dividing Range and across the northern coastal shorelines. In South Australia, during this period, the task was to burst through the formidable constraints imposed by the desolate salt lakes and mudflats to the north and by the seemingly forbidding desert to the west. These barriers were shattered by Edward John Eyre when he became the first man to reach the Western Australian settlements from the east in 1840 and by John McDouall Stuart’s indomitable journey from the Spencer Gulf, on the Southern Ocean, to Van Diemen Gulf, on the Timor Sea, from1861 through 1862. By then, Ludwig Leichhardt, traveling east to west in 1844 and 1845, and Augustus Charles Gregory, traveling in the opposite direction in 1855 and 1856, had opened up much of northern Australia; and Edmund Kennedy, after establishing the true nature of the Barcoo River region, had penetrated up the Cape York Peninsula. It was during this period, subsequently dubbed “The Golden Age of Exploration,” that explorers became heroic figures, their exploits magnified by the dangers and privations they endured, until it became almost axiomatic that the exploration of the Australian interior demanded risk and suffering, on the no pain, no gain principle. Kennedy’s death at the hands of Aborigines in 1848 and Leichhardt’s disappearance in the same year, which remains one of the lasting mysteries of the Outback, foreshadowed the greatest tragedy in the history of Australian exploration, the deaths of all but one of the four members of the Gulf party of the Victorian Exploring Expedition. On the other side of the continent, in James Stirling’s Swan River Colony, established in 1829, the settlers were experiencing the same sort of process, discovering rich grazing lands to the south of Perth, examining the west coast’s hinterland in the 1830s, and advancing to the river country in the northwest of Western Australia in the 1850s and 1860s. The 1870s was the period when the great deserts to the west were crossed, by Peter Egerton Warburton, Ernest Giles, and William Gosse in 1873, by John Forrest in 1874, and by Giles again in 1875 and 1876, mostly aided and delimited to some extent by the stations of the Overland Telegraph, built in stages from Adelaide to Darwin, from 1870 through 1872. These journeys proved without exception to be arduous and dangerous as the fierce heat and endemic lack of water tested the explorers’ strength, stamina, courage, and good fortune. Throughout the 19th century, a system of stock routes was pioneered and consolidated across much of the continent by men like Joseph Hawdon, Charles Bonney, Patrick Durack, Frank Hann, Nathaniel Buchanan, and, edging into the 20th century, Alfred Canning and Hubert Trotman. These

INTRODUCTION

• xlvii

stockmen take their rightful place among Australia’s explorers, the adventurers, military men, surveyors, scientists, and prospectors who shaped the Commonwealth of Australia. But exploration did not come to an end in 1901. There were still blanks on the map waiting to be filled in, especially in the north and the center. Improved technology and transportation, radio, trucks, and aircraft came to the aid of explorers, enabling Michael Terry, Cecil Madigan, and Donald Mackay to traverse and survey vast areas in a comparatively short time. Adventure was not entirely superseded; there was still an opportunity in 1936 for a couple of blokes, Edmund Colson and Peter Ains, to cross the Simpson Desert with a few camels. In more recent years, a number of expeditions have been fitted out, some private, some with public assistance, to retrace and to commemorate significant explorations of the past, rescuing, amending, or correcting received historical knowledge, perhaps proving or disproving a theory or two, but all offering a new perspective and dimension to the historical record. Books and articles by Tom Bergin, Rod Cramer, Kieran Kelly, John Streich, and Greg and Vicki Warburton have renewed public interest in the exploration of the continent, especially by those who had a claim to be truly Australian as opposed to unmistakably expatriate “Poms.” Just as Kenneth Gordon McIntyre’s The Secret Discovery of Australia (1977) and Lawrence Fitzgerald’s Java La Grande (1986) have proclaimed Portuguese Priority in the discovery of Australia, so works such as Chris Cunningham’s The Blue Mountains Rediscovered (1996), Glen McLaren’s Beyond Leichhardt: Bushcraft and the Exploration of Australia (1996), and Simon Ryan’s The Cartographic Eye. How Explorers Saw Australia (1996) have offered an alternative and, in many ways, a corrective view of various aspects of the exploration of the continent. Based on the records of the early explorers, Cunningham’s book is a “reassessment of the exploration of the Blue Mountains,” which “argues that the triumphant and romantic account, so well known to most Australians is, in fact, the product of a tenacious myth fed by geographic misunderstanding and the needs of a social elite to take credit for national development.” Cunningham combines detailed analysis of the historical record with a geographer’s understanding of the landscape itself to recount some 20 journeys of exploration prior to Blaxland’s expedition of 1813. Restored to rightful prominence are a host of remarkable early colonial explorers including governors, escaped and emancipated convicts, bushrangers, visiting adventurers, and the Aborigines who aided them all. McLaren’s theme is “an account of Australia’s first century of exploration, concentrating not so much on where the explorers went as how they went, how

xlviii •

INTRODUCTION

they learned, or failed to learn from experience, and how they overcame their fear of the unknown and came to be at home in one of the planet’s most hostile environments. . . . Ludwig Leichhardt—scientist, navigator and bushman— stands at the center of the nineteenth century exploration of Australia. . . . Before Leichhardt, soldiers, convicts and government officials stumbled warily through country they called deserts, just a step ahead of the squatters who turned the same land to their own profit. Beyond Leichhardt, the real deserts were conquered by expert bushmen, steeped in the lessons of a century of exploration, and at ease in lands their predecessors deemed impassable.” In contrast “The Cartographic Eye is about the mythologies of land exploration, and about space and the colonial enterprise in particular. An innovative investigation of the presumptions, aesthetics and politics of Australian explorers’ texts, it concentrates on the period 1820–1880. Simon Ryan looks at the journals of John Oxley, Thomas Mitchell, Charles Sturt and Ludwig Leichhardt and shows that they are not the simple, unadorned observations the authors would have us believe. . . . Exploration journals construct a gaze which moves between the aesthetic realms of the picturesque and the panoramic, to the strategic surveillance of Aborigines, to the eroticised view of the feminized, recumbent land from which the veil must be torn . . . the gaze of exploration constructs the explorers as ‘monarchs of all they survey’, it is a monarchy which is not absolute. Contact with Aborigines, visual and dialogic, becomes a contest of strategies and knowledge, in which the explorers alternately scorn, and depend on their ‘native’ informants.” Collectively, these three invigorating books present a complete fin du vingtième siècle reappraisal (some might say an indictment) of the nature of Australian exploration and a striking contribution to the demolition of the Exploration Myth, whose factors include the supposed inevitability of risk, suffering, and danger; the concept of a Golden Age of Exploration; the undue importance of priority in the field; and the paradoxical boost to reputations by needless death and nonreturn. Such alternative and corrective issues are valid and should be discussed, but the achievements of the pioneers of Australian exploration should not lightly be dismissed or laid aside.

The Dictionary

–A– ABORIGINAL. See ABORIGINES. ABORIGINES. Because the original inhabitants of Australia arrived and settled in prehistoric times, probably 40,000–50,000 years ago, their status as the first explorers of the continent has largely been overlooked, although in recent years, their priority has been acknowledged. In general their contribution to the European exploration of Australia is poorly documented. Enough is on record, however, to indicate that without the Aborigines’ desert survival skills, their expertise in following animal tracks and locating sources of water, many expeditions would have fared very badly. But their usefulness as guides was limited. With the possible exception of the initial European breakout from the coastal strip, beyond the Blue Mountains, within a comparatively restricted area, their knowledge of the country outside their own tribal lands was sometimes exiguous. From their own viewpoint, it was highly dangerous for them to venture into other tribal areas. Even so, their prodigious ability to return to places visited only rarely, and at long intervals, excited respect and admiration, notably by Ernest Giles on his 1875 expedition. Writing of Jimmy, he remarked: “How he or any other human being, not having the advantages of science at his command to teach him, by the use of the heavenly bodies, how to find the position of any locality, could possibly return to the places he had visited in such a wilderness, especially as it was done by the recollection of spots which, to a white man, have no special features and guiding points, was really marvelous. We had travelled at least 120 miles eastward from Youldeh, and when there, this old fellow had told us that he had not visited any of the places he was going to take me since his boyhood; this at the very least must have been forty years ago, for he was certainly fifty, if not seventy years old.” The treatment of Aborigines at the hands of explorers was sometimes shamefully severe, even allowing for contemporary attitudes, prejudices, 1

2 •

ABROLHOS ISLANDS

and behavior, but those explorers who relied on their bushcraft gave them considerable responsibility and held them in high esteem. ABROLHOS ISLANDS. See HOUTMAN ABROLHOS. AERIAL SURVEYS. If, by the 1920s, little of Australia remained unexplored, there was still much of the continent, especially in the inaccessible areas of Central Australia, about which very little was known. At this moment, a revolutionary method of surveying vast expanses of country, very much quicker than the traditional exploring party trudging across difficult terrain with horses or camels, became available. Aerial photography carried out by trained military personnel promised to transform the surveying and mapping of remote desert regions. Once the photographs had been studied, ground parties could be directed to specific localities for more detailed studies as and when required. Aerial surveys also corrected the inaccuracies of 19th-century explorers. A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Survey Flight was formed in 1927, but the most notable aerial surveys of the 1930s were conducted by Donald Mackay and Cecil Madigan, flying at fixed heights, along predetermined compass bearings. Accuracy increased as pilots gained experience and surveying techniques were refined. By 1942, when World War II reached the Southwest Pacific, the Australian defense forces possessed reliable and detailed maps of the potential combat zones in the north. AFGHAN CAMELEERS. It was virtually unknown for interior exploring expeditions relying on camels for their transport and baggage carrying to set off without Afghan cameleers. In some instances their names are recorded: Saleh Mahomet and Halleem with Peter Warburton in 1873; Kamran, Jemma Khan, and Allanah with William Gosse also in 1873; and Abdul with David Lindsay’s Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition in 1892. It is known that Lawrence Wells formed a lifelong friendship with Bejah Dervish, his cameleer on the 1896 Calvert Exploring Expedition. Eventually, however, doubts began to surface as to their knowledge, understanding, and treatment of the animals placed in their care. Modern research suggests that, in fact, the “Afghans” were not natives of Afghanistan at all but came from India’s North West Frontier Province (now in Pakistan). See also RAMAZAN. ALBERTSZ, PIETER (fl. second half of 18th century). Commander of the Vergulde Draeck (Golden Dragon), which struck a reef 3 to 4 miles off Ledge

ALPHONSE, JEAN (FL. 1490–1550)

• 3

Point, near Cape Leschenault, 70 miles north of Fremantle, on the night of April 28, 1656. Of the 193 on board, 75 managed to land safely. The ship’s pilot and six of the crew volunteered to sail the ship’s longboat to Batavia, where they arrived in an exhausted condition on June 7. Acting with commendable speed, the Governor-General immediately dispatched Samuel Volckerts in the Witte Valck (White Falcon) and Aucke Pieterzoon Jonck in the Goede Hoop (Good Hope). In stormy and wintry conditions the two ships were unable to locate the castaways; the Goede Hoop lost 11 men who had gone ashore and were never seen again. The Cape Town authorities dispatched the de Vincq, which arrived off the Southland coast on June 8, 1657, with orders to make a systematic search for the Vergulde Draeck survivors, but the weather turned nasty and the de Vincq’s commander saw no option but to haul away from such an obviously dangerous coast. With supplies to last them for six months, the Waeckende Boey (Watching Buoy) and the Emerloordt set sail from Batavia on January 1, 1658, on a final attempt to rescue the shipwrecked mariners. On February 26, a shore party from the Waeckende Boey found the original camp littered with jetsam from the Vergulde Draeck. In dubious and controversial circumstances the shore party, comprising the ship’s pilot, Abraham Leeman, and 13 of the crew, was abandoned. See also VERGULDE DRAECK EXCAVATION. ALICE SPRINGS. Sometimes known as “the capital of the center,” Alice Springs takes its name from the original Alice Spring, the waterhole discovered by William Whitfield Mills on March 11, 1871. He named it Alice after Alice Todd, the wife of Charles Heavitree Todd. Alice Springs was the administrative center of Central Australia when it was separated from the Northern Territory from 1926 through 1931. ALPHONSE, JEAN (fl. 1490–1550). Amid some confusion, Alphonse has been cast either as a Dieppe pilot, Jean Fonteneau, who married Valentine Alphonse of Portugal and passed himself off as a Portuguese national, possibly to circumvent complications arising out of the Line of Demarcation, or as João Alfonso, a Portuguese who traveled to the East Indies in the service of his native country and later defected to France with the secrets of the Lisbon mapmakers. Whoever he was, his 1544 treatise, “La Cosmographie,” edited by George Musset and printed as La Cosmographie . . . par Jean Fonteneau dit Alfonse de Saintonge (Paris, 1904), describes Java-la-Grande as “a land which extends to beneath the Antarctic pole; in the west it is close to the Southern Land and in the east to the island of Magellan’s Strait. Some say

4 •

ANGLICANIA

that they are islands. As far as I have seen it, it is a continent.” If this were reliable, it would seem to imply that at one point, probably between 1518 and 1528, Alphonse visited Australia’s west coast. ANGLICANIA. See FRIEND OF AUSTRALIA. ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN & CHINA TELEGRAPH COMPANY. See OVERLAND TELEGRAPH–CABLE TERMINUS. ANTIPODES. The term “Antipodes,” signifying places on the Earth directly opposite to each other, with opposite days and nights, and opposite seasons, was first used by Eratosthenes, the Greek philosopher and director of the great library of Alexandria from 230 through 220 B.C. Separated as they were from Europe, Asia, and Africa, so it was thought, by a torrid zone too hot to cross, the question of whether they were populated proved difficult even to ask in the medieval world. The Bible stated that the gospel of Christ could be preached throughout the world but, if there was an impassable barrier, how could the gospel reach the Antipodes? There was a further difficulty: if there was only one true creation, where did the conjectural Antipodeans come from? Although the Church never actually pontificated that the notion of Antipodeans amounted to heresy, several Christian writers were of the opinion that such a concept was unacceptable on theological grounds. Only when the question became entangled with the geographical idea of the existence of a great southern continent, Terra Australis, in the early modern period, was such a proposition seriously considered. ARAB VOYAGES. General speculation that Arab seamen, perhaps from the great commercial entrepôt of Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, reached the shores of Australia early in the medieval period is said to be reinforced by one of four maps included in a book based on Ptolemy’s Geographia by the Arab geographer Muhammed Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. Thought to have been completed in A.D. 820, the only extant copy of this work, now in the library of the University of Strasburg, is dated 1036. Writing in his The Northern Approaches: Australia in Old Maps (1994), Eric Whitehouse detects an outline of Australia’s northernmost coasts, from the Eighty Mile Beach and the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf in Western Australia to Arnhem Land, a V-shaped Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, and down the eastern coast of Queensland as far as Princess Charlotte Bay. ARIAS, JUAN LUIS (fl. early 17th century). At some point between 1614 and the death of the king in 1621, Arias, a valued friend of Pedro Fer-

ARNHEM LAND

• 5

nandez de Quirós, a secular priest and a leading cosmographer and mathematician of the period, addressed a “Memorial to His Catholic Majesty, Phillip III, King of Spain,” presenting arguments for the Spanish discovery and occupation of the great southern continent, believed to exist between the Cape of Good Hope and Tierra del Fuego. In this Memorial, initiated by the Fathers of the Seraphic Order of St. Francis and prepared with the assistance of Father Friar Juan de Silva, Arias reminded the king of the obligations contracted by the Spanish Crown with successive popes for the conversion of the inhabitants of the southern continent, which, because of its climatic conditions, comprised vast areas of fertile and inhabitable land. Rehearsing the arguments for the existence of the unknown land, notably the long-held belief that the northern hemisphere required a southern hemisphere for a necessary equilibrium and citing the accounts of Quirós, Alvaro de Mendaña, and Juan Fernandez, Arias did not fail to mention more worldly considerations such as the reconnaissances, discoveries, and settlements of English and Dutch heretics in the East and West Indies, or that its geographical location “showed that the land of the southern hemisphere is greatly stored with metals and rich in precious stones and pearls.” But the Memorial was to be of no avail: Spain no longer commanded the resources or the will of purpose to engage in ambitious and ultimately dubious schemes of discovery. “The memorial of Dr. Arias is the last word of Spanish chivalry seeking to conquer for Christ ‘the universal empire of the Globe’. It failed to move the mind of Spain” (G. A. Wood. The Discovery of Australia, 1969, p. 141). ARNHEM LAND. Takes its name from Willem Colster’s ship Arnhem, which accompanied Jan Carstensz’s Pera on his 1623 voyage to follow up Willem Jansz’s 1606 discoveries in the Gulf of Carpentaria. After Colster’s premeditated desertion from Carstensz at the end of April, probably because of the battered condition of his ship and his anxiety to sail by a quick route back to Amboina, the Arnhem was blown westward across the Gulf by high winds. Sighting land, at first thought to be an island and named as such, Colster followed its coast northward to the open sea. Arnhem Land was rediscovered by Pieter Pieterszoon in 1636 and explored for a few miles inland. Philip Parker King charted Arnhem Land’s coastline as early as 1818 but a more thorough inland exploration had to wait until later, principally by Ludwig Leichhardt (1845), Francis Cadell (1867), David Lindsay (1883), Stuart Love (1910), George Hubert Wilkins (1923), Donald Mackay (1928), and Donald Thomson (1935).

6 •

ARTIFICIAL HORIZON

ARTIFICIAL HORIZON. A level reflecting surface, a still fluid, or a mirror laid horizontally on the Earth’s surface, used in establishing latitude and longitude when the true horizon cannot be seen. AUSTIN, ROBERT (fl. mid-19th century). With orders to search the interior of Western Australia north and east of the settled districts for suitable agricultural and pastoral land, Austin started out from Mombekine, 14 miles northeast of Northam, on July 10, 1854, in charge of 10 men and 27 horses. His route took him along the southern branch of the Mortlock River and then east to Koombekine, 10 miles north of the present township of Dowerin, where 2,000 acres of grazing land were found. He traveled on to the Cowcowing Lakes, a series of salt beds 110 miles northeast of Perth, and then north to a great salt lake, now named Lake Austin, 1,400 feet above sea level and about 225 miles northeast of Geraldton. A mountain near Lake Austin’s southern shore, climbed by Austin, was named Mount Magnet because “it caused a great local magnetic attraction and that each piece of stone had 2 poles, like the loadstone, powerfully attracting and repelling the same point of the magnetic needle.” Heading northwest for Shark’s Bay, where he was to rendezvous with a relief ship, he got as far as the Murchison River, but his attempts to cross the wastelands to the sea were frustrated by the absence of water and feed for his horses. He was forced to proceed down river to the Geraldine Mines, arriving there on November 22. AUSTRAL FRANCE (FRANCE SOUTH). At first, Binot Paulmyer de Gonneville’s account of his voyage in the Southern Ocean and his sixmonth stay in a tropical land, 1503 through 1505, attracted derision and scorn, but in the next 200 years, the concept of Austral France, thought to be in the latitude of 45º, captured the French imagination. Unfavorable Dutch reports of New Holland persuaded many Frenchmen that Gonneville’s tropical land was wholly separate from that desolate country. Increasing interest by French savants and scientists in the first half of the 18th century, coupled with the commercial interest of La Compagnie des Indes (East Indies Company), led to public pressure for French seamen to find the southern land where France might found a settlement and benefit from a trading monopoly. Encouraged by Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis’s 1752 academic paper Le Progrès des Sciences and by the publication of Charles de Brosses’s Histoire de la Navigation aux Terres Australes (1756) (History of Navigation to the South Lands), great hopes were placed on Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen and François de Saint Allouarn’s 1772 voyage to the south-

AUSTRALIA FELIX

• 7

ern ocean. Even so, Kerguelen’s glowing and extravagant report on his return from the island named after him met with a great deal of skepticism that his fruitless second voyage did nothing to dispel. This may be accounted as the moment when the final coup de grâce was administered to the concept of Austral France. Henceforward, French interest in the South Pacific became more scientific and strategic in nature. AUSTRALIA. Matthew Flinders is rightly credited as being the first to put Australia on the map, but this is not to say that he invented the word or that it had not been used previously as a geographical term. Its earliest use seems to have been by an unknown Spanish civil servant in 1609 either as a corrupt or a preferred spelling of Pedro Fernandez de Quirós’s discovery of Austrialia del Espíritu Santo. De Quirós was quite specific that he named Austrialia in honor of Philip III of Spain, a member of the royal house of Austria, and not to conform with Terra Australis. But, in the following decade, the two words became virtually interchangeable. In the early 17th century, Dutch publishers followed the Spanish practice of using Australia or Austrialia almost at whim. The charter granted to the Australische Compagnie in 1614 gives Jakob Le Maire permission and authority to visit Terra Australia. His official report, published in 1622, consistently used the word “Australia” to refer to the southern continent previously known as Terra Australis, although the earlier term continued to be used for another two centuries. During the later years of the 18th century, the continent was divided between New Holland and New South Wales along the meridian of 135º East longitude. What was significant about Flinders’s use of the word “Australia” on his “General Chart of Terra Australis or Australia” was not really his priority but that, for the first time, it could be used with confidence for the entire island-continent. His own circumnavigation, and the later voyages of Philip Parker King, proved beyond question that Australia was a single entity and not two islands separated by an Oceanic Channel. Even so there was considerable reluctance in the Colonial Office in London to convert Terra Australis to Australia, although the Admiralty suffered from no such inhibition. The British government’s readiness to accept Australia as a geographical term became evident when the colonies of Western Australia (1829) and South Australia (1836) were constituted. The transition from the medieval to the modern world was completed when the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed as a sovereign state on January 1, 1901. AUSTRALIA FELIX. Australia’s beautiful or happy land, a name bestowed on the present-day Western District of Victoria by Surveyor-General

8 •

AUSTRALIA POST

Thomas Livingstone Mitchell in 1836 because of its lush pastures and rich forest land as opposed to the parched deserts of the interior. AUSTRALIA POST. Australian postage stamps have a long history of commemorating the discovery and exploration of the continent. One of the first was a 1930 stamp celebrating the Centenary of the Exploration of the Murray River by Charles Sturt and since then, various series and individual stamps have been issued. Some recent examples include “Explorers of Australia” (Robert O’Hara Burke, William Wills, Alexander Forest, Ludwig Leichhardt, Sir Paul Strzelecki) in 1983; “Terra Australis” (Willem Jansz, Dirck Hartog, Abel Tasman) in 1985; “Terra Australis Coastal Shipwrecks” (the Batavia, Vergulde Draeck, and Zeewijk) also in 1985; “Tercentenary of De Vlamingh’s Voyage” in 1996; and the Lady Nelson in the “Sailing Ship” series in 1999. AUSTRALIAN COMPANY. See AUSTRALISCHE COMPAGNIE. AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC: “THE EXPLORATION OF AUSTRALIA.” Researched and authored by Bruce MacDonald, President of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch 1986–1989, this illustrated 78cm x 100cm wall map was issued as a supplement to issue no. 40 (October–December 1995) of Australian Geographic. Drawn on a scale of 1:5,750,000, it plots 220 routes taken by 132 explorers of the Australian continent, superimposed on a base map indicating major highways, main and minor roads, railroads, and historic sites, reproduced by permission of the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group, Department of Administrative Services in Canberra. It is proclaimed to be “the most comprehensive map of Australian exploration ever produced.” AUSTRALINDIA. See FRIEND OF AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALISCHE COMPAGNIE (AUSTRALIAN COMPANY). Founded by Isaac Le Maire, a former Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) director and father of Jakob Le Maire, the Company was formed to circumvent the VOC’s monopoly of the lucrative East Indies trade. Granted a charter by the Estates-General of the Netherlands on March 23, 1614, giving it permission and authority to visit the Empires and Kingdoms of Tartary, China, Japan, the East Indies, Terra Australia, and the islands and lands situated in the South Sea, the Company had two main objectives: to find a new passage from the South Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and to discover the great southern continent.

BABBAGE, BENJAMIN HERSCHEL (1815–1878)

• 9

An expedition of two ships, Eendracht and Hoorn, departed from the offshore island of The Texel in order not to transgress the VOC’s privileges on June 14, 1615, under the command of Jakob Le Maire. The VOC’s implacable hostility was in evidence when the surviving ship, Eendracht, reached Batavia in 1616. Choosing not to believe it had entered the Pacific by a new route round Cape Horn, the VOC’s governor-general impounded it. Two years later, after legal action, the VOC was ordered to pay compensation and to return the Eendracht’s papers. AUSTRIALIA DEL ESPÍRITU SANTO. The name given by Pedro Fernandez de Quirós to an island in the Vanuatu group where he landed in 1606. “Austrialia” in honor of his sovereign Philip III of Spain, a Hapsburg of the royal house of Austria, and “Espíritu Santo” (Holy Spirit) because it epitomized one of the main purposes of his expedition, the conversion of native peoples to Christianity.

–B– BABBAGE, BENJAMIN HERSCHEL (1815–1878). Engaged by the South Australian government to make a geological and mineralogical survey of the colony, Babbage was sent north in July 1856 on an exploring and prospecting expedition to follow Edward John Eyre’s tracks to Mount Hopeless. With seven men, including an Aborigine guide, and equipped with drays, he proceeded northward through the Flinders Ranges. Near Mount Hopeless, he discovered a north-flowing freshwater creek (River MacDonnell) emptying into a lake he named Lake Blanche. Finding that the country was granitic, and therefore possibly gold bearing, and learning from a local Aborigine that there was a crossing of the lake “two sleeps distant,” Babbage named a nearby hill Mount Hopeful and returned to Adelaide. His report was potentially of the utmost significance to the Colonial government. He had “discovered” the long-sought-after route leading to Cooper’s Creek through a northeast gap from the supposedly impenetrable horseshoe-shaped salt region around Lake Torrens, erroneously believed to stretch east to west, effectively blocking the way into the center of Australia. With a government grant of £5,000, Babbage departed from Port Adelaide on March 1, 1858, on a planned 18-month expedition to explore and map the country between the western side of Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner in order to establish their exact locations. He was then to follow Lake Torrens’s northern shores to make a connection either with Cooper’s Creek

10 •

BALLANTINE, JAMES (FL. EARLY 19TH CENTURY)

or Charles Sturt’s Stony Desert. The nine-man party took with them a water tank, drinking water apparatus, well-boring gear, and astronomical instruments. A large mob of sheep, intended as self-propelled mutton, also went along. An expedition of this size, especially one that was instructed to map the country in some detail and to prospect for gold, was bound to be slow moving, and it rarely advanced more than five miles in any one day. Moreover, Babbage was a scientist; he was not a natural explorer, always eager for the next horizon, and had no sense of urgency in opening up new country. Moving north, he turned westward south of Lake Torrens and meandered for some months west of that lake, identifying its numerous salt pans and lakes and discovering a route from Lake Hart to Lake Gairdner. Back in Adelaide both Parliament and public opinion were dismayed at Babbage’s painstaking progress and, eventually, Peter Egerton Warburton was dispatched to relieve and replace him. By the time Warburton caught up with Babbage, the expedition was north of the Elizabeth River. Babbage had discovered the Hermit Range, traced Chambers Creek into Lake Eyre, and mapped the shores of Lake Eyre South. He never enjoyed a good press but his meticulous surveys and explorations were instrumental in clarifying the mystery and confusion that for too long had surrounded the geography of the salt lake region. BALLANTINE, JAMES (fl. early 19th century). Early in 1827 James Ballantine approached the Colonial Office in London with an audacious but completely impracticable plan to land on the west coast of Australia, at a point not far distant from the modern town of Port Hedland, with an expensively equipped expedition that would explore southeast by east across the continent to Bathurst, the most westerly New South Wales settlement. When Governor Sir Ralph Darling learned of the plan he condemned it as being impossibly hazardous. BANKS, JOSEPH (1743–1820). A landed proprietor, a man of considerable means, and a celebrated botanist, Joseph Banks was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 1766. He was one of four Fellows to petition King George III to provide a vessel for a voyage to the Pacific in order to observe the Transit of Venus, and it was he who persuaded the Council of the Society, and the Admiralty, to extend the objectives of that voyage to botanical exploration. He also obtained the Council’s support in a request to the Admiralty to sail with James Cook in Endeavour, with his own seven-man entourage. Accommodation for such numbers, and their instruments and

BANKS, JOSEPH (1743–1820)

• 11

equipment, was not easy to find in a small bark and, in effect, to convert it into a floating natural history research center. In six days at Botany Bay, Banks and his traveling companion, Carl Solander, a Swedish botanist of high attainment, collected some 3,000 plant specimens, representing over 200 new species. When their ship was beached at the mouth of the Endeavour River, Banks organized a three-day exploring expedition upstream. During the entire 1768–1771 voyage, 30,382 plants were collected, including 3,607 species of which 1,400 were previously unknown. On Endeavour’s return to England, the general conclusion in the newspapers of the day, and in polite society, was that Mr. Banks’s expedition had been a resounding success. It was generally recognized that Lieutenant Cook had no doubt steered the ship round the world very competently, but it was Banks who received the plaudits and who became a celebrity. His self-esteem, never a negligible force, soared even higher. There was a suggestion that New South Wales should be renamed Banksia. For the next 50 years Banks’s authority on Australia, and all things Australian, was paramount and unquestioned. His interest in the land he had helped to discover never waned, and his continuing influence at court, and at the Admiralty, was usually exerted to good effect. But, although he was destined to play a leading role in the early exploration, settlement, and development of Australia, he never returned there. Banks fully expected to sail with Cook on his second voyage in Resolution. In fact the ship was given a major refit in order to accommodate his enlarged 15-man retinue. Cook was turned out of his cabin and an additional upper deck was constructed, including a raised poop, or roundhouse, to serve as Cook’s new quarters. But on her sea trials Resolution was found not to be seaworthy. Cook ordered the new deck to be demolished; the Navy Board asserted its authority and insisted that the passengers would fit in the ship and not vice versa. Banks refused to reduce the numbers of his party, or to compromise his own comfort and, much to his chagrin and subsequent regret, Cook sailed without him. Banks was knighted in 1778, and a year later his advice was sought by a committee of the House of Lords charged with inquiring into what to do with convicted felons in the aftermath of the successful revolt of the American colonies. A penal settlement in a distant and remote part of the world was the preferred solution so as to prevent any chance of escape. Remote localities could be found without too much trouble, but remote localities fertile enough to sustain a settlement were not so easy to find. Banks unhesitatingly recommended Botany Bay in terms that brooked no argument. Botany Bay it was. In 1800 Banks used his influence at the Admiralty to secure command of Lady Nelson for James Grant. His hand can be seen in Grant’s instructions

12 •

BANNISTER, THOMAS (FL. FIRST HALF OF 19TH CENTURY)

to collect seeds, plants, animals, and minerals and to sow seeds of fruit trees and vegetables whenever he went ashore, to make life easier for future explorers and settlers. And when Matthew Flinders was seeking approval for his circumnavigation of the continent, he submitted his plan to Banks in the sure knowledge that should Banks give it his support, it would be fasttracked through the Admiralty bureaucracy. To the end of his career, Banks kept a watchful eye on the development of the New South Wales settlement, corresponding with successive governors, dispatching George Caley and Allan Cunningham from Kew Gardens to Sydney, and encouraging them on their plant-collecting travels and explorations. Not least he participated in arranging for Merino sheep to be sent out to New South Wales. Australia owes a lot to Sir Joseph Banks and Australians have not been slow to acknowledge it. BANNISTER, THOMAS (fl. first half of 19th century). By striking southeast from Perth to Cliffy Head, on the Southern Ocean, and following the coast eastward to King Sound in 1831–1832, Bannister opened up an important overland route from Perth to Albany. BARCLAY, HENRY VERE (1845–?). In January 1879 Barclay, a South Australian government surveyor, set out from Alice Springs with a party of four to make a trigonometrical survey toward the Queensland border. He explored the headwaters of the Hay River, discovered and named the Jervois Range, and penetrated to the northern edge of the Simpson Desert. A shortage of water and ill health prevented him from achieving his objective of linking his survey with another being undertaken on the Georgina River. The objectives of the Barclay–MacPherson Expedition, another small party of four, including Ronald MacPherson who helped to finance it, that set out from Oodnadatta on July 24, 1904, was to open up territory bounded on the west by the Finke River, on the north by the Plenty River and the MacDonnell Ranges, and on the east by the Hay River and Queensland border, which had baffled all attempts to cross it. Specifically the expedition hoped to find a practicable stock route from Charlotte Waters to Birdsville, to make a scientific survey of a square mile of sand hill country, and to make a zig-zag course in an attempt to find traces of Ludwig Leichhardt. Before returning to Oodnadatta on December 5, the expedition traversed a vast expanse of territory in the Jervois Range, in the Hay and Plenty River region to the east of Alice Springs, and discovered the Bonython Range west of the MacDonnells.

BARRALLIER, FRANCIS LOUIS (1773–1853)

• 13

BARCOO ROT. Caused by vitamin deficiency in explorers’ and overlanders’ diets, the symptoms of Barcoo Rot were festering sores and swollen gums, slow to heal, and sometimes marked by vomiting. It was, in fact, the Outback version of scurvy. BARKER, COLLETT (1784–1831). In the wake of Charles Sturt’s discovery of the mouth of the Murray River at Lake Alexandrina, Governor Sir Ralph Darling dispatched Captain Collett Barker, a fellow officer of Sturt’s in the 39th Foot Regiment, to examine the area around Cape Jervis and to note particularly the topography of the Murray and the Gulf of St. Vincent, which the Cape divides from Encounter Bay. Arriving off the Cape in the schooner Isabella on April 13, 1831, Barker confirmed that there was no direct channel between Lake Alexandrina and the sea. Four days later he climbed Mount Loftus from where he could see an inlet to the north, the future site of Port Adelaide. He was murdered the same day by three Aborigines. BARRALLIER, FRANCIS LOUIS (1773–1853). Despite spending just three years in New South Wales, Francis Barrallier earned an enviable reputation as an engineer, surveyor, explorer, and cartographer. An ensign in the New South Wales Corps, he first made his mark as a surveyor when sailing with James Grant in the Lady Nelson to explore the mainland coast of Bass Strait and Western Port in March 1801. On a second voyage in June and July they examined the coastline in the vicinity of the Hunter Valley. Soon after their return, Barrallier started planning a major land expedition to penetrate the Blue Mountains. He proposed to establish a chain of depots, about seven days apart, and to supply them by means of bullock-drawn wagons, enabling his expedition to cross the Mountains in well-prepared and carefully planned relays. By March 1802, his preparations were complete but, because of heavy rains, he was not able to set out on a short reconnaissance expedition until October. His main objective at this time was to find a suitable site for his first depot and to ensure it was accessible for his supply wagons. Starting from Hawkesbury, he crossed the Nepean River and discovered the Nattai River. Judging that this route offered reasonable access to the Mountains he returned to Sydney. The preliminaries now over, Barrallier set off from Parramatta in November with four soldiers and five convicts “to explore the interior of the country and . . . to penetrate as far into the Mountains as he should find it practicable.” Officially, however, his mission had a diplomatic purpose, to carry Governor Philip King’s compliments to the Aboriginal “King of the

14 •

BASEDOW, HERBERT (1881–1933)

Mountains.” Following his earlier route, he arrived at their initial depot on the Nattai on November 9, only to discover that the country ahead was impassable for his wagons. After exploring the Nattai and Wollondilly Valleys, Barrallier pushed on to an isolated sandstone, now known as the Southern Peak, the official residence of the King of the Mountains, with whom a cordial relationship was soon established. Having completed the diplomatic niceties and replenished his supplies, he set off on November 22 to penetrate the Mountains. Three days later he negotiated a passage between Mount Meier and Myanga Mountain (Barrallier’s Pass) to fulfill the expedition’s principal objective. Ascending Mount Moogan the next morning to confirm that he had in fact crossed the Blue Mountains, he caught a glimpse of a much higher range of mountains, part of the Great Dividing Range, at an estimated distance of 40 miles to the west. His goal now, of course, was to reach these mountains. Instead of continuing southward, when he would have very quickly reached the high plateau of Mount Werong, he followed a ridge veering westward for seven or eight miles until it turned south. At the foot of the spur his way was slowed by numerous rapids and, with provisions running low, Barrallier was forced to begin his journey back to the Nattai depot. But even now he was not spent and he explored the Wollondilly River southward. He was back in Sydney by December 24. He had explored 60 miles beyond the Nepean River, had passed through the Blue Mountains, and had employed his cartographer’s skills to draw a more-than-serviceable sketch map of his discoveries. BASEDOW, HERBERT (1881–1933). While still a student at the University of Adelaide, Basedow was a member of Lawrence Wells’s 1903 South Australian Government North-West Prospecting Expedition to the Musgrave, Mann, and Tomkinson Ranges in the region where South Australia, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia meet. After completing his work in the ranges he returned to the Oodnadatta base camp where he received fresh instructions to travel southeast across barely known country to Lake Torrens. In 1915 he led a federal government prospecting expedition to Australia’s far northwest, looking for metal ores badly needed by Great Britain for munitions production in World War I. After his government work was completed, Basedow determined to extend his explorations and discovered Aboriginal cave drawings of human figures along the Forrest River north of Wyndham. He also served as surveyor and geologist on Donald Mackay’s 1926 exploring expedition in Central Australia. BASS, GEORGE (1771–1803?). Bass arrived in Port Jackson in September 1795 as surgeon in HMS Reliance, which was conveying John Hunter, the

BATAVIA EXCAVATION

• 15

newly appointed Governor of New South Wales. Also on board was Matthew Flinders, serving as master’s mate. The two young naval officers became firm friends, sharing a determination to explore the new world that awaited them. They soon learned that very little of New South Wales’s east coast had been charted beyond the anchorages off Port Jackson. With Hunter’s approval, Bass, Flinders, and Bass’s servant William Martin embarked in a tiny boat, Tom Thumb, brought out from England, and headed south on a nine-day voyage, from October 26 through November 4, to Botany Bay where they explored the St. George River 20 miles upstream as far as the eastern slopes of the Blue Mountains. In March 1796, again with Flinders, he explored the south coast of Botany Bay in search of a river reported to be not far distant and landed near Lake Illawara, discovering a fine natural harbor. Three months later, Bass turned his attention to conquering the Blue Mountains, setting off with two companions. But after 15 days of hard climbing, during which Bass ascended a high peak only to see a further chain of mountains 20 to 30 miles distant, they were forced to return because of lack of water and provisions. In December 1797 Bass was put in charge of a reconnaissance voyage with instructions from the Governor to examine the coast southward “as far as he could with safety and convenience go” to determine whether Van Diemen’s Land was an island or joined to the mainland. He sailed on December 3 in an open whaleboat, manned by six naval oarsmen, turned Cape Howe, the southeasternmost tip of the Australian continent, and continued westward along the uncharted southern coast as far as a bay he named Western Port in the same longitude as the western tip of Van Diemen’s Land. He was then forced to turn back, having surveyed 600 miles of unexplored coast from an open boat in 12 weeks, but without proving conclusively that Van Diemen’s Land was separated from the mainland. Nevertheless this epic 1,200-mile voyage was one of the most remarkable in the history of Australian exploration and Bass had truly earned his place on Flinders’s circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land, from October 1798 through January 1799. BATAVIA. Standing on the north coast of Java, almost at its western extremity, Batavia was the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie’s administrative center in the East Indies. When Indonesia won its independence in the aftermath of World War II, it reverted to Jakarta, its precolonial name. BATAVIA EXCAVATION. For 334 years the exact location of the wreck of François Pelsaert’s Batavia, which sailed from Amsterdam for Java in 1628 and was wrecked off the Abrolhos Islands on June 5, 1629, remained unknown. But by the early 1960s, attention was being concentrated on

16 •

BATMAN, JOHN (1801–1839)

Morning Reef, one of 193 reefs fringing the Wallabi Group of the Houtman Abrolhos, some 22 miles from the mainland of Western Australia. The top of the reef is just visible at mean low water of the spring tides. Hugh Edwards and Max Cramer located the wreck and recovered four bronze cannons and other artifacts early in 1963. Ten years later the Western Australian Museum assumed responsibility for the site and commissioned a purpose-built boat, the Henrietta, for the Department of Marine Archaeology. A field site was set up on Beacon Island. Some silverware and a few gold coins were brought to the surface in 1972. Partially sponsored by a grant from the Australian Research Council, a full-scale excavation in 1973 and 1974 recovered 3,000 individual objects from the wreck despite its isolation and the difficult sea and weather conditions. These were catalogued and approximately positioned in relation to the main wreck, which still retained a large section of its stern and one side although it had been exposed to extreme sea disturbance. The stern section has been recovered and reconstructed and is now on display at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle. With the help of the Maritime Archaeology Association of Western Australia, the Batavia’s stern was raised in 1975 and, in the same year, an astrolabe in near perfect condition was found. BATMAN, JOHN (1801–1839). A settler in Van Diemen’s Land, John Batman was the prime mover in the formation of the Port Phillip Association in 1834 and, on its behalf, sailed from Launceston across Bass Strait to Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, in a 30-ton schooner, Rebecca, on May 28, 1835. Landing in Corio Bay, near the site of Geelong, he examined the country on foot before sailing to the head of the Bay, tracing the Salt Water River by boat and on land. So impressed was he by what he had seen that he concluded a “treaty” with the elders of the local Aborigines whereby they agreed to sell 600,000 acres to the Association in return for blankets, knives, hand mirrors, tomahawks, scissors, flour, and trinkets plus a yearly tribute of at least £200. Discovering the Yarra River and rowing upstream to a point where a miniature waterfall was found, Batman decided that it would be a suitable village for settlement. The village is now named Melbourne. BAUDIN, NICOLAS (1754–1803). An official French government naval and scientific expedition, in two ships, Géographe and Naturaliste, with Baudin in command sailed from Le Havre on October 19, 1800, bound for New Holland and Van Diemen’s Land. The purpose of the expedition was to complete the cartography of the shores of the southern continent. How far

BAUDIN, NICOLAS (1754–1803)

• 17

political and strategic considerations were in French intentions has long been subject to debate, although it is now generally agreed that the French curiosity was scientific rather than political in nature. The expedition arrived off Cape Leeuwin on May 17, 1801, and followed the coast northward to anchor in Géographe Bay on May 30. The two ships were driven apart in a storm, and Baudin passed Rottnest Island and Shark Bay to survey Witts Land along the Eighty Mile Beach from July 26 to August 10 before heading for Timor for rest and recuperation. Meanwhile, Jacques Hamelin, in Naturaliste, explored the estuary of the Swan River, sent a boat upriver for 50 miles, erected an observatory on the Péron Peninsula, discovered and restored the plate on Dirk Hartog’s Island left by Willem Hesselsz de Vlamingh almost 200 years earlier, and conducted a six-week survey of Shark Bay. He then sailed to Timor for his prearranged rendezvous with Baudin. Once more in company, Géographe and Naturaliste left Kupang on November 13, sailing wide out into the Indian Ocean before setting a course for Van Diemen’s Land where they spent three months charting the east coast. Again the two ships missed each other and Baudin decided to explore the southern coastline of New South Wales and New Holland independently, starting at Wilson’s promontory at the eastern end of Bass Strait and sailing westward, meeting Matthew Flinders at Encounter Bay. After two days discussing their respective explorations and discoveries, they went their separate ways. Baudin continued to the Recherche Archipelago before returning to Van Diemen’s Land’s east coast and then to Port Jackson where he dropped anchor on June 20, 1802. He purchased a shallowdraught schooner, Casuarina, for inshore coastal exploration and left harbor on November 18, heading for King Island at the western end of Bass Strait, causing consternation in Port Jackson that he was intending to establish a French colony there, but this was no part of Baudin’s plan. He continued westward to Kangaroo Island and sent surveying parties into Spencer and St. Vincent Gulfs, still thought to be possible southern outlets of a large channel separating the continent into two huge islands. (See OCEANIC CHANNEL.) King George Sound was examined in detail before Baudin made haste up the western coast, employing Casuarina to explore the islands and channels of the Bonaparte Archipelago and Admiralty Gulf. After a short visit to Timor, he was back in Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, sailing north to Cape Fourcroy, the southwest headland of Bathurst Island, and then to Cape Van Diemen on Melville Island. Contrary winds prevented any further exploration along the northern shores of New Holland.

18 •

BEADELL, LEN (1923–1995)

BEADELL, LEN (1923–1995). A professional surveyor, Len Beadell was asked by the Australian government in 1946 to advise on a suitable location for a joint British-Australian weapons research station and to survey a network of access roads. Reasoning that the site would need access to a major city, yet should be isolated from the general public, with a huge area of uninhabited land for rocket testing purposes, he recommended a location between Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner, in South Australia, situated at latitude 31º South and longitude 136º East. To allow access to the site, named Woomera, a Dharuk Aboriginal word meaning spear-thrower, Beadell and his Gunbarrel Road Construction Party pioneered a road system in a vast area stretching across the Great Sandy, Gibson, and Great Victoria Deserts and extending south into the Nullarbor Plain, from 1955 through 1963. The original Gunbarrel Highway, which even an Australian commentator describes as “an isolated desert track,” runs from Mount Cavanagh Station, on the Stuart Highway, south of Alice Springs, westward to Wiluna. Other more-or-less parallel routes across Central Australia, and part of Beadell’s network, include the Gary Junction Road (to the north) and Anne Beadel Highway (to the south). There are north-to-south connecting roads. BEDNARIK, ROBERT. See SAILOR H. BELL, ARCHIBALD (1804–1883). In August and September 1823, Archibald Bell pioneered a new route across the Blue Mountains by following the directions of an Aborigine woman. From Richmond he climbed up the Lapstone Monocline, trekked 11 miles westward to Mount Tomach and then a further 8 miles to where the modern township of Bell now stands, and descended in to the Hartley Valley. In later years, Bell explored the main tributaries of the Hunter River. BERGIN, TOM. Formerly Curator of Mammals at Taronga Zoo, Sydney, Tom Bergin reasoned that Robert O’Hara Burke’s expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria ended in disaster because of his flawed timing, leaving Cooper’s Creek at the height of summer, subjecting the expedition to the Center’s intense heat and, subsequently, to the mud and rain of the monsoon season in the north. Convinced that had Burke journeyed in winter, handled his camels properly, and engaged Aboriginal guides to search for water the outcome of the expedition would have been vastly different, Bergin determined to put his theories to the test. With Paddy McHugh, an experienced bushman, two Aborigines, Nugget Gnalkenga and his son Frankie, a team of seven camels, and a Land-Rover

BLACKMAN, JAMES (1792–1868)

• 19

driven by Dave Cody, a colleague from the Zoo, he set out from the Dig Tree camp on July 22, 1977, intending to follow Burke’s exact route, as far as was practicable, from Cooper’s Creek to the Gulf during the three months of the dry northern winter. This proved not to be feasible even where the route was known. William John Wills’s journal, the only reliable record of Burke’s route, included latitude bearings only, omitting all mention of longitude. In addition, floods caused necessary diversions and a shortage of drinking water forced Bergin further east than he had planned. Generally, however, a parallel course to Burke’s was possible as the expedition traveled north to Sturt Stony Desert, the Diamantina River, Birdsville, Bedourie, across the dry Georgina River, Boulia, to the Selwyn Range, Cloncurry, the Corella River, to Normanton. But even in the winter, Bergin found it impossible to improve on Burke’s speed, principally because his camels were driven too hard and were eventually knocked out. Having covered 1,000 miles, Bergin admitted that his theory did not conform to the facts of time and distance. BERIBERI. A thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency disease leading to lassitude, muscle wasting, hypothermia, and a complete inability to move. It is thought probable that Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills both contracted the disease after consuming large amounts of nardoo containing concentrated thiaminase, an enzyme that breaks down thiamin in the human body. BINGLE, JOHN (1796–1882). Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales, appointed John Bingle as commander of HM Cutter Sally with instructions to survey the coast northward as far as Moreton Bay to look for a large river supposed to exist between Port Macquarie and Sandy Cape and, if successful, to bring back to Sydney specimens of its waters and an accurate delineation of its navigable course. He entered Moreton Bay on March 4, 1822, and spent four days satisfying himself that Pumicestone Channel was not a river. BLACKBOYS. Grass trees. BLACKMAN, JAMES (1792–1868). Superintendent of Convicts from 1819 through 1821, James Blackman was the leader of a small party that explored a route from Bathurst, New South Wales, to the Cudgegong River in 1821. With three companions he crossed the Turon River, took a northeasterly course to the Crudene, and reached the Cudgegong at a point 50 miles from Bathurst. He

20 •

BLACKWOOD, FRANCIS PRICE (1809–1854)

continued through Aaron’s Pass and traced the Cudgegong for 26 miles until the Burrundulla Swamps halted his progress. The next year, together with William Lawson, he pioneered a route from Wallerawang to Dabee. BLACKWOOD, FRANCIS PRICE (1809–1854). Captain Francis Blackwood was appointed by the Admiralty to the command of the survey vessel HMS Fly in 1841 with orders to conduct hydrographical surveys in the Coral Sea from Breaksea Spit, on the western side of the Great Barrier Reef, to Cape York and through the Torres Strait to the southern shores of New Guinea. Accompanied by Lieutenant C. B. Yule in the cutter Bramble, he was to examine the channels through the Reef to make detailed plans of all those offering a safe passage and, in cooperation with the Governor of New South Wales in Sydney, to mark safe channels with a wood, stone, or iron beacon. In the Torres Strait he was to collate the previous surveys of Matthew Flinders, William Bligh, and Philip Parker King. From January 1843 through March 1845, 500 miles of the outer line of the Great Barrier Reef were surveyed, from latitude 16° 40' to its northern extremity, including Cook’s Passage, east of Lizard Island, Pandora Passage, and Murray Island at the eastern entrance of Torres Strait. In addition 110 miles of the main coastline of Australia, from West Hill to the northern part of Whitsunday Passage, were examined. At the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula, Blackwood made a fruitless search for relics of James Cook’s stay there 70 years earlier. The Capricorn Islands, Swain Reefs, Port Bowen, and Rockingham Bay were all charted and a beacon was erected on Raine Islet. Endeavour Strait and Torres Strait from Cape York to the southern New Coast, a total area of 7,000 square miles, congested with reefs, shoals, and islands, were also surveyed. BLAXLAND, GREGORY (1778–1853). Although not blazing a trail—he was following in the footsteps of George Caley for most of the way—Blaxland’s excursion into the region between the Nepean and Warragamba Rivers, New South Wales, in 1810 to ascertain whether the intervening ridge would lead inland across the Blue Mountains confirmed his belief that a practicable passage westward over the Mountains could be found. In the event that early venture proved fruitless, the Warragamba flowed east toward the coast, but the notion of a far more promising route had been implanted in his mind. A capitalist farmer, badly hit by a catastrophic drought, ruined grass, and an infestation of army worm, Blaxland determined to force his way over the Mountains in search of good pastureland for his cattle. In company with William Lawson, William Charles Wentworth, and four others, he set out

BLIGH, WILLIAM (1754–1817)

• 21

from his farm at South Creek on May 11, 1813, crossed the Nepean at Emu Island, and, drawing on the experience of previous pioneers, followed the ridges rather than disappearing into the mountain canyons. It was by no means easy terrain to cross; at times dense scrub barred the way, the ridges were narrow, but the upland swamps of the Blue Mountains Plateau eventually provided water and feed for his horses. Heading north from Kings Tableland, he reached Jamieson Creek on May 23 and found his way past Mount York and Coxs River and through the Kanimbla Valley, to Mount Blaxland, his furthermost point. Blaxland estimated that the lush grass of the valley would be enough to feed the settlement’s stock for 30 years. The party arrived back in Sydney on June 6. For the next century the exploits of Blaxland, Lawson, and Young grew in popular estimation. It was asserted that they were the first Europeans to cross the Blue Mountains, which others had attempted with no success, and that the only route was by the ridges, which they had pioneered. In truth they had relied and built on the discoveries of John Wilson, Francis Barrallier, and others, many of which are still undocumented. Nor had they descended the western slopes of the Mountains. However, not for the first time, newspaper editors and publishers printed the legend and not the reality. In later years, Blaxland claimed to be the acknowledged leader of the expedition but contemporary sources do not confirm this. BLIGH, WILLIAM (1754–1817). After a mutinous crew had ousted him from command of HMS Bounty and cast him adrift, along with 18 loyal seamen, in an open boat just 23 feet long, William Bligh, equipped only with basic navigational instruments with no charts, sailed over 3,600 miles from the Friendly Islands, in the Southwest Pacific, to the East Indies island of Timor. This three-month voyage included a passage through the Torres Strait. Bligh negotiated a way through the Great Barrier Reef south of James Cook’s Providential Channel, east of Cape Weymouth, followed the coast northward, closer inshore than Cook, rounded Cape York on June 3, 1789, passed through Endeavour Strait, along the north coast of Prince of Wales Island, and on to Timor, charting part of the northeast coast of New Holland on the way. Three years later, Bligh navigated the Strait again in HMS Providence, this time finding a circuitous route round the numerous small islands and their perilous reefs and sand banks before emerging into the open sea. These were two truly outstanding feats of navigation. Later in his career, Bligh was Governor of New South Wales, 1806–1808, during an explosive period of its history.

22 •

BLUE MOUNTAINS

BLUE MOUNTAINS. Bounded by the Cox River on the west and south and by the Lower Nepean and Hawkesbury Rivers on the east, the Blue Mountains are situated on the eastern side of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales. They presented a formidable physical barrier to the early colonists at Sydney Cove who desperately needed to find new pastureland beyond the coastal strip. The period 1789–1806 witnessed many attempts to find a route over the Mountains, but it was not until June 1813 that Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson, and William Charles Wentworth discovered a promising route across the main range. Even then, it was left to Surveyor George William Evans to follow in their tracks six months later, to cross the Great Divide, after four days’ hard work, and to descend to the well-watered Bathurst Plains. It was a significant first step in the exploration of Australia and one vital for the colony’s future. BONNEY, CHARLES (1813–1897). With previous experience of running sheep, Bonney was invited by Joseph Hawdon in 1838 to join him in pioneering a stock route to Adelaide. In February 1839 he took a second herd from Howlong, New South Wales, to South Australia by a shorter route across country from the Murray River to the Grampian Mountains region, followed the Wannon and Glenelg Rivers down to the coast, turned westward at Lacepede Bay, and reached Lake Alexandrina. BOTANY BAY. Where James Cook made his first landing on the east coast of New Holland. His first intention was to name it Sting Ray’s Harbor, but this was discarded in favor of Botany Bay to mark the great quantity of new plants found there by Joseph Banks. When it became imperative after the American Revolution to find new penal settlements, Botany Bay was the site chosen. However, when the First Fleet dropped anchor in January 1788, Arthur Phillip had doubts as to its suitability; the harbor was exposed, the land was flat and barren, and there was no adequate supply of freshwater. A sloop was sent to investigate the possibilities of Port Jackson, a harbor Cook had sighted but not entered, a few miles up the coast. Receiving a highly favorable report, Phillip immediately transferred the settlement. While this was in progress La Pérouse’s ships sailed into the Bay. See also EL NIÑO. BOUGAINVILLE, LOUIS-ANTOINE, COMTE DE (1729–1811). The first French circumnavigator of the globe, Bougainville entered the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Magellan on January 26, 1768. His instructions charged him to “examine in the Pacific Ocean as much of and in the best manner he can the land lying between the Indies and the

BRAHE, WILLIAM

• 23

western seaboard of America, various parts of which have been sighted by navigators. . . . Since knowledge of the islands or continent is very slight, it will be very interesting to perfect it.” The area he was directed to pay especial attention to was that lying from 40° South northward, he was to “examine to the fullest extent possible all sites likely to be used as ports of call for ships, and everything appertaining to navigation.” After a fruitless search for Davis Land, he arrived at Tahiti on April 6, 1768. From there he sailed west to Samoa, then to the New Hebrides, not seen since Pedro de Quirós named them Austrialia del Espíritu Santo. To resolve whether a landmass existed in the region, Bougainville continued his course westward, sailing further south than any previous European navigator. Less than 250 miles east of the northeast coast of New Holland, he encountered the Great Barrier Reef, where his ships were almost wrecked on the night of June 4, 1768. He turned northeast by east and sighted the Solomon Islands, discovered by Alvaro de Mendaña 200 years earlier. BOWEN, JOHN (1780–1827). Lieutenant John Bowen, of the Royal Navy, given local rank as Commander to enhance his authority, was ordered by Governor Philip Gidley King to establish a settlement in Van Diemen’s Land. He landed on September 12, 1803, explored up the Derwent River, and picked a site at Risdon, or Rest-down Cove, on the right bank of the river and 18 miles from its entrance. But the settlement was short-lived; the settlers were transferred to the present site of Hobart in 1804 when David Collins arrived. During his short period on the island, Bowen made extensive journeys to ascertain which parts seemed most eligible for land grants for incoming settlers. BRAHE, WILLIAM. When Brahe was left in charge of Camp LXV by Robert O’Hara Burke, his instructions were that if William Wright should not arrive soon with the stores from Menindie, he should wait three months for Burke and his three companions to return, and if they had not arrived by then, he was to remain at the camp for as long as his provisions lasted. Three weeks into April, knowing that the supplies Burke had started out with could not possibly sustain 4 men for 18 weeks, Brahe reasoned that either Burke’s party had perished or that they had returned by another route. Inexplicably, Wright, expected in December, had still not arrived. With his own party in a weakened and undernourished condition, and with one man obviously needing urgent medical attention, Brahe felt that the time had come to take his men back to Menindie. And so the fateful decision was made: Brahe moved out on April 21, 1861, only a few hours before Burke, William John Wills, and John King staggered into camp.

24 •

BRIGALOW

His decision to evacuate came under the close scrutiny of the Burke and Wills Commission but, in general, he was exonerated from all blame for the expedition’s tragic end. BRIGALOW. See SCRUB. BRITISH AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY. See OVERLAND TELEGRAPH–CABLE TERMINUS. BROOKES, JOHN (fl. early 17th century). Master of the East India Company ship Trial, Brookes sighted land a short distance south of North West Cape Peninsula on May 1, 1622, while following the Dutch route to the East Indies. After struggling with northwesterly headwinds for three weeks, he encountered “a great Iland with 3 small Ilands” stretching from southeast to northwest. On the night of May 25, Trial was holed; Brookes and 10 of the crew got away in a skiff while Thomas Wright, a Company factor, took one of the ship’s boats, leaving 97 to perish. The survivors sheltered on the islands before proceeding independently to Batavia where they arrived on July 5 and July 8 respectively. Members of the Trial company were the first recorded Englishmen to sight the southern continent. After some cartographic confusion lasting almost 200 years, the Trial Rocks were identified as the reefs off Barrow Island and off Trimouille Island, in the Monte Bello group, by Lieutenant Philip Parker King, when he sailed these waters in 1820. BROUWER, HENDRIK (?–1643). The first to alert the Heren XVII of the potential value of the westerly winds prevalent in the South Indian Ocean in expediting voyages from the Cape of Good Hope to Java, thus drastically reducing the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC)’s overheads, Hendrik Brouwer was sent with two ships to test his theory. Rounding the Cape in 1611 he sailed to below latitude 36° South before setting a course due east until he calculated that he was on the same longitude as the Sunda Strait. He then turned north with a favorable wind to arrive at his destination in 5 months and 24 days, virtually cutting the duration of the voyage in half. Other ships confirmed his findings and prompted the VOC to issue its Seynbrief. Governor-General in Batavia, 1632–1636, Brouwer was a firm believer in the potential wealth of New Holland and was an influential voice in support of further voyages of discovery. BUCHANAN, NATHANIEL (1826–1901). A noted trailblazer and overlander in the northeast corner of Australia, sometimes known as “Old Bluey,”

BURKE, ROBERT O’HARA (1820–1861)

• 25

Buchanan explored the Thomson River and discovered the Aramac, Towerhill, and Landsborough Creeks in 1860. Seventeen years later he explored the Barkly Tableland on the southern side of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and in 1878 he overlanded 1,200 cattle from Aramac to Glencoe in the Northern Territories, a distance of almost 1,000 miles, across unknown country. Starting from the Ranken River, a tributary of the Georgina, he pursued a westerly course, discovered a well-watered creek, later named Buchanan’s Creek, followed it westward until it dried up, and continued west to the Overland Telegraph south of Tennant’s Creek. Buchanan’s Creek was an important discovery: the route he followed from Burketown to the McArthur, Roper, and Katherine Rivers afforded a practicable stock route to the pastoral country lying between the Queensland Border and the telegraph line. In 1880 he made the journey a second time with a herd of 23,000 cattle, organized in 10 parties, making naught of floods, crocodiles, and fevers. In 1884 he herded cattle from Queensland to Ord River in northwestern Australia, blazing a trail right across the continent, the first man to take cattle into the Kimberleys. Eight years later he again pioneered a trail, this time of over 2,000 miles, from Halls Creek to the Murchison River. In 1896, at the age of 70, he explored a track across the Tanami Desert, from Tennant Creek to Sturt Creek, to discover a more direct stock route from Queensland. By this time, “The King of the Drovers,” as he was dubbed, had pioneered more stock routes and had settled more land than any other person. BUCKLEY, WILLIAM (1780–1856). Soon after arriving on a prison ship in 1803, William Buckley escaped from the new, and soon-to-be-abandoned, Port Phillip settlement and spent the next 32 years living with an Aborigine tribe, wandering about in the unexplored hinterland of Port Philip Bay. BURKE, ROBERT O’HARA (1820–1861). A police inspector at the time of his appointment as leader of the Victorian Exploring Expedition, Burke, together with his second-in-command, William John Wills, Charles Gray, and John King, succeeded in crossing the Australian continent, south to north, although only Burke and Wills advanced to within sound of the sea. Coastal mangrove swamps prevented them from actually reaching the shoreline. King and Gray remained at Camp CXIX, 30 miles away. The 20-strong expedition, with 27 camels and 2 wagons, one of them so constructed as to allow its conversion into a river punt when required, marched in procession out of Melbourne on August 20, 1860, heading for Menindie on the Darling River, 120 miles north of its junction with the Murray River. A depot was set up there on September 23.

26 •

BURKE, ROBERT O’HARA (1820–1861)

Already there was serious dissension within the expedition’s ranks. Burke was at loggerheads with his deputy leader, George James Landells, over the treatment of the camels, and the party was becoming polarized, the younger members of the expedition generally aligning themselves with Burke, admiring his dash and vigor, while the older men regarded him as erratic and resented his browbeating manner and conduct. Matters came to a head six miles from Menindie; Landells resigned and returned to Melbourne. Wills was promoted to second-in-command, King was put in charge of the camels, and William Brahe was appointed foreman. At Menindie, Burke took on William Wright, an experienced bushman, principally as a guide. Burke split the expedition into two groups: an advance party of eight to make a dash to Cooper’s Creek with the best horses and camels; and a rear party to set up the depot, rest the horses, and then bring up the heavy stores. The advance party moved out on October 19, following a route eastward of Charles Sturt’s tracks in 1845 and proceeding by way of Mootwingee, a place of ceremony and ritual for Aborigines, across the plains to Torowoto Swamp. At this point Burke dispatched Wright back to Menindie with orders to follow him up to Cooper’s Creek with the stores and the rest of the camels. Although given the choice, none of the others opted to accompany Wright back to Menindie. Burke took his leave of Wright on October 29 and continued to Korliatto, northeast to an Aborigine settlement at Bulloo, and then northwest to arrive on Cooper’s Creek, in latitude 27° 49' South and longitude 142° 20' East on November 11. Not without danger, reconnaissance parties explored north, looking without success for a suitable river or creek to follow on their march to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They headed downstream, picked up Sturt’s old tracks, and on November 20, 1860, established a depot (Camp LXV), on the northern bank. Calculating that he had enough provisions to push on, and certain that Wright would arrive soon, Burke determined to strike out for the Gulf with Wills, Gray, and King, six camels, and supplies for six months, leaving Brahe in charge at the depot. His oral instructions to Brahe were to follow him if Wright arrived soon; if not, to remain for three months to await the Gulf party’s return. If they failed to appear within this period, he was to wait as long as his provisions lasted. Burke and his three companions departed on their 1,500-mile round journey, across the plains and deserts of northern Australia on December 16, at the height of summer, with no maps, no doctor, and no secure line of communication with their support party; it was a recipe for disaster. In the words of the Burke and Wills Commission: “Mr. Burke evinced a far greater amount of zeal than prudence in finally departing from Cooper’s Creek before the depot

BURKE, ROBERT O’HARA (1820–1861)

• 27

party had arrived from Menindie, and without having secured communication with the settled districts as he had been instructed to do; and, in undertaking so extended a journey with an insufficient supply of provisions.” On leaving camp, Burke went down river for several days before turning northwest across Sturt Stony Desert to the Diamantina River, thus avoiding the Simpson Desert. Abandoning this river where it turned eastward, by January they were trekking up Eyre’s Creek before traversing the Selwyn Range, to the headwaters of the Cloncurry River, a tributary of the Flinders, which they reached at the end of the month. Their final approach to the sea, in the southeast corner of the Gulf, was by way of the Bynoe River. It had taken them 57 days from Cooper’s Creek. Critically short of food, the four men began their 700-mile return journey on February 13, after only a day’s rest. Not as fit as when they started their outward journey, their progress was slow. Living on jerked horse or camel meat, discarding their equipment, riding on their two remaining camels, inadequately clothed, they struggled on, growing weaker by the day. Gray died from exhaustion on April 17, four days before they reached a deserted Camp LXV. Blazed on a coolibah tree was a message: Dig 3FT. NW. April 21, 1861. Digging through the freshly turned soil, they uncovered a camel box of rations with a penciled note from Brahe to the effect that his party had evacuated the camp earlier that day. “No person has been up here from the Darling. We have six camels and 12 horses in good working order.” A dreadful quandary faced Burke: it was inconceivable that their two remaining camels could catch up with Brahe, and Menindie was over 400 miles away, an impossible distance for the three men in their weakened condition. He decided to go down river to Mount Hopeless, approximately 150 miles from a settled district. Should a search party come looking for them, Burke left a note in the cache, informing whoever might read it of their intentions. On April 23 they moved down the southern bank of the river. At first all went well. They received a supply of fish from friendly Aborigines, but the river filtered away into rocks and sand, their two camels both had to be shot, and they became dependent on the Aborigines’ goodwill. At this moment, however, the Aborigines disappeared and they were left to their own enfeebled resources. After covering 45 miles toward Mount Hopeless, they turned back to the river. In the firm belief that a rescue party would be sent back to Camp LXV, Wills set off on May 27 and, with renewed Aborigine help, arrived there four days later. He left a note in the cache and rejoined Burke and King. Wills had now reached the point of complete exhaustion. On June 29 Burke and King set off with 10 days’ supply of nardoo in a desperate attempt

28 •

BURKE AND WILLS COMMISSION

to seek help and shelter from Aborigines. Wills died where Burke and King left him, and Burke perished on June 28. King alone found Aborigines who treated him with great compassion until he was rescued by a member of Alfred William Howitt’s relief expedition on September 15, 1861. Dogged by the cruel twist of fate of Brahe abandoning Camp LXV only a few hours before Burke, King, and Wills arrived; by the extraordinarily incompetent and inexcusable conduct of William Wright at Menindie; and, it must be admitted, by some management failings of Burke himself, the final tragedy of the Victorian Exploring Expedition could so easily have been averted. But its great achievement cannot be ignored: the Gulf party was the first to make a south-north crossing of the Australian continent. It was a defining moment in Australian history. See also BERGIN, TOM; DIG TREE. BURKE AND WILLS COMMISSION. Appointed by Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria, on November 12, 1861, the Burke and Wills Commission comprised a chairman and four members of the Colonial Parliament. Its terms of reference were to inquire into all the circumstances connected with the sufferings and deaths of Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills; to ascertain the true causes of the lamentable result of the Victorian Exploring Expedition; to investigate the circumstances under which the depot at Cooper’s Creek was abandoned by William Brahe; and to determine upon whom rested the grave responsibility of there not having been a sufficient supply of provisions and clothing secured for the recruiting of the explorers on their return and for their support until they could reach the settlements. The Commission’s Report was published as a Parliamentary Paper in January 1862. Its main conclusions, in truncated form, were: 1. “The expedition, having been provided and equipped in the most ample and liberal manner, and having reached Menindie, on the Darling, without experiencing any difficulties, was most injudiciously divided at that point by Mr. Burke. 2. “It was an error of judgement on the part of Mr. Burke to appoint Mr. Wright to an important command in the expedition, without a previous personal knowledge of him. . . . 3. “Mr. Burke evinced a far greater amount of zeal than prudence in finally departing from Cooper’s Creek before the depot party had arrived from Menindie, and without having secured communication with the settled districts as he had been instructed to do; and, in undertaking so extended a journey with insufficient supply of provisions. . . .

BURKE AND WILLS RELIEVING EXPEDITIONS

• 29

4. “The conduct of Mr. Wright appears to have been reprehensible in the highest degree. It is clear that Mr. Burke, on parting with him at Torowoto, relied on receiving his immediate and zealous support; and it seems extremely improbable that Mr. Wright could have misconstrued the intentions of his leader so far as to suppose that he ever calculated for a moment on his remaining any length of time on the Darling. Mr. Wright has failed to give any satisfactory explanation of the causes of his delay; and to that delay are mainly attributable the whole of the disasters of the expedition, with the exception of the death of Gray. . . . 5. “The Exploration Committee, in overlooking the importance of the contents of Mr. Burke’s dispatch from Torowoto, and in not urging Mr. Wright’s departure from the Darling, committed errors of a serious nature. A means of knowledge of the delay of the party at Menindie was in the possession of the Committee, not indeed by direct communication to that effect, but through the receipt of letters. . . . 6. “The conduct of Mr. Brahe in retiring from his position at the depot before he was rejoined by his commander, or relieved from the Darling, may be deserving of considerable censure; but we are of the opinion that a responsibility far beyond his expectations devolved upon him; and it must be borne in mind that, with the assurance of his leader, and his own conviction, he might each day expect to be relieved by Mr. Wright, he still held his post for four months and five days, and that only when pressed by the appeals of a comrade sickening even to death, as was subsequently proved, his powers of endurance gave way, and he retired from the position which could alone afford succour to the weary explorers should they return by that route. His decision was most unfortunate; but we believe he acted from a conscientious desire to discharge his duty. 7. “It does not appear that Mr. Burke kept any regular journal, or that he gave written instructions to his officers; had he performed these essential portions of the duties of a leader many of the calamities of the expedition might have been averted, and little or no room would have been left for doubt in judging the conduct of those subordinates who pleaded unsatisfactory and contradictory verbal orders and statements. 8. “We cannot too deeply deplore the lamentable result of an expedition, undertaken at so great a cost to the Colony; but, while we regret the absence of a systematic play of operations on the part of the Leader, we desire to express our admiration of his gallantry and daring, as well as of the fidelity of his brave coadjutor Mr. Wills, and their more fortunate and enduring associate Mr. King.”

BURKE AND WILLS RELIEVING EXPEDITIONS. The five principal relieving expeditions, 1861–1862, to find traces of Robert O’Hara Burke

30 •

BURNETT, JAMES CHARLES (1815–1854)

and William John Wills were those led by Alfred William Howitt, Captain W. H. Norman, William Landsborough, Frederick Walker, and John McKinlay. BURNETT, JAMES CHARLES (1815–1854). In 1841, after proving his competence as a surveyor in fieldwork in the Illawarra District, New South Wales, Burnett was dispatched by Thomas Livingstone Mitchell on an expedition to trace the Great Dividing Range “as far as was consistent with a speedy arrival at Moreton Bay.” He followed the Range to the 39th parallel before directing his way to Brisbane. Two years later he surveyed the Richmond River from source to mouth and reported it to be navigable for 20 miles from the sea. These commendable exertions were surpassed in 1847 when Burnett explored the river system beyond the headwaters of the Upper Brisbane River in Queensland. He discovered the Burnett River and followed it down to its tidal waters but was unable to break through the dense coastal scrub to the coast. He returned to Brisbane, took a boat, and explored the river’s mouth from the sea. Not content with this he also explored the mouth of the Mary River, which flows into Wide Bay, where the town of Maryborough now stands opposite Fraser Island. BUSH. To Australians the bush can refer to flat and undulating land dotted with trees, sand wastes with nothing but spinifex, dense and unrelenting scrub, mangrove swamps, or just about any other kind of country beyond the margins of large towns. The bush is inhabited by “bushmen,” hardened and experienced to life in the bush. See also OUTBACK. BYRON, JOHN (1723–1786). Advised in his secret instructions that “there is reason to believe that Lands and Islands of great extent hitherto unvisited by any European power may be found in the Atlantick Ocean between the Cape of Good Hope and the Magellanick Streight, within Latitudes convenient for Navigation,” Byron was appointed Commodore of HMS Dolphin and HMS Tamar in 1764 to search for the southern continent in the South Atlantic and to survey and take possession of the Falkland Islands. It was the first of three Royal Navy voyages to explore the South Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans in quick succession. Although his orders were to proceed to New Albion, on the California coast, on entering the Pacific he adopted a westward course that would have brought Dolphin to the east coast of New Holland but adverse weather con-

CADELL, FRANCIS (1822–1879)

• 31

ditions forced him to the northwest. In terms of Australian discovery his circumnavigation was of little significance.

–C– CADELL, FRANCIS (1822–1879). A renowned pioneer of passenger and cargo steam navigation on the Murray, Darling, and Murrumbidgee Rivers, Francis Cadell was appointed leader of a South Australian government expedition to the Northern Territory early in 1867. In the aftermath of Boyle Finniss’s totally unsuitable choice of Palmerston as the new settlement and capital, his task was “to fix upon a proper site for the survey of 300,000 acres of land in the Northern Territory.” He departed from Adelaide in the wooden paddle steamer SS Eagle on February 26 and arrived at the mouth of the Liverpool River on May 5, in the dry season, after an eastward journey round the continent. He navigated upriver for 30 miles and charted the river and its tributaries. With the Eagle as his depot he then surveyed the area and subsequently reported that it would be the most suitable site for a settlement in the Northern Territory, apparently not recognizing that its flat country would inevitably be flooded in the wet season. Leaving the Liverpool River on July 18, Cadell embarked on a careful examination of the Arnhem Land coast, working his way eastward to the Gulf of Carpentaria. On July 22 he discovered the narrow Cadell strait between the Elcho Islands and the Napier Archipelago. After a somewhat leisurely cruise to Burketown, 40 miles up the Albert River, and a coastal examination of Limmen Bight, he entered the Roper River and rowed upstream in the Eagle’s boat for 30 miles in order to verify the reports of Ludwig Leichhardt and Augustus Charles Gregory of good grazing land and to ascertain that the region was accessible from the sea. By September 16 he was steering up the shores of Arnhem Land and by October 15 he was back at his old anchorage off the mouth of the Liverpool River. Continuing his voyage westward he arrived in Adam Bay and, by November 4, he was at the mouth of the Victoria River. It was now the end of the dry season and the region was seen at its worst. Arriving back in Adelaide on January 28, 1868, five months later than expected, his report condemned the Victoria as being too rapid and too dangerous for a settlement to be established on its banks. He approved of Finniss’s choice of Adam Bay and the site at Palmerston.

32 •

CALDER, JAMES ERSKINE (1808–1882)

On balance, Cadell’s expedition was a waste of time and money but, in his favor, he explored the lower reaches of the Liverpool, Blythe, and Goyder Rivers and discovered the entrance to the Roper River. CALDER, JAMES ERSKINE (1808–1882). Appointed Assistant Surveyor in Van Diemen’s Land in June 1829, Calder first made an exploratory trek up the Huon River in 1831 and, in company with Surveyor General George Blaxland, he traversed the country between the Huon and Lake St. Clair in 1835. Two years later he journeyed to the junction of the Wedge and Gordon Rivers by way of Mount Field West and the Florentine Valley. But he is best remembered for the track that he and seven others cut from Hobart Town to Lake St. Clair and Frenchman’s Cap, in the Deception Range, in preparation for the exacting journey made by the Governor, Sir John Franklin, and Lady Franklin, from Hobart to Macquarie Harbor in 1842. CALEDONIA AUSTRALIS. Name given to present-day Gippsland, Victoria, by Angus McMillan in 1839. CALEY, GEORGE (1770–1829). A competent and enthusiastic botanist, George Caley was appointed a collector for Kew Gardens by Sir Joseph Banks. He arrived in Sydney on April 15, 1800. The following year he accompanied James Grant in Lady Nelson on voyages to the Western Port and Bass Strait coastline and, in 1802, he explored the country southwest of Parramatta, reaching the Picton Lakes and beyond the Nepean River as far as Warragamba. In February 1804 he made an exploratory excursion into the Blue Mountains with the purpose of defining the area in which wild cattle roamed. Caley named this the Vaccary Forest; to others less tutored it was known as the Cowpastures. For once not following in the tracks of the pioneers, in November of the same year Caley set out from Richmond Hill, near the junction of the Grose and Nepean Rivers, accompanied by three convicts, in an attempt to cut through the mountains. In a little over three weeks they climbed up and down a series of ridges, following a compass course to Mount Tomah through the valley of Burralow Creek, almost losing their equipment in a forest fire caused by their own careless and inadequate camping routine. Mount Tomah was climbed and they were confined to the summit for three days because of heavy mist and fog. Pushing on past Mount Bell and Mount Charles, they reached Mount Banks, which commanded majestic views of the ridges and valleys of the Blue Mountains. This was the furthest point of the expedition; supplies were running low, and they returned to Parramatta by way of the Hawkesbury River.

CAMELS

• 33

Governor Philip Gidley King dispatched Caley in 1806 to confirm Francis Barrallier’s distances inland but it is uncertain to what point he penetrated. He made further small-scale plant-collecting expeditions south and east of Campbelltown before returning to England but discovered little of any consequence to the history of the exploration of the fledgling colony except as confirmation of other men’s journeys. Apart from his 1804 excursion to Mount Banks, during which he narrowly missed the open country seen by Gregory Blaxland nine years later, Caley’s most important work was his plant collecting, which greatly enhanced the knowledge of Australian flora. CALLANDER, JOHN (?–1789). Translated from Charles de Brosses’s Histoire de la Navigation aux Terres Australes (1756), John Callander’s Terra Australis Cognita; or Voyages to the Terra Australis or Southern Hemisphere, during the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (3 vols. 1766–1768) rehearses all de Brosses’s arguments for French discovery and colonization in the South Seas, but ingeniously twists them so as to support British voyages and commerce. His clinching argument for a British monopoly in colonies and trade rested ultimately on Britain’s immeasurably superior sea power. CALVERT, ALBERT FREDERICK (1872–1946). Calvert is more renowned for his sponsorship of the 1896 Calvert Exploring Expedition, led by Lawrence Wells, to complete the task of the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition, mounted by the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch, and for his two published works, The Discovery of Australia (1893) and The Exploration of Australia from 1844 to 1896 (1896), than for his own 1890 expedition from Lake Gairdner, in South Australia, to the Upper Murchison River, in Western Australia. CALVERT CENTENARY PROJECT. See CRAMER, ROD. CALVERT EXPLORING EXPEDITION. See WELLS, LAWRENCE. CALVERT SCIENTIFIC EXPLORING EXPEDITION. More properly known as the Calvert Exploring Expedition. It was Calvert himself who subsequently dubbed it “Scientific,” presumably in the hope of boosting its prestige. CAMELS. Twenty-four camels were obtained from Northern India as beasts of burden for the Victorian Exploration Expedition of 1860 and in January 1866, 121 were imported by Thomas Elder for breeding purposes. From

34 •

CAMPBELL, JOHN (1708–1775)

then onward, they played an important role in exploration and surveying, including on the expeditions of John McKinlay, Peter Warburton, Ernest Giles, David Lindsay, Alfred Canning, W. F. Rudall, and others, until the advent of mechanical transport in the 1920s and 1930s. Hubert Trotman described them as “stout hearted ships of the desert that did so much for Australia’s exploration and development” (Eleanor Smith. The Beckoning West, 1966, p.13). See also LANDELLS, GEORGE JAMES. CAMPBELL, JOHN (1708–1775). In the years 1744 through 1748, John Campbell published in three volumes a much-expanded edition of John Harris’s Navigantium atque itinerantium Bibliotheca; or a compleat collection of voyages and travels . . . first issued in two folio volumes in 1705. He used the narratives of Pedro Fernandez de Quirós, Abel Tasman, William Dampier, and others to argue the existence of Terra Australis, remarking that “it is impossible to conceive a country that promises fairer from its situation than this of Terra Australis; no longer incognita, as this Map demonstrates, but the Southern Continent Discovered” and continued “whoever perfectly discovers & settles it will become infallibly possessed of Territories as Rich, as Fruitful, & as capable of Improvement, as any that have hitherto found out, either in the East Indies or the West.” The map Campbell referred to here was A Complete Map of the Southern Continent, drawn by Emanuel Bowen in 1744, depicting a well-defined New Holland in the west and a limitless Terra Australis to the east, with no coastline but including a representation of New Zealand. Campbell urged that British troops should be sent to Juan Fernández Island to provide a secure naval and commercial base, which could be used for voyages to discover the continent commonly supposed to stretch from Davis Land to New Zealand. “A new trade would be opened which must carry off a great quantity of our goods and manufactures.” Only Spanish inertia and devious Dutch misinformation had prevented its earlier discovery. CANNING, ALFRED WERNHAM (1860–1936). Appointed to the Western Australia Lands and Surveys Department in 1893, Canning spent many years exploring the interior. He first came to prominence at the turn of the century when he spent three years surveying a 1,175-mile route for the construction of a rabbit-proof fence running from Starvation Harbor, on Western Australia’s southern coast, to Cape Keraudren, northeast of Port Hedland. His greatest achievement, however, was his discovery in 1906 of a practicable stock route, from the pasturelands near the Kimberley Range to

CARNEGIE, DAVID WYNFORD (1871–1900)

• 35

the northern goldfields. He located and developed native wells and proved that stock could be driven at favorable times of the year. He set off from Wiluna in May with 8 men, 23 camels, and 2 horses. Relying on finding enough water to fill stock every 15 miles or so, he took a northeasterly route across Lake Nabberu and the western edge of the Gibson Desert, skirted the western side of Lake Disappointment, passed a series of wells, crossed the southeastern section of the Great Sandy Desert into the Southesk Tablelands, and followed Sturt Creek to the Overland Telegraph station at Hall’s Creek where he arrived in January 1907. His optimistic report convinced the government that he had found a practicable route and he was sent out again, this time with a much larger expedition, to sink the necessary wells along the route he had recommended. This task he brought to a finish by March 1910. In 1929, at the age of 69, Canning was invited to reopen the route, which had virtually fallen into disuse. It is estimated that he completed the whole length of the journey, twice, on foot! The Canning Stock Route is still marked on the map. CANNING STOCK ROUTE. A route surveyed and explored by Alfred Canning from 1908 through 1910, with Hubert Trotman as his deputy, and 28 men, marked by a chain of 68 wells, some natural, some bored, across 800 miles of country in Western Australia from Wiluna, across the Little Sandy, Great Sandy, and Tanami Deserts to Halls Creek. Each well contained sufficient water for up to 500 head of cattle. CAPE LEEUWIN. The southwesternmost point of Australia, so named by Matthew Flinders in 1801 to commemorate the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) ship Leeuwin (Lioness). From the evidence of Hessel Gerritsz’s 1627 map, and from the instructions given to Abel Tasman in 1644, it seems likely that the Leeuwin was in the vicinity of the cape in 1622. No other records of the presumed discovery survive. CARNEGIE, DAVID WYNFORD (1871–1900). The youngest son of the Earl of Southesk, David Carnegie arrived in Albany in September 1892 and for the next four years made several gold prospecting trips round Coolgardie, then being established as Western Australia’s gold town. Commissioned by the Hampton Plains Pastoral Company to search for gold, he set off on March 24, 1894, venturing deep into unknown country with an experienced bushman and three camels, traveling first to Lake Lefroy to the southwest before making a wide sweep to the northeast of Coolgardie to Yindi and setting a course to Mount

36 •

CARNEGIE, DAVID WYNFORD (1871–1900)

Shenton 180 miles to the north. From there they turned southwest toward Mount Margaret and Mount Ida, prospecting as they journeyed, before being forced back to Coolgardie because supplies were running low. They had traveled 850 miles in 90 days and had found gold at Niagara Creek. From November 1894 through February 1895, Carnegie again prospected for gold and was successful at Lake Darlot, east of the modern township of Leinster. But Carnegie’s most ambitious expedition was his 1896–1897 journey north of Coolgardie across the Great Victoria, Gibson, and Great Sandy deserts. Other explorers, notably John Forrest, Peter Warburton, and Ernest Giles, had traversed these regions but always in an east-to-west or west-to-east direction. Carnegie’s objectives were threefold. First, to discover whether there was gold-bearing country between the Coolgardie and East Murchison goldfields in the south and those in the north around Kimberley. Second, to explore the country between the routes of Warburton in 1873 and of John Forrest in 1874 and, third, to assess the prospects of driving cattle between the southern and northern goldfields, or between Coolgardie and the central regions of South Australia. Carnegie set off on his momentous journey on July 9, 1896, with three white men, an Aborigine, and nine camels to follow the Telegraph Line to Menzies where the party arrived six days later. After continuing north to Lake Ballard and Cutmore’s Well, they turned northeast and crossed the settlement line. From this point onward they were in unexplored country. For weeks to come they were constantly preoccupied with finding freshwater, Carnegie’s preferred method being to capture a local Aborigine and “induce” him—as Ernest Favenc so politely put it—to lead them to a spring or waterhole. For the most part, traveling in almost unbearable heat across open plains or high sand ridges, both likely to be covered in spinifex, the expedition continued in a northeasterly direction, taking a route past Breadan Buff to Empress Spring and on to Lake Gillen, Mount Allott, and Mount Worsnop, passing to the west of the Sutherland Range and the Brown Range, crossing Giles’s 1876 line of march in the Gibson Desert, to Patience Well and Family Well. Past Wilson Cliffs, Carnegie turned west in order to visit two Aboriginal wells before turning north again, between Mount Elgin and Mount Romilly to the west and Mount Courtenay to the east, crossing Warburton’s 1873 tracks in the Southesk Tablelands, and on to Twin Heads. From here their course took them to Mount Bannerman, across the Cummins Range, to follow the Mary River north through the Ramsay Range, and they arrived at Hall’s Creek, a short-lived gold boomtown of the 1880s, in the Kimberley Region, on December 4.

CARR-BOYD, WILLIAM HENRY JAMES (1852–1925)

• 37

Carnegie remained in Hall’s Creek until March 22 when the expedition departed southeast to Flora Valley, traveling over grassy plains, down Sturt Creek until it emptied into Lake Gregory. They rounded Mount Wilson, negotiated a way through the Gordon Hills and the Erica Range, traveled east to the Stansmore Range, past Dwarf Well, around Lake MacDonald, near the South Australian border, and then on a long trek to Lake Breaden and the Sutherland Range. By June 17, Carnegie had reached Woodhouse Lagoon. Passing Mount Allott and Mount Worsnop, he returned to the settlement line by way of Lake Wells and Lake Darlot. Prospecting for gold now assumed a greater intensity, but with no success, and the expedition returned to Coolgardie in August 1897. In 13 months they had traveled over 3,000 miles, half of them previously untrodden, and had completed the first south-to-north and north-to-south crossings of the eastern half of Western Australia. No potential wealth had been discovered, no mountain ranges, no pastoral land, and no passable stock route, but a survey had been plotted by dead reckoning and checked by theodolite observations. Until the third week in October, Carnegie was occupied in drawing an expedition map, assisted by Western Australian Lands and Surveys Department staff. The importance of his exploration was recognized by the award of the Royal Geographical Society’s Gold Medal. CARNEGIE CENTENARY EXPEDITION. See WARBURTON, GREG. CARPENTARIA. Its northeast corner washed by the Gulf of Carpentaria, this was the name given to the area between longitudes 132º and 141º East, extending down to the 24th parallel, in James Vetch’s Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia. Unlike his other proposed state names, it was occasionally used informally by explorers and overlanders to indicate the hinterland of the southern and eastern shores of the Gulf. CARR-BOYD, WILLIAM HENRY JAMES (1852–1925). All of Carr-Boyd’s early exploration experience was gained in or near the Northern Territory. In 1875 he acted as second-in-command of William Oswald Hodgkinson’s Queensland government expedition to explore the region between the Diamantina River and the Northern Territory border. Five years later he was engaged on the search for the Pronty brothers, Albert and Sydney, when they went missing in the Barkly Tableland. He also went on W. J. O’Donnell’s 1873 expedition, which explored the Cambridge Gulf area in the far northeast of Western Australia adjacent to the Northern Territory when, again, he was second-in-command.

38 •

CARSTENSZ, JAN (FL. EARLY 17TH CENTURY)

But the expedition with which Carr-Boyd is most closely associated is a journey between Lake Carey, in Western Australia, near the furthest point eastward of John Forrest’s 1869 expedition, and the Warrina railroad depot in South Australia. Departing from Lake Carey on June 10, 1895, with two companions, three camels, and provisions for three months, he headed northeast to Mount Shenton. Adding three men with their camels to the party, the plan was to push on to the Warburton Range and, if gold was not discovered, to continue eastward to the Overland Telegraph line, a total distance of about 750 miles. After discovering several lakes, large and small, the expedition struck Forrest’s 1875 route at the Barlee Springs. Five hundred miles of uneventful riding in a general southeasterly direction brought them to Warrina, at that time the terminus of South Australia’s Northern Railroad. During the course of this journey, Carr-Boyd traversed a considerable amount of new ground between Forrest’s 1874 route and that of Ernest Giles in 1875. In addition to his fame as an experienced explorer, William Carr-Boyd enjoyed a wide reputation as a journalist and raconteur. David Carnegie described him as “a gallant explorer, practical joker, prince of liars, and one of Australia’s greatest personalities.” CARSTENSZ, JAN (fl. early 17th century). In command of the two Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) ships, Pera and Arnhem, which put to sea from Amboina on January 21, 1623, Carstensz’s mission was to follow up Willem Jansz’s 1606 discoveries. He cruised the southern coastline of New Guinea until he reached the sand banks and shallows of the Torres Strait. There is no certain evidence regarding the speculation that Carstensz may have been aware that open sea was to be found beyond the Strait. He headed south down the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula, past Jansz’s Cape Keer-Weer, to a river-inlet he named the Staaten River. Frequently going ashore, at times being confronted by hostile Aborigines, it is probable that his landing parties explored further inland than any previous Europeans who had set foot on Australian soil. Carstensz reported unfavorably on what he saw: an arid, infertile country, peopled by primitive savages, almost certainly habitual cannibals, with no knowledge either of spices or of precious metals. See also COLSTER, WILLEM JOOLSTEN VAN. CARTERET, PHILLIP (1734–1796). After serving on John Byron’s circumnavigation, Carteret was given command of HMS Swallow, not the most navigable ship of the Royal Navy nor a vessel in good repair, which

CENTER, THE

• 39

accompanied Samuel Wallis’s expedition to the South Sea in 1766. After their separation, Carteret sailed up the Chilean coast before heading west across the Pacific. He discovered Pitcairn Island, ran through the Tuamotus, sighted the Santa Cruz Islands, and then rediscovered the Solomon Islands, not visited by Europeans since Alvaro de Mendaña in February 1568. Their reported position was so inaccurate that Carteret did not recognize this notable event. On approaching Australian waters he detected a southward current leading him to suppose that New Holland and New Zealand were divided by a channel. After “lumbering homewards with a lubberly tub misnamed Swallow which should never have been sent beyond the English Channel” (Alan Villiers. Captain Cook: The Seamen’s Seaman, 2d ed., 1978, p. 66), Carteret entered Portsmouth Harbor, completing a 33-month voyage during which he had sailed over 60 percent of the supposed southern continent. He had crossed the Pacific in a more southerly latitude than had Wallis or any other circumnavigator. CASA DE INDIA E MINA. Housed within the royal palace on the banks of the River Tagus in Lisbon, the Casa de India e Mina was a combination of government department, office, and warehouse for the King’s private overseas trading activities, and a marine office for the regulation and coordination of shipping. Its map room in the basement was the sole repository of Portuguese records of its overseas discoveries. Along with other libraries and archives, it was completely destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake of November 17, 1755. CAVE PAINTINGS OF THE KIMBERLEYS. In 1838 George Grey discovered a series of cave paintings of clothed human figures when exploring the King Leopold Ranges of the Kimberleys in Western Australia. One was of a 10-foot high man dressed in a red robe. All the figures portrayed had eyes and a nose but no mouth. Archeologists, anthropologists, and historians disagree as to who were responsible for these paintings. Theories include that they were the work of early Babylonian, Egyptian, or Malay voyagers. Another suggestion was an artist with Binot Paulmyer de Gonneville! The received opinion of today is that they were painted by Wondjina Aborigines living nearby and that they represented the spirits of ancestral heroes. CENTER, THE. This term denotes the area stretching 500 miles in all directions from Alice Springs and the MacDonnell Ranges in the Northern Territory. It has only been generally accessible since the second half of the 20th century. See also GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER.

40 •

CENTRAL AND WESTERN EXPLORING EXPEDITION

CENTRAL AND WESTERN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. See GOSSE, WILLIAM. CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. See TIETKENS, WILLIAM HENRY. CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN GOLD EXPLORATION COMPANY. Formed in 1930, the objects of the company were to locate Harry Lasseter’s lost reef, to prospect for any new mineral belt, and to look for new country suitable for grazing purposes. CENTRAL EXPLORING SYNDICATE. See DAVIDSON, ALLAN. CENTRAL MOUNT STUART. On Monday, April 23, 1860, John McDouall Stuart and his two companions climbed the 2,772-foot-high hill he had seen from the Geographical Center in the Northern Territory. A document inserted into a bottle that was placed inside a cone on the summit reads: “John McDouall Stuart and party arrived from Adelaide in the Centre of Australia on Saturday evening the Twenty first day of April 1860, and have built this cone of Stones and raised this flag to commemorate the event on the top of Mount Sturt. The Centre is about 2 miles South-South-West at a small gum creek where there is a tree marked facing the south. JOHN McDOUALL STUART, Leader. William Darton Kekwick. Benjamin Head.” An entry in Stuart’s diary confirms that the hill was named Mount Sturt “after my excellent and esteemed commander of the Expedition in 1844 and 1845, Captain STURT.” So there can be no doubt that Stuart intended to name the hill Mount Sturt but, because of the similarity of the two names, and the general jubilation in Adelaide that a South Australian exploring party had reached the geographical center, its name was tacitly changed to Mount Stuart. CHEWINGS, CHARLES (1859–1937). In 1881, Chewings set out alone from Beltana, South Australia, east of Lake Torrens, with two camels to investigate the possibilities of establishing a cattle run in the Western MacDonnell Range. Four years later, he explored the MacDonnells much more thoroughly, stocking cattle on the Tempe Downs and mapping Mount Chapple and the Chapple Range in the Northern Territory, and in 1886, he explored the sources of the Finke River. In February 1909 Chewings, in company with three whites and two Aborigines, departed Oodnadatta for Alice Springs and Barrow Creek, near

CHINESE DISCOVERY

• 41

Central Mount Stuart, to open up a line of wells to the Victoria River so that stock bred in that district could be taken directly to Alice Springs instead of by a roundabout route to Newcastle Waters and then down the Overland Telegraph line. The South Australian government had provided him with light equipment to drill trial wells, at a reasonable distance apart, that would yield a fair supply of good water. From Barrow Creek his route took him up Hansen Creek to Circle Well, Blowhorn Native Well, northwest to Hit Or Miss Well, Green Swamp Well, Cattle Swamp Well, Wild Rose Camp, then east of Lothario Hill and the Buchanan Hills to Winnecke Creek. A slight detour east brought him to the Campfield River, a tributary of the Victoria, which he reached a few miles from Wave Hill cattle station. It had taken 10 weeks from Barrow Creek. On his return journey, Chewings corrected his detour by heading first for Mucka, an outstation of Wave Hill, and then for the big bend of the Victoria, which he planned should be the starting-off point of the stock route to Central Mount Stuart. From Winnecke Creek he virtually retraced his steps to Barrow Creek. In a comparatively short period he had placed on the map a part of the Australian interior probably less known than any other. His verdict on the country he had traversed suggested that it had little to offer stock other than reasonable watering on the way south. CHINESE DISCOVERY. Speculation that Chinese seamen discovered a south land at the beginning of the 15th century is based on the large-scale military and trading expeditions into the Indian Ocean, commanded by Zheng-He, which extended to Sri Lanka in 1406; to Calicut, on the Malabar Coast, in 1407; to Hormuz and Aden 1413 through 1415; and to the east coast of Africa in 1417. These voyages are well documented in Chinese records and confirm that Chinese fleets possessed an oceangoing capacity. Significantly, the records relate that of 700 ships that sailed for Sri Lanka in 1406, only 620 reached port there. Some ships were lost in a storm, others are reported to have broken away from the fleet and sailed southward. The discovery in Beijing in 1932 of an early map, dated 1426, including a representation of the south land, which bears little apparent resemblance to Australia but that was remarkably similar to European maps of this early period, suggests that the Chinese had certain knowledge of the configuration of Australia and the Pacific Ocean. Early-14th-century Chinese coins and pottery, uncovered in Western Australia, Tasmania, and New South Wales, have also been cited as evidence of early Chinese contact with Australia, possibly by the ships that had been

42 •

CHRONOMETER

diverted south on the 1406 voyage and that had reached Western Australia, sailed to Tasmania, and then continued up the east coast of the continent. Additionally, the name of the township, Nimbin, in northern New South Wales, occurs in Chinese records. Opposing theories consider Nimbin to derive from either a legendary Aborigine hero or to translate from an Aborigine term denoting a little hairy man. A figurine of a man clothed in a long flowing robe, sitting astride an antelope, found lodged in the roots of a banyan tree near Darwin in 1879, seemingly provided further evidence of an early Chinese presence in Australia. Almost 50 years later, this was identified as a medieval jade figure of Shou Lao, a Taoist divine. From its position when found, it was deemed unlikely that it had been dropped or planted in modern times and had, in fact, been deliberately placed there. Moreover, Taoism had always remained a distinctively Chinese religion confined to China. So, the argument ran, it was probably conveyed to Australia in a Chinese ship. Alas, late-20th-century opinion was that the figurine belonged not to the medieval period but to the early 19th century and was thus discredited as supporting evidence of a Chinese discovery of Australia a good century before the earliest European contact. But that was not the end of the story. Principally based on the author’s detailed scrutiny and interpretation of early Portuguese maritime cartography, and also on his own knowledge and experience of navigation, Gavin Menzies’s 1421: The Year China Discovered the World (2002) threatens to revolutionize the study of overseas discovery and exploration. Early in March 1421, so the story runs, a huge armada set off from Beijing. Comprising 250 gigantic, 9-masted junks, each divided into 16 internal watertight compartments, accompanied by 400 grain-transporting freighters and escorted by squadrons of fast and maneuverable warships, this unprecedentedly powerful armada had two main aims. First, to return the kings and envoys who had attended the inauguration of China’s new capital, The Walled City, in Beijing and, second, to create a vast maritime trading empire widening across the oceans of the world. In recognition of his long service to China’s overseas trade, the supreme command of this imposing manifestation of Chinese maritime power was given to Zheng-He. At sea, anchored off Sumatra, his command was divided into four separate fleets. Two, under Hong Bao and Zhou Man, Menzies contends, discovered Australia. CHRONOMETER. An instrument for measuring time to the high degree of accuracy needed for determining longitude at sea.

COEN, JAN PIETERSZOON (C.1568–C.1628)

• 43

CLARKE, GEORGE (ALIAS THE BARBER) (1806–1835). A runaway convict who lived with Aborigine tribesmen in the New South Wales bush for five years, George Clarke was recaptured by mounted police and taken to Bathurst Gaol in 1831. He claimed to have twice crossed to the northern coast by following a large river, called the Kindur, which rose near the western extremity of the mountains overlooking the Liverpool Plains and flowed for many hundreds of miles before finally emptying into a large lake. Probably to excite public interest, and to gain a measure of sympathy, he embroidered his story by talk of encountering copper-colored seamen fishing for sea slugs and catching sight of baboons and animals resembling hippopotamuses. A certain amount of circumstantial evidence tended to confirm his story. For example, he reported with remarkable accuracy the course of known streams, which flowed into the Nammoy (one of the rivers Allan Cunningham crossed in 1827). His yarn was sufficiently convincing for New South Wales’s Acting Governor Sir Patrick Lindesay to order Thomas Livingstone Mitchell to investigate. A later theory was that Clarke had followed not one but a number of rivers to the north coast, thus becoming the first European to cross the continent south to north overland, but on his return to Sydney in February 1832, Mitchell called on Clarke, who admitted that he had never progressed further north than Boggabri, a town in northern New South Wales. CLAYPANS. Temporary shallow waters, some 50 to 100 yards across, in lowlying regions with impervious clay bottoms that hold the water until it evaporates. A useful but unreliable water source. COEN, JAN PIETERSZOON (c.1568–c.1628). Conqueror of Java for the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) in 1618, the founder of Batavia (now Jakarta), appointed Admiral in 1621, twice GovernorGeneral, one of the most prominent figures of the VOC in his time, and a keen advocate of the Hendrik Brouwer route to the East Indies, Coen himself was directly involved in a perilous encounter with the South Land in 1627. Sailing from the Netherlands to Batavia to take up his second term as Governor-General in Galias, breakers were sighted less than half a mile away on September 5, although on his charts land was marked 300–350 miles distant. By superb seamanship disaster was averted but, if Galias had arrived off the coast during the hours of darkness, it would surely have foundered. Coen reported back to the Heren XVII that the plane chart from the Cape of Good Hope to the South Land showed an overplus of more than

44 •

COLLINS, DAVID (1756–1810)

270 nautical miles, “a matter to which most steersmen pay little attention, and which has brought, and is still daily bringing, many vessels into great peril.” COLLINS, DAVID (1756–1810). Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins, Royal Marines, landed on the left bank of the Derwent River, Van Diemen’s Land, in 1804 and established a settlement on the site of the modern city of Hobart. John Bowen’s earlier settlement at Risdon Cove was abandoned. COLSON, EDMUND ALBERT (1881–1950). With a reputation for being a good man with a camel, for repairing trucks and adapting equipment, and for his ability to gain the trust of Aborigines, Colson made his first exploration 300 miles west of the Goyder River beyond Mount Irwin station in 1928. Two years later, he acted as cameleer and guide on Michael Terry’s expedition to the Petermann and Tomkinson Ranges. But he is best known for his crossing of the Simpson Desert in 1936. By that time a grazier on Bloods Creek, on the edge of the desert near the South Australian/Northern Territory border, 130 miles due west from Poeppel’s Corner and 200 miles from Birdsville, on the Queensland border, he seized the opportunity of the ending of a 20-year drought to realize a long-term ambition to be the first white man to cross the desert by riding along the 26th parallel to Birdsville. He was gambling on the theory that the recent rains would germinate seeds that had lain dormant in the sand and that the newly grown plants would provide nourishment for his camels. Besides which, the sand would be hardened up after the rain and would provide firm going. Filling his canteens from the Finke River, he set off on May 27 with an Aborigine, Peter Ains, and 5 camels laden with enough water and tinned food to last for 28 days. He headed due east by compass. On the third day out his gamble paid off; grass, shrubs, and herbage had refreshed the desert. After 100 miles through unexplored country, Colson arrived at a series of dry lakes, which he prosaically labeled Lakes 1–8, although the first later became known as Lake Tamblyn. He missed Poeppel’s Corner by 300 yards but he recognized this 6 miles further on and retraced his steps to take photographs. Sixteen days after he left Bloods Creek, he entered Birdsville, where the incredulous townsfolk were only convinced that Colson had, in fact, crossed the desert when he developed his photographs. His ambition accomplished, Colson saddled up his camels again and returned home by a different route, visiting Alton Downs, a homestead on the Mulligan River.

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

• 45

COLSTER, WILLEM JOOLSTEN VAN (died 1646). Contrary to Jan Carstensz’s instructions, Van Colster, captain of the Arnhem, separated from Pera on April 28, 1623, and proceeded independently. He sailed across the Gulf of Carpentaria, sighted the east coast of Arnhem Land, and followed the coast northward to the Wessel group of islands. After landing on the east coast of the main island, he set a southwest course and passed through the Cumberland Strait on his return voyage. COMPASS. The mariner’s compass consists of an enclosed weatherproof bowl in which a magnetic needle is supported on a pivot above the center of a wind rose. The needle always points to magnetic north, so a ship may be steered in any direction regardless of weather conditions or the time of day. The prismatic compass, invented by Charles Schmalcalder in 1812, is especially suited for land surveying, direction finding, and map reading. It involves the use of a reflective prism, which makes it possible to simultaneously distinguish an object in sight and its angle of position. See also GREGORY’S COMPASS. CONSIDERATIONS ON THE POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHICAL NOMENCLATURE OF AUSTRALIA. Authored by Captain James Vetch, Royal Engineers (1789–1869), this curious article was printed in the 1838 volume of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. Conscious that political divisions and geographical boundaries are frequently founded on accidental historical circumstances, with no evident order or system, Vetch claimed that “in no division of the globe could a system of political geography be introduced with so much ease, or with so many prospective advantages, as in that of Australia.” Taking into account the size of Australia, and forecasting that at a future date it might possess a population of 153 million(!), he proposed that the continent should be divided into nine states, each of nearly equal area, as compact as possible, and each possessing a stretch of coastline: Dampieria, Tasmania, Carpentaria, and Torresia, from west to east in the northern half of the continent, along the 24º South parallel, and Victoria, Nuyts Land, Flindersland, and Cooksland in the southern half, with Guelphia occupying the southeastern corner. If the proposed names are all of European origin, justified on the grounds that no native names existed for the whole continent or for large regions, Vetch was adamant that where native names did exist they should be retained. He regarded it as an absurdity that a continent, or even half of it, should be named after a small province such as New Holland or New South Wales, and incongruous to use two-word names, one English, one Latin, as

46 •

COOK, JAMES (1728–1779)

in South Australia and Western Australia which, if rendered into English, translate into South Southland and Western Southland. See also AUSTRALIA. COOK, JAMES (1728–1779). After marine surveying of a high standard off the Newfoundland coast, James Cook was commissioned Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and appointed to the command of a Royal Society/Royal Navy expedition to Tahiti to plot the Transit of Venus. Once this primary purpose of the expedition had been completed, Cook was directed by the Admiralty to sail south as far as latitude 40º in order to discover the southern continent, Terra Australis, explore its coasts, note the nature of its soil and products, cultivate the friendship of its inhabitants, and commence trade. He was directed to bring back all possible observations, charts, views, and hydrographic details. If the land should prove uninhabited, he was to formally take possession; if no land was discovered, he was to sail westward between latitudes 40º and 35º until he hit the eastern coast of New Zealand, which he should then explore. The expedition, including Joseph Banks, Carl Solander, and other astronomers, botanists, and naturalists, sailed from Plymouth, in the Endeavour Bark, August 26, 1768. A strict embargo was laid on all logbooks and personal journals kept by officers, which were to be surrendered at the end of the voyage. Having completed his mission on Tahiti, Cook departed from that island on July 13, 1769, after a three-month stay, and set a course to the south in search of Terra Australis. He arrived in the prescribed latitude 40º South on September 1. No land had been sighted, none was in sight, and from the strong swell rolling up from the south no land of any size existed in that direction. The west coast of New Zealand came within view on October 7. Cook remained in New Zealand waters for five months and in that time circumnavigated both North Island and South Island to establish that New Zealand formed no part of a southern continent. When the time came to devise a route for his voyage home Cook pondered the attractions of running east to Cape Horn. If he sailed in a high latitude he would be sailing in seas never before broken by a European keel. The northern coasts of any existing continental landmass could be examined. What is more the wind would be favorable since in high latitudes it blew from the west virtually nonstop. But the overriding factor against the Cape Horn route was that Endeavour was in no shape to tackle it. There was no option; Endeavour would have to sail west. Cook left New Zealand on April 1, 1770, and set a course for Van Diemen’s Land. The plan was to pick up the coastline where Abel Tasman

COOK, JAMES (1728–1779)

• 47

had left it and to proceed northward, thus determining whether it was an island or part of New Holland. But a southerly gale forced Endeavour off course so that its first landfall on April 19 was at Point Hicks, now known as Cape Everard, a few miles west of the southeast extremity of Australia. At this point the condition of his ship rendered it essential that he should reach the East Indies as quickly as possible but Cook had not sailed halfway round the world to leave the unknown east coast of New Holland without subjecting it to a close examination. Accordingly, during the next four months, he conducted a running survey from Port Hicks to Possession Island, of some 2,000 miles of coastline. He landed on only six occasions, the first at Botany Bay, April 29 through May 7, resting his crew, watering ship, collecting botanical specimens, and making a visual record. Sailing north he passed the inlet, later named Port Jackson, and Moreton Bay, where the city of Brisbane now stands, anchoring in Bustard Bay on May 23. His next point on shore was at Thirsty Island, in Shoalwater Bay, where he stayed only two days, his hopes of careening Endeavour frustrated because not a drop of freshwater could be found. After almost being lost on the Great Barrier Reef, where Endeavour was stuck fast on a coral edge for 23 hours, it was vital that she should be beached for major repairs. A suitable haven was found at the mouth of the Endeavour River on the Cape York Peninsula. He landed briefly at Point Lookout, a headland north of Cape Flattery, in order to view the surrounding country. At last, on August 21, after five days negotiating rocks and shoals, the shoreline turned west; Cook was now passing through the Torres Strait. He landed on a small island, climbed a hill, and saw open water leading to the west. It was here that Cook took possession of the whole east coast from latitude 32º South northward. It should be emphasized that Cook at no time claimed to have discovered Australia. He had sought and found the east coast of New Holland, which would soon be named New South Wales, and had passed through the Torres Strait, the first recorded passage since that of Luis Vaez de Torres in 1606. The geographical results of Cook’s first voyage were almost inestimable; his meticulous surveying had fixed the position of 5,000 miles of New Zealand and Australian coastline, previously unknown. The existence of a southern continent, which had long attracted the imagination of geographers, was placed in serious doubt, although some still clung tenaciously to this outmoded concept. Cook himself urged that the next step in Pacific exploration should be a voyage from the Cape of Good Hope, sailing east rather than west from Cape Horn.

48 •

COOKSLAND

Endeavour anchored in The Downs on July 13, 1771. A year later, to the day, Cook sailed on his second voyage to the Pacific in HMS Resolution with Tobias Furneaux in HMS Adventure. He was to sail south from the Cape of Good Hope in search of Cape Circumcision, reported by JeanBaptiste Bouvet de Lozier in 1739 to lie in latitude 54º South and in 10º 20' East longitude. If this was discovered he was to determine whether it formed part of a continent. Should this be so he was to make the usual efforts to survey and explore; should it be an island he was to sail south for as long as it seemed likely that he might find a continent. If he met with no success he was to set an eastward course and circumnavigate the world in as high a latitude as possible. All new lands and islands were to be surveyed and formally taken into possession of the Crown. By December it was clear that no land existed in the vicinity of Bouvet’s bearings. Continuing south the two ships became the first to cross the Antarctic Circle, in January 1773, reaching almost to latitude 67º South before being forced to turn back by the southern ice pack. After a fruitless search for the land reported by Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen the two ships parted company in thick fog and Cook, in Resolution, followed an eastward course before heading northeast for New Zealand, which he reached on March 23 after being out of sight of land for 117 days. In June he headed out to sea again, sailing east between latitude 41º and 46º South to longitude 135º West, before altering course northward for Tahiti. After taking on provisions he sailed through the Friendly Islands to the east coast of New Zealand where he made preparations for another voyage to Antarctica and to sweep the ocean between New Zealand and Cape Horn in high latitudes. He reached latitude 71º 10' South, closer to Antarctica than ever before, in a series of huge zigzags, proving to his own satisfaction that if a southern continent did exist it was effectively out of reach, inaccessible behind the ice barrier. James Cook is universally acknowledged as the most skilful navigator of the Age of Sail. In the history of Australian discovery the significance of his voyages lies as much in what he did not find as in his discoveries. COOKSLAND. Extending from latitude 24º South in present-day Queensland to latitude 30º South, over the border in New South Wales, with its western boundary resting on 141º East longitude, Cooksland was one of the nine states proposed in James Vetch’s Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia. COOPER’S CREEK. Following Strzelecki Creek in October 1845, Charles Sturt came to its confluence with a much broader creek, 200 yards across,

COX, JOHN HENRY (FL. END OF 18TH CENTURY)

• 49

with vivid green water. This he named Cooper’s Creek after Mr. Cooper, a South Australian judge, later Sir Charles Cooper, the first Chief Justice of the Colony. Edmund Kennedy on his 1847 expedition to determine the course of the Victoria River, discovered by Thomas Livingstone Mitchell in 1845, was the first to adduce that the Victoria was, in fact, the upper reaches of Cooper’s Creek. Consequently the river reverted to its Aboriginal name, the Barcoo. Controversy flared up as to whether Sturt had priority over Mitchell in the white discovery of the river but it was established that Sturt had reached its banks three weeks before Mitchell. It was officially decreed in 1860 that the entire length of the river, which drains a large part of central and western Queensland before flowing into the South Australian desert country, would be named the Barcoo but, by common consent and general usage, the stretch downstream from the tributary Thomson River retained the name Cooper Creek without the apostrophe. Because of its unique place in the annals of Australian exploration this present work uses the form Cooper’s Creek throughout, following the example of Alan Moorehead’s authoritative book Cooper’s Creek (1963), examining the circumstances and describing the events of the Victoria Exploring Expedition, which played out its last dramatic scenes there. See also BRAHE, WILLIAM; BURKE, ROBERT O’HARA; DIG TREE. COURTEEN, WILLIAM (1572–1636). A wealthy London merchant and ship owner, with trading interests in Portugal, Spain, West Africa, and the Caribbean, Sir William Courteen unveiled an ambitious scheme in a petition to King James I in 1625. He was seeking a trading monopoly in “the South parts of the world called Terra Australis, incognita, extending Eastwards and Westwards from the Straights of Le Maire, together with all the adjacente Islands,” to be settled at his own expense. Nothing came of this proposal, which might have advanced the discovery of the eastern seaboard of Australia by 150 years. COX, JOHN HENRY (fl. end of 18th century). A merchant of Canton, John Cox embarked on a Pacific sightseeing voyage of exploration in 1789 and arrived off Van Diemen’s Land on July 3. Anchoring in Cox’s Bight, he obtained freshwater before venturing along the coast to Maria Island, in Oyster Bay. He made contact with the Aborigines and engaged in some minor gift exchanges. After tracing a stretch of shoreline, from Cape Pillar (which he named) to a spot opposite his anchorage, he departed on July 11 bound for Tahiti.

50 •

CRAMER, ROD (1954– )

CRAMER, ROD (1954– ). Forty years after Cecil Madigan’s trek from Andado Station, in the Northern Territory, across the Simpson Desert, to Birdsville on the Queensland/South Australian border, Rod Cramer, Gerry Gerard, Denis O’Byrne, and four others retraced his steps. Leaving the Hale River, southeast of Alice Springs, and navigating by compass, star fixes, and noonday sun sightings, their two-week journey took them across the Hay River to the Kuddaree Waterhole, on the Mulligan River, across Eyre’s Creek, to Birdsville. Along the way, on the Hay River, they came across a coolibah tree blazed by Madigan. Cramer was also instrumental in creating the Calvert Centenary Project, whose purpose was to commemorate the 1896 Calvert Exploring Expedition by accurately retracing Lawrence Wells’s route from Mount Bates, South Australia, to the Fitzroy River in Western Australia. Eleven years of preliminary desk research and fieldwork were devoted to identifying and locating the Expedition’s water sources, often only minor sand soakages. A 1985 reconnaissance in the Great Sandy Desert, with Mark de Graaf and Dave Morton, located Sahara Well and, in the following year, a search was made for Adverse Wells, which eluded them until July 11, 1993. In 1991 Surprise Well was found and the Calvert Range explored, both in the Little Sandy Desert. Three years later, Discovery Well was identified and, in 1995, Cramer and Charles Morton located five of the water sources associated with the relief expeditions searching for Charles Wells and George Jones. Throughout this period they were active in depositing fuel supplies at strategic points, a major factor in their 1996 vehicular trek across the deserts. CREEK. Commonly used in Australia for a tributary or a branch of a larger river. The remarks of Charles Sturt concerning his discovery of Cooper’s Creek may indicate the difference between a creek and a river: “I gave the name Cooper’s Creek to the fine watercourse we had so anxiously traced. . . . I would gladly have laid this creek down as a river, but as it had no current I did not feel myself justified in doing so.” CRIGNON, PIERRE (fl. early 16th century). A veteran sea captain of Dieppe and the senior survivor of Jean Parmentier’s 1529 voyage to Sumatra, Crignon’s journal, published in Paris in 1853 as Le Discours de la Navigation de Jean et Raoul Parmentier (The narrative of the Parmentiers’Voyage), provides one of the earliest pointers to a Portuguese discovery of Java-laGrande and signifies that the Dieppois cartographers knew of its existence as early as 1530. Possibly, when he was in the East Indies, he may have examined explicit Portuguese maps of the region that have long since disappeared. One theory is that Crignon’s lost (1534?) manuscript “La Perle de Cosmo-

DALE, ROBERT (FL. EARLY 19TH CENTURY)

• 51

graphie” (The Pearl of Cosmography) was the source of Jean Alphonse’s Les Voyages Avantureux du Capitaine Jan Alfonce Saintongeois (Poitiers, 1559). CUNNINGHAM, ALLAN (1791–1839). “Perhaps the most widely traveled scientific explorer in the history of Australian exploration” (Margaret Steven. First Impressions: The British Discovery of Australia, 1988, p. 90), Allan Cunningham was recommended by Sir Joseph Banks as a botanical collector for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. He arrived in Sydney on December 20, 1816, and was enlisted almost immediately on John Oxley’s exploration to the Lachlan River marshes. Cunningham also sailed on all four of Philip Parker King’s voyages to the north and northwest coasts of Australia. A brief excursion north of Bathurst, New South Wales, to the unexplored region east of the Cudgegong River, blending exploration with botanical research, persuaded Cunningham to seek a new route from Bathurst to the fertile Liverpool Plains Oxley had discovered in 1818. In June and July 1823 he led a government expedition up the Hunter Valley northward to discover Pandora’s Pass through the Great Dividing Range to the Plains, a route soon followed by eager settlers. Cunningham led another New South Wales government expedition, from January through June 1827, charged by Governor Ralph Darling to explore the country to the north. With 6 men, 11 horses, and rations to last for 14 weeks, he made his way to the upper stretches of the Hunter River. Then, starting at Segenhowe, a cattle station, he crossed the Liverpool Range, finding a pass to the west of Murrundi. Discovering and crossing the Namoi, Gwydir, Dumaresq, and Condamine Rivers, he approached a vast area of open country eminently suitable for agricultural development, southwest of where the city of Brisbane now stands, to which he gave the name Darling Downs. He found a pass through the Dividing Range, now called Cunningham’s Gap, down to Moreton’s Bay, before returning to Sydney across the New England Plateau, another rich agricultural region. He attempted to improve upon his discoveries by approaching the Downs from the coast, up the Logan and Bremer Rivers, but the route proved impracticable. In 1829, he explored inland from the Brisbane River.

–D– DALE, ROBERT (fl. early 19th century). After exploring the source of the Helena River, Western Australia, in 1829, Ensign Robert Dale, of the 63rd Regiment of Foot, led the first settlers of the Eastern District of Perth over

52 •

DALRYMPLE, ALEXANDER (1737–1808)

the hills from Guildford in September 1831. Ascending into the jarrah forests of the Darling Range, he pushed further east to establish a settlement at York. Then, in accordance with Governor Sir James Stirling’s instructions, he took a small party to explore the country to the south to discover the site of the present-day town of Beverley. After returning to York he set out again, followed the course of the Avon River, and named the town of Newcastle, which, in 1910 reverted to its Aboriginal name of Toodyay. DALRYMPLE, ALEXANDER (1737–1808). A self-taught expert navigator and marine surveyor, with practical experience in those sciences, while a servant of the East India Company, in India and the East Indies, Alexander Dalrymple returned to England in 1765 at a time when Pacific exploration was very much in the London air. Already enjoying a reputation for a keen historical interest in voyages of discovery, a fruit of his leisure hours in India, and consumed with a special interest in the unknown southern continent, he quickly involved himself in the promotion of British exploration in the South Seas. In 1767 Dalrymple privately printed An Account of the Discoveries made in the South Pacifick Ocean previous to 1764. This work was largely a geographical description of the discoveries made between Ferdinand Magellan’s 1519–1522 circumnavigation voyage and the 1721–1722 voyage of Jakob Roggeveen. It concentrated on that part of the South Pacific lying between South America and where the voyages of Abel Tasman and Jakob Le Maire intersected, that being the only area where the southern continent could possibly be located. Also included was a chart on which Dalrymple attempted to depict the routes of the various voyages, notably Luis Vaez de Torres’s track between New Holland and New Guinea, gleaned from a close examination of Juan Luis Arias’s “Memorial to His Catholic Majesty, Phillip III, King of Spain.” Dalrymple began to enlist influential support for him to be appointed leader of the expedition to the Pacific fitted out by the government, at the request of the Royal Society, in order to observe the impending Transit of Venus. His ambition faltered when the Admiralty declined to allow a civilian to command a ship of the Royal Navy. Dalrymple could not countenance sailing in a secondary capacity; he needed to direct the ship’s course to search for a new continent once the Venus operations were completed. James Cook was appointed to the command. Before the Endeavour sailed, Dalrymple gave Sir Joseph Banks, the senior Royal Society representative on board, a copy of his privately printed book. After Cook departed, Dalrymple worked on his An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Seas, based largely on

DALRYMPLE, GEORGE ELPHINSTONE (1826–1876)

• 53

Spanish source material relating to the discoveries of Alvaro de Mendaña, Pedro Fernandez de Quirós, Tasman, Le Maire, and Roggeveen. So anxious was he to persuade the British government to assume a leading role in the discovery of a southern continent that he somewhat rashly predicted that its inhabitants would number in excess of 50 million and that the distance between its eastern and western extremities would extend to over 5,300 miles. Dalrymple published the first volume of his Historical Collection in 1770, catching the mood of the times. On Cook’s return, having failed to prove conclusively either that a southern continent existed or was merely a figment of geographers’ imaginations, he joined Banks and Cook in urging a second voyage to settle the question once and for all. After Cook’s return from his second voyage in 1775 it was clear that no southern continent in fact existed apart from New Holland or Antarctica. But, if Dalrymple’s strongly held opinion had been proven wrong, it must be underlined that his constant urgings of the British government to persist in the search contributed in no small measure to solving the centuries-old conundrum. DALRYMPLE, GEORGE ELPHINSTONE (1826–1876). In February 1859, Dalrymple published his Proposals for the Establishment of a New Pastoral Settlement in North Australia, and in August of the same year, he led a small private syndicate expedition from Princhester, north of Rockhampton, Queensland, across the coastal range to explore the Burdekin River region, following that river down to its gorge, thus becoming the first European on this stretch of the river. His discovery that the area between the Leichhardt and coastal ranges included excellent pastureland was of immense interest to syndicate members, but in January 1860, the Queensland government refused to open it up for settlement. The following year, as Commissioner of Crown Lands, Dalrymple sailed in the schooner HMCS Spitfire to assess the possibilities of a settlement at Port Denison, recently discovered by Captain H. D. Sinclair. The assessment proving favorable, he took a party a short distance inland in 1861 to found the town of Bowen, the first colonial settlement in North Queensland. From January through March 1864, Dalrymple established the new port of Cardwell, further north on the east coast of Queensland, and explored the steep scrubland inland, discovering the Herbert River and reaching the Valley of Lagoons on the upper Burdekin. He embarked on fresh coastal exploration, north and south of the present tropical resort of Cairns, in 1872 and again in 1873, exploring the mouths of the Moresby, Johnstone, Mulgrave, Bloomfield, and Daintree Rivers, returning with reports of large areas suitable for arable farming on the coastal fringe north of Cardwell.

54 •

DAMPER

DAMPER. A thick slab of unleavened scone made from flour dampened by water. Together with black sweetened tea, it formed the staple diet of Australian explorers. Until it ran out, that is. DAMPIER, WILLIAM (1652–1715). At the end of 1687 William Dampier, navigator of the pirate ship Cygnet, was running south in the Timor Sea. In his own words, “we stood off South, intending to touch at New Holland, a part of Terra Australis Incognita, to see what that country would afford us.” Thus casually was the first British landing on the Australian continent brought about. Not that Dampier was too certain as to their landfall. “New Holland is a very large Tract of Land. It is not yet determined Whether it is an Island or a main continent but I am certain it joins neither Asia, Africa, nor America.” The Cygnet anchored on January 5, 1688, in a deep bay in 16° 50' South latitude in the northwest corner of King Sound, near Cape Lévêque, and remained there until February 12. During the five-week stay, Dampier proved a conscientious observer and explorer; he was not taken by the surrounding country, and his derogatory comments about the Aborigines unfortunately reechoed down the years. After further adventurous episodes, Dampier arrived back in London in 1691. His book A New Voyage Round The World (1697), based on his journal, excited interest in the South Pacific region, including that of King William III, who ordered the Admiralty to fit out its first official voyage of discovery. Dampier was appointed Captain of HMS Roebuck, surely the most unlikely character ever to command a Royal Navy ship and to lead a government-sponsored scientific expedition to the Pacific Ocean. As he sailed from England on January 14, 1699, his first intention was to enter the Pacific round Cape Horn and to direct his course westward to the unknown coast of New Holland between latitudes 35º and 40º, but circumstances persuaded him to follow the well-known Dutch route across the Indian Ocean to the west coast. He reached Shark Bay, which Willem de Vlamingh had visited two years earlier, on July 31. Sailing northward up the coast for 900 miles he discovered a chain of islands, now named the Dampier Archipelago, recording in his account of the voyage that “by the great tides I met with a while afterwards, more to the N.East, I had a strong Suspicion that here might be a . . . Passage possible to the S. of New Holland and N. Guinea into the great S. Sea Eastward; which I had thoughts also of attempting in my Return from N.Guinea.” This notion was to enjoy a long life to the early years of the 19th century. (See OCEANIC CHANNEL.) After landing at Roebuck Bay, where there was a violent encounter with Aborigines, Dampier stood off for Timor in September to obtain fresh pro-

DAUPHIN MAP

• 55

visions. He then sailed offshore along the northern shores of New Guinea to become the first European mariner to land on the large island of New Britain. His plan to sail further eastward to discover if a passage existed between New Guinea and New Holland, and to search for Terra Australis Incognita, was thwarted by the dire condition of his ship. DAMPIERIA. Named after William Dampier, this was one of the nine Australian states proposed in Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia. Its suggested boundaries ran from Shark Bay along the 26th parallel as far as the 120º East meridian, and then north to King’s Sound and the Buccaneer Archipelago, effectively cutting present-day Western Australia in half. DAMPIER’S CHANNEL. See FRIEND OF AUSTRALIA. DARKE, JOHN CHARLES (1806–1844). In August 1844, John Darke, a licensed land surveyor, led a four-man exploring party out of Port Lincoln, South Australia, on the western side of Spencer Gulf, to search for good pastoral land. After skirting Lake Wangaru, they followed a string of salt lakes and proceeded north and northwestward as far as the Gawler Range. Up to this point they had passed through well-grassed plains but, beyond the Range, the prospect was not so favorable. On the return journey Darke died of an Aborigine spear wound. DARWIN. See PORT DARWIN. DAUPHIN MAP. It is sometimes called the Harleian Map because it reappeared in the library of Robert and Edward Harley, first and second Earls of Oxford, in the early years of the 18th century. Although purloined by the family butler before the Harleian Library was presented to the British Museum Library in 1753, it eventually came into the possession of Sir Joseph Banks, who, fully aware of its importance to the history of the discovery of Australia, presented it to the Museum in 1790. It is now in the map collections of the British Library. Exquisitely drawn and lavishly colored, probably between 1547 and 1550, the Dauphin Map, some eight feet by four feet in dimension, appears to be a composite map in two cartographical styles. Java-la-Grande’s west coast shows positive and exact geographical detail of the coastline, its bays and inlets, capes and offshore islands, whereas the eastern coast is quite different, a wavy line conventionally representing the coastline but not really

56 •

DAVIDSON, ALLAN (FL. TURN OF 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES)

corresponding to exact geographical features. These differences are thought to be the result of many sightings of the west coast as opposed to perhaps only a single voyage down the eastern side of the continent. The inaccurate outline of the Gulf of Carpentaria on the northern coast, indicating perhaps a lack of detailed investigation of the Gulf, provides a convenient argument for the detractors of the Dieppe Maps who deny their relevance to the discovery of Australia. So called because it was ordered by Francis I, King of France, for his son, the Dauphin, who succeeded to the throne as Henry II, the Dauphin Map is unsigned, although there is strong speculation that its author was Pierre Desceliers. Its description of Java-la-Grande differs from his 1546 chart in that it runs off the map in 63º South latitude and is not connected to a southern continent. DAVIDSON, ALLAN (fl. turn of 19th and 20th centuries). One of Australia’s least-known explorers, Allan Davidson ventured into unknown country west of Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory, searching for minerals on behalf of The Central Exploring Syndicate, a London-based company licensed by the South Australian government. He spent much of 1898 and the early months of 1899 surveying the Murchison and Davenport Ranges in a discouraging search for signs of gold before traveling to London to discuss the next moves with the syndicate’s directors. The upshot was a decision to explore west toward the Western Australian border. Davidson left Kelly Well, 33 miles south of Tennant Creek, on May 5, 1900, heading west with four men, one an Aborigine, and nine camels to carry them and their supplies. After 16 days’ travel across monotonous red desert, with no prospect of more promising country, they worked their way northward toward the headwaters of the Victoria River until, on May 29, they encountered Winnecke Creek. In this area they found traces of Nathaniel Buchanan, after whom Davidson named some nearby hills. Arriving at the source of the creek, on June 22 the expedition set up a base camp for reconnaissance parties prospecting in the surrounding hills; Wilson Creek was discovered but no gold. Striking south, Davidson next discovered the Gardner Range but, after six days’ prospecting, again without success, he moved further south and, on July 23, reached his furthermost point, 30 miles inside Western Australia. On the return journey more promising traces of gold were found at the Tanami rockholes but, without the time or resources to investigate further, the expedition followed a southeasterly course to The Granites, where 11 days were spent prospecting, again with disappointing results. With rations

DEAD HEART OF AUSTRALIA

• 57

running dangerously low, the expedition made its way, via the Lander River, to Barrow Creek telegraph station, which was reached on September 20. Although profitless in commercial terms, Davidson had explored one of the few remaining unknown regions of Australia. DAVIS LAND. According to William Dampier, Edward Davis had informed him that “in the Latitude of 27 South, about 500 Leagues from Copayapo, on the Coast of Chile, he saw a small sandy Island just by him; and that they saw to the Westward of it a long Tract of pretty high Land, tending away toward the North West out of sight. This might probably be the Coast of Terra Australis Incognita” (A New Voyage Round the World, 1697 ). DAWES, WILLIAM (1762–1830). Lieutenant William Dawes, Royal Marines, led the first exploration party to penetrate into the Blue Mountains. At the instigation of Governor Arthur Phillip, he led a party of three, setting out from Prospect Mill on December 9, 1789, to follow Watkin Tench’s route to the Nepean River. He set a compass course toward his objective, Mount Hay, and patiently followed it for the next four days through a rapid succession of ravines and valleys until he reached Mount Twiss (now Dawes Ridge), six miles from his objective. With supplies running low, and a number of ravines still to negotiate, the decision was made to turn back. On this initial venture into the mountains, Dawes had reached a point 54 miles inland. He was also a member of Tench’s party, which explored to the southwest of Port Jackson in August 1790. DAY, T. E. (1866–1930). Surveyor-General of South Australia, Day made an extensive traverse of a large portion of Central Australia in 1916 in order to record country suitable for pastoral purposes between the 26th and 21st parallels of South latitude and to fix the approximate positions of natural features not previously indicated by early explorers. From the Anacoora Bore, he traveled to the vanishing points of the Hale and Todd Rivers. DEAD HEART OF AUSTRALIA. A commonly used term for the arid center of the Australian continent first applied by John Walter Gregory to the Lake Eyre salt pans that drain the central Australian rivers. Essentially, it represents the initial disappointment experienced when the first explorers described the nature of the country surrounding Lake Eyre. Contrary to popular supposition, the region does not suffer from perpetual drought; 10 inches of rain fall a year, but the rain is immediately absorbed by the dry, loose topsoil. Cecil Madigan describes it as “the focus of a drainage basin

58 •

DEAD LEVELS

of four hundred and fifty thousand square miles of country” (Crossing the Dead Heart, 2001 ed., p. 151) More specifically, the term is applied to the Simpson Desert, which extends across the southeastern sections of the Northern Territory into Queensland and the northeastern region of South Australia. DEAD LEVELS. See FRIEND OF AUSTRALIA. DEAD RECKONING. A method of calculating distances sailed by throwing a log attached to a line from the ship’s bow and noting the time for it to reach its stern, thus allowing the ship’s speed to be checked. Together with a record of the ship’s course, this enabled the navigator to determine the ship’s position on the chart. The notorious and proven unreliability of this rudimentary method was compounded by the constant changes in winds and currents. DE BROSSES, CHARLES (1709–1777). President of the Parlement in Dijon, Burgundy, de Brosses was a scholar with a strong interest in geography who published his seminal work, Histoire de la Navigation aux Terres Australes (History of Navigation to the South Lands), in 1756. Part a study of previous voyages and explorations in the South Seas, notably that of Binot Paulmyer de Gonneville, part an argument for the existence of a southern continent, and part a promotion and an encouragement of French state colonization for the purpose of trade, this work exerted a strong influence on French and British statesmen and South Pacific explorers. De Brosses divided the southern lands into three huge regions: Magellanica in the South Atlantic, and, coining two new geographical terms, Polynesia in the South Pacific and Australasia in the South Indian Ocean. The island of New Britain, first discovered by William Dampier at the beginning of the century, was de Brosses’s first choice for an advance French base. From here a full exploration could be mounted to the Gulf of Carpentaria, Austrialia del Espíritu Santo, New Holland, New Zealand, and Van Diemen’s Land to discover whether these lands formed a single continent or were, as many believed, separated by straits. It is known that Louis-Antoine de Bougainville and James Cook were familiar with de Brosses’s work when sailing on their Pacific voyages in the late 1760s. See also CALLANDER, JOHN. DEDELSLAND. The name given to the coast discovered south of the Swan River by Frederik de Houtman in 1619.

DEPOT GLEN

• 59

DELFT, MAARTEN VAN (fl. early 18th century). In 1705 the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) made a final attempt to explore the northwest coast of New Holland. Maarten van Delft, sailing in the Vossenbosch, accompanied by two smaller ships, D’Waijer and Nova Hollandia, in a three-month voyage from April 2 through July 7, carefully examined the coasts, sand banks, reefs, bays, headlands, islands, and rivers, from a point south of the western cape of Van Diemen Land (not to be confused with Van Diemen’s Land), northeastward to Arnhem Land. The voyage seems to have added to the speculation that a passage from an inlet in this region passed right through to the south coast of New Holland, which consisted mostly of islands. See also OCEANIC CHANNEL. DELTA OF AUSTRALIA. See FRIEND OF AUSTRALIA. D’ENTRECASTEAUX, ANTOINE-RAYMOND-JOSEPH DE BRUNI (1737–1793). One of France’s most distinguished naval officers of the 18th century, D’Entrecasteaux was given command of the expedition fitted out to search for La Pérousse. He had orders to also conduct a thorough survey of the coasts of New Holland and Van Diemen’s Land. During a five-week stay there, from April 21 through May 28, 1792, D’Entrecasteaux’s ships, Recherche and Espérance, sailed through the channel between the mainland and Bruni Island into Storm Bay and examined the deep natural harbor of the Derwent Estuary. After a fruitless search for La Pérousse in the islands east and southeast of New Guinea, D’Entrecasteaux approached the southwest coast of New Holland near Cape Leeuwin and sailed eastward past Point Entrecasteaux to Esperance Bay and the Recherche Archipelago, along the shores of Nuyts Land in the Great Australian Bight. A severe shortage of freshwater forced D’Entrecasteaux to call off the survey work and to steer for Van Diemen’s Land again. He had accurately surveyed 900 miles of coastline. Arriving in Recherche Bay on January 21 and departing on February 27, 1793, the expedition revised the charts made the previous year and named the channels, capes, and islands they had discovered. It seems likely that D’Entrecasteaux may have guessed that Van Diemen’s Land was an island but he was not prepared to investigate this because of the time involved. DEPOT GLEN. Situated on Preservation Creek, in the remotest northwestern corner of New South Wales, Depot Glen is the second best-known campsite in the history of Australian exploration after the Dig Tree on Cooper’s Creek. Charles Sturt arrived there on January 27, 1845, at the height of summer, and

60 •

DESCELIERS, PIERRE (FL. MID-16TH CENTURY)

stayed for six months because no other water source could be found by the reconnaissance parties he sent out. It was at Depot Glen that James Poole, Sturt’s assistant and second-in-command, succumbed to scurvy. DESCELIERS, PIERRE (fl. mid-16th century). Known as the father of French hydrography and cartography, probably because of his official appointment as instructor and examiner of French pilots, Desceliers is the author of three holograph Dieppe Maps. His 1546 map, sometimes known as the Royal map because it was commissioned by Henry II of France, fills in the blanks of Java-la-Grande with a copious array of place-names and joins it to Terre Australe non du tout descouverte (the southern land not fully discovered). Effectively it was depicted as a huge promontory of an even larger landmass stretching round the globe. Now in the John Rylands Library, Manchester (UK), the 1546 map was based on the Dauphin Map, which he may well have drawn himself. Desceliers’s 1550 map is notable for beautifully illustrated iconographic images, clearly Indonesian in origin, and shows some differences from his earlier map in that the eastern coastline now disappears in 29º South latitude, indicating that, although Desceliers was convinced of Java-la-Grande’s existence, he was less convinced of an Antarctic continent. This map is now in the collections of the British Library in London. Desceliers’s third map, dated 1553, survives only in facsimile form: it adds little to Australian cartography. DESLIENS, NICOLAS (fl. mid-16th century). Internal geographical evidence indicates that Desliens’s world map was drawn in 1561, making it one of the later Dieppe Maps, although dated 20 years earlier. Its two most distinctive features are its apparent accuracy, especially of the Javala-Grande coastline, suggesting it was prepared for use at sea, and the Portuguese flags flying over the new country, a strong indication of Portuguese discovery. Destroyed in World War II, it survives in several copies of a 1903 facsimile edition. DE SURVILLE, JEAN FRANÇOIS MARIE (?–1770). While engaged in a privately organized trading voyage to the East Indies, De Surville heard rumors of a recent English discovery of a fabulously rich island in the Pacific, 500 miles off the coast of South America between latitudes 27° and 28° South. Confusing this island with the mythical Davis Land he immediately set off to find it, sailing along the north shores of the Solomon Islands into the Coral Sea, missing the New Hebrides, before turning east to New Zealand. Round-

DIEPPE MAPS

• 61

ing North Cape on December 15, 1769, he sailed on into unknown seas on a tortuous course between 34° and 40° South before scurvy and a shortage of food and water forced him to make for South America, anchoring off Chile, not far from Callao, on April 7, 1770. De Surville was drowned attempting to land in heavy seas. His voyage, along with those of James Cook, proved that if a southern continent existed, it was to be found in impossibly high latitudes. DIEMEN, ANTHONIJ VAN. A firm believer in the legendary wealth of the unknown southern continent, Anthonij van Diemen, the energetic GovernorGeneral of the East Indies 1636–1645, was instrumental in persuading the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) to equip Abel Tasman’s voyage of discovery in 1642 and the follow-up voyage to New Holland’s northern and western coasts two years later. These voyages to resolve the nature of the southern continent were an integral part of Van Diemen’s ambition to extend the VOC’s commercial operations and to increase its profits. DIEPPE MAPS. By the 16th century, the city and port of Dieppe, on the Normandy coast of France, had a long tradition of maritime enterprise. Several exceptional geographers and cartographers became established there and, during the period 1540–1570, a number of extremely colorful and attractive maps were designed to adorn the studies and libraries of the European nobility. In all, the surviving Dieppe maps comprise 200-plus holograph charts, in 8 atlases, and include 12 world maps and 10 nautical planispheres. Their intrinsic cartographical significance lies in a large landmass, named Java-laGrande, close to the true position of Australia. Based as they are on sightings from the heaving decks and crow’s-nests of small vessels at sea, on magnetic compass bearings, the measurement of latitude by rudimentary instruments, and with no effective method of establishing longitude, it is small wonder that they do not conform to modern standards of cartographical accuracy. But, if they are transposed to a familiar projection, if allowances are made for magnetic deviation, and if they are tilted to allow for errors, then Java-la-Grande assumes the recognizable shape of Australia. Scholarly opinion differs as to whether the Portuguese knowledge was accumulated from various Indonesian accounts, from fortuitous sightings from ships blown off course from their trading routes, or from a deliberate sweep of the seas by Christovão de Mendonca in 1521. Certainly the Portuguese had a strong motive for discovering where Java-la-Grande was, in that the Spanish circumnavigation of 1519–1522 made it imperative to discover whether the landmass lay to the Portuguese or Spanish side of the Line of Demarcation. That many coastal place-names on the maps were

62 •

DIG TREE

Portuguese, or discernibly Portuguese in origin, and that one map was decorated with Portuguese flags, seemed to confirm that the Dieppe maps derived from a single Portuguese prototype probably obtained from the Casa de India e Mina by an early instance of industrial espionage. The historical significance of Java-la-Grande as depicted on the maps, first realized at the end of the 18th century but not even now universally accepted, is that the maps point to a Portuguese discovery of Australia some 60 or 70 years before the first recorded Dutch contact. See also DAUPHIN MAP; DESCELIERS, PIERRE; DESLIENS, NICOLAS; ROTZ, JEAN; VALLARD ATLAS. DIG TREE. Although bark has now grown over most of the words blazed on a prominent coolibah tree at Robert O’Hara Burke’s depot camp, the tree itself still stands on Cooper’s Creek, 44 miles northeast of the small settlement at Innamincka in South Australia. When Burke, William John Wills, and John King trudged into camp, only hours after William Brahe led his party back to Menindie on April 21, 1861, they saw Brahe’s message: DIG 3 FT.NW. APR 21 1861 Digging down at the spot indicated, the three men found a camel box containing rations and a message in a bottle. Burke placed a message of his own in the cache but, by mischance, rescuers returning to the camp two weeks later stayed only for 15 minutes and did not think to reopen it. If they had, the final tragedy would have been averted. DIRK HARTOG’S PLATE. To mark his landfall on the island that now bears his name, Dirck Hartog had a sailor’s medium-size pewter plate flattened, inscribed, and nailed to a pole, which was raised on the island’s northern headland, now known as Cape Inscription. It reads (in English translation) “October 25, 1616 arrived here the ship Eendracht of Amsterdam, the supercargo Gillis Miebais of Liège, captain Dirck Hatichs of Amsterdam, October 27 set sail for Bantam, the undermerchant Jan Stins, the upper steersman Pieter Doekes van Bil. Anno 1616.” The plate was found 81 years later by Willem de Vlamingh, who took it to Batavia where it was sent on to the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) in Amsterdam with a covering letter conveying the Batavian officers’ amazement that it had withstood the ravages of time and weather for

DRAKE, FRANCIS (1543–1596)

• 63

so many years. The plate is now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. See also VLAMINGH’S PLATE. DIXON, ROBERT (1800–1858). Appointed an Assistant Surveyor in New South Wales under Surveyor-General John Oxley in 1826, Robert Dixon traced the coastline along the southern shores of the harbor to St. George’s River and from Illawarra to Dapto Creek. In 1827 he was one of the party with Thomas Livingstone Mitchell and Edmund Lockyer exploring the Grose Valley. From September through November of that year he surveyed Camden Country and ventured into the impenetrable and perilous Burragorang Valley. The next year he followed the course of the Nattai, Warragamba, and Wollondilly Rivers and, in 1829, he surveyed the area between Mount York and Bathurst. Dixon’s incessant field activity continued in 1830 when he traced the Molongo River from a point near Queanbeyan to its junction with the Murrumbidgee. After surveys in the Upper Hunter Valley and in the Liverpool Range, he was ordered to follow a route through the ranges between the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers but, on his own initiative, he followed the unexplored Bogan River for a distance of nearly 70 miles and returned to Bathurst without attempting to complete his mission. Despite many brushes with officialdom for not following his instructions and for publishing unauthorized maps, Dixon was one of the key figures in New South Wales exploration. DIXSON LIBRARY AND FOUNDATION. Sir William Dixson (1870–1952) was a lifelong collector of Australiana. In 1929 he presented a valuable collection of historic pictures of Australian and Pacific interest to the Public Library of New South Wales (now the State Library). On his death in 1952, the Library received the remainder of his vast collection together with a large portfolio of capital investments, the Sir William Dixson Foundation. The Foundation’s objectives include the printing in modern type, or by photographic reproduction, of historical manuscripts relating to Australasia and the Pacific and the reprinting of books and manuscripts that have become so scarce that they are no longer available to students. DRAKE, FRANCIS (1543–1596). Three years after Richard Grenville’s proposed 1574 voyage to the South Seas had been denied by Queen Elizabeth I, the project was revived under the leadership of Francis Drake but, although its promoters had in mind Grenville’s original objectives, it seemed very unlikely that either Drake, or Elizabeth, had any serious intention to search for Terra Australis.

64 •

DRAKE-BROCKMAN, FREDERICK SLADE (1857–1917)

Sailing from Plymouth on December 13, 1577, with five ships, Drake completed the passage of the Strait of Magellan on September 6, 1578. By this time only three ships remained. Working up the west coast of South America, the small flotilla was scattered by a violent storm. Drake was blown far to the south into a hitherto unknown archipelago, sure evidence that Tierra del Fuego was not, as Ferdinand Magellan had reported, the northern shore of a continental landmass. The remainder of Drake’s celebrated circumnavigation had very little to do with Australian discovery. DRAKE-BROCKMAN, FREDERICK SLADE (1857–1917). Employed by the Western Australia Department of Public Works and Railways, DrakeBrockman surveyed the telegraph line between Wyndham and Halls Creek in the years 1885 and 1886. He was Controller of the Field Survey Staff of the Lands and Survey Department when he was appointed to lead an expedition of 11 men into largely unknown country in the Kimberley region in 1901. The expedition departed from Wyndham, on Cambridge Gulf, running south of the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, on May 9, and traveled south to the western bank of the Pentecost River. Passing its junction with the Salmond River, they followed its larger branch, which Drake-Brockman named the Chamberlain River, tracing it to the Durack Range. From there they turned west to the headwaters of the Charnley River, discovered by Frank Hann, and pushed on to the King Leopold Range. Making no serious attempt to cross the range, they turned northward to the Glenelg River, explored the Sale and Middleton Rivers and the Harding Range, and followed the Calder River to its source before riding to the upper reaches of the Prince Regent River. Crossing and naming the Princess May Ranges, the expedition descended to Prince Frederick Harbor at the junction of the Roe and Moran Rivers. Turning northeast into the interior they discovered the King Edward River, which was followed down to its mouth on Napier Brooke Bay. They ventured westward and examined the shores of Admiralty Gulf and Vansittart Bay for a suitable site for a regional port. Their route back took them up the Drysdale River before they struck southeast to Wyndham where they arrived on November 26. During this six-month circular exploration of the far northwestern region of Western Australia, Drake-Brockman had discovered over six million acres of well-grassed pastoral country and had returned with a wealth of geographical, geological, botanical, and anthropological information. He had also photographed some rock paintings similar to those found by George Grey. DUMONT D’URVILLE, JULES-SÉBASTIEN-CÉSAR (1790–1842). Given command of a French voyage of exploration to the South Pacific, which sailed in Astrolabe from Toulon on April 25, 1826, Dumont d’Urville

DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY

• 65

was instructed to search for traces of the lost La Pérousse expedition. On his outward voyage he surveyed Australia’s southern coastline, including the previously uncharted Jervis Bay, an inlet not far from Port Jackson, thus touching the nerve of Governor Ralph Darling, always sensitive to French exploration in Australian waters. DURACK, PATRICK (1834–1898). The founder of the Durack family fortunes, Patrick Durack, together with his brother Michael Durack and John Costell first overlanded cattle from Goulburn in New South Wales to establish a station in southwestern Queensland. But their cattle perished in the severe drought of 1863 and Durack and his party relied on Aborigine assistance to survive. Five years later they were more successful, setting up the Thylungra and Kyabra stations on a tributary of Cooper’s Creek. Before selling out, they had pegged out 17,000 square miles of territory between Kyabra Creek and the Diamantina River. Alexander Forrest’s report of his 1879 expedition in northwestern Australia, with its description of almost unlimited pastoral country in the Kimberleys region, came at an opportune moment for Durack and seized his imagination. The prevailing drought in the Cooper’s Creek area had hit his family’s cattle stations hard and he determined to overland his herd to the Ord River region in the northeast corner of Western Australia, taking out leases of large stretches of fertile country, but not before dispatching brother Michael by sea from Brisbane to the Cambridge Gulf, the outlet of the Ord, to inspect and to assess the region’s grazing potential. At Thylungra station, Durack organized an epic 3,000-mile overland trek of 7,250 breeding cattle, 200 horses, and 60 working bullocks, organized in 4 mobs, over virtually unknown country, which was to last 2 years and 4 months. Led by five members of the Durack family, the first mob started out in May 1883 and was joined by the other three along the Thomson River. After plodding their way across the Diamantina grasslands toward Parker Springs, and then 50 miles of waterless desert to the Hamilton River, where the scent of water caused the cattle to stampede, they directed their course north toward the dry beds of the Georgina River where they were obliged to wait for nearly 4 months before the rains came. Torrential rain delayed them at Rosey Creek, where malaria was rampant, but they eventually reached the Ord River in September 1885. They had lost half their number through disease, crocodiles, pests, and poisonous plants. Patrick Durack estimated that the trek had cost £70,000 or £20 per head of stock. DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY. See VEREENIGDE OOSTINDISCHE COMPAGNIE.

66 •

EDWARDSON, WILLIAM LAWRENCE (DIED 1826)

–E–

EDWARDSON, WILLIAM LAWRENCE (died 1826). Following John Bingle’s voyage in March 1822, Edwardson was given command of HM Cutter Snapper to explore the coast north of latitude 28º 30’ South. He sailed into Moreton Bay on June 14, examined almost the entire length of Pumicestone Channel, and reconnoitred other channels at the southern end of the Bay before proceeding north just beyond latitude 25º South to examine Hervey Bay and to settle the insular nature of Fraser Island. EENDRACHTSLAND. A shortened form of ’tlandt van d’Eendracht (the land of Eendracht), the name given by Hessel Gerritsz to that part of the South Western Australia coast discovered in 1616 by Dirck Hartog, whose ship was the Eendracht (Concord). Later-17th-century Dutch charts applied the name to the whole of the south land. EGYPTIANS. Before recoiling in absolute incredulity that, deep in antiquity, oceangoing mariners from ancient Egypt landed on Australian shores, the evidence unearthed by Michael Terry, the veteran explorer of the Australian interior, should be investigated. In 1961, on a mining exploration west of Alice Springs, near the Western Australian border, he spotted a carving of a rhinoceros-type animal, with short stumpy legs, a long upswept tail, and a curved back and horn. A short distance away, further search “revealed a horizontal human figure about seven feet long on a cliff face. . . . It seemed to have some kind of headdress, or helmet. There was a proper outline of anatomy. Whereas Aborigines are content to represent legs and arms by straight lines, this figure possessed ankles, calves, thighs and so on” (“Did Ptolemy Know of Australia?” Walkabout, August 1965). Six examples of a “ram’s head” symbol were also found nearby. Both the “rhinoceros” and the horizontal figure were 30 feet above the present ground level, suggesting that the platform used by the carver had eroded away, testifying to their great age. Intrigued by this discovery, Terry embarked on further research into the whole question of pre-16th-century sightings and even landings on the southern continent. He reported that in 1891, Joseph Bradshaw found rock paintings in a cave near the Prince Regent River in Western Australia and quoted him as stating: “the most remarkable fact is that wherever a profile face in shown the features are of a most pronounced aquiline type, quite different from those of the natives we encountered. One might imagine himself viewing the painted walls of an ancient Egyptian temple.”

EL NIÑO

• 67

Terry also documents the finding of a 2,200-year-old coin of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV (221–204 B.C.) by Andy Henderson in 1910, discovered while he was sinking a line of post holes across an Aboriginal track. The coin was two feet below the surface of a gravel ridge in a rain forest, inland from Taylor’s Bay, 10 miles north of Cairns, a location that positively invites enticing speculation because the bay “is an obvious shelter from the south-east monsoon. I hazard that ancient mariners anchored there, and that some of the crew went ashore to explore the tableland, by way of the sole access, the Aboriginal walking-track. Possibly one carried a bag of coins which broke, or in some other way dropped the coin that Henderson retrieved” (“Australia’s Unwritten History.” Walkabout, August 1967). Of course, it is always pleasant and diverting to indulge in flights of fancy but the impartial observer might conclude that Terry offers a sufficient core of hard facts to warrant further academic research. ELDER, THOMAS (1818–1897). A prominent landowner and pastoralist whose wealth derived from copper mining and his wool-selling business, Sir Thomas Elder was one of 19th-century Australia’s richest men and an enthusiastic exponent and practical supporter of exploration in the interior. He fitted out Peter Egerton Warburton’s 4,000-mile journey from the center to the Western Australian coast; he equipped Ernest Giles’s last three expeditions; he supported John Lewis’s 1875 explorations around Lake Eyre; and he gave his name, and money, to the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition, mounted by the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch in 1891. Elder was also responsible for the large-scale importing of camels into Australia. With typical acumen and foresight he realized that these animals could provide the answer to the transportation problem across Australia’s deserts and in opening up the Outback. He imported 121 camels in January 1866 and from these bred a sturdy stock, noted for their strength and stamina, which he offered freely to exploring expeditions. One hundred of his camels were engaged on the construction of the Overland Telegraph and they were also used extensively by David Lindsay, Alfred Canning, W. F. Rudall, and Hubert Trotman on their explorations in Western Australia. ELDER SCIENTIFIC EXPLORING EXPEDITION. See LINDSAY, DAVID; WELLS, LAWRENCE ALAN. EL NIÑO. A periodic disturbance of the Humboldt Current off the coast of Peru whose knock-on effects have a catastrophic influence on the world’s

68 •

ENCOUNTER BAY

weather systems. It is argued in Ross Couper-Johnston’s The Weather Phenomenon That Changed the World (2000) that when James Cook landed in Botany Bay in April 1770 it was during a period when El Niño had transformed a dry arid land into short-lived lush meadows. His promising and favorable report was not borne out in reality when Governor Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet sailed into the Bay 18 years later. “It was Cook who left on record an opinion that was on the whole favorable, with mention of rich meadow land and soil fit for cultivation. Australians of the locality have never found this soil, and the reasons for Cook’s estimate remain a mystery” (James A. Williamson. Cook and the Opening of the Pacific, 1946, p. 134). ENCOUNTER BAY. On the top of a bluff overlooking Encounter Bay, due south of Adelaide, a plaque recalls the meeting of Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin. It reads: “In Commemoration Of The Meeting Near This Bluff Between H.M.S. ‘Investigator’–Matthew Flinders Who Explored The Coast Of South Australia And M.F. ‘Le Geographe’–Nicolas Baudin, April 8, 1802. On board The ‘Investigator’ Was John Franklin The Arctic Discoverer. These English and French Explorers Held Friendly Conference. And Flinders Named The Place Of Meeting, ‘Encounter Bay’. Unveiled By His Excellency Lord Tennyson, April 8, 1902.” EQUIPMENT. What sort of transportation should be adopted, and the amount of stores needed for an overland expedition, depended on a number of crucial factors: how many men were on the expedition; how long they would be away from settled districts, where their supplies could be replenished; the possibilities of living off the land; and how much reserve capacity should be allowed for unforeseen circumstances and emergencies. As an example of what might be involved in the preparation of the equipment of a large expedition, the inventory of Augustus Charles Gregory’s 1855–1856 North Australian Exploring Expedition was: Provisions for 18 Months.–17,000lbs of flour, 5,000lbs salt pork, 2,000lbs bacon, 2,000lbs fresh meat in 6lb tins, 2,800lbs rice, 2,500lbs sugar, 400lbs teas, 350lbs tobacco, 350lbs soap, and 500lbs salt. 100 gallons vinegar, 300 sheep, 200lbs sage, 640 pints peas, 2cwt coffee, 500lbs lime juice, 6 gallons lamp oil, 1lb cotton wick. Land Conveyance.–50 horses, 35 pack saddles, 15 riding saddles, 50 horse blankets, 800 fathoms tether rope 11⁄2 and 2 inch, 20 horse bells with straps, 100 pair hobbles, 3 light horse drays; 3 sets harness, 3 horses each; 50 spare girths, 50 yards strong girth web, 50 bridles, 10 pair holster bags,

EQUIPMENT

• 69

10 pair stirrup leathers, 5 pair stirrup irons, 40 pair canvas pack-saddle bags, 100 straps, 200 buckles, 4 leather water bags, 20 pair spurs, 150lbs leather for repairs, 600 horse shoes and nails, 240 provision bags, 300 yards canvas, 20lbs sewing twine, 100 needles, 6 palms, 24 saddler’s awls, 48 balls hemp, 1⁄2lb bristles, 6lbs resin, 6lbs bees’ wax, 12 hanks small cord, 6 currycombs and brushes, 25 tether swivels. Arms and Ammunition.–16 double guns, 4 rifles, 10 revolvers, 10 pistols, 200 lbs gunpowder, 1,000lbs shot and lead, 30,000 percussion caps, 20 belts and pouches, 15 gun buckets, straps, locks, spare nipples, moulds, punches, 4 ladles, powder flasks, shot pouches, &c., for each gun. Camp Furniture.–5 tents 8 feet square calico, 150 yards calico, 12 camp kettles (1⁄2–3 galls.), 6 doz. pannikins, 4 doz. tin dishes (small), 1 doz. large, 4 doz. knives and forks, 4 doz. iron spoons, 6 frying pans, 6 leather buckets, 6 water kegs (6, 4, and 2 galls.), 6 spades, 4 rocket shovels, 4 pickaxes, 2 spring balances (25 and 50 lbs), 1 steelyard (150lbs), 1 sheep net (150 yards). Instruments.–2 sextants (5 and 6 inch), 2 box do., 2 artificial horizons, 10 lbs mercury in 2 iron bottles, 4 prismatic compasses, 11 pocket compasses, spare cards and glasses for compasses, 3 aneroid barometers, 4 thermometers to 180, 2 telescopes, 1 duplex watch, 1 lever watch, 1 case drawing instruments; 2 pocket cases, pillar compass, and protractor; surveying chain and arrows, 2 measuring tapes, 1 drawing board (30 ⫻ 40), 2 pocket lenses. Stationery and Nautical Tables. Tools.–1 portable forge, 1 anvil (1⁄2 cwt.), 2 hammers and set of tongs, 10lbs cast steel, 11lbs blister steel, 100 lbs bar and rod iron, 3 smiths’ files, 3 large axes (American), 6 small do.; 1 large tool chest. Clothing.–120 pair moleskin trowsers, 120 pair serge shirts, 120 cotton shirts, 20 pair boots, 40 oiled calico capes, 40 hats (Manilla), 40 blankets. Artists’ Materials. Miscellaneous.–5yds mosquito net, green; 500 pot-hooks, 25 fishinglines, 2 gross matches, 1 gross tobacco-pipes; 2 strong cases, for instruments, stationery, &c.; 8 doz. pocket-knives, 8 doz. pocket-combs, 20 yds red serge for presents to blacks, 20 lbs iron wire, 5lbs brass ditto, grindstone and spindle, coffee-mill, 3 iron saucepans, 2 iron kettles, 6 galls. linseed oil, 6 pints olive oil, 2lbs red lead, 23lbs alum, 1lb borax. Forage for Horses and Sheep from Moreton Bay to Victoria River, 2,200 miles, at 14lbs per diem.–13 tons pressed hay, 9 tons bran, 200 bushels maize or barley, 500 bushels corn for horses after landing. Medical Chest for 2 years and 20 men. Naturalists’ Stores.

70 •

ERÉDIA, MANOEL GODINHO DE (1563–1623)

For conveyance across rivers or navigation of any inland waters, a portable canoe of inflated canvas, in four sections, each of which when inflated and laced to a frame forms half a boat, the whole forming a double canoe, on which may be laid a platform of 15 feet by 7. See also OUTFITS. ERÉDIA, MANOEL GODINHO DE (1563–1623). Of mixed Portuguese and Macassarese parentage, Erédia remains a controversial figure in the annals of Australian discovery. A skilled cartographer and surveyor, the driving force of his life was the discovery, exploration, and commercial exploitation of the great south land he named India Meridional, near enough to the same position as the Java-la-Grande indicated on the Dieppe Maps. He bombarded the Viceroy at Goa with memoranda advocating voyages of discovery and, in 1594, he was appointed Descobridor e Adelantado da Nova India (Discoverer and Chief Magistrate of New India). By 1601 his plans were maturing; the Viceroy had approved a voyage, ships and crew had been allocated, but, on arrival at Malacca, a Malay revolt and a Dutch blockade of the sea routes forced Erédia to abort his mission at the last gasp and he never actually set sail on his projected voyage. Despite this setback, Erédia nevertheless drew maps indicating the area of his intended discoveries. Inscribed prematurely on a stretch of coastline, roughly approximate to Australia’s northwest coast, is: Nuca antara foi descuberta o quo 1601 por manuel godinho de Erédia poi mandado do Vico Rey Aires de Saldaha (Nuca Antara was discovered in the year 1601 by Erédia by order of the Viceroy Aires de Saldanha). Immediately to the south is another inscription: Terra descuberta pelos Holandeses a que chamaraõ Endracht au Concordia (land discovered by the Dutch which they called Endracht or Concordia). A copy of this map came to light in the British Museum Library in 1860; another copy was attached to Erédia’s 1613 pamphlet Delaracam de Malacca e India Meridional com o Cathay (Declaration of Malacca and India Meridional with China), which found its way to the Royal Burgundy Library in Brussels where it was printed in 1871. Historians and cartographers are divided as to whether Erédia placed too much reliance on vague and confused reports of Malay and Macassarese voyages to other Indonesian islands or had certain knowledge of earlier Portuguese voyages to a landmass south of Timor. The jury is still out. EVANS, GEORGE WILLIAM (1780–1852). In September 1804, when acting as Surveyor-General of New South Wales, George Evans discovered and explored the Warragamba River upstream as far as the site of the modern Warragamba Dam and, in March 1812, he surveyed the shores of Jervis Bay

EYRE, EDWARD JOHN (1815–1901)

• 71

and led a small exploring party overland to Appin. But his place in the history of Australian exploration was secured when he was dispatched by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1813 to confirm and to expand the discoveries of Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson, and William Charles Wentworth. Departing on November 19 with five others, including three convicts, he followed Blaxland’s route to its westernmost point, passing Mount Blaxland seven days later. Continuing westward, Evans became the first European to complete a crossing of the Great Dividing Range. He descended to the Fish River, which he followed to its junction with the Campbell River. He stayed with the enlarged river, which from the confluence onward Evans named the Macquarie, following it 42 miles beyond where the city of Bathurst now stands, thereby discovering the treeless grasslands on the western slopes of the main range. Returning to the region in May and June 1815 Evans traveled to the south and west of Bathurst where he discovered the Lachlan River and followed it downstream from Cowra for four days, tracing its course to Mandagery Creek, expecting it to join the Macquarie to form a major waterway. The full significance of Evan’s discoveries resides in the encouragement they gave to the first substantial expansion of the New South Wales colony beyond the barrier of the Blue Mountains. He also acted as second-in-command on John Oxley’s 1817 and 1818 expeditions. EVERINGHAM, MATTHEW (1769–1817). A transported convict who arrived with the First Fleet, Everingham’s sentence expired in 1791 when he became a settler. Together with two First Fleet companions, William Reid, a seaman on HMS Sirius, and John Ramsay, a fellow former convict, he set out from Parramatta on October 30, 1795, to follow the Grose River into the Blue Mountains. Although their exact route remains unclear, it seems likely that they crossed Bowens Creek, climbed the slopes of Mount Irvine, and marched along the ridge westward to Mount Wilson, thereby coming close to traversing the Mountains. EYRE, EDWARD JOHN (1815–1901). An established sheep farmer and an experienced overlander who had driven cattle from Sydney to Adelaide in 1838, Eyre’s first exploratory expedition was to the Flinders Ranges, South Australia, later in the same year. In 1839 he followed the ranges eastward to Mount Arden, and from its summit he became the first European to gaze on Lake Torrens glittering among the hills to the north. Sandy desert and a shortage of provisions frustrated his attempts to explore its shores and compelled him to return to Adelaide. Voyaging by sea to Port Lincoln, on the

72 •

EYRE, EDWARD JOHN (1815–1901)

western shore of Spencer Gulf, he set out on August 5 to cross what is now known as the Eyre Peninsula. He then rode northwestward, keeping close to the shore of Streaky Bay where he established a camp. Intending to continue as far west as the conditions would allow, he advanced to within 50 miles of the South Australian border with Western Australia, then not so far west as it is today, but finding no water and no grass for his horses, he had no option but to turn back to Streaky Bay. From there he struck east and by September 9, he came to the Gawler Range, running in an east-to-west direction, south of Lake Gairdner. Still heading east he reached his previous camp at Mount Arden before turning south to Adelaide. Eyre famously recorded that on this journey “of 600 miles through, I believe, an hitherto unexplored country, we never crossed a single creek, river, or chain of ponds, nor did we meet permanent water anywhere, with the exception of three solitary springs on the coast.” Coupled with his condemnation of the Lake Torrens region as barren, arid-looking in the extreme, dismal, with sterile and desolate shores, these remarks go a long way to explain South Australia’s feeling of being hemmed in. In 1840 public interest in opening up an overland stock route to Western Australia led to a fund being subscribed to bear the cost of a pioneering expedition. When the Northern Exploring Committee offered the command to Eyre, he managed, with the help of Charles Sturt, to persuade them of its inherent impracticability and of the advantages to be derived from an expedition northward into the heart of the continent. Leaving Adelaide at the head of a party of eight, Eyre arrived at his base camp at Mount Arden on July 3. He spent the next seven weeks tracking Lake Torrens to Lake Eyre South, which he mistakenly considered to be a continuation of Lake Torrens, inexplicably missing the 50 miles of land between the two. A new depot camp was fashioned on Scott Creek, but with no water or grass to be seen to the north, he was confirmed in his belief that Lake Torrens “would be a barrier to all efforts.” On August 25 the expedition moved out from the Scott Creek depot and headed east to Mount Serle, finding yet another salt lake that Eyre believed to be a further extension of Lake Torrens but which was, in fact, Lake Frome. Following its shores northward for four days, he sighted Mount Hopeless on September 2. His uninterrupted view “for three quarters of the compass, extending south, round by east and north to west” was of an unbroken horizon. By now depressed and disillusioned, he decided “to waste no more time or energy on so desolate and forbidding a region.” Retracing his steps to Adelaide, Eyre’s mood lightened and, when crossing his former trail from Streaky Bay, he determined not to disappoint his

EYRE, EDWARD JOHN (1815–1901)

• 73

subscribers. Accordingly, he ordered his overseer, John Baxter, and most of the party back to Adelaide and, with a solitary Aborigine, headed direct to Port Lincoln. On October 7 he sent his report to the Governor and to the chairman of the Northern Exploring Committee, requesting their permission to travel west in order to explore a practicable stock route. Adelaide’s response was the arrival a fortnight later of the cutter Waterwitch, placed at his disposal to accompany him along the shores of the Great Australian Bight. Eyre traveled to Streaky Bay and joined up with Baxter and the other members of the party. The expedition started out on November 6 and proceeded as far as Fowler Bay where it kept a rendezvous with Waterwitch. To allow his horses to recuperate, Eyre established a depot and made a not very encouraging reconnaissance along his anticipated route, finding little water, and experiencing unfriendly encounters with Aborigines. He was forced to revise his plans of taking the land party across the Nullarbor Plain equipped with drays when he learned that seaborne assistance would no longer be forthcoming when he crossed the Western Australian border. Eventually, he decided to continue with a much smaller party comprising Baxter, Wylie, the Western Australian Aborigine, and two other Aborigines. Disregarding the Governor’s pleas to abandon such folly, Eyre set out on February 25, 1841. He arrived at the last known waterhole on March 2, by which time it was clear that the terrain round the Bight, “a limitless expanse of dark, gloomy scrub” (Ernest Favenc, Explorers of Australia, 1908, p. 145), would be difficult going. Eight days later, the shortage of water was critical but, with extreme good fortune, some small Aborigine wells were found near the site of Eucla, now a ghost town, just over the border in Western Australia. Eyre rested the party for six days. Restarting on March 18, he was soon in difficulties once more, his horses were dropping one by one, and the shortage of water was once again becoming acute. Mercifully, the party came upon a well dug in some high sand hills, near Twilight Cove, and found water bubbling at a depth of five feet. Managing to struggle on, a defining moment occurred in the night of April 29 when John Baxter, who had been with Eyre on each of his expeditions, was murdered by Aborigines. Now Eyre had only Wylie for company as he continued by forced marches in order to lose the hostile Aborigines. At the edge of their endurance, the two men found a well 16 miles west of Point Culver, and 150 miles from their last water. It was a turning point. Rain started to fall, and as they were entering grass country, Eyre managed to shoot two kangaroos, a welcome addition to their meager supplies. On June 2 they sighted two ships sailing into what is now known as Mississippi

74 •

FACSIMILE MAPS AND CHARTS OF AUSTRALIA

Bay, named after the French whaler commanded by Captain Rossiter, who welcomed Eyre and Wylie on board for 12 days with generous hospitality. With his horses refreshed, Eyre insisted on resuming his journey overland and the remainder of the journey was relatively trouble-free. They were now traveling through less arduous country and, although the final few days were made miserable by torrential and very cold rain, they arrived in the agricultural and whaling town of Albany, on King Sound, on July 7. Eyre and Wylie had completed a four-month, 750-mile trek and were the first men to reach the Western Australian settlements overland from the east along the shores of the Great Australian Bight. Eyre was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Gold Medal for this epic journey of exploration.

–F– FACSIMILE MAPS AND CHARTS OF AUSTRALIA. A series of six historical maps: (1) Samuel Thornton. New Holland 1743, illustrating the west coast of Australia with an inset of Shark’s Bay by William Dampier 1701; (2) Alexander Dalrymple. Bass’s Straits 1803, showing the tracks of François Barrallier under the direction of Philip Parker King; (3) M. Bonne. Nouvelle Hollande 1787, displaying cartographic information relating to Australia derived from James Cook’s voyages; (4) Robert Dudley. Costa Australe (Southern Coast) 1646, based on information from early Dutch voyages in the Gulf of Carpentaria; (5) J. N. Bellin. Terres Australes (South Lands) 1753, based on Abel Tasman’s voyages showing New Holland, New Guinea, and Van Diemen’s Land as one continent; and (6) François Valentyn. Tasman’s Voyage 1726, depicting the track of Tasman’s 1642 voyage. These maps and charts are available from Mapping Sciences Institute, Australia, GPO Box 1817, Brisbane, Queensland, 4001, Australia. FAR NORTH. Not, as might be expected, a term for North Australia, but one used by South Australians in the 1840s and 1850s when referring to Central Australia. Later, of course, their commercial ambitions flourished and their geographical horizons receded into the far distance. FAVENC, ERNEST (1845–1908). With 14 years’ experience in the Outback under his belt, Ernest Favenc was offered the leadership of an expedition mounted by the Queenslander newspaper to examine the viability of a transcontinental railroad to Darwin and to assess the agricultural value of

FERNANDEZ, JUAN (DIED 1604?)

• 75

the country traversed. He departed from Blackall, on the Barcoo River, 600 miles north of Brisbane, in July 1878, with three companions and an Aboriginal guide. Traveling west-northwest he crossed the Thomson River and rode to Cork station on the Diamantina River, 100 miles downstream from the modern town of Winton. Entering unexplored territory to the west, he crossed the Macunda, Hamilton, and Burke Rivers before turning northwest on a direct course for Darwin along the banks of the Georgina River. He reached the headwaters of the branch of that river now known as the Ranken. Crossing the fresh tracks of Nathaniel Buchanan and striking Buchanan’s Creek, Favenc then moved northward to fine pastoral country centered on a four-mile stretch of water, which he named Corella Lagoon. Continuing north the expedition discovered the east-to-west flowing Creswell Creek. An attempt to reach the Powell’s Creek Overland Telegraph station, 90 miles across difficult terrain from Adder Waterholes, the last permanent water on the Creswell, was repulsed in intense heat, which took its toll on the expedition with three horses being lost. There was no option but to establish a camp and wait the arrival of the wet season. After a heavy thunderstorm in January 1879 the expedition was able to cross to Powell’s Creek and then to travel on to Darwin. Two years later Favenc accepted a partnership with the De Salis brothers, who wished to extend their interests in the Northern Territory. He established a station on Creswell Creek and, in February 1883, headed east from Powell’s Creek and traced the headwaters of a number of rivers flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Macarthur River was followed from its source to the sea through a wide expanse of valuable pastoral country. He also discovered and named the Kilgour River before returning by a more northerly course to the Daly Waters telegraph station. By these journeys Favenc more or less completed the exploration of the region between the telegraph line and the Queensland border. Unlike many explorers of the Australian interior, he never published an account of his experiences; but he authored The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 (1888) and Explorers of Australia (1908), which are still of interest. FERNANDEZ, JUAN (died 1604?). According to Luis Arias, Juan Fernandez sailed from Chile in 1576 on a westward course in about 40° southern latitude. In a month-long voyage he is said to have discovered a land with well-clothed white people and many fine rivers, which has variously been identified as Easter Island, New Zealand, Australia, the Solomon Islands, and Tahiti.

76 •

FINÉ, ORONCE (1494–1555)

FINÉ, ORONCE (1494–1555). It was the French astronomer and mathematician’s 1531 engraved world map Nova Et Integra Universali Orbis Descriptio (A New and Complete Description of the World) that consolidated Tierra del Fuego, discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520, into part of Terra Australis. His map influenced Gerard Mercator’s outline of the southern continent extending northwest across the Pacific until it merged with New Guinea. FINNISS, BOYLE TRAVERS (1807–1893). Granted jurisdiction over the Northern Territory by the home government in London in July 1863, the colonial government of South Australia appointed Colonel Finniss, an experienced politician and administrator, to the command of the Northern Territory Expedition and ordered him to proceed to Adam Bay, at the mouth of the Adelaide River, to find a suitable site for a settlement. If Adam Bay proved to be not suitable he was to explore Port Darwin and the Victoria River. Arriving by sea in the schooner Henry Ellis on June 21, 1864, in the dry season, Finniss decided to look no further and began marking out town and country lots to be sold to settlers and investors. But once the rains set in, it became apparent, as the new city of Palmerston sank into the mud, that the site was totally unsuitable. Finniss, an obstinate man, determined to stay. He was dismissed from his post in November 1865. Finniss undoubtedly regarded the Adelaide River as a convenient passage into the hinterland so favorably described by Ludwig Leichhardt, Augustus Charles Gregory, and John McDouall Stuart. Despite his meager resources, never possessing more than 12 horses, he dispatched several exploring parties inland, notably those under Fred Litchfield, and made a number of excursions himself up river and around the coasts to Port Darwin and to the Daly and Victoria Rivers. For all his obstinacy, Finniss was responsible for the exploration of a large part of the Northern Territory. FIRST FLEET. The fleet of 11 ships commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip, consisting of HMS Syrius, the schooner Supply, and 9 transport and store ships, which sailed from Spithead on May 13, 1787, to carry convicts to a new penal settlement at Botany Bay. In the event the settlement was transferred to Port Jackson. FIRST MAP OF AUSTRALIA. See VALLARD ATLAS. FLIES. One of the prime scourges of exploration in the Australian Outback, flies added immeasurably to the misery of ophthalmia by their incessant attacks on the eyes. There was no escaping them.

FLINDERS, MATTHEW (1774–1814)

• 77

FLINDERS, MATTHEW (1774–1814). Having explored the southern coasts of New South Wales with George Bass in 1795–1796, Matthew Flinders was given his first command, a 25-ton sloop, HMS Norfolk, in September 1798. With Bass on board and an eight-man crew, he sailed from Port Jackson on October 7 to determine once and for all whether Van Diemen’s Land was part of the Australian continent or, as Flinders, Bass, and Governor John Hunter firmly believed, was a separate island. Plotting his course by way of the Furneaux Islands, he sailed westward along the northern coast of Van Diemen’s Land and entered the estuary of the Tamar River, a good deep-sea harbor Hunter subsequently named Port Dalrymple. Spending a month there examining and charting its shores, Flinders continued his voyage past Table Cape and Circular Head. On rounding Cape Grim on December 8, the Norfolk first experienced a swell from the southwest, confirming that they were now sailing in the waters of the Southern Ocean and that a passage existed between New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, which Flinders promptly named Bass Strait. Flinders headed down the west coast and arrived in the estuary of the River Derwent on December 21, where Hobart now stands. Bass climbed Mount Wellington while Flinders surveyed the sheltered estuary. With supplies running low, the Norfolk weighed anchor and sailed up the east coast to arrive back in Port Jackson on January 12, 1799. Hunter’s belief in the existence of a strait and his confidence that Flinders would complete a successful voyage had been justified. A new island had been added to the map, and the voyage time from England to Port Jackson had been shortened by up to three weeks. Flinders remained in the colony a short time longer, sailing up the east coast to examine Moreton Bay but failing to locate the Brisbane and Clarence Rivers he had intended to follow inland. He departed for England on March 13, 1800, his mind in turmoil with plans for circumnavigating and surveying the coasts of the entire continent. Back in London, Flinders assiduously cultivated Sir Joseph Banks, dedicating his book Observations on the Coasts of Van Diemen’s Land on Bass Strait and its Islands, and on Part of the Coasts of New South Wales to him and acquainting him with his plans in the sure hope that, always deeply interested in the continent he had helped to discover, Banks would exert his influence at the Admiralty. It worked. The Admiralty issued orders on December 12 to fit out HMS Investigator. No doubt the government was alarmed by recent French interest; only two months earlier Nicolas Baudin had sailed from Le Havre and there were fears that he would forestall British exploration in New Holland. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and Matthew Flinders appeared to be the right man.

78 •

FLINDERS, MATTHEW (1774–1814)

Sailing from Spithead on July 17, 1801, by early December Flinders was at anchor in King George Harbor on the first stage of his exploration of the southern shores of New Holland. He went ashore every day, perhaps marching inland before reembarking; after the Nuyts Archipelago his survey was, if possible, even more meticulous as he sailed along the previously unexplored coastline, searching for a major river entrance to the interior. Spencer Gulf promised to lead northward but eventually ended in disappointing mud flats. In an inlet near the hidden mouth of the Murray River, which Flinders named Encounter Bay, the Investigator sighted Baudin’s ship, Le Géographie, on April 8, 1802. After exchanging information, Flinders continued eastward and by the end of the month sailed into Port Philip Bay where the city of Melbourne now stands. With a favorable wind he sped through the Bass Strait to arrive in Port Jackson at the beginning of May, having sailed 20,000 miles and having surveyed the entire southern coast of New Holland from Cape Leeuwin. After 10 weeks’ rest and attempting to refit the Investigator, Flinders set sail again. Flinders hugged the coast northward, the Great Barrier Reef preventing a passage to the open sea, and arrived at the entrance of the Torres Strait, passing through into the Gulf of Carpentaria at the beginning of November. By now the ship was in need of repair, but he determined to continue his survey round the Gulf, incredibly missing many of the rivers that emptied into it. Soon after Christmas, he reached Groote Eylandt, off the west coast of Arnhem Land, where he encountered hostile Aborigines. While cruising along its northern shores on February 17, 1803, six vessels were sighted, which proved to be praus from Macassar, part of a fleet of 60 belonging to the Rajah of Boni, searching for trepang (sea slug), counted as a delicacy by the Chinese. With repairs to the ship now being imperative, Flinders headed for the port of Kupang on the island of Timor. At this point he was forced to abandon the coastal circumnavigation because of the onset of scurvy and dysentery and to set all the sail his ship could carry to reach Port Jackson as quickly as the winds would allow. He arrived in port on June 9, 1803; the next day Investigator was condemned as unfit for further service and not worth repair. Australians today celebrate the man who first outlined the southern continent, establishing that Terra Australis was a single island landmass and not, as Flinders himself thought probable, two large islands, New Holland and New South Wales, separated by a vast strait running from the Gulf of Carpentaria southwestward to the Southern Ocean. And although not originating the name Australia, as is sometimes suggested, it was Flinders who literally first put the name on the map on his General Chart of Terra Australis or Australia Showing the Parts Explored Between 1798 And 1803 (1814).

FORREST, ALEXANDER (1849–1901)

• 79

FLINDERSLAND. Its northern boundary resting on the 24th parallel, its western on longitude 130º East, its eastern on 141º East, down to the Murray River, thus occupying the modern state of South Australia, Flindersland was one of nine Australian states proposed in James Vetch’s Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia. Despite Matthew Flinders’s name being given to various local government areas and to prominent geographical features—an island, a mountain range, a national park, and a river—this particular name appears not to have survived. FONTENEAU, JEAN. See ALPHONSE, JEAN. FORREST, ALEXANDER (1849–1901). Second-in-command of his brother’s, John Forrest, 1870 and 1874 expeditions, Alexander Forrest proved himself a competent and determined leader of two other exploring expeditions. In 1871, he led a private expedition in search of good pastoral country along the Swan River into the interior of Western Australia and penetrated inland for 600 miles to the edge of the Great Victorian Desert. He returned to Perth along the south coast from Esperance Bay. Eight years later, with Western Australia government backing, he sailed north to the De Grey River. Leaving his disembarkation point with a party of 5 whites, including his younger brother Matthew Gregory, 2 Aborigines, and 26 horses, on February 25, 1879, he followed the coast to the bottom of King Sound. Looking for fertile land suitable either for cattle rearing or for cultivation, the expedition made its way deep inland along the southern banks of the Fitzroy River until it turned north toward the King Leopold Range. After an unsuccessful attempt to find a pass through the range to the Kimberley region, Forrest turned back to the Fitzroy and followed one of its tributaries, the Margaret River, from which he was able to work his way round the southern end of the Range to discover the grassy Nicholson Plains. On June 25 he reached and named the Ord River and then resumed his eastern course to the Victoria River. By then the party was in all sorts of trouble, with three members being completely out of action. A drastic move was called for, so Forrest and Arthur Hicks made a 100-mile dash to the Overland Telegraph. Borrowing fresh horses from the Daly Waters station, they returned to their comrades, and then the expedition followed the telegraph to its northern terminus at Darwin. Forrest’s journey from the Fitzroy River to the shores of the Clarence Strait was a significant contribution to the exploration of a littleknown area of the northwestern corner of Australia.

80 •

FORREST, JOHN (1847–1918)

FORREST, JOHN (1847–1918). Employed by the Western Australian Survey Department, Forrest was appointed leader of an 1869 expedition to investigate Aboriginal rumors that trace of Ludwig Leichhardt had been found in the east of the colony. Leaving Yarraging on April 26, Forrest traveled northeast to Lake Moore. Continuing in the same general direction he came to a large dry salt lake he named Lake Barlee. By now the Leichhardt rumors were assuming less and less substance, but he continued as far as Mount Weld on the verge of the Great Victoria Desert. He returned to Perth on August 6, having traveled 2,000 miles. A year later Forrest commanded an expedition along the shores of the Great Australian Bight to Adelaide, retracing the steps of Edward John Eyre in the reverse direction. It was conjectured that a large expedition might observe features that had escaped the attention of that hard-pressed pioneer. The expedition comprising Alexander Forrest, two other whites, and two Aborigines departed from Perth on March 30, 1870. A support vessel, the 30-ton schooner Adur, was to drop off supplies for them along the coast at Esperance Bay, Israelite Bay, and Eucla. It was not until the expedition left Israelite Bay that it met difficulties. Behind the line of cliffs they had little chance of finding water for the next 150 miles but, luckily, they found a supply by digging in the sand hills. Before continuing along the coast, Forrest made a 50-mile journey inland where he found grassed downs but little water. On July 2 the party reached Eucla for their rendezvous with the Adur. Forrest again explored inland with similar results. From Eucla there was another distressing stage but, contrary to Eyre, Forrest found good pastoral country immediately behind the coastal strip. But there was no river, that much was confirmed. When he arrived in Adelaide on August 27, he was the first man to make the west-to-east crossing. Forrest’s most notable expedition was that which started out from Perth in March 1874, with instructions “to obtain information concerning the immense tract of country from which flow the Murchison, Gascoigne, Ashburton, De Grey, Fitzroy, and other rivers falling into the sea on the western and northern shores of this Territory.” The first leg was a voyage 250 miles northward up the coast to Geraldton from where he and six others, again including Alexander Forrest and two Aborigines, set out to explore the headwaters of the Murchison River. On April 14 the expedition left Yuin, the furthermost settlement on the river, following its upper course through country suitable for cattle and sheep, along the Robinson Range, round the southern end of the Kimberley Range, and turning northeast, across Lake Naberro. Thirteen days out he discovered a permanent spring, which he named after Tommy Windich, an Aborigine who had accompanied him on all three of his expeditions.

FOSSEY, JOSEPH (1788–1851)

• 81

Forrest arranged the expedition’s routine so that there was always a search party three days ahead. If water was found they rested until the main party followed their tracks and caught up. On July 20 they reached Blyth Creek, which they used as a springboard before crossing the dreaded Gibson Desert, resting and recuperating their strength for three weeks. As it was, not only did they almost die of thirst in the desert, they also had to repel Aborigine attacks. At length they moved into the Warburton Range, previously explored by Ernest Giles, and were pleased to find his old camp at Fort Mueller. By September 27 they reached the Overland Telegraph line on the Alberga River and followed it down to Adelaide where they arrived in triumph on November 3 to complete the first west-to-east crossing from Western Australia across a largely unexplored part of the continent. Although the exploration of Australia’s interior was far from over, Forrest’s was the last major exploring expedition. He was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Gold Medal in 1876. But John Forrest was not finished as an explorer. In 1878 he led an expedition to the Ashburton River, east of the Gibson Desert, and in 1882, he conducted surveys of a large area in the Kimberley region, along the southern banks of the Fitzroy River, recently explored by his brother, and penetrated as far as the St. George Range. He also investigated Cambridge Gulf and the lower Ord River. In later years, Forrest entered politics and was Western Australia’s premier for 10 years. First knighted to become Sir John Forrest, he was later the first native-born Australian to become elevated to the peerage. FOSSEY, JOSEPH (1788–1851). As Assistant Surveyor to the Van Diemen’s Land Company in Launceston, Fossey received orders in 1826 to open up a track westward to Company property along the Great Western Road. He reached the Second Western River, or the River Mersey as it became known, where he met up with Alexander Goldie. The two men voyaged up the northwest coast by whaleboat to arrive at Circular Head from where they walked overland to Cape Grim, discovering parts of the Duck River en route. From Rocky Cape, on the north coast, they explored inland and discovered Detention River. They returned to Launceston having identified intermittent stretches of good grazing land between Circular Head and Cape Grim. In April 1827 Fossey set out again to find a land route to the Surrey Hills where Henry Hellyer had very recently discovered extensive tracts of fertile country. Fording the River Leven, which flowed through the Hills, he arrived on the north coast at a point seven miles east of Table Cape and three miles west of the River Cam.

82 •

FRANCISCAN MISSIONARY PLAN

FRANCISCAN MISSIONARY PLAN. See SILVA, JUAN DE. FRANKLAND, GEORGE (1800–1838). At the time of his appointment as Surveyor-General in Van Diemen’s Land in 1828, the exact location of its geographical features, including that of its central river system, was something of a mystery. He was directed to embark on a general trigonometrical survey of the island. It was soon discovered that the latitude and longitude coordinates of previous maps, including those drawn by Thomas Scott, were inaccurate. It was not until 1835 that Frankland was able to properly investigate the central river system. Leaving Marlborough Station on the Nive River on February 9, he traversed the marshes westward and discovered the Humboldt River the following day. On February 11 he became the first European to walk the shores of Lake St. Clair and the day after that, he climbed Mount Olympus, sighting the Central Plateau to the northeast and the peak of Frenchman’s Cap to the west. He continued down the west bank of the Derwent River, discovering Mount King William and Lake King William before following the Guelph River until it joined the Derwent. In the meantime, on the east bank members of his party had found the junction with that river. On February 18 Frankland completed the circle by heading northeast back to the Nive. Before he could proceed to the upper reaches of the Huon River, he was ordered back to Hobart and command of the expedition devolved on John Helder Wedge. FREELING, ARTHUR HENRY (1820–1885). To investigate George Woodroffe Goyder’s favorable report on Lake Torrens, Arthur Freeling, Surveyor-General of South Australia, followed him there. Sadly, by the time he arrived in September 1857, the lake had receded, the water was brackish, and nowhere was it deeper than six inches. There was no grass waving in the wind, no large trees, and no lagoons. Freeling was satisfied that Charles Sturt and Edward John Eyre were correct in concluding that an impassable barrier impeded northward expansion from Adelaide. FREYCINET, LOUIS-CLAUDE DE SAULCES DE (1779–1842). Appointed commander of the French scientific circumnavigation expedition, which sailed from Toulon in Uranie on September 17, 1817, Louis de Freycinet spent two weeks at Shark Bay, from September 12–27, 1818, in order to complete Nicolas Baudin’s survey work. He also sent a boat to Dirk Hartog’s Island to retrieve the Vlamingh Plate. FRIEND OF AUSTRALIA. Attributed to A Retired Officer of the Hon. East India Company’s Service, now known to be a Mr. T. J. Maslen, The Friend of

FROME, EDWARD CHARLES (1802–1890)

• 83

Australia (1830) combined an outline of the principal unexplored inlets and other topographical features round Australia’s coastline; a plan for exploring and surveying the interior, with suggestions for victualing the explorers, the establishment of depots, and the treatment of hostile Indians; other chapters on rivers and their inundations, climate and sickness, prizes for discoverers; and three miscellaneous chapters. Maslen was not shy about recommending named individuals to be entrusted with the exploration of different regions. Should an inland sea be discovered, then Captain Bayfield and Lieutenant Fraser, the surveyors of the Canadian Lakes, should be sent to determine its length, breadth, and course. A fold-out map, Sketch of the Coasts of Australia and of the supposed Entrance of the Great River, together with accompanying notes, adds much to the book’s interest. Some unfamiliar and speculative geographical names appear: the tropical part of the continent, south of Arnhem Land and Carpenters Gulf (i.e., Gulf of Carpentaria), is named Australindia while the southern region, along the coast of the Great Australian Bight, receives the name Anglicania. But the most intriguing names are Dampier’s Channel, vaguely attached to the hinterland of the northwest coast, and The Great River or the Desired Blessing, running southeast from the same region into the Delta of Australia in the center where a large lake occupies much of the Simpson Desert. In the notes we read that “a number of streams flowing from the Eastern Mountains, all uniting in a supposed dead level, from whence it forms a large river to Buccanneer’s Archipelago. I also supposed a succession of ranges of hills extending from the west coast . . . towards the interior, and enclosing a high table land, from whence other streams might direct their course to the dead level, and perhaps form one or more sheets of water, as the formation of lakes is one of nature’s great features in Australasia.” The Dead Levels traverse The Delta of Australia far to the south of Carpenter’s Gulf. Just how much influence The Friend of Australia exerted is difficult to estimate; what is certain is that it confirmed prevalent geographical thinking. Now extremely rare, a reprint would appear to be long overdue. See also OCEANIC CHANNEL; RIVERS; RIVER SYSTEMS. FROME, EDWARD CHARLES (1802–1890). A Captain in the Royal Engineers and Surveyor-General of South Australia, Frome’s object in searching the country east of the Flinders Ranges in July 1843 was to ascertain the boundaries of the southern termination of the eastern branch of Lake Torrens, as laid down by Edward John Eyre, and also the nature of the country between Flinders Ranges, as high as the parallel of Mount Hopeless, and the eastern limits of the colony.

84 •

FURNEAUX, TOBIAS (1735–1787)

Departing from Adelaide on July 8, Frome’s route took him over the Passmore River, north to the hill country, on the eastern side of Lake Torrens, principally because that was the only direction that promised a supply of drinking water. He progressed as far as Mount Serle before turning back on the grounds that it was useless to advance farther in this direction, to a spot that Eyre had named Mount Hopeless because of the impossibility of proceeding beyond it. Frome confirmed that a great lake, now named after him, lay to the east of Lake Torrens and concluded that “there is no country eastward of the high land extending N. from Mount Bryan as far as Mount Hopeless, a distance of about 300 miles, as far as the meridian of 141° (and probably much beyond it), available for either agricultural or pastoral purposes.” FURNEAUX, TOBIAS (1735–1787). Captain of HMS Adventure on James Cook’s second voyage to the Pacific, Furneaux was separated from Cook in Antarctic fog and ice to the southwest of New Holland. Acting on standing orders to rendezvous at Queen Charlotte Sound, South Island, New Zealand, Furneaux headed north and sighted Van Diemen’s Land, the first European to sail in those waters since Abel Tasman’s voyage of discovery in 1642. He explored the south coast and anchored in Adventure Bay on the east coast of Bruny Island, on March 9, 1773. Sailing northward he passed the Maria and Schouten Islands and Freycinet Bay, following in Tasman’s wake, intending to head for Cook’s original landfall on the New Holland coast in order to establish whether Van Diemen’s Land was separated from the continental mainland. He concluded erroneously that there was no strait between the two. Not until Matthew Flinders’s circumnavigation of the island was he proved wrong. In J. C. Beaglehole’s magisterial work The Life of Captain James Cook (London: A&C Black, 1974, p. 300), he remarked of Furneaux: “There was an incuriosity about him, a lack of imagination, a limitation to the mind, that would always prevent anything he touched from turning to the gold of discovery.”

–G– GEOGRAPHICAL CENTER. Writing in his diary on Sunday, April 22, 1860, John McDouall Stuart recorded: “Today I found from my observation of the sun that I am now camped in the centre of Australia. . . . There is a high mount about two miles and a half to the north-north-east. I wish it

GIBBERS

• 85

had been in the Centre.” At the time he was located in latitude 22º South, halfway between Port Augusta (32º S) and Van Diemen Gulf (12º S), and in longitude 133º 30' East, the midpoint between the shores of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. See also CENTRAL MOUNT STUART. GERRITSZ, HESSEL (1581–1622). Chief cartographer to the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie from 1617 through 1632, Gerritsz collected the charts and journals of the sea captains on their return to Amsterdam, as required by standing orders, and assiduously ensured that existing maps were updated to reflect current knowledge. Four of his maps are of special importance in the history of the discovery of Australia. A 1622 wall map, Mar Del Sur (Pacific Ocean), takes account of all Spanish and Dutch discoveries and incorporates the results of Willem Jansz’s 1605–1606 voyage. Torres Strait is left blank but there is a separate outline map of his voyage down Cape York Peninsula’s west coast, which Gerritsz names Nueva Guinea. It also commemorates Jakob Le Maire’s route round Cape Horn. A map of the Indian Ocean, also dated 1622, depicts the region between the Cape of Good Hope and the west coast of New Holland and the Dutch discoveries there. A large-scale copper engraving, Caert van’t Landt van d’Eendracht (Map of Eendrachts Land), of 1627 is, in effect, a detailed review of all known Dutch discoveries, 1616–1622, from Cape Leeuwin northward to the North West Cape and the spot where the English ship Trial went to the bottom in June 1622. Another copper engraving, a chart of the Malay Archipelago and the Dutch discoveries in Australia, dated 1618, but on internal evidence probably executed in 1628, also illustrates Dutch discoveries on the western and southern coasts of New Holland between 21º and 35º South latitude during the period 1616–1628. GHASTLY BLANK. This was the name given in the 1850s to an enormous region, stretching 1,600 miles east to west and 800 miles south to north, 11⁄4 million square miles of almost entirely unexplored desert. “All that was known was that the further one advanced into that vast empty space the hotter and drier it became” (Alan Moorehead. Cooper’s Creek, 1963, p. 20). See also OUTBACK. GIBBERS. Sharp-edged loose stones that cut the feet of men and beasts alike. “Flat, roundish and flinty pebbles of all sizes from an inch or two across up to six inches or more. They are dark red to yellow in color and are smoothed by sand blast and even quite polished through a coating of desert varnish, a

86 •

GIDGEE (OR GIDYEA)

deposit of colloidal silica or oxide of iron, or both” (C. T. Madigan. Crossing the Dead Heart, 2001, p. 119). They were a sore trial for many explorers. GIDGEE (or GIDYEA). See SCRUB. GILES, ERNEST (1835–1897). Giles set out on his first expedition across the desert to Western Australia from the Overland Telegraph station at Charlotte Waters, in the Northern Territory, on August 11, 1872, with Samuel Carmichael, Alec Robinson, an Aborigine boy, and 15 horses. He followed and criss-crossed the Finke River, along the Glen of Palms, through the Krichauff Range, and penetrated as far north as the Ehrenburg Range, at the western end of the MacDonnells. Still following the Finke, now flowing from the west, the expedition encountered a wall of mountains and was forced to follow a tributary river later named Rudall’s Creek. Pressing forward despite enervating heat and dense scrub, they found water at Mount Udor. After a reconnaissance further west, Giles concluded that continuing in such unsuitable country would invite disaster. Turning south the expedition was relieved to find a copious supply of water at a spot Giles named the Tarn of Auber. On continuing south, the expedition crossed an emerald green plain, some 10,000 acres in area, which Giles imaginatively named the Vale of Tempe. Establishing camp here, Giles and Carmichael maintained their course south and discovered Lake Amadeus, the largest lake in Central Australia, and further south still, they sighted Mount Olga. The two men rode 40 miles to the west in an attempt to find how far the lake stretched but were forced back to camp because of lack of water. At this point, his cherished plan to cross the continent to the Western Australia settlements had to be abandoned. There were disputes with his companions and even Giles realized that he could not cross the desert alone. He was back at Charlotte Waters by December 1, already planning another expedition. The predominance of German names in this region is explained by the support given to Giles in mounting his expedition by Ferdinand von Mueller. Again supported by von Mueller, who exerted pressure on wealthy Victorian sheep farmers to back him, and with a grant from the South Australian government on condition that he would give them a copy of the journal and map of his expedition, Giles’s second exploration expedition, “the party for Western Australia” as he termed it, comprising William Henry Tietkens, Alfred Gibson, and the 15-year-old Jimmy Andrews, departed from Ross’s Waterhole on August 4, 1873. This more southerly route, albeit in a northwesterly direction, was adopted in the hope that it would facilitate his progress toward Mount Olga and that it would avoid the eastward extension of Lake Amadeus.

GILES, ERNEST (1835–1897)

• 87

On August 24, Giles sighted the high Musgrave Ranges, which he followed westward before turning north to reach Mount Olga on September 14, only to find that William Gosse had preceded him there. Reverting to a southerly course through the Tomkinson Range, the expedition established a depot camp they called Fort Mueller and spent three months reconnoitering to the north, south, and west. Striking camp on January 16, 1874, they trekked northward along a previously surveyed string of waterholes to the Rawlinson Range. A further trek northeast to Mount Destruction turned into a nightmare journey, four horses dying of thirst before they reached a creek Giles named Sladen Water. For the next fortnight, they explored the Petermann Range and then, in the first week of April, they moved camp to Fort McKellar in readiness for a 100-mile push westward. Giles and Gibson started out on April 20, across sand hills and undulating gravel plains until, at their furthest extent, Giles discerned a range of hills 25–30 miles away. Naming them the Alfred and Marie Range, they began their return journey. After they turned their packhorses loose because of leaking water kegs, one of their two remaining horses collapsed. In desperate straits, Giles instructed Gibson to ride the last horse back to camp so that relief might be sent. Giles trudged on to reach water a day later, now 60 miles from a further water supply and 80 miles from food. With his water keg on his back, he was staggering under a weight of 52 pounds, through spinifex as tall as himself until, at the last gasp, he arrived at Fort McKellar on May 1 to learn from Tietkens that nothing had been seen of Gibson. Giles summoned up enough energy to ride out the next day with Tietkens on an unsuccessful search for their companion. Back in camp on May 8, Giles abandoned his intricate relay plan to cross the desert. It was not until July 13 that Giles reached Charlotte Waters to learn that John Forrest had crossed from Western Australia to the Overland Telegraph line. Although contemplating a return to seclusion and obscurity, Giles could not prevent himself from speculating that water would be found in the Alfred and Marie Ranges, and that a route could be blazed across the desert to the Murchison River. Sure enough, in May 1875, Giles was again on the trail west but not before he surveyed some pastoral country near Fowler’s Bay, an inlet on the Great Australian Bight, at the request of Thomas Elder, a wealthy pastoralist and camel owner. This included visits to “the remote locality of Eucla Harbor,” on the boundary of Western and South Australia, and to Elder’s camel depot at Beltana station, to the west of the Flinders Ranges, 300 miles north of Adelaide. Minor though this journey was in comparison to his transcontinental explorations, it was equally arduous and perilous, through

88 •

GONNEVILLE, BINOT PAULMYER DE (1473–1505?)

a shortage of water, and it served to acquaint Giles with the virtues of camels for desert expeditions. With Tietkens, two others, an Afghan cameleer, an Aborigine boy named Tommy, and 22 camels, Giles left Port Augusta on May 25 in a west-northwest direction. His plan was to travel in a latitude roughly equidistant from the Bight and from his earlier routes to Lake Amadeus and the Gibson Desert. He followed a string of waterholes, Wynbring, Ooldea, Ooldabinna to Boundary Dam. En route Giles dispatched Tietkens and a companion on a fruitless reconnaissance to the north toward the Everard and Musgrave Ranges. Leaving Boundary Dam on September 10, Giles made for Mount Churchman 600 miles ahead, traveling through dense scrub and across sand hills covered in spinifex, until on September 27, in fortuitous circumstances, Tommy discovered a miniature lake, the first water for 325 miles, which Giles named Queen Victoria’s Springs. Resting until October 6, they continued to the next waterhole, Ularring, where on October 16, they survived a concerted Aboriginal attack, during which they were forced to discharge their rifles. From Ularring it was 150 miles to Mount Churchman, which was reached on October 27. A week later they arrived at a sheep station and from then onward, it was acclaim all the way until they rode into Perth on November 24, in regular desert-marching order, to a civic reception. To sublimate Giles’s long-standing ambition to reach the Indian Ocean, the expedition solemnly passed over the high wooden bridge to Fremantle. It was a measure of the man that Giles determined to return east overland in a last bid to discover good pastoral land. Starting into the unknown from Mount Gould on April 25, they continued northeastward to the Gascoyne River Valley and then onward across difficult country to Mount Labouchere, north of the Murchison River. Turning east, they followed the dried-up bed of the Ashburton River. By now Giles was blinded by ophthalmia, an affliction marked by the naming of the Ophthalmia Range. The Ashburton fragmented into minor creeks and by June 2 they were struggling onward in the Gibson Desert. Six days were lost while their camels recovered from poisoning, but 230 miles from the last waterhole, and four days distant from the Albert and Marie Range, they found sufficient water to reach a familiar camp at Fort McKellar. But it was not until August 9 that they hit the Overland Telegraph station at Mount O’Halloran. Giles had achieved a double crossing, west across the Great Victoria Desert and east across the Gibson Desert. His expeditions had added substantially to the knowledge of central Australia. GONNEVILLE, BINOT PAULMYER DE (1473–1505?). Financed by local maritime entrepreneurs, Gonneville sailed from the Normandy port of

GOSSE, WILLIAM CHRISTIE (1842–1881)

• 89

Honfleur, bound for the East Indies, in June 1503. According to a statement he made to the French Admiralty in 1506, he had either reached the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope or had doubled the Cape, it is not too clear which, when a violent storm had blown him off course to a tropical land where he had remained for six months. On his voyage home, his ship had been wrecked and all his charts and other records had been lost. In the course of time his unconfirmed report acquired so much respectability that sober French ministers were willing to believe that a new world, Austral France, rich in precious metals and ripe for settlement, awaited rediscovery in that vast unexplored area that occupied the globe between the 45th parallel and the South Pole. It was not until the fiasco of Kerguelen’s second voyage that this ill-favored and unsubstantiated notion was finally put to rest. GOSSE, WILLIAM CHRISTIE (1842–1881). In 1873 the South Australian government, keenly aware of the benefits that would accrue if a practicable overland route could be pioneered to Western Australia, commissioned William Gosse to lead the Central and Western Exploring Expedition. At the time, Gosse was a senior member of the Surveyor-General’s Department. Setting out from Alice Springs, heading for the extreme western part of the MacDonnell Ranges, the expedition, which comprised five whites, three Afghans, and a young Aboriginal boy, reached King’s Creek on July 12. Establishing a depot camp, Gosse embarked on a reconnaissance journey with Khamran, one of the cameleers. Rounding the eastern end of Lake Amadeus, Gosse became the first white Australian to arrive at Uluru, a giant outcrop, the world’s largest monolith, stretching two miles east to west and standing 1,100 feet higher than the surrounding plains, with caves displaying Aboriginal wall paintings. He named it Ayers Rock, after Sir Henry Ayers, Chief Secretary and later Governor of South Australia. From here the expedition headed southwestward to Mount Olga and Stevenson’s Peak, before crossing well-watered grassy plains, and turning west along the Musgrave, Mann, Tomkinson, Barrow, and Cavanagh Ranges, extending along the 26th parallel. On September 17 Gosse reached his furthest point west at the Townsend Range, seeing nothing but waterless spinifex-covered sand hills in all directions. Their return journey took them through the Musgrave Range to discover the Marryat River, down the Alberga River, and east to Charlotte Water Overland Telegraph station by December 19. In 226 days since leaving the telegraph in May, the expedition had penetrated 600 miles to the west and had explored 60,000 square miles of completely unknown territory.

90 •

GOYDER, GEORGE WOODROFFE (1826–1898)

GOYDER, GEORGE WOODROFFE (1826–1898). Goyder was Assistant Surveyor-General of South Australia from January 1857 through January 1861, and Surveyor-General from January 1861 until his retirement in June 1894. In May 1857 he set out with two men to explore and report on the country to the north of pastoral settlement. Following Benjamin Hershel Babbage’s route to Lake Blanche, he continued further north to Lake Torrens, filled with freshwater from recent rains. On its eastern surroundings, he perceived large trees, valleys, lagoons, and waving grass, very different from Edward John Eyre’s 1829 report of deserts. So different, in fact, that Surveyor-General Arthur Henry Freeling went to see for himself in September; he found that hot winds had killed off all vegetation and the lake was no more than a bed of mud. He reprimanded Goyder for confusing flood for permanent water and suggested that his well-watered country to the east was a mirage. Two years later Goyder returned to triangulate the country between Lake Torrens and Lake Eyre. In 1865 Goyder was once again dispatched north with a small party. Traveling to Swan Reach, on the Murray River, and then northwestward to Pekina, east to Melrose, he returned to Adelaide by way of Crystal Brook. His task was to determine where rain could be expected and where it could not. (See also GOYDER’S LINE.) Three years later he was placed in command of the Northern Territory Survey Expedition to survey town sites and country land for sale in order to develop the Northern Territory without crippling public expenditure. He estimated that six parties of 14 men each would complete a survey of 500,000 acres within six months of landing at Port Darwin. The expedition sailed from Port Adelaide on December 27, 1868, in the full-rigged sailing ship Moolga, chartered at a cost of £3,000, and dropped anchor in Port Darwin on February 5, 1869, at the height of the wet season. The rains ceased in March and by August Goyder’s task was accomplished. His survey parties marked out 665,866 acres of country land besides the township sites of Virginia, Southport, and Daly. By mid-November Goyder was back in Adelaide. The Northern Territory Survey Expedition had been one of the largest, most effectively arranged, and most successful sea expeditions in the annals of Australian colonial expansion. GOYDER’S LINE. In order to define the limits of agricultural settlement, the South Australian government instructed its Surveyor-General, George Woodroffe Goyder, “to make such regional observations as may enable you to determine and lay down on the map, as nearly as practicable, the line of demarcation between that portion of the country where the rainfall has extended, and that where drought prevails.”

GREAT AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION RACE

• 91

Goyder rode 1,000 miles in 4 weeks to complete a survey, from November 3 through December 6, 1865. His Line of Rainfall, surprisingly accurate in view of its being established from data collected on horseback, effectively separated lands suitable for agriculture from those fit only for grazing. GRANT, JAMES (1772–1833). With orders to prosecute the discovery and survey the unknown stretches of the New Holland coast, Lieutenant James Grant sighted its southwestern shores on December 2, 1800, in the sloop Lady Nelson, an ingeniously designed ship possessing three unique sliding keels to allow for inshore survey work in shallow waters. On his outward voyage Grant was directed to sail along the entire southern coastline to Port Jackson, passing through Bass Strait, the first ship to do so. A shortage of drinking water prevented him from examining the coast in detail. On the orders of Philip Gidley King, Governor of New South Wales, and with Francis Barrallier, a competent surveyor and cartographer, and George Caley on board, Grant surveyed Western Port, the Bass Strait, and Jervis Bay, from March 8 through May 14, 1801. A month later Grant sailed in the Francis, again accompanied by Barrallier, with orders to examine the coastline in the vicinity of Port Stephens and the Hunter River and to explore up river. Four weeks were spent in exploring the fertile lower Hunter Valley as far as the modern city of Maitland. When King accepted Grant’s resignation of his colonial post in August 1801, he pointedly remarked, “I should have been glad if your ability as a surveyor or being able to determine the longitude of the different places you might visit was in any way equal to your ability as an officer or a seaman.” Yet in his short time in New South Wales, Grant had made a significant contribution to the initial exploration of its coasts. He was certainly responsible for naming a large number of its bays and capes. GREAT AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION RACE. A race! A race! So great a one The world ne’er saw before; A race! A race! Across this land From south to northern shore The horseman hails from Adelaide The camel rider’s ours— Now let the steed maintain his speed Against the camel’s powers. Melbourne Punch (8 December 1860):124.

92 •

GREAT BARRIER REEF

A poem and cartoon reflecting the perceived rivalry between John McDouall Stuart and Robert O’Hara Burke on their imminent departures from Adelaide and Melbourne with their respective south-to-north transcontinental expeditions. See also RACE TO THE NORTH. GREAT BARRIER REEF. Stretching at a slant for over 1,460 miles off the northeastern coast of Australia, from Bundaberg in 25º South latitude to the tip of the Cape York Peninsula and to the south coast of New Guinea, the Great Barrier Reef is a complex system of 2,900 coral reefs rising up from the depths of the Coral Sea and 300 coral islands, forming a formidable and treacherous barrier to navigators. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville was the first European seaman to sight it, on June 4, 1768, at a point 250 miles from the east coast of New Holland. Two years later James Cook, approaching from the south, unknowingly sailed inside the Reef for 1,260 miles until, on June 10, 1770, Endeavour stuck fast on a coral reef. After 23 hours of continuous toil by all on board, Cook refloated his ship and sailed her to the mouth of the Endeavour River to effect repairs. Leaving seven weeks later, he threaded his way to the open sea through Cook’s Passage but, because of incessant large seas rolling up from the southeast, and because he was anxious not to overshoot the Torres Strait, he negotiated a passage through the Providential Channel back inside the Reef. GREAT DIVIDING RANGE. A mountain range, with gaps, striding across Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, from the tip of the Cape York Peninsula to the western point of the Grampian Mountains, which separates Australia’s well-watered eastern and southern coastal belts from a decidedly more arid interior. Not to be confused with the Inland Dividing Range. GREAT RIVER OR THE DESIRED BLESSING. See FRIEND OF AUSTRALIA. GREGORY, AUGUSTUS CHARLES (1819–1905). Appointed a surveyor in the Western Australian Government’s Lands Department in 1841, Augustus Gregory’s first major assignment was to lead an expedition east of Perth in August 1846. Together with his brothers, Frank Thomas Gregory and Henry Churchman Gregory, he departed from Bolgart’s Springs, 70 miles from Perth, and was soon deep into the barren country that was proving a serious obstacle to settlers. Once across this unattractive region, the expedition traveled northwestward to encounter an extensive salt lake (Lake Moore)

GREGORY, AUGUSTUS CHARLES (1819–1905)

• 93

whose crescent shape prevented them from continuing. Gregory turned westward to investigate the streams crossed by George Grey on his way back from Shark Bay. At the head of the Irwin River, a seam of coal was found, the first to be discovered in Western Australia. The expedition was back in Bolgart’s Springs by September 5. With this experience under his belt, two years later Gregory was invited to lead the Settlers’ Expedition to explore the country between the Murchison and Gascoyne Rivers. Lead ore was found in sufficient quantities for it to be commercially exploited. The expedition most closely connected with Gregory’s name was the North Australian Exploring Expedition prompted by representations from the Royal Geographical Society to the British government of the desirability of conducting a thorough exploration of this region. Gregory left Moreton Bay on August 12, 1855, in the barque Monarch and the sloop Tom Tough. The expedition comprised 18 men, with Henry Gregory as second-incommand, and carried 50 horses, 200 sheep, and full rations for 18 months. Arriving at Point Pearce, at the mouth of the Victoria River, on September 18, Gregory had three objectives: to explore what is now Australia’s Northern Territory in search of good farming land; to decide the question of the inland sea; and to keep a keen eye open for traces of Ludwig Leichhardt. A chapter of accidents and the loss of a great part of his stores when Tom Tough grounded in the river prevented Gregory from moving out of camp on a preliminary exploration until November 24. Taking three men and three weeks’ supplies, he traveled southwestward, finding tributaries of the Victoria River. Early in January 1856, a much larger party made an energetic push into the interior. On January 30 he established a temporary camp and set off with three men to the headwaters of the Victoria, in a low range of mountains near the boundary with Western Australia, proving that the river was more of a channel into which many tributary rivers flowed than a vast outflow from an inland sea. Beyond the Victoria the exploring party reached an undulating desert of red sand. Gregory followed the desert’s northern limits westward until a creek was found that offered him an access route to the south. Naming it Sturt Creek, he followed it 300 miles to the southwest until it dried up in a sandy wasteland and a seasonal salt lake (Lake Gregory). Disappointed that the creek had not led to an outlet to the waters of the interior, and concluding that no useful results would be obtained from venturing further, he retraced his steps to his temporary depot. At the beginning of April he explored the eastern tributaries of the Victoria before the expedition party returned to the river’s mouth.

94 •

GREGORY, AUGUSTUS CHARLES (1819–1905)

After arranging with Tom Tough to rendezvous at the Albert River where it enters the Gulf of Carpentaria, the expedition set off on its homeward journey overland, traversing the region to the south of Arnhem Land to the Gulf along more or less the same route as Leichhardt 10 years earlier but in the opposite direction. On the Elsey River, a tributary of the Roper River, Gregory found the last authentic traces of the lost explorer. From the Roper the expedition traveled eastward along the southern shores of the Gulf to reach the mouth of the Albert, but Tom Tough had not arrived at the rendezvous. Gregory, not wishing to delay, buried a message and headed for the Gilbert River, following it east across the southern parts of the Cape York Peninsula to the Burdekin River, crossed the Mackenzie and Dawson Rivers, and found a route through the Great Dividing Range, to reach the Pacific at Bustard Head, south of the modern city of Rockhampton. He arrived in Brisbane on December 16, 1856. On this 16-month expedition, Gregory had virtually proved that no main drainage system with an outflow to the sea existed in the interior of North Australia; he had discovered traces of the lost Leichhardt expedition; and he had traveled across and charted thousands of square miles of good pastoral country. Scarcely less momentous was another major overland journey from Brisbane to Adelaide on behalf of the New South Wales government “to ascertain the fate of the late Dr. Leichhardt” and to connect the discoveries of Thomas Livingstone Mitchell and Edmund Kennedy on the Barcoo River with his own explorations in the Northern Territory. Leaving Royd’s Station on Dawson River, with 9 men and 40 packhorses, on March 3, 1858, he made a westward crossing of the Great Dividing Range and followed the Thomson River northward up to 23º South latitude, but meeting desolate country and perceiving no possibility of making progress to the northwest, he returned to the Barcoo River. This he explored down river and discovered it to be the same stream as Cooper’s Creek, but the arduous conditions of Sturt Stony Desert compelled him to abandon his search for further traces of Leichhardt. From Cooper’s Creek he followed the Strzelecki Creek down to Lake Blanche in the firm belief that a route could be found to Mount Hopeless, South Australia, sighted and named by Edward John Eyre, where Gregory arrived on June 29 after riding 1,500 miles in 3 months, demonstrating that a practical route for cattle and sheep existed. His travels across the largely unexplored region north of Lake Eyre also revealed that it drained many rivers of south-central Australia. Above all, Gregory’s journey proved that no large horseshoe lake barred colonial expansion from Adelaide as had previously been feared. See also KELLY, KIERAN.

GREGORY, FRANK THOMAS (1821–1888)

• 95

GREGORY, FRANK THOMAS (1821–1888). While surveying the lower reaches of the Murchison River in March 1857, Gregory seized the opportunity to explore up river as far as one of its tributaries, the Impey River. Finding luxuriant grasslands and ample water, more than was perhaps usual, Gregory’s report fired the hopes of would-be settlers. The next year with a party of 6, and rations for 60 days, Gregory set out from the Geraldine mine on April 16 to retrace his steps and to investigate further up river. As soon as the Murchison veered eastward, the expedition struck away to the northeast and, within six days, had discovered the Gascoyne River. Following its south bank, the expedition passed a large tributary and named it Lyons River. On May 17 Gregory had a view of Shark Bay from a 60-foot-high sandy ridge. On their return journey, they explored the Lyons River and, on June 3, climbed the highest mountain so far discovered in Western Australia, which Gregory named Mount Augustus after his brother Augustus Charles Gregory. From here he was able to plot the various river courses for 20 miles around. The discovery of good pastoral country in the Gascoyne River region excited the interest of the colonial government in Perth and the home government in London. Both governments contributed to the cost of sending Gregory to Nickol Bay, further up Western Australia’s northwest coast, opposite the Dampier Archipelago, to explore inland. Striking west on May 25, 1861, Gregory soon discovered the Fortesque River, which was followed southeastward because it seemed to offer a passage through the Hamersley Range. But a precipitous gorge forced them to take a circuitous route, although the expedition eventually succeeded in surmounting the range. Traveling south, they discovered a large river flowing west, named by Gregory the Ashburton, which subsequently proved to be the longest river in Western Australia. The same day Mount Augustus was sighted. Gregory made his way back to Nickol Bay before exploring in a different direction, eastward to discover the Shaw, De Grey, and Oakover Rivers and to the very edge of the Great Sandy Desert. He much regretted being forced back “within a very few miles of the longitude in which, from various geographical data, there are just grounds for believing that a large river may be found to exist draining central Australia; but the character of the country appeared strongly to indicate the vicinity of such a feature.” Old legends die hard! In a distinguished exploring career, Frank Gregory was instrumental in giving the lie to the impression that all the northwest of Western Australia was arid desert, thus opening up a vast region for settlement.

96 •

GREGORY, JOHN WALTER (1864–1932)

GREGORY, JOHN WALTER (1864–1932). Professor of Geology in the University of Melbourne, and Director of the Geological Survey of Victoria, Gregory’s book The Dead Heart of Australia. A Journey Round Lake Eyre in the Summer of 1901–1902, With Some Account of the Lake Eyre Basin and the Flowing Wells of Central Australia (1906) first coined the phrase Dead Heart of Australia. GREGORY’S COMPASS. A saddle-mounted compass, invented by Augustus Charles Gregory, specially designed to take bearings in dense scrub, enabling explorers to hold a true course in conditions where prominent features were either absent or at long intervals apart. This was of crucial importance in that it reduced the time of travel between two known points— including waterholes—thus increasing the chances of survival. Gregory himself used it on his 1855–1856 expedition and Ernest Giles found it extremely useful on his 1875 exploration. It is also known to have been used by Archibald Richardson, the surveyor on Frank Jardine’s 1846 expedition. This was to be expected; Augustus Gregory was Surveyor-General of Queensland at the time. GRENVILLE, RICHARD (1541?–1591). Heading a syndicate of Devon shipowners, sea dogs, and maritime investors, Sir Richard Grenville petitioned Queen Elizabeth I in March 1574 “for discovery of sundry Ritche and unknownen lands,” specifically “southewarde beyonde the aequinoctiall,” to explore and to colonize Terra Australis and to establish trading activities. Unlike previous English schemes, Grenville intended to enter the Pacific through the Strait of Magellan and to confine operations to the southern hemisphere. After appearing to give the go-ahead, Elizabeth changed her mind for diplomatic reasons; she wanted no trouble with Spain, and the project faltered. GREY, GEORGE (1812–1898). Disillusioned by peacetime army life, Captain George Grey suggested to Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for the Colonies, that he should be sent to the northwestern coast of Australia to explore the interior. On July 5, 1837, he sailed from Plymouth on board HMS Beagle for Cape Town where he arrived on September 21. He purchased a schooner, the Lynher, to convey the expedition from Perth to the mouth of the Prince Regent River. His orders were to proceed inland in the direction of the great opening behind Dampier’s Land and to find his way back to the Swan River. Rounding the North West Cape from Perth, Grey landed near Brunswick Bay on December 2. The schooner was sent to Timor to buy horses, although he had to settle for ponies, and returned to the landing point by January 17. In the meantime, Grey explored among the islets, islands, and promontories

GRIMES, CHARLES (1772–1858)

• 97

of the Bay and the banks of the Prince Regent, to find a suitable campsite. He started inland early in February with 11 men. Traveling through rough country, he survived a sharp encounter with Aborigines, sustaining a severe spear wound in his hip. As soon as he could travel by pony, he continued his march and, on March 2, 1838, he discovered and named the Glenelg River. Following this upstream for several days, finding well-watered grassland, he was eventually checked by a fast-flowing tributary. Both rivers were swollen and Grey retreated to explore the King Leopold Range, in the Kimberleys, where he discovered a number of mystifying cave paintings. At this point Grey had enough sense not to attempt to find a route from the Kimberleys back to Perth and returned to the Lynher, which sailed first to Mauritius and then to Perth. Later in 1838 he explored the course of the Swan River northeastward, perhaps aiming to find a reverse route to the Kimberleys in accordance with Lord Glenelg’s orders. In January 1839 Grey explored the country between the Williams and Leschenhault Rivers, searching for a settler who had gone missing in the bush. Grey’s second major expedition was to the undiscovered parts of the Shark’s Bay region. Leaving Perth on an American whaler in February 1839, an exploring party of six men was landed on Bernier Island. One of their three boats was destroyed and the other two damaged in a violent storm. This tale of disaster persisted; their stores were mostly ruined by seawater before they were able to reach the mainland. After discovering and naming the Gascoyne River, the second longest in Western Australia, the party was continuously threatened by unfriendly Aborigines and, on making their way back to Beacon Island, they found their remaining stores had been scattered by a hurricane. Now in a desperate plight, they sailed along a perilous coast, confronted by headwinds, their daily food intake scarcely sufficient in their weakened state. They struggled on to Gantheaume Bay but, in landing, their boats were damaged beyond repair. An overland march to Perth, 300 miles distant, was their only remaining hope. Eventually Grey and two others made a dash for the settlement, and after arriving there on August 21, they sent out a relief party. Only one man was found but a second expedition, led by John Septimus Roe, had more success and rescued most of Grey’s other companions, who were by then on the verge of death. With hindsight it is obvious that Grey lacked both the necessary experience to lead expeditions into unknown territory and a knowledge of the local climate in all its seasonal variations but, to his credit, he had discovered many of Western Australia’s rivers, notably the Gascoyne and the Glenelg. GRIMES, CHARLES (1772–1858). Appointed Acting Surveyor of New South Wales in 1801, Grimes sailed from Port Jackson two years later

98 •

GUELPHIA

with orders to search for a suitable site for a new penal settlement. He examined Port Phillip Bay and sailed up the Yarra River, on which Melbourne now stands. In October 1807 he surveyed the country around Port Dalrymple, on the Tamar estuary in Van Diemen’s Land, and then pioneered a route between Launceston and Hobart. GUELPHIA. Derived from the family name of King George III, in whose reign the first British settlement in Australia was established, Guelphia was, without a shadow of doubt, the most outlandish state name proposed in James Vetch’s Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia. He assigned it to the southeasternmost part of Australia, whose western boundary was 142º East longitude and the eastern banks of the Murray River. If, by some mischance, it had been adopted, it would surely have been discarded by now. GULF OF CARPENTARIA. Bounded by Cape Arnhem on its western approaches and by Cape York at its eastern end, the Gulf of Carpentaria was named by Jan Carstensz after Pieter de Carpentier, Governor-General of Batavia, in 1623. Despite many 17th-century Dutch voyages of discovery along the southern coasts of New Guinea, and across the Gulf, it was not mapped in its entirety until the 19th-century voyages of Matthew Flinders and John Lort Stokes. See also CARPENTARIA; COLSTER, WILLEM; JANSZ, WILLEM; TASMAN, ABEL; TORRES STRAIT. GUNBARREL ROAD CONSTRUCTION PARTY 1955–1963. See BEADELL, LEN. GUNTER CHAIN. Named after Edmund Gunter (1581–1626), a distinguished mathematician, the chain was 22 yards in length comprising 100 iron wire links. Each link was connected to the next by three oval rings. Swivel-jointed brass handles were attached to each chain. Charles Sturt and Thomas Livingstone Mitchell both made frequent use of this convenient and highly effective land-surveying instrument.

–H– HACKING, HENRY (1750?–1831). Formerly quartermaster of HMS Sirius, Hacking arrived in Sydney in 1788 and made a number of exploratory sweeps to the south and southwest of the settlement. It is possible that on

HANN, FRANK HUGH (1846–1921)

• 99

one of these treks he discovered Port Hacking Bay; in any event it was Matthew Flinders who named the bay after him. Hacking’s most significant exploration was his 1794 attempt to find a pass through the Blue Mountains. Setting off with one or two companions on August 20, he returned a week later claiming to have penetrated 20 miles further inland than any other European. In the absence of reliable records, it is conjectured that he reached the Kings Tableland and the Cliff Wall. If this is correct, then, from the views he obtained, he would have added valuable detail to the Mountains’ topography. In March 1798 he was dispatched by Governor John Hunter to investigate the salt deposits discovered by John Wilson near the confluence of the Bargo and Nepean Rivers. Hacking was back at sea in 1802 as First Mate on Lady Nelson, commanded by John Murray, when he accompanied Flinders up the east coast of New South Wales. And two years later, he was coxswain on the LieutenantGovernor’s boat, which explored the Huon River in Van Diemen’s Land. HANN, FRANK HUGH (1846–1921). After he was rendered penniless in 1896, Frank Hann, the younger brother of William Hann, overlanded from Lawn Hill cattle station, in the northwestern corner of Queensland, to Derby in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. In April 1898 he followed the Fitzroy River and managed, with some difficulty, to penetrate the King Leopold Ranges, advancing along their northern margins to the headwaters of Adcock Creek, before descending to the Isdell River. Following this river upstream for a short distance, he found himself in the valley formed by the Fitzroy and a larger river, which Hann named the Phillips River but which was later renamed after him. Traveling north and northwestward, he crossed and named the Traine and MacNamara Rivers and then skirted the Phillips Range and struggled to reach the high country north of the Isdell’s headwaters, but an impenetrable gorge forced him to retreat to the Barnett River. Camping on the southern slopes of Mount Elizabeth, Hann struck westward and climbed to a high tableland. Descending from its western margin he discovered the Charnley River and a wide area of pastoral country. Altering course to the south, he crossed the Synnott River and then the Isdell, and emerged through Hann Pass to complete the first successful crossing of the King Leopold Ranges, a remarkable feat for a man over the age of 50. Hann took up 1,000 square miles of the country he had explored but he could never raise the necessary funds to buy stock. He turned to prospecting and in 1903 he embarked on the first of several expeditions, which took him from Laverton, in the southeast gold mining region of Western Australia, to Oodnadatta in South Australia.

100 •

HANN, WILLIAM (1837–1889)

HANN, WILLIAM (1837–1889). One of the most distinguished of overlanders and a first-rate bushman, William Hann was given the command of the Queensland government Northern Exploring Party in 1872 to explore the interior of the Cape York Peninsula, between the route of Ludwig Leichhardt and the northeast coast, specifically to examine the country as far as the 14th southern parallel, and perhaps to find gold-bearing ore. The party, comprising 7 men (including a geologist, a botanist, and a surveyor), 25 horses, and 20 sheep, and with provisions for five months, left Fossilbrook Station on July 26. They camped on the banks of the Lynd River looking for gold for five days before advancing across rough and broken country, previously unexplored, to discover the Daintree, Tate, and Walsh Rivers. From the Walsh, Hann proceeded to the upper reaches of the Mitchell River and struck the Palmer River where the surveyor found definite traces of gold. During the period from August 21 through September 2 the party crossed the Great Divide, at the northern limit of its journey. Disdaining to return by his outward route, Hann followed the newly named Stewart River, down the eastern slopes to Princess Charlotte Bay, on the shores of the Pacific, and continued south to the Kennedy River. Further south he discovered and named the Normanby River, which was followed until the Endeavour River was reached. Like other explorers, he made an unsuccessful search for traces of James Cook’s six-week stay there 100 years earlier. By September 25 the party was struggling to get its horses over the narrow saddle between Mount Finnigan and Mount Misery before descending to the rocks and scrub of Weary Bay. Hacking a path through steep ravines, Hann then followed the Bloomfield River upstream and by October 13 he was attempting to advance south, along the banks of the Daintree, before being halted by the main coastal range. He retraced his route and then headed northwest to the headwaters of the Kennedy and Palmer Rivers, picking up his outward track and so back to Fossilbrook Station where he arrived on November 9. In 136 days he had traveled 1,500 miles, many of them through difficult tropical rainforests. HARDWICKE, CHARLES BROWNE (1788–1830). A former Royal Navy officer, Hardwicke was Chief Constable of Longford, Van Diemen’s Land, when, together with his brother Frederick and six men, he sailed the cutter Elizabeth along the island’s north coast from Port Dalrymple to West Point and down the west coast for 40 miles in 1823. HARLEIAN MAP. See DAUPHIN MAP.

HAWDON, JOSEPH (1813–1871)

• 101

HARRIS, RICHARD (fl. mid-19th century). Together with George Cummings, Harris set out from the whaling station at Fowler’s Bay on the Great Australian Bight, for Port Lincoln, South Australia, 200 miles away to the southeast, at the end of August 1842. Replenishing their supplies at two other whaling stations, Peter’s Island and Streaky Bay, the two men proceeded down the coast to Anxious Bay where they struck inland. Maintaining an easterly course for two days, they came to Mount Wedge. Fearing that they would lose their way in the interior, they turned south, traveling across a vast plain of rich dark loam soil with many freshwater lagoons, until they reached Point Drummond, where they embarked on the Governor Gawler and sailed to Port Lincoln. “It is remarkable that after all the explorations that have been made, and all that has been said about Port Lincoln, so little in reality is known of the large district westward of it. Southward of the Gawler Range discovered by Mr. Eyre, and bounded by the ocean and the line of country on Spencer Gulf, there is a compact district of a triangular form, nearly equilateral, measuring 160 miles each side, or about 13,000 square miles in extent, which has never been penetrated except by these adventurous whalers” (Journal Royal Geographical Society, 13, no. 2, 1843, p. 342). HARTOG, DIRCK. Following Hendrik Brouwer’s recommended route across the Indian Ocean, Dirck Hartog, sailing from the Cape of Good Hope to Bantam in Eendracht (Concord), underestimated the distance he had achieved and sighted the Western Australian coast on October 25, 1616. This fortuitous landfall was repeated many times as the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC)’s sea captains adhered to the instructions of the Seynbrief. He landed on an island, now named Dirk Hartog’s Island, at the southwestern entrance to Shark Bay. Departing two day later, Hartog sailed northward up the mainland coast, which he named Eendrachtsland, almost as far as North West Cape, before steering toward his destination. See also DIRK HARTOG’S PLATE; VLAMINGH’S PLATE. HAWDON, JOSEPH (1813–1871). A celebrated overlander, Joseph Hawdon pioneered a stock route to Adelaide. Leaving his station at Dandenong, in Victoria, on January 1, 1838, he assembled his cattle at Howlong, New South Wales, on the Murray River, 12 days later. With four drovers, two draymen, and three other hands, he moved his stock to the Goulburn River where, at Hawdon’s invitation, Charles Bonney joined the team. After swimming the cattle over the river at Mitchell’s Crossing, they moved through unexplored country along its western bank to reach the junction

102 •

HAYES, JOHN (1757–1831)

with the Murray on January 29. Turning south and southwest through thick scrub they arrived at the foot of Mount Hope on February 3. Coming to the banks of the Loddon River they followed it down to the Murray. On the last day of February they crossed to the Murray’s north bank, three miles below its junction with the Darling River, and on March 4 discovered Lake Victoria. Crossing into South Australia they reached and named Lake Bonney. Leaving the Murray, the drove turned west toward the Flinders Ranges and on March 31 Hawdon ascended the Mount Lofty Ranges from where he sighted St. Vincent’s Gulf. The sea was reached near Noarlunga, 15 miles south of Adelaide, on April 2. The next day, they entered the town to an enthusiastic welcome. At times plodding through deep red sandy soil, both men and beasts had suffered from thirst in the intense heat, although very few cattle had been lost on the three-month journey. Their long trek had also been of some significance in terms of exploration; they had followed the banks of the Murray, sometimes avoiding its many curves by making use of Aborigine paths, thus helping to fill in the map, whereas Charles Sturt, their only European precursor on long stretches of the river, had voyaged down it by boat. HAYES, JOHN (1757–1831). Departing from Calcutta on February 6, 1793, in Duke of Clarence, accompanied by Duchess, Captain John Hayes was bound for New Guinea on a trading voyage. Prevented from sailing east from Timor by a southwest monsoon wind, he determined to take the long route along the southern coast of New Holland and up the east coast of New South Wales. He arrived off Van Diemen’s Land on April 25, two months after Bruni d’Entrecasteaux had sailed from the island. Apparently unaware of William Bligh’s and D’Entrecasteaux’s voyages, Hayes retraced the latter’s reconnaissance of the shoreline, attaching his own names to geographical features. He followed D’Entrecasteaux up the Rivière du Nord (Derwent River) and ascended by ships’ boats further than his precursor’s anchorage, probably as far as the present town of New Norfolk. He resumed his voyage to New Guinea on June 9. HELLYER, HENRY (1790–1832). An architect and surveyor for the Van Diemen’s Land Company, Hellyer started out from Hobart Town in April 1826 to explore the northwest of the island between Port Sorell and the upper reaches of the Mersey River. In August he established a base camp on the Mersey, near the site of the town of Kimberley, and two months later he explored the high forests to the south, advancing beyond Mount Roland, across numerous ridges, before returning to camp.

HELY, HOVENDEN (1823–1872)

• 103

On February 7, 1827, Hellyer set out south again, climbed a mountain he had seen on his earlier exploration, naming it St. Valentine’s Peak, and descended to travel through what he judged to be comparatively easy country among the Surrey and Hampshire Hills. Turning northwest to find his way back to camp, he discovered the Arthur River. His favorable report persuaded the Company to accept the country he had passed through as part of its grant. Hellyer continued his explorations in 1828, ascending Black Bluff in March and in November setting off with Joseph Fossey on what proved to be a stamina-draining journey across difficult country to the southwest, over the dividing range between the northern flowing rivers and the Pieman River, naming Mount Charter, and following the Mackintosh River to its junction with the Murchison to form the Pieman. In March 1831 Hellyer was out again, with Fossey and Alexander McKay, on an even more exacting exploration, in wintry conditions, to the south of the Surrey Hills as far as the Cripps Range, to survey the whole area from Mount Bischoff in the west to Black Buff in the east. There can be no doubt that Hellyer’s surveys opened up large expanses of territory. Unfortunately, his judgment as to its suitability for the Company’s purposes did not always measure up to his abilities as a surveyor. HELPMAN, BENJAMIN FRANCIS (1814–1874). As Lieutenant on HMS Beagle, commanded by John Clements Wickham, Helpman actively participated in the surveying and exploration of Australia’s northwest coast between Roebuck River and the Prince Regent River and in the discovery of the Adelaide and Victoria Rivers. His journal gives a very full account of these explorations. Helpman assumed command of the Western Australian Colonial Schooner Champion in February 1840 and surveyed and charted long stretches of coastline north of Fremantle to Jurien Bay and Champion Bay. He explored inland in the Greenhough and Irwin Rivers region. HELY, HOVENDEN (1823–1872). A bushman who had been a member of Ludwig Leichhardt’s aborted 1847 expedition, Hely was appointed the leader of an official search party to follow Leichhardt’s tracks in an attempt to determine the fate of the 1848 transcontinental expedition. Setting out from Sydney in January 1852 with a party of 9, including 3 Aborigines, with 16 horses, 15 mules, and 9 months’ supplies, he rode westward from Mount Abundance, questioning local Aborigines en route, but their contradictory reports were of no great help. Two camps were found on the Maranoa River, which might have been Leichhardt’s and, although Hely was of

104 •

HEREN XVII (17 MAGISTRATES)

the opinion that Leichhardt’s party had been massacred, he could offer no hard evidence. HEREN XVII (17 MAGISTRATES). Sometimes known as the High and Mighty Magistrates, the Heren XVII formed the executive and policymaking committee of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC). Merchants, councilors, and administrators, they coordinated the Company’s activities, commissioned its ships, governed the overseas trading posts, decided what cargoes should be carried, fixed prices, and held absolute sway over its operations and employees. HERMANSZOON, KLAAS (fl. first half of 17th century). Captain of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie ship Leyden, Hermanszoon sighted Eendrachtsland in latitude 27º South on July 21, 1623, and sailed and drifted north for five days along a hilly coast, with large bays, which he reported to be similar to the red rocks of southwest England. HESPERIA. A name recommended by Captain James Stirling to be adopted as a general name for the western coast of New Holland in a dispatch to the Governor of New South Wales dated April 18, 1827: “The Name of Hesperia, indicating a Country looking towards the Setting Sun, would be descriptive of the Situation of the Country in question; it would not interfere with any Name previously given, nor would it be subject to the imputation of Nationality.” The proposed name found no favor either in Sydney or in London. HILLEGOM, HAEVIC CLAESZOON VAN (fl. early 17th century). Following the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie’s required southern route across the Indian Ocean, van Hillegom sighted either the mainland coast or a group of islands on May 11, 1618, in latitude 21º South. The North West Cape or the Dampier Archipelago would appear the likely locations. HOBBS, JAMES (1792–1880). A former naval officer turned settler in Van Diemen’s Land, Hobbs responded to a government request to conduct a detailed inspection of the island’s coastline, locating its ports and rivers and suitable land for settlement. He departed from Hobart Town on February 5, 1824, in two well-equipped open boats manned by 12 carefully selected convicts. Although meeting with severe weather, and suffering from inadequate rations, Hobbs completed his circumnavigation on July 10. HODGKINSON, WILLIAM OSWALD (1835–1900). A journalist at the time, and a very able bushman, Hodgkinson was a member of the Victoria Explor-

HOOLEY, EDWARD TIMOTHY (1842–1903)

• 105

ing Expedition led by Robert O’Hara Burke and was one of those left at Menindie when Burke’s advance column moved out on October 19, 1860. It was he who rode to Melbourne and back, a distance of some 800 miles, in 20 days, from December 20, 1860, through January 9, 1861, to inform the Committee of events and to receive their instructions. He was a member of both Alfred William Howitt’s and John McKinlay’s 1861 relief expeditions. In 1875 Hodgkinson led a Queensland government expedition to investigate the agricultural, pastoral, and mining potential of the country to the west of the Diamantina River. Starting out from the upper reaches of the Cloncurry River, the expedition crossed the main dividing range to the river, followed it down to the southern Queensland border, turned west beyond Eyre’s Creek, and discovered the Mulligan River. Hodgkinson led the way down the Herbert (or Georgina) River under the impression it was an extension of the Herbert until he was put right by Nathaniel Buchanan, who was engaged in restocking the Herbert River cattle stations. He returned to Brisbane via Normanton and the Cloncurry and Flinders Rivers. This was the last expedition mounted by the Queensland government, which was now satisfied that the colony had been fully explored. HONG BAO (fl. early 15th century). According to Gavin Menzies’s 1421: The Year China Discovered the World (2002), Hong Bao’s fleet was dispatched by Zheng-He (see CHINESE DISCOVERY) to chart the world eastward from the Falkland Islands. Approaching from the southwest, the fleet made a landfall near present-day Bunbury in Western Australia. He draws on the evidence of Jean Rotz’s 1542 world map. Menzies is also of the opinion that the Mahogany Ship is the wreck of a junk ordered by Hong Bao to survey Australia’s south coast. Menzies argues that Hong Bao sailed up the Western Australian coastline and returned to China via Malacca, the west coast of Borneo, and the South China Sea. HOOLEY, EDWARD TIMOTHY (1842–1903). A sheep farmer down on his luck, Edward Hooley turned to exploration to repair his fortunes. In 1865 he crossed the Fortescue River and forced his way through the Hamersley Range where he named Mounts Murray and Anderson. After reporting his findings to John Septimus Roe, Western Australia’s Surveyor-General, he was granted a lease of 500,000 acres by the government. He shipped 2,000 sheep to Champion Bay, hoping to open a stock route to the north. Leaving Geraldine Mine in May 1866 with a party of nine men, including two Aborigines, he followed Frank Gregory’s 1858 track along the Murchison River to the Gascoyne, struck north past the Lyons and Henry

106 •

HORN SCIENTIFIC EXPLORING EXPEDITION

Rivers, naming Gregory’s Spur and Mount Roe en route, and arrived at Nickol Bay, after a three-month journey, with the loss of only eight sheep. HORN SCIENTIFIC EXPLORING EXPEDITION. See WINNECKE, CHARLES. HORROCKS, JOHN AINSWORTH (1818–1846). A sheep farmer at Penwortham, 60 miles north of Adelaide, Horrocks made several excursions into the surrounding, relatively unknown country before he embarked on a more adventurous and ambitious project in 1846. On July 29, along with five others, he set out on a reconnaissance into the interior to the west and northwest. His plan was to examine the country and conditions and then return to plan a large-scale expedition in an attempt to reach the Swan River in Western Australia. For this preliminary exploration, Horrocks had imported a camel from Karachi, the first to be employed in Australian exploration. On August 9 he found a pass through the Flinders Ranges (known today as Horrocks Pass) and advanced northward to Mount Arden where Edward John Eyre had camped in 1839. To avoid the salt lakes to the north and east, Horrocks led the party northwestward and discovered and named Lake Gill (now Lake Dutton). At this point, when he seemed to be on the verge of discovering a route to the north, he was mortally wounded in a shotgun accident. His companions carried him back to Penwortham, where he died on September 23, 1846. HOUTMAN, FREDERIK DE (1571–1627). Houtman first entered history in 1592 when he was imprisoned in Lisbon for attempting to smuggle secret Portuguese charts back to the Netherlands. As Governor-General of Amboina from1605 to 1611, he was instrumental in the preparation of Willem Jansz’s 1606 voyage along the south coast of New Guinea. On July 19, 1619, sailing from the Cape of Good Hope in Dordrecht, in company with Maarten Corneliszoon in Amsterdam, Houtman sighted the south land in latitude 32° 20' South, its coastline extending north and south. He gave this the name Dedelsland after Jacob Dedel, a member of the Raad Van Indie, on board Amsterdam. Ten days later, sailing north out to sea, Houtman encountered a group of low islands, surrounded by dangerous coral reefs, in latitude 28º South, which he marked on his chart abrolhos, a Portuguese word indicating extreme caution. He came to the reasonable conclusion that his landfalls formed a continuous coastline of the mainland Dirck Hartog had reported three years earlier. In modern terms, his first

HOWE, JOHN (1774–1852)

• 107

landfall was south of the Swan River. The reefs and shoals are known today either as Houtman Abrolhos or as the Abrolhos Islands. HOUTMAN ABROLHOS. Houtman Abrolhos, or the Abrolhos Islands as they are sometimes known, comprise three groups of low islands, surrounded by coral reefs and shoals, situated in latitude 28º South and longitude 114º East, off the Western Australian coast north of Geraldton. They were discovered by Frederik de Houtman in 1621. Immediately alive to the danger they posed to ships, he marked them on his chart with the Portuguese words abre olhos, meaning take extreme care. François Pelsaert and Pieter Albertsz were two navigators who could testify to their danger. The islands were eventually charted by John Lort Stokes. HOVELL, WILLIAM HILTON (1786–1875). Following his expedition to Port Phillip Bay with Hamilton Hume in 1824–1825 when they miscalculated their furthermost point—actually at Corio Bay, and not Western Port where they thought they were—Hovell was included in a party dispatched to the true Western Port by sea in 1826. On arrival there he immediately realized the error that had been made. Almost 30 years later, when Hovell revisited the Port Phillip district, his misreported remarks at a public dinner led Hume to conclude that Hovell was claiming all the credit for their expedition. A bad-tempered pamphlet war followed. Hovell was a keen supporter of the misconceived theory that the rivers of southeastern Australia drained into a large lake or inland sea somewhere in the continent’s interior. HOWARD, F. (fl. mid-19th century). On a marine survey of the coasts and islands of the Northern Territory in 1865, Howard commanded the schooner Beatrice in voyages up the Adelaide and Victoria Rivers, along the coast of Arnhem Land, into the Gulf of Carpentaria, to Limmens Bight. He attempted to find a passage through Bowens Strait, anchored off Croker Island, and sailed through the Wessel and English Company Islands. See also FINNIS, BOYLE TRAVERS. HOWE, JOHN (1774–1852). While serving as Chief Constable of the early settlement of Windsor, on the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales, John Howe was persuaded to open up the Hunter Valley by discovering and surveying a practicable route for traffic between the two rivers. Moving out from Windsor on October 24, 1819, with a party of seven, including two Aborigine guides, he reached Doyle’s Creek and discovered fine grazing

108 •

HOWITT, ALFRED WILLIAM (1830–1908)

ground, but on his return to Windsor on November 14, he expressed himself not to be satisfied with the route he had taken. He again set out in February 1820 with a party twice the size, reached the Hunter at a different point, and followed the river as far as the site of the present city of Maitland. HOWITT, ALFRED WILLIAM (1830–1908). Following the favorable reports of Benjamin Babbage and Peter Warburton after their 1858 explorations, a syndicate of Melbourne businessmen was formed to take up over 500 square miles of pastoral country near Strangeways Creek, south of Lake Eyre. Before committing themselves, however, they decided to send out an expedition of their own in 1859 to assess the region’s potential. Alfred Howitt, an experienced bushman, was engaged to lead the expedition. Taking ship to Adelaide, Howitt’s general plan of operations was to push his way forward to the area in question and then advance into unknown country for as long and as far as his two months’ supplies lasted. Accordingly he journeyed through the Flinders Ranges to Mount Remarkable, on to Auburn, 60 miles north of Adelaide, and then to Mount Serle. From there he continued to Howiedinnie, Mount Hamilton, and to the Davenport Range where, in very high temperatures, his provisions running low, water becoming scarce, and his shoes and boots beyond repair, he began his return journey to Adelaide. His adverse report persuaded the syndicate to abandon the project. In 1860, Angus McMillan was successful in persuading the Victoria government to dispatch two gold-prospecting parties into Gippsland in eastern Victoria. Howitt was sent out with 12 men to explore the little-known Alpine country. Traveling to Port Albert by coastal steamer, they were met by McMillan, who guided them to his station at Bushy Park, on the Avon River, to the north of Stratford. With the help of a wagon as far as Quackmungie, on the middle stretch of the Dargo River, and continuing with packhorses northeastward to the 4,500-foot-high Mount Birregun, which Howitt climbed, they turned east to the headwaters of the Wentworth River. Reverting to a northerly and westerly course, in conditions vastly different from those he had experienced the year before, Howitt tramped among the peaks of the Great Dividing Range, prospected the Wonnangatta River and the Wongungarra River, one of its tributaries, and discovered and named the Crooked River, where he found encouraging signs of gold. Several members of the party promptly resigned to prospect on their own behalf. But Howitt persuaded some to help construct a 50-mile track by burning scrub, cutting hillside paths, and building bridges. Constantly taking bearings and drawing maps in the Dargo High Plains and Moroke River regions, naming Mount von Guerard, Mount Selwyn, and Mount Smyth,

HUME, ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1797–1873)

• 109

Howitt added to his growing reputation as a reliable expedition leader. With this sort of experience under his belt, he was a natural choice to lead one of the Royal Society of Victoria Expedition Committee’s Burke and Wills Relieving Expeditions. After a false start on June 26, 1861, within three days he reached the Loddon River where he encountered William Brahe, a member of Robert O’Hara Burke’s expedition, who told him that Burke and William Wills were missing, somewhere in the northern desert. Returning with him to Melbourne, Howitt set off again on July 4 with virtually carte blanche to find some evidence of the missing men’s whereabouts. With an enlarged party of nine, including two Aborigine trackers, he made his usual rapid progress and arrived in Menindie by July 30. After collecting enough supplies for 6 months, and with 37 horses and 7 camels, he moved out for Cooper’s Creek on August 14. The party set off down the Cooper, keeping a sharp lookout for any signs of Burke. On September 13 they reached the Dig Tree site and continued down river. Two days later, John King was found, in a state of complete exhaustion and on the point of death, who informed them of Burke and Wills’s fate. Within two days, King recovered enough to lead them to Wills’s grave and to describe where Burke’s body was to be found. Howitt buried Burke on September 21. Four days later, when King had been declared fit to travel, Howitt started back to Menindie, sending messengers on ahead to report the news to the outside world. Howitt remained in Menindie, writing up his dispatches, while King was taken back to Melbourne. Later, Howitt returned to Cooper’s Creek to disinter the bodies for reburial in Melbourne and took the opportunity to explore a large tract of the Barcoo River region. Looking back, it is strange to note that Alfred Howitt’s name appears never to have been mentioned when the Exploring Committee was considering candidates for the leadership of the Burke and Wills expedition. His own assessment of Burke and of Wills, stated 40 years later, has stood the test of time: “the unfortunate occurrence of mischances was due primarily to errors of judgment of Burke. . . . Unfortunately Burke had no experience of the work, and Wills, the best man Burke had, a man of noble character . . . had not the special bush training which would have enabled him to see what course was necessary.” HUME, ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1797–1873). At the age of 17, Hamilton Hume, with his brother John and a young Aboriginal boy, explored west and south of Sydney as far as the Wingecarribee region. He also traveled in the same area in 1817, and again in the following year, this time in company

110 •

HUME, ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1797–1873)

with James Meehan, when he charted Lake Bathurst. During this time he seems to have caught the eye of Governor Lachlan Macquarie and of John Oxley. Keeping up his active schedule Hume accompanied Oxley on his 1819 exploration south of Sydney to survey the Jervis Bay region. Two years later, together with George Barber, his brother-in-law, and W. H. Broughton he discovered the Yass Plains, southwest of Sydney, and north of where the federal capital, Canberra, now stands. And then in 1822, with Alexander Berry, he explored the Clyde River, south of Port Jervis. This continuous, concentrated six-year period of exploration was a prelude to Hume’s most notable expedition, to find an overland route from Sydney to the Bass Strait. Its origin was a colonial government plan to land a party of convicts near Wilson’s Promontory, the southeastern extremity of the Australian continent, and to offer them the inducements of a free pardon and a grant of land to find their way back to Sydney overland. The government offered Hume the leadership of this extraordinary expedition but he had the great good sense to decline this dubious honor. Instead Hume declared he would lead a party from Lake George to Spencer Gulf if the government would provide assistance. Accepting the proposal, the government was tardy in providing the assistance and the project seemed about to wither until William Hovell, a former sea captain, offered to join the party and to supply half the cattle and horses. Shamed into some sort of action, the government eventually agreed to contribute some items of equipment and to bear the cost of hiring a number of bushmen. Even so, it was probably the worst-equipped expedition in the history of Australian exploration that set out from Lake George on October 24, 1824. By this time it seems likely that, by mutual consent, their objective was now Western Port and not Spencer Gulf. Crossing the severely flooded Murrumbidgee, Hume and Hovell made their way south along its banks through broken and difficult country, abandoning their carts and loading their baggage and rations on bullocks. After following the river’s course for some days, they turned southwest through richly grassed valleys until, on November 8, they were confronted by the snow-capped mountains of the Australian Alps. Spending eight days wandering over their many spurs, they discovered a fast-flowing river Hume named after his father. At a later date, when the river was followed to the ocean, it was renamed the Murray. Crossing this river at the point where the town of Albany is located, the expedition passed through good pastoral country, crossed the Mitta Mitta, Hovell (now Goulburn), and Ovens Rivers, proceeded southwestward, and reached Corio Bay, an inlet of Port Phillip Bay. An error in their calculations caused them to believe that they had arrived at Western Port, actually 50 miles to the southeast and they reported accordingly to the government. Hume later

ÎLE DE FRANCE

• 111

claimed he had always suspected it was Corio Bay. But, wherever their furthermost point was, the expedition’s discovery of fertile valleys and snowy mountains feeding the headwaters of fast-flowing rivers confounded Oxley’s gloomy predictions that the interior west and southwest of Sydney was uninhabitable. In 1828, Hamilton Hume was appointed second-in-command of Charles Sturt’s expedition, which discovered the Darling River. HUNT, CHARLES COOKE (1833–1868). Employed as a junior Assistant Surveyor in Western Australia, Charles Hunt explored the coast and country around Nickol Bay in 1863, entering Port Hedland and discovering the pass that is now named after him. A year later he departed from York, leading an expedition eastward on behalf of the local agricultural society. He discovered Lake Lefroy and Hampton Plains but elsewhere found little but scrubby plains, salt lakes, and marshes, concluding that in the absence of permanent water the country would never be suitable for pastoral purposes. He set out again in 1865 intending to pioneer a route for sheep and cattle and to sink wells along the way but severe drought conditions forced him back. Hunt enjoyed no better fortune the following year when traveling east of York again to sink new wells and to deepen existing ones. On this occasion it was ophthalmia that defeated him. HUNTER, JOHN (1727–1821). An experienced Royal Navy officer and scientific navigator, John Hunter arrived in Botany Bay as Captain of HMS Sirius with the First Fleet in January 1788. He accompanied Governor Arthur Phillip on the immediate coastal survey, which confirmed Phillip’s inclination to move the settlement to Port Jackson. In June 1789, he assisted Phillip’s exploration of Broken Bay. Hunter succeeded Phillip as Governor in September 1795, and throughout his five-year term, he encouraged exploration of the interior, including the wanderings of Matthew Everingham, Henry Hacking, and John Wilson in the Blue Mountains. He was also instrumental in the exploration of the coastline and in Matthew Flinders’s circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land.

–I– ÎLE DE FRANCE. Abandoned by the Dutch in 1710, the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius was occupied by the French in 1715 and renamed Île de France. It remained in French hands until it was handed over to the United

112 •

INDIA MERIDIONAL (SOUTH INDIA)

Kingdom by the Treaty of Paris in 1814, when it reverted to the name of Mauritius. Thus Abel Tasman sailed from Mauritius on his 1642 voyage and YvesJoseph de Kerguelen and François de Saint Allouarn departed from the Île de France on their 1772 voyage to seek the southern continent reported by Binot Paulmyer de Gonneville. INDIA MERIDIONAL (SOUTH INDIA). According to Manoel Godinho de Erédia, India Meridional “is that mainland which extends from the Promontory of Beach, the province of gold, in 16 degrees south latitude, to the tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle, with many large provinces, such as Maletur, Locach, and others as yet unknown in that sea, in which lies the island called Java Minor.” Some historians contend that India Meridional is no more than a misreading of Marco Polo’s account of his route homeward through the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, and the Bay of Bengal. However, a map drawn by Heinrich Bunting, Cosmographia Universalis (global cosmography) printed in his Itinerarium (1581), generally considered to be the last extant printed map of the region before the Dutch discoveries, shows India Meridionalis bearing what appears to be a very close resemblance to Western Australia. This has been dismissed as a coincidence. INLAND DIVIDING RANGE. A chain of watersheds separating the rivers flowing south to Lake Eyre and those running northward into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Starting at Camooweal, a township on the border of Queensland and the Northern Territory, the range extends southeast for 250 miles before turning east near the head of the Hamilton River to link up with the Coastal Dividing Range at Townsville. See also GREAT DIVIDING RANGE. INLAND SEA. It was Matthew Flinders who first conjectured that a large river might flow into a Mediterranean-type inland sea in the interior of Australia. This concept was to exert a powerful influence over Australian geographical thought for the next 50 years. It occurred as early as John Oxley’s inland exploring expeditions to trace the course of the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers. In both instances he encountered wide areas of swamp, leading him to suspect that both rivers would empty into a great lake or inland sea. It was an attractive theory, which would explain the lack of rivers on the southern and eastern seaboards and account for the numbers of rivers flowing to the northwest.

INLAND SEA

• 113

After Hamilton Hume discovered a number of rivers descending from the Victorian mountains, at the southern extremity of the Great Dividing Range, one to the west and others to the north, many were prepared to believe that they drained into a sea somewhere in the interior. Oxley was confirmed in his views after he explored Moreton Bay and discovered the mouth of the Brisbane River. Traveling 50 miles upstream he concluded that it flowed from “some large collection of inland waters.” The inland sea, it now appeared, had an outlet. Allan Cunningham added further evidence to support the concept, which by now was dominating geographers’ and explorers’ minds after his 1827–1828 exploration of the Darling Downs regions, west of present-day Brisbane. He adduced that its westward-flowing rivers either ended in “a lake of considerable magnitude” or conflowed into major rivers stretching 2,000–3,000 miles across the continent to the north or northwest coast. From contacts with Oxley, Hume, and Cunningham, Charles Sturt anticipated that on his 1828 expedition to discover the source of the Macquarie River he would arrive on the shores of an inland sea, probably saltwater because, in his view, there was an insufficient number of rivers for it to be fresh water. His discovery of the mighty Darling River, coming from the northeast and flowing to the northwest, caused him to doubt it ever reached the coast, thus reinforcing the possibility of an inland sea albeit much further west than had been conjectured. A veteran of the Peninsular War and a stern disciplinarian, Thomas Livingstone Mitchell also dreamed dreams. After returning from his disappointing 1831 expedition to locate a great river, the Kindur, reported by Aborigines to flow to the northwest, he reiterated his conviction that “something very important to be discovered lurks in the northwest and that a few hundred miles beyond the point I penetrated, either a large river or a Mediterranean sea might be fallen in with.” At the time he was of the opinion that a river flowed from the long semilunar arc of the eastern ranges toward the interior where he expected a large concentration of water on the latitude of 28º South, about 300 miles from the coast, from which a river ran to an estuary most likely to be found among the unexplored inlets on the northwestern shores of the continent investigated by Philip Parker King. On his 1843 expedition the indefatigable Sturt proposed to ascend the Darling in search of a central sea not far from the river in latitude 29º South. In reality, the further north he traveled, the more he began to doubt its immediate proximity and he abandoned the boat that once he hoped would have ploughed its waters. But despite his lack of success in this respect he was “still of the opinion that there is more than one sea in the interior of the Australian continent.”

114 •

IRISH CONVICTS

Brave words, but from this point onward, the elusive sea ebbed to the far recesses of Australian geography. It entered into the historical record once again in a fleeting mention in the instructions given to Augustus Charles Gregory for his 1855–1856 exploration of northern Australia. He was to use his “utmost endeavours to decide the question as to the existence of an inland sea of any magnitude.” But, of course, there was no inland sea: explorers from various parts of the compass had finally proved it to be no more than an alluring mirage of the mind. See also LANDOR, HENRY; OCEANIC CHANNEL; RIVERS; RIVER SYSTEMS. IRISH CONVICTS. Many credulous convicts were encouraged to escape in the early years of the New South Wales settlement by rumors of an Arcadian land, 200 miles or so to the southwest of Port Jackson, whose white inhabitants lived a life of freedom and luxury. Even more far-fetched stories were rampant: on November 1, 1791, a group of 21 Irish convicts disappeared in an attempt to walk to China, which was believed to be beyond the mountains. Most were recaptured within a few days but six were never seen again. At one point, two convicts a week were stealing horses and bolting off to take their chances in the bush. No doubt some with bushcraft skills, or with help from the Aborigines, survived and flourished, exploring new territory long before the “official” explorers. But John Wilson reported finding the bones of no fewer than 50 of these fugitives. One of the most bizarre expeditions in the history of Australian exploration set out from Parramatta in January 1798. Again it was a number of Irish convicts who were showing familiar signs of restlessness. In order to make the geographical realities more widely known, and to curb the enthusiasm for fleeing the settlement, Governor John Hunter sent four of the convicts, with an armed guard, under the command of John Wilson to explore the supposed route to the Arcadian paradise. The initial success of this stratagem is neatly summed up in the words of Chris Cunningham: “At Mount Hunter, barely beyond the Nepean, three of the convicts, who had probably never traveled so far on land in their lives, decided it was a long way to Tipperary after all and elected to return” (Blue Mountains Rediscovered, 1996, p. 79). ISLES OF GOLD. Rumors circulating in India and the Indonesian islands in the early years of the 16th century of islands of gold situated about 1,000 miles southeast of Sumatra, in the approximate position of Western Australia’s North-West Cape, prompted a number of inconclusive Portuguese voyages. They also served the purpose of concealing the true objectives of Christovão de Mendonca’s and Gomes de Sequeira’s voyages when they invaded Spanish sea space.

JARDINE, FRANK LASCELLES (1841–1919)

• 115

–J– JACOBSZOON, LEENAERT. Captain of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie ship Mauritius, which, according to Willem Jansz, on board as supercargo, discovered a 15-mile long island in latitude 22° South, on July 31, 1618, while en route from Cape Town to Bantam. As no such island exists in that latitude, it is surmised that the island was in fact the peninsula of North West Cape. JANSZ, WILLEM (1570?–?). Documentation of Jansz’s 1606 voyage to the west coast of Cape York Peninsula in Duyfken (Little Dove), a small pinnace of 40–60 tons, is exiguous and indirect because his original journal and charts are now lost. Accompanied by Jan Lodewijksz van Roosengin, a Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) merchant, he sailed from Bantam on November 28, 1605, to explore the south coast of New Guinea and to open up new sources of trade. After proceeding along that coast to the western end of Torres Strait, tracing its shores in the opposite direction taken by Luis Vaez de Torres six months later, Jansz failed to recognize the shoals and reefs he encountered as a strait and, in March 1606, crossed the Gulf of Carpentaria and sighted an unmistakable mainland coast near the mouth of the Pennefather River. He followed the coast southward, across Albatross Bay, to reach his furthermost point, Cape Keer-Weer (Cape Turnagain). Returning northward, the Duyfken entered Albatross Bay, where Jansz landed to trade with the Aborigines, only to find them hostile, before sailing through the coastal islands off Cape York. He had cruised 200 miles along the coast of the peninsula, but with limited observation from Duyfken’s masthead, and taking extreme care in such remote and perilous waters, he failed to detect the existence of the strait or to realize that it was not the west coast of New Guinea he was cruising along but a new continent. From the VOC’s point of view, the voyage had been a failure. All Jansz had discovered were low barren coasts fronting a desert hinterland, inhabited by murderous natives, totally devoid of any tradable commodities. It was not a voyage to encourage further VOC exploration but it was the first authenticated European discovery of Australia. JARDINE, FRANK LASCELLES (1841–1919). When John Jardine was appointed Government Resident at Somerset, Queensland, a new settlement near Cape York, in 1864, he went by sea to take up his new post and arranged that his two sons, Frank and Alexander, should overland cattle from Rockhampton. With 10 men, 31 horses, and 250 bullocks and cows,

116 •

JAVA-LA-GRANDE

the drove started on May 14 and took a well-trodden track to Bowen, where Jardine bought 11 extra horses, and continued to Carpentaria Downs homestead, then the furthest occupied territory in northeast Australia. It was October 11 before they penetrated into unknown country, following what Frank believed to be the Lynd River but what was, in reality, a tributary of the Gilbert. After following the Einasleigh River, another Gilbert tributary, they drove northward, fording a number of creeks flowing into the Staaten River. Constantly engaged with skirmishing Aborigines, they reached the lower Mitchell River where they repulsed a large-scale attack. After a stretch of poor country, they were relieved to find the well-grassed valley of the Archer River, but as they approached the watershed of the eastern and western flowing rivers, the country deteriorated again. Many of their horses died through eating poisonous plants near the headwaters of the Batavia River (now the Wenlock), which flows from the Great Dividing Range to empty into the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Jardines were probably the first Europeans to visit this region since the Dutch in the 17th century. At the end of January they reached what they surmised to be the Escape River, 15 miles from the east coast but that, to their astonishment, took a large bend and flowed west. Frank named it Deception River; it is now the Jardine River. In February they met friendly Aborigines sent out by John Jardine to guide them to the Somerset settlement where they arrived on March 13, 1865. They had fought their way through scrub, rain forest, and swamps for 1,200 miles. Aborigines had snapped at their heels for an estimated 400 miles; they had lost most of their horses and one-fifth of their cattle; but they had succeeded in delivering a sizable herd to sustain the new settlement. On top of this, Jardine and his team had made the first exploration of the Cape York Peninsula interior since Edmund Kennedy’s tragic 1848 expedition. JAVA-LA-GRANDE. Born of geographical and cartographical confusion, ultimately derived from Marco Polo’s Description of the World, which reported sailors calling Java the biggest island in the world, Java-la-Grande was the name attached by the Dieppois cartographers to the landmass depicted close to the true position of Australia on the Dieppe Maps. It was not a name employed by Portuguese cartographers. See also INDIA MERIDIONAL. JERKED MEAT. The meat of animals slaughtered on the spot was cut into long thin strips that were then left to dry in the sun. By this process, known as “jerking,” meat would be kept suitable for human consumption for long periods.

JORGENSEN, JORGEN (1780–1841)

• 117

JOHN OXLEY LIBRARY. Housed in the State Library of Queensland, in Brisbane, the John Oxley Library was established in 1926 as a center of research and study. Its function is to collect and preserve information charting the State’s history and development. The Rare Books Collection includes books, manuscripts, newspapers, journals, and ephemeral material and contains much early printed Australiana. JORGENSEN, JORGEN (1780–1841). One of the most bizarre characters ever to feature in Australian exploration, Jorgensen had served on board the Lady Nelson under John Murray on his voyage to Van Diemen’s Land in 1803–1804; he had commanded a whaleboat taking an official party to examine the shores of Port Dalrymple; and he was one of the first Europeans to arrive at the spot where the city of Launceston now thrives. He had subsequently served in a Danish warship; he had proclaimed Iceland independent of the Danish Crown; he had been in and out of prison in London; he had been condemned to death, a sentence that had been commuted to transportation for life; and he had arrived in Van Diemen’s Land once more, in far different circumstances, in April 1826. After redeeming himself to some extent in government service, convict Jorgensen was recruited by the newly London-incorporated Van Diemen’s Land Company, of which he was later to write a history, to explore the northwest corner of the island west of Port Sorell on the north coast, extending to Cape Grim, and on the west coast south to the mouth of the Pieman River, encompassing in all some 3,600 square miles. The first problem was to find an overland route from Hobart Town to Circular Head, the peninsula on the northwest coast, a distance of 220 miles in a straight line. Only the first 40 miles, up the Derwent Valley, were settled. Jorgensen started out on September 2, 1826, accompanied by a convict who had been given a ticket-of-leave before the expiration of his sentence and a black fellow. Within four days, he had reached Dr. Ross’s sheep station on the flooded Shannon River. Finding it impossible to cross, he moved 20 miles upstream before being able to make a perilous crossing. Taking a northwesterly course, he came in sight of the Great Lake, the source of the Shannon. Continuing west, he came to another river, more rapid, deeper, and broader than the Shannon, which Jorgensen surmised to be the headwaters of the Derwent. In fact, it was the Ouse River. He could go no further and he retreated to Ross’s Station. Reprovisioned, he set off again on October 11 and marched across a plateau of lakes and peaks to a point 28 miles from the mouth of the Pieman and 46 miles from Circular Head. He was stopped in his tracks, this time by

118 •

J. S. BATTYE LIBRARY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

five-foot-deep snowdrifts and a chasm many miles wide. Abandoning all thoughts of reaching the peninsula, he turned south and east and eventually came to an unknown lake almost 10 miles long. This proved to be the source of the Derwent and was later named Lake St. Clair. Continuing eastward, he took a bearing on Table Mountain, on the Clyde River, and was then able to direct his steps toward the settled districts on the Derwent. By November 1, he was back in Hobart. On January 14, 1827, Jorgensen started out on a second expedition, first for Launceston, by now a settled village at the tidal head of the Tamar River. He took ship 40 miles down river to Georgetown, proceeded west along Bass Strait, and finally reached Circular Head. The plan was to follow the coast southward to the Pieman and then endeavor to find a route inland, through a gap in the Dundas Range, to the Middlesex Plains, and then down the Derwent Valley to Hobart. Much to Jorgensen’s dismay, he found that he was to share the leadership of the six-man exploring party, which set out on March 1, with Clement Powell Lorymer, one of the Company’s surveyors. After a short stretch by whaleboat, the expedition struck across the base of the Cape Grim peninsula, from the mouth of the Montague River to Mount Cameron. A week later they climbed Mount Norfolk, deep into unexplored territory, from which Jorgensen could distinguish the mountain ranges whose eastern sides he had explored back in November. Then, continuing southward near the coastline they turned inland again, across the upper reaches of the Pieman, and ascended Mount Sunday. But from then onward, they entered difficult country, which offered no addition to their by now depleted and meager rations. The expedition returned in disarray to the Pieman and by April 5 was back at Mount Cameron. Lorymer was drowned attempting to wade across the Duck River, which was eventually crossed by means of a fallen log. From the river’s mouth, Jorgensen took his exhausted party along the beach back to Circular Head. From the Company’s point of view, the results of their arduous exploration were totally negative, the country examined being obviously unsuitable for settlement. All that came Jorgensen’s way was a ticket-of-leave entitling him to seek employment in the colony. It was poor reward for months of exacting leadership in inhospitable and unknown country. J. S. BATTYE LIBRARY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY. James Sykes Battye (1871–1954) was for many years chief librarian of the Victoria Public Library, Perth. He authored Cyclopedia of Western Australia (1912), History of the North West of Australia (1915), and Western Australia: A History (1924). He took a prominent role in the creation of the

KELLY, KIERAN (1952– )

• 119

Western Australian Historical Society in 1926. Thirty years later the J. S. Battye Library of Western Australian History was established as a special collection of the State Reference Library of Western Australia. It is now ranked as the foremost research center for materials on the history of the discovery and exploration of Western Australia.

–K–

KEKWICK, WILLIAM DARTON (fl. mid-19th century). A former miner, Kekwick was John McDouall Stuart’s right-hand man on his last three expeditions through the Center to the North. Because of Stuart’s notoriously bad eyesight, he was often almost blind, and in his frequent bouts of sickness, he relied very much on Kekwick’s support and he was not slow to acknowledge his debt: “He has been a most valuable man to me. I place entire confidence in him. A better one I could not have got” (Explorers in Australia. The Journals of John McDouall Stuart, 2nd ed., 1865, p. 238). KELLY, JAMES (1791–1859). Embarking on a seven-week west-east circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land, Captain Kelly sailed from Hobart in a small whaleboat with a four-man crew on December 12, 1815. The first night was spent in Recherche Bay and the second hauled up on a beach near the De Witt Islands. After examining and naming New Harbor, he rounded the SouthEast Cape and sailed up the coast to enter a large harbor he named Port Davey. On December 28, he discovered Macquarie Harbor and soon afterward Elizabeth Island and the Gordon River. Departing from Macquarie Harbor on New Year’s Day 1816, he rounded Cape Grim, landed on Hunter Island, and entered Western River (now Port Sorell) on January 8. The next day he arrived at George Town where he and his crew were promptly arrested by the military on suspicion of being bushrangers. Having extricated himself from this contretemps, Kelly took time off sealing in the Bass Strait before rounding St. Patrick’s Head and sailing down the east coast. After going ashore on Schouten Island, he reached East Bay Neck, hauled the boat across it, and arrived back in Hobart on January 29. KELLY, KIERAN (1952– ). A Sydney stockbroker, Kieran Kelly led a fiveman party in 1999 to the Victoria River Region, in the Northern Territory, to reenact a stage of Augustus Charles Gregory’s 1855 Northern Australian Expedition. His aim was to bring Gregory’s achievements and success as an explorer to public attention.

120 •

KENNEDY, EDMUND BESLEY COURT (1818–1848)

KENNEDY, EDMUND BESLEY COURT (1818–1848). A New South Wales government Assistant Surveyor, Kennedy was appointed deputy leader of Thomas Livingstone Mitchell’s attempt to find a practicable route northward from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1845. Although Mitchell had seemingly discovered a northward-flowing river, the Victoria, the route he had long been seeking, doubts remained and soon after their return to Sydney in January 1847, Kennedy volunteered to lead an expedition to determine the river’s course once and for all. With seven men, an Aboriginal boy, three spring carts, and a number of pack horses, Kennedy left Parramatta on March 21 to retrace Mitchell’s return route to his furthest point on the Victoria. By the middle of May, they were ascending the Balonne River to its junction with the Maranoa. Arriving at their depot on June 8, Kennedy was already dubious about the true course of the Victoria: every other river seemed to flow into the interior deserts and he feared that the Victoria would prove no exception. Another factor that confused and disturbed him was the topsy-turvy geographical system whereby the tributaries flowing into the Maranoa were larger and more imposing than the river itself. Crossing the river, Kennedy’s immediate task was to find a reliable water supply before setting off, a week later, in a northwesterly direction in search of the main channel of the Warrego River, following it upstream to a permanent waterhole. In venturing to find a route to the Victoria, he was now nearing the Great Dividing Range, the source of an immense complex of river systems. Still heading northwest, past Mount Playfair, he came to the Nive River, and then on July 23, to the Victoria. The next day they sighted the Victoria Plains, which the enraptured Kennedy described as “undoubtedly the finest country I have seen in Australia, the splendid reaches of water in every bend of the river and the exquisitely green plains presenting a delightful appearance.” On August 11 they reached Mitchell’s furthest point. Two days later Kennedy crossed to the northern bank and traveled west inside what he expected to be a great bend as the river turned north on its way to the Gulf. But, as it flowed southwest, he began to suspect that the Victoria River and Cooper’s Creek were one and the same river. Striking across country on August 30, still hoping that the river would turn north, the expedition soon discovered a 50-yard-wide river flowing south: it was a tributary of the Victoria, which Kennedy named the Thomson River. At this point, he speculated that after converging, the combined river might even yet turn north or, perhaps, prove to be a mighty east-west transcontinental river. Such speculation soon became irrelevant as the Thomson split into several channels flowing remorselessly to the southwest. A world apart from “ex-

KENNEDY, EDMUND BESLEY COURT (1818–1848)

• 121

quisitely green plains,” the terrain was now drearily flat, interspersed with sand hills and a multitude of dried-up channels. The great north-flowing river wending its way to the Gulf, through rich pastureland, was now no more than a forlorn facet of the chimerical Kindur River. As Kennedy retreated, he began to turn over in his mind plans for a small party to make a dash from the upper reaches of the Barcoo River to the Gulf while the rest of the expedition made their way back to Sydney. But supplies they had buried on their outward journey had been raided and spoiled by Aborigines and all thoughts of the Gulf had to be abandoned. Scorching November heat, and the Warrego drying up, presented Kennedy with serious problems as he made his way south. His solution was to leave two of his party temporarily at Shallow Creek and to travel with the horses as fast as their weakened condition would allow to the Culgoa River, 70 miles away. Covering this distance in 48 hours, across difficult country, without water, food, or rest, was a remarkable feat of leadership and endurance. At length, on February 7, 1848, the expedition arrived back in Sydney. In terms of geographical exploration, the importance of Kennedy’s expedition lies in his establishing the true nature of Mitchell’s Victoria River. Renamed the Barcoo as far as its confluence with the Thomson, it was now known that, far from constituting a highway to the Gulf, in reality its waters eventually percolated into Cooper’s Creek. (See RIVER SYSTEMS.) Within less than 12 weeks, Kennedy was on board the barque Tam O’Shanter, being escorted up the Queensland coast to Rockingham Bay by Owen Stanley in HMS Rattlesnake. After disembarking, he was to travel overland up the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula to Princess Charlotte Bay and to Port Albany, to rendezvous either with Rattlesnake or Bramble to replenish his supplies. He would then move down the west side of the Peninsula to the Water Plaets, determine whether these were the estuary of the Leichhardt or Mitchell Rivers, and from the junction of these two rivers, head west-southwest to the Flinders River, investigate its source, and relate it to Mitchell’s 1846 discoveries on the Belyando River. He was then to find his way back to Sydney by the most convenient route. With a total distance of some 3,000 miles, this was unquestionably one of the most ambitious journeys ever undertaken on the Australian continent. Sailing from Sydney on April 29, the 13-man-strong party, which included most of his Victoria River expedition, four convicts, an Aborigine by the name of Jackey Jackey, and William Carron, a botanist who wrote an account of the expedition, disembarked at the northern end of Rockingham Bay on May 24 and 25. Kennedy attempted to find a route inland but reconnaissance journeys to the west, south, and north proved discouraging;

122 •

KENTISH, NATHANIEL (1799–1867)

the expedition was hemmed in by swamps, rain forest, and 5,000-foot-high mountains. Eventually, he was forced south, the only direction that offered any progress at all, crossing the Hull, Tully, and Murray Rivers, Dallachy Creek, and Wreck Creek before finding a passable route westward. With progress painfully slow, the expedition advanced up the Tully Valley and, once on the range, made better progress on its western slopes, but adhering to his instructions, Kennedy recrossed to the eastern side and reached Weymouth Bay on December 9. Because of a shortage of food, he left eight men camped there and pressed on with four men to keep his rendezvous at Port Albany. Three weeks later, he arrived at Shelburne Bay where he left three men, one injured, one sick, and one to look after the other two. Kennedy and Jackey Jackey gained the Escape River but Kennedy was killed by Aborigines. The exemplary Jackey Jackey managed to escape, and 13 days later he contacted HMS Ariel at anchor off Albany Passage. The three men at Shelburne Bay were murdered, and of the remainder of the party left at Weymouth Bay, all but two, of whom Carron was one, died from starvation. Only 3 survived of the 13 men who started out from Rockingham Bay. It was not until Frank Jardine overlanded cattle from Rockhampton to Somerset, a new settlement near Cape York, in 1864 that a further attempt was made to explore the interior of the Cape York Peninsula. KENTISH, NATHANIEL (1799–1867). A contract surveyor, Kentish explored much of western and northwestern Van Diemen’s Land from 1841 through 1846, discovering the Kentish Plains in 1842, surveying a route, opening up a road from Deloraine to Emu Bay in 1843–1845, and investigating the country between the Meander and Emu Rivers. KERGUELEN-TREMAREC, YVES-JOSEPH DE (1734–1797). Three weeks after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne had sailed to rediscover Binot Paulmyer de Gonneville’s southern continent, Kerguelen departed form the Île de France on a similar mission. He embarked in Fortune, sailing due south in company with Le Gros Ventre, commanded by François de Saint Allouarn. His instructions were to make all possible efforts to find the continent, to establish good relations with its inhabitants, and then to sail to New Holland. At the beginning of February 1772, Kerguelen sighted the island that now bears his name. He reported land stretching without interruption from the northeast to the south. Unable to land on the island, he returned with extravagant claims of having discovered the long-sought continent, which he described in glowing terms as being admirably suited for settlement. This of a barren, windswept island in a high latitude, promising nothing but hardship and privation.

KING, PHILIP PARKER (1793–1850)

• 123

Despite some scarcely concealed skepticism, Kerguelen persuaded the Ministry of Marine to equip another expedition. But he succeeded almost too well; this time he was ordered to land on the new continent, to draw up plans of its harbors, and to select a suitable site for a settlement. Kerguelen returned to the island in December 1773 but showed no inclination to make a landing and, after five weeks of aimless tacking off the coast, set a course for Madagascar. After this fruitless voyage, the French discarded their outmoded belief in Gonneville’s southern continent, now clearly perceived as nothing more than a chimera. KINDUR RIVER. Mysterious river in the unknown interior supposedly flowing northwest to Australia’s northern shores. See also CLARKE, GEORGE; KENNEDY, EDMUND; MITCHELL, THOMAS LIVINGSTONE. KING, JOHN (1839–1872). King’s prominent role in Australian exploration derives from a chance meeting with George James Landells in India when he was on his camel-buying trip for the Victorian Exploration Committee. King traveled to Melbourne with Landells and was put in charge of the camel train on the Victorian Exploring Expedition led by Robert O’Hara Burke. In December 1860, he was one of the three men chosen to accompany Burke on his dash for the Gulf of Carpentaria. On their return to Cooper’s Creek a few hours after William Brahe’s depot party had moved out on April 21, 1861, King was in favor of following their tracks, but Burke ruled otherwise. He was with Burke to the end, and from June onward relied on Aboriginal assistance to survive until, on September 15, he was found by Edwin Welch, a surveyor on Alfred Howitt’s relief expedition. It was from King’s account, dictated to Howitt the day after he was rescued, that the story of the last days of Burke and Wills was pieced together. King had kept Burke’s pocketbook in a small canvas bag hung round his neck. In it Burke had written “King has behaved nobly. He has stayed with me to the last, and placed the pistol in my hand, leaving me lying on the surface as I wished. R. O’Hara Burke. Cooper’s Creek, June 28th.” An annuity of £180 was granted him by the Victorian government. KING, PHILIP PARKER (1793–1850). At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a resurgence of French interest in exploring New Holland prompted the British government to order an immediate examination of its hitherto unexplored coastline from Arnhem Bay, at the western end of the Gulf of Carpentaria, westward and southward as far as the North West Cape. The prime aim was to make a detailed examination of all gulfs and inlets to discover any river

124 •

KING’S ROUTE

likely to lead to an interior navigation of the continent. The task was given to Lieutenant Philip Parker King, who sailed from Sydney in HMS Mermaid on December 22, 1817, to take up the exploration of the northwest coast where Matthew Flinders had left off. Taking the southwestern route by way of Bass Strait and Cape Leeuwin, King began his survey at the Goulbourn Islands and worked his way west, naming the Coburg Peninsula and the Bathurst and Melville Islands, before entering Van Diemen Gulf. Bearing in mind the Admiralty’s instructions, he explored the Alligator River for 40 miles. He was next employed in surveying the recently discovered Macquarie Harbor in Van Diemen’s Land, from December 1818 through January 1819, and Port Macquarie (NSW) and the Hasting River, which John Oxley explored in 1818. King sailed from Sydney on his second voyage to the northwest coast in May 1819. On this occasion he cruised up the east coast, inside the Great Barrier Reef, through Torres Strait, across the Gulf of Carpentaria, and around the north of the Melville Islands, to make a landfall southwest of Vernon’s Islands. He examined the coast from Clarence Strait to Cambridge Gulf. Although sighting a deep opening at the beginning of his voyage south, he unaccountably decided it not to be of sufficient importance to warrant investigation. Nineteen years later, John Lort Stokes named it Port Darwin! He also missed the Daly, Victoria, and Ord Rivers. On his third voyage, in 1820, King reached Prince Regent River, which flows through the present-day Kimberley region of Western Australia. Sailing again, this time in company with HMS Bathurst in May 1821, he examined the Swan River and sailed 50 miles up the Prince Regent but was prevented by storms from making a close examination inshore of the Buccaneer Archipelago. Later he was to speculate that if an opening to the interior existed it would either be found here, on the gulf behind the Buccaneer islands, or between Depuch Island and Cape Villaret, many miles to the south. Philip Parker King undoubtedly helped to outline New Holland’s remote northwestern coasts but his would appear to have been an inconclusive contribution to Australian exploration. Despite the explicit emphasis of his instructions, he somehow managed to miss many rivers that really should have received his attention. KING OF THE DROVERS. See BUCHANAN, NATHANIEL. KING’S ROUTE. Sea route from Sydney to Cape York inside the Great Barrier Reef (the inner passage), so called because it was first surveyed by Philip Parker King.

LA TROBE LIBRARY

• 125

KNUCKEY, R. R. (fl. second half of 19th century). In charge of the exploration and surveying of a 120-mile stretch of the Overland Telegraph line, in the Northern Territory, from the Macumbra River to Crown Point, on the Finke River, Knuckey, who enjoyed the dubious honor of having a swamp named after him, discovered Dalhousie Springs in December 1870 and a series of beautiful lagoons he named Charlotte Waters in January 1871. In 1885 Charles Todd made Knuckey supervisor of linking Western Australia to the telegraph line and he wired almost 1,000 miles in less than 2 years.

–L– LA PÉROUSSE, JEAN-FRANÇOIS DE GALAUP, COMTE DE (1741– 1788?). Among the objectives of La Pérousse’s ambitious scientific discovery expedition to the Pacific Ocean, which sailed from Brest on August 1, 1785, in Boussole and Astrolabe, was the exploration of the scarcely frequented western and southern shores of New Holland as far as Van Diemen’s Land. Crisscrossing the Pacific, the two French vessels entered Botany Bay on January 26, 1788, having completed the first direct sailing from Tonga to New South Wales, and catching Governor Arthur Phillip in the process of removing the British settlement to Port Jackson. La Pérousse expected to complete the New Holland section of the voyage by sailing up the east coast of New South Wales, through a passage between New Holland and New Guinea other than the Torres Strait if one existed, and to explore the Gulf of Carpentaria, perhaps to discover a passage through the heart of the continent to the Southern Ocean. Perhaps even to claim French sovereignty of a territory far distant from the British settlement. If not, certainly to sail round New Holland to Van Diemen’s Land. But, after leaving Botany Bay in March, the two ships disappeared from sight for 40 years until Dumont D’Urville located remains on the island of Vanikoro in the Santa Cruz group in 1828. LA TROBE LIBRARY. Established in 1951, the La Trobe Library, named after Charles Joseph La Trobe, first Lieutenant-Governor of the colony of Victoria, was opened to the public in March 1965 and is now housed in a separate wing of the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne. It is the state’s principal repository for manuscripts, historical pictures, books, newspapers, and other library materials relating to the history of Australia and the Pacific. Its rare book collection comprises some 27,000 works dealing with all aspects of Australiana and includes the Currie Collection, which is especially strong

126 •

LADIES LEICHHARDT SEARCH COMMITTEE (MELBOURNE)

in works on the early voyages and on land exploration. It is especially noted for its collection of material relating to the Victorian Exploring Expedition. The La Trobe Library Journal is published twice yearly. A special issue, The Great South Land (Autumn 1988), was the catalog of An Exhibition of Books Relating to the European Discovery and Exploration of Australia, held in The Queen’s Hall of the State Library of Victoria, June 14 through August 31, 1988. LADIES LEICHHARDT SEARCH COMMITTEE (MELBOURNE). Organized by Ferdinand Mueller, the Committee sponsored Duncan McIntyre’s 1865 expedition to search for traces of Ludwig Leichhardt. In their zeal, the ladies appealed to the Princess of Wales, the Empress of France, and the Princess Royal of Prussia to support their search expedition. According to Michael Langley, the Committee “epitomized a fervour hardly less dedicated than that of knitting socks for soldiers at the front” (Sturt of the Murray, 1969, p. 234). LAKES. Many lakes are depicted on maps of Australia but, if rivers and creeks are dry more often than not, they must necessarily follow the same pattern. Even if flooded, their waters are as likely to be salt and rarely proved useful to explorers who constantly needed to replenish their scanty supplies of fresh drinking water. Lake Disappointment, in the Little Sandy Desert, was so named by Frank Hann in 1897 for this very reason. The 10-million-year-old Lake Eyre, Australia’s most famous lake, 90 miles by 40 miles in extent, is at the center of a 500,000-square-mile inland drainage system, but it is only the residue of a much larger sheet of water that existed in the pre-Cambrian geological age when an immense sea stretched south of the Gulf of Carpentaria over present-day Western Queensland and South Australia. In most years, Lake Eyre is no more than a large sheet of salt. Only when the Queensland rivers are full—15 times in the 20th century—does it contain substantial quantities of water. In fact, Australia’s lakes were always an unknown and uncertain factor in the exploration of the continent. LANDELLS, GEORGE JAMES (died 1872). Reported to be a good man with a camel, Landells was dispatched to India to buy animals for the Victorian Exploring Expedition. He returned to Melbourne in June 1860 with 25 camels, 3 cameleers, and John King, whom he had met in India. Purely on the strength of his expertise, it would appear, he was appointed a month later second-in-command to Robert O’Hara Burke. But, after a

LANDSBOROUGH, WILLIAM (1835–1886)

• 127

simmering row with Burke over the camels’ treatment had come out into the open, Landells resigned shortly before the expedition reached Menindie. It is intriguing to speculate whether William Wright would ever have been invited to join the expedition if Landells had not resigned and, if not, what effect that would have had on its tragic outcome. LANDOR, HENRY (fl. mid-19th century). On January 9, 1843, Henry Landor, together with H. M. Le Froy and an Aborigine to act as huntsman and interpreter, set off from York, in Western Australia, with a month’s supplies, in search of an inland sea reported by Aborigines of the Hotham District. Crossing the Hotham and Williams Rivers, they were soon in a lake district, coming in succession to Lakes Norring, Quiliding, Byriering, Quabing, Barkiering, Quiliwhirring, Goondering, and the largest, Lake Dumbleyung, 15 miles long and 8 miles wide. Two of the rivers flowing into this lake they named Lander and Lefroy. Turning to the northwest on their return journey, they came to another river, the Cowit, which they decided must be a tributary of the Hotham. The nature of the country they traversed was largely discouraging: what good land there was abounded on salt lakes and, perversely, the bad country on freshwater lakes. They considered that this series of lakes would form a continuous stream in times of heavy rain. The Lefroy River was, in their eyes, an important geographical discovery in its size and the direction in which it was flowing. Its source, they considered, must either be well-watered country to the east or, more probably, a larger lake far into the interior. LANDSBOROUGH, WILLIAM (1835–1886). Possessed of an innate interest in discovery and a keen eye for pastoral country, William Landsborough engaged himself in private exploration, mainly on the northeast coast of Queensland and in its hinterland, in the five years from 1856 through 1860. With barely a pause, he explored and named Mount Nebo, southwest of the present town of Mackay; wandered around Broad Sound; followed the Comet River to its head and examined the country of the Ngoa River; searched for traces of Ludwig Leichhardt on the Bowen River; and accompanied Nathaniel Buchanan on his exploration of the Thomson River. No doubt it was this solid experience in the bush that persuaded Augustus Charles Gregory to recommend him to the Queensland and Victoria governments as leader of a relief expedition in search of Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills. Sailing from Moreton Bay in the brig Firefly, and escorted by HMCS Victoria (Captain W. H. Norman), on August 24, 1861, Landsborough

128 •

LASSETER, LEWIS HUBERT (“HARRY”) (1880–1931)

disembarked at the Albert River, on the Gulf of Carpentaria, on October 7, after an eventful journey during which Firefly was driven ashore on Sir Charles Hardy’s Island, 60 miles southeast of Cape York. Six weeks later, he set out with George Bourne and eight others, including four Aborigines, striking southwest up an unknown river he named the Gregory until they reached its headwaters. Discovering the Herbert River, later the Georgina and now the Landsborough, they followed it downstream to a point about 30 miles from the present-day township of Camooweal. With their water supplies running low, they returned to the Albert River on January 19, 1862. Learning that Frederick Walker had found tracks made by Burke and Wills, Landsborough determined that instead of returning by sea he would make his own way back despite Norman’s opposition. Inadequately provisioned, the expedition struck inland again on February 11, crossed the Leichhardt River, and followed the Flinders River upstream until turning to the south on March 22. Within two weeks, they were on the Thomson River near where the town of Longreach now stands. With rations running low, it became essential to reach a settlement and Landsborough abandoned the river, although it was flowing south in the direction of Cooper’s Creek, and crossed to the Barcoo River where he arrived on April 17, a few miles southwest of Thomas Livingstone Mitchell’s furthest point in 1846. In a maze of channels that threatened to obscure the Barcoo’s main course, he turned south, crossed the Gowen Range to the headwaters of the Langlo River, followed it downstream to where it joined the Warrego River, and found his way to William’s Station, on the river, between the modern towns of Charlesville and Cunnamulla. It was here that Landsborough heard of the deaths of Burke and Wills. From Warrego, it was a comparatively easy route along the Darling River to Menindie and then to Melbourne, when the expedition became the first to cross the Australian continent from north to south. LASSETER, LEWIS HUBERT (“HARRY”) (1880–1931). In 1929, Harry Lasseter approached John Bailey, President of the Australian Workers Union, with a strange tale. While prospecting for rubies in 1897, lost, with one horse dead and the other almost so, the story goes, Lasseter stumbled across a quartz reef, 7 miles long, 4 to 7 feet high, and 12 feet across, thickly veined with gold, at the western edge of the MacDonnell Ranges in the Northern Territory. Rescued by an Afghan cameleer, he was taken to Carnarvon. He returned to the reef in 1900 accompanied by Surveyor Harding to take its bearings, but their watches were set incorrectly, making their

LATOUCHE-TRÉVILLE, LOUIS-RENÉ-MADELENE LE VASSOR DE (1745–1804)

• 129

bearings all but useless. Because the gold industry was totally occupied with profitable and more accessible goldfields, Lasseter was unable to excite interest in his discovery until 1916 when the Western Australian government dispatched two camel expeditions to locate the reef. Both were forced to return after suffering casualties from hostile Aborigines. After Lasseter’s story was investigated, the Central Australian Gold Exploration Company was formed and, in July 1930, a well-equipped motorized prospecting party left Alice Springs for Ilbilba along the northern edge of the MacDonnell Ranges, despite Lasseter urging the leader of the expedition, Fred Blakely, to head further south. After an aerial search to the southeast, Lasseter claimed to have identified the outskirts of his exploration area. Attempts to travel overland were frustrated by high sand dunes and the party, less Lasseter and Paul John, a cameleer and dingo scalper who had attached himself to the expedition, returned to Alice Springs. Continuing the search on camels, Lasseter and John reached the Petermann Range, but John was forced to go back to Alice Springs for more supplies. Unwisely, Lasseter pressed on alone, seemingly to good effect. An entry in his diary for December 23, 1930, records that he found the reef, but on his return journey, his camels bolted. Lasseter waited to be rescued in a nearby cave for several weeks but eventually, weakened by dysentery and suffering from ophthalmia, he made a desperate attempt to reach safety; he failed to survive. Harold Bell Lasseter attempted to retrace his father’s steps on a number of occasions and many others also took to the desert and mountains to find Lasseter’s lost reef. So far all have been unsuccessful. LAST OF THE AUSTRALIAN EXPLORERS. A term, or variant of it, applied to at least five men, Len Beadell, Ernest Giles, Donald Mackay, Michael Terry, and Lawrence Wells. LATOUCHE-TRÉVILLE, LOUIS-RENÉ-MADELENE LE VASSOR DE (1745–1804). French interest in the exploration of New Holland increased once the illusory nature of Binot Paulmyer de Gonneville’s southern continent had been exposed. Soon after Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen’s return to France in September 1774, Latouche-Tréville presented a plan to the Ministry of Marine for a circumnavigation voyage during which he would sail westward across the Pacific between the 5th and 10th degrees of south latitude to New Zealand and Van Diemen’s Land. From there he could either explore the southern shores of New Holland or the east coast of New South Wales to Torres Strait, or head for the Philippines.

130 •

LAWSON, WILLIAM (1774–1850)

If New Holland and New South Wales were two huge islands, separated by a wide strait running from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Southern Ocean, New Holland might possibly be claimed for France. But the plan was rejected; the Ministry saw no reason why a circumnavigation was necessary since it would be easier to fit out an expedition from the Île de France. LAWSON, WILLIAM (1774–1850). A substantial landowner, William Lawson accompanied Gregory Blaxland and William Charles Wentworth on their 1813 excursion to find a practicable route westward over the Blue Mountains. In fact, it was later claimed that not only was he the moving spirit behind the project, but also that it was he, rather than Blaxland, who evolved the concept of marching along the mountain ridges. Certainly he was the surveyor who plotted their route and measured how far they had traveled. Lawson later undertook three journeys of exploration to find a passable route to the Liverpool Plains discovered by John Oxley in 1818. In this he was unsuccessful but he did open up the rich pastures in the Mudgee district. LAYCOCK, THOMAS (1762–1823). In 1807, the commander of the British settlement at Port Dalrymple, on Van Diemen’s Land’s north coast, ordered Thomas Laycock, an officer in the New South Wales Corps, and four other soldiers to open up an overland communications route to Hobart on the southeast coast. Setting out on February 3, they followed the Lake River, skirted Lakes Crescent and Sorell, descended the Clyde to its junction with the Derwent, and arrived in Hobart on February 11. LEEMAN, ABRAHAM. Steersman of the Waeckende Boey, one of the two ships that sailed from Batavia on January 1, 1658, to rescue the survivors of the Vergulde Draeck, Leeman was put in charge of the shore parties that combed the beaches for traces of the castaway seamen. On February 26, he found their original camp, broken chests, kegs, a heavy beam, and some wreckage of their boat. A shameful episode in the history of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie occurred when Leeman and 13 men returned to the Waeckende Boey from another shore search just as a severe storm was blowing up on March 26. The ship’s master accused them of cowardice and ordered them back on land. That same evening, the storm duly arrived and the Waeckende Boey headed out to sea to return six days later. Two fires were visible on shore but, the next day, with no sign of Leeman’s party, and with the wind getting up, the ship stood out to sea again, this time on its homeward voyage, leaving 14 of its crew stranded on a remote and inhospitable coast.

LEICHHARDT, FRIEDRICH WILHELM LUDWIG (1813–1848?)

• 131

On shore, the indomitable Leeman organized his men to repair their boat and gather sufficient game, dried seal meat, and enough freshwater for a minuscule daily ration, before setting sail on April 8 for the long return voyage. Eventually, Leeman and three others survived the six-month voyage to Java’s south coast, followed by an overland journey to Batavia. See also ALBERTSZ, PIETER; VERGULDE DRAECK EXCAVATION. LE FROY, H. M. See LANDOR, HENRY. LEICHHARDT, FRIEDRICH WILHELM LUDWIG (1813–1848?). Soon after arriving in Sydney in February 1842, Ludwig Leichhardt, a German botanist, unsuccessfully approached Thomas Livingstone Mitchell for his support in mounting an expedition to explore northeast Australia. Very much in the air at this time among Sydney’s businessmen was a plan to develop Port Essington, a military settlement on the Coburg Peninsula of Arnhem Land. A proposed overland expedition to find a suitable route that, it was understood, would be under Mitchell’s leadership, failed to win the approval of the New South Wales government, which was apprehensive of the costs involved and reluctant to incur these costs without the support of the home government in London. Keenly ambitious to make his mark in exploring the interior of the continent and frustrated by apparent government indecision, Leichhardt contrived to attract sufficient private financial support to mount his own expedition to pioneer a route from Moreton Bay, Queensland, to Port Essington in the Northern Territory. Sailing from Sydney to Moreton Bay on August 13, 1844, and departing from Jimbour, the station furthest out on the Darling Downs on October 1, with a 10-strong party, 17 horses, and 16 oxen, he planned to follow a route that would take him no more than 10 miles from a river to offset his small outfit’s inability to carry a sufficient supply of water. Accordingly, Leichhardt followed the Condamine River westward to a spot where the present township of Chinchilla now stands before veering northwestward, crossing the northern watershed and, on November 5, gaining the head of one of the major tributaries of the Fitzroy, which he named Dawson River. By this time, he was already ruing his overoptimistic decision that the expedition would live off the land. His exiguous provisions were being consumed at an alarming rate. His numbers had to be reduced and two men volunteered to return home. Changing direction westward, Leichhardt crossed and named the Expedition Range and, at the end of December, discovered Comet Creek, which he followed to its junction with the dry bed of a large river he named the

132 •

LEICHHARDT, FRIEDRICH WILHELM LUDWIG (1813–1848?)

Mackenzie. Reverting to a northwestward course, the expedition came to the Peak Range. Continuing their grand tour of Australian rivers, both dry and in flow, they followed a creek eastward to the bed of a broad river he named the Isaacs. Following this upstream to its source, they next crossed the Denham Range, arriving at the head of Suttor Creek and moving down its entire length until it entered a broad river Leichhardt named the Burdekin, probably his most important discovery. A prominent hill near the junction of the two rivers he named Mount McConnell. His good fortune with accessible river systems continued; the expedition was now in the Burdekin Downs and rambled somewhat leisurely upstream until they climbed the divide that separates the eastern and western rivers draining into the Gulf of Carpentaria. They crossed a series of ridges, interspersed with creeks all flowing northward until they united to form the Lynd River, which took them further and further north, away from their intended destination. Eventually they encountered the Mitchell River and Leichhardt at last turned west and southwest, to the Nassau River region where, on June 28, a night attack by Aborigines cost the life of John Gilbert, the ornithologist, and severely injured two others. On July 5, Leichhardt sighted the Gulf, and a week later, crossed and named the Gilbert River. By August 6, they were on the banks of another river, which Leichhardt wrongly identified as the Albert River discovered by John Lort Stokes in 1842. Augustus Charles Gregory later named it the Leichhardt. This pattern of discovering, crossing, and, more often than not, naming rivers continued round the bottom of the Gulf and up into Arnhem Land: the Nicholson, Calvert, Robinson, Macarthur, Roper, Wilton, until they reached the South Alligator River. On December 17, 1845, they arrived in Port Essington, having traveled almost 3,000 miles, at a remarkably slow pace, on a curiously indirect route, which, at one point, had taken them halfway up the Cape York Peninsula. In truth, the expedition was ill equipped and inexperienced. Leichhardt’s knowledge of navigation and bushcraft was minimal, his management and leadership bordered on the quixotic, and he had lost one of his men at night by not taking elementary security precautions. Yet his geographical results were spectacular: he had not only discovered large areas of new grazing land in what is now northern Queensland, he had also put on the map numerous rivers, valleys, and ranges. Leichhardt spent some months in writing up his journal for publication before preparing another expedition, to make an east-west continental crossing from the Darling Downs to the Indian Ocean and to follow the coast south to the Swan River settlement. He left the Downs in December

LE MAIRE, JAKOB (1565?–1616)

• 133

1846 with 9 men, 270 goats, 180 sheep, 40 bullocks, 15 horses, 13 mules, and enough provisions to last for 2 years. But instead of proceeding due west, he followed his old track to the Mackenzie and Isaacs Rivers. After 500 miles, Leichhardt was at odds with the rest of the party, who were stricken with fever. They were unable to tend to their livestock, which had strayed off. Looking disaster in the face, the expedition was abandoned. After 14 days’ rest, Leichhardt explored the Condamine River and the country between his own and Mitchell’s 1846 route. Not daunted, and perhaps purblind to his own faults and character defects, Leichhardt succeeded in mounting a third expedition planned to take him down the Barcoo River, north to the Gulf, and then westward to the shores of the Indian Ocean. Starting off from the Condamine River in March 1848, with six men and a full outfit, he was last heard of leaving McPherson Station, near the present town of Roma, Queensland, on the Darling Downs. From that point, the entire party vanished into Australia’s vast interior. LE MAIRE, JAKOB (1565?–1616). Sailing in Eendracht as Director-General of the Australische Compagnie’s 1615–1616 expedition to discover a new sea route to the East Indies and also perhaps Terra Australis, Jakob Le Maire was accompanied by Willem Cornelisz Schouten, an experienced seaman and navigator, as ship’s captain in Hoorn. After passing the eastern entrance to the prohibited Strait of Magellan in January 1616, the two ships continued southward. Hoorn was destroyed by fire while being careened on the shores of Patagonia. Continuing south, Eendracht, with both ships’ companies on board, discovered a strait between Tierra del Fuego and Staaten Landt, so named in honor of the States-General of the Netherlands, thus establishing that Tierra del Fuego was not the northern fringe of the southern continent. Passing through the Strait, Eendracht rounded what Le Maire thought to be the southernmost extremity of the American continent, naming it Kaap Hoorn (Cape Horn), and entered the Pacific Ocean on January 29. In reality the “Cape” is one of a cluster of small islands. Seeing no sign of a southern continent, Le Maire steered for Polynesia. By mid-May, Schouten estimated they had sailed 1,600 miles west of Peru and Chile, and although Le Maire had not given up hope of finding Alvaro de Mendaña’s Solomon Islands and a southern continent, Schouten persuaded the expedition council to head for the East Indies. Always the practical navigator, he pointed out that they were heading to the south of New Guinea. In the absence of a known channel, and being unable to return east because of contrary winds, Eendracht would face disaster. Le Maire had no

134 •

LEWIS, JOHN W. (FL. SECOND HALF OF 19TH CENTURY)

choice but to abide by the council’s decision to steer northwest for the Indies and so, effectively, to abandon the search for Terra Australis. LEWIS, JOHN W. (fl. second half of 19th century). A member of Peter Egerton Warburton’s 1873 transcontinental expedition, when his indomitable bushcraft proved vital, Lewis was given command of a South Australian Crown Lands Department expedition to survey the shores and environs of Lake Eyre in 1874. With a party of 4 plus 3 Afghan cameleers and an Aborigine, Lewis commenced operations from a trigonometrical station, 18 miles east of Mount Margaret, followed Lake Eyre’s northern shore, continued along the Warburton River to the northeast, and discovered the Goyder Lagoon, named after South Australia’s Surveyor-General. Lewis progressed along the Diamantina further to the northeast, as far as Mount Lewis, eight miles from the modern town of Birdsville in Queensland. Turning south, he carried on the survey to Lake Kopperamanna, on Cooper’s Creek, and then to the northern shore of Lake Gregory, before following Cooper’s Creek back to Lake Eyre. He returned to the settled area at Beltana on June 12, 1875. His survey had revealed for the first time the true extent of Lake Eyre. LHOTSKY, JOHN (1800–1839). In January 1834, John Lhotsky escaped his numerous debtors by setting off from Sydney with four convicts loaned to him by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, and a horse-drawn dray containing three months’ provisions, on a scientific expedition to the Monaro Highlands. His route took him across the Kemberry Plains, the site of Canberra, and on to Cooma, in the heart of the unexplored Snowy Mountains, where he became the first European to set eyes on the Snowy River. He advanced as far as the Mitta Matta River at the point where the township of Omeo is now located. LIGHT, WILLIAM (1786–1839). Appointed Surveyor-General of the newly constituted colony of South Australia in January 1836, William Light was charged with the impossible task of selecting a site somewhere along 1,500 miles of coastline for a capital city, surveying it, dividing its proposed 150 square miles into convenient sections, and selecting sites for secondary towns, all within 3 months. He arrived in Antechamber Bay, Kangaroo Island, from England, on August 19. Nepean Bay was examined first, but when Light sailed into St. Vincent Gulf, he was immediately impressed with Holdfast Bay on its eastern side. But he made a detailed reconnaissance of the head of the Gulf, and also of

LINDSAY, DAVID (1856–1922)

• 135

its western banks, before deciding upon the Bay as the site for the future city of Adelaide. LINDSAY, DAVID (1856–1922). A former Surveyor-General of the Northern Territory, from 1878 through 1882, David Lindsay was commissioned by the South Australian government in 1883 to explore the central and eastern parts of Arnhem Land and to examine its potential for settlement. He left the Katherine station of the Overland Telegraph line with 4 white men, 2 Aborigines, and 32 horses in May and followed the line southeast to Roper Creek. He continued via the Chambers River, to the northern banks of the Roper River, which he surveyed as far as its junction with the Wilton. He followed this river upstream to its tributary, the Mainoru River. Returning south to the Roper, he followed it downstream to its tidal flats, about 20 miles from Limmen Bight. Turning north, he crossed the Phelp and Rose Rivers to reach the Gulf of Carpentaria opposite Groote Eylandt (Great Island). From Blue Mud Bay, further up the coast, he took a northwestward course until he came to the Goyder River, tracing it down to Castlereagh Bay, on the Arafura Sea. This was his furthermost outward point. Traversing the watershed of the northerly and easterly flowing rivers, he came to the Katherine River, and so downstream back to where he started. In five months he had filled in some important blanks on the map. In 1886, Lindsay was employed to survey east of Alice Springs telegraph station; he found “rubies” at Glen Annie Gorge and Ruby Gap, triggering a rubies rush, but the “rubies” were later confirmed as garnets. Five years later, the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch appointed him to lead the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition, whose main purpose was to complete the exploration of Australia. The continent was divided into lettered blocks to be systematically explored. Lindsay was selected as leader and instructed to investigate the remaining blanks on the map of Australia, essentially the Great Victoria, Little Sandy, Great Sandy, and Tanami Deserts. He led a party of 5 scientists, one of whom was Lawrence Allan Wells, a number of assistants, and 5 Afghan cameleers in charge of 44 pack and riding camels. Starting from Warrina Station in South Australia on May 7, 1891, the expedition, which was named after its financial backer, Sir Thomas Elder, moved out to the northwest, crossed Peake Creek, and traveled through known territory to the Everard Ranges. In order not to miss any of the country between the routes of Forrest and Giles, the expedition advanced in a series of crisscrosses. At one point Lindsay left the main expedition and rode south to link up with William Henry Tietkens’s furthest point north in

136 •

LINE OF DEMARCATION

1875. After crossing the Western Australia border on July 17, finding water became imperative and the various search parties came across their precursors’ tracks, campsites, and markings. Although Lindsay’s instructions were to explore north of Queen Victoria Springs, he was compelled by the continuing shortage of water to head toward Dempster Station in the Fraser Range. On October 9, Lindsay and an Aborigine rode to Esperance Bay to telegraph the expedition’s results and to receive permission to continue to the Murchison River area where another block of unexplored country awaited him. The expedition resumed its journey on November 2 and, for a short time, all went well; they passed Lake Lefroy before arriving at the township of Southern Cross, at the center of the Yilgarn goldfields. On arriving at Geraldton, on the coast, the simmering dissension on the part of the scientific staff, probably caused by the heat and the desert conditions and the lack of genuine scientific investigations, came to a head when all but Wells were either dismissed or resigned. On telegraphing for instructions, Lindsay was ordered to return to Adelaide; Wells was to continue the expedition to the Murchison. Lindsay was exonerated of all blame for the breakup of the expedition. He had completed a 4,000-mile journey during the worst drought in living memory and had mapped 80,000 square miles of previously unknown country. See also STREICH, JOHN VICTOR. LINE OF DEMARCATION. Because of the rudimentary nature of the navigation instruments available in the 16th century, there were no means of accurately measuring longitude at sea, and it proved impossible to determine the true location of the boundary line between the Portuguese and Spanish spheres of discovery as outlined by the Treaty of Tordesillas. When the boundary was tacitly extended to the eastern hemisphere, the problem became even more intractable. In modern terms the line was fixed at 51º West longitude in the Atlantic and a corresponding line of 129º East longitude in the Pacific. Disputes over the Pacific boundary heightened after the surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan’s circumnavigation voyage returned to Spain in 1522 and erroneously reported that the Spice Islands were on the Spanish side of the line. After seven years of claim and counterclaim, with a Spanish invasion fleet at one time being prepared, the Treaty of Saragossa eased the tension and moved the Line of Demarcation to 144º 44' East longitude. L’ISLE, GUILLAUME DE (1675–1726). In the context of the early maps of Australia, de l’Isle’s Hemisphere Meridional pour voir plus distinctement

LOCKYER, EDMUND (1784–1860)

• 137

Les Terres Australes (The Southern Hemisphere outlined in order to see the South Lands more distinctly), printed in Paris in 1715, is a major landmark in that it discards decoration, imagination, theoretical cosmography, and plain guesswork in favor of scientific truth and accuracy. Reissued constantly and frequently updated for nearly 70 years, its original form represents the northern, western, and southwestern coasts of New Holland and the southern half of Van Diemen’s Land. It leaves blank the east coast and the southeast corner of the continent. Other features depicted include Austrialia del Espíritu Santo and the west coast of New Zealand. LITCHFIELD, FRED (fl. mid-19th century). An experienced bushman, Litchfield was placed in charge by Boyle Finniss of a number of exploring parties of the Northern Territory Expedition. On May 13, 1865, he was ordered south to find the tracks of John McDouall Stuart but returned without success after 10 days; it transpired later that entries in Stuart’s journal were inaccurate. In October and November, he explored country to the southwest of Palmerston and discovered the Finniss and Daly Rivers. LOCKYER, EDMUND (1784–1860). Ordered by Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane to proceed to Moreton Bay in the cutter Mermaid to explore the Brisbane River as far as he could go “with prudence” and to report on the animals, birds, and minerals and the nature, disposition, and complexion of the natives, Major Edmund Lockyer, of the 57th Regiment of Foot, left Sydney on September 1, 1825. He had with him James Finnegan, who had guided John Oxley in the same region from 1823 through 1824. At anchor in Moreton Bay by September 7, Lockyer continued to the penal settlement there in the cutter’s boats. He reached Oxley’s furthermost point on the river five days later. Landing at intervals, at times walking onshore for several miles and finding that the land on both banks consisted of rich alluvial soil, admirably suited for cultivation, Lockyer reached testing rapids on September 26. An attempt to haul up the boats one at a time failed when his ropes were unable to take the strain. With a soldier, a sailor, and two convicts, he continued on foot, keeping the river in view, until he reached the Brisbane Mountains. From there he could distinguish a flat country, behind a ridge of well-wooded hills, with long grass, making it difficult to proceed with heavy loads. Lockyer rejoined his boats and was back at the settlement by October 6, having been out 27 days during which time he had explored 150 miles upstream and had discovered the Stanley River and Lockyer Creek. He returned to Sydney on October 16 and reported that Moreton Bay was well

138 •

LOGAN, PATRICK (1791–1830)

situated to become a place of trade when settled. The nearby city of Brisbane, now Australia’s third largest, bears witness to his prescience. A year later, Lockyer established a British presence at Albany in Western Australia in response to reports that France was intending to found a settlement on the western side of the continent. LOGAN, PATRICK (1791–1830). Commanding Officer of a detachment of the 87th Regiment, and Commandant of the penal settlement at Moreton Bay, Captain Patrick Logan led several exploring expeditions. He discovered the Logan River in August 1826 and the Coomera River in May 1827 when he also explored the Bremer River upstream to Ipswich. He set out from Ipswich in June to find a route to Mount Warning and the Tweed River, following Warrill Creek (a tributary of the Bremer) as far as Fassifern, near the modern town of Boonah in southeast Queensland, where he climbed Mount French before returning to Brisbane via the Logan River. On July 24, 1828, Logan accompanied Alan Cunningham’s eight-man party, which traveled a new route through the Logan Valley, before striking west into the hill country of the McPherson Range. He climbed its highest peak, Mount Lindesay, on August 3 and the next day discovered St. George’s Pass (now Collins Gap) through to Burnett Creek and Teviot Brook. In the fall of 1829, he explored up the Brisbane River as far as Mount Esk. Logan returned to St. George’s Pass in July 1830 and explored a route to the headwaters of the Richmond River. Four months later he was on the upper reaches of the Brisbane River in an attempt to chart its course from Pine Ridge to Lockyer’s Creek and Mount Brisbane, but he was killed by Aborigines near Mount Beppo on October 17. LOOS, WOUTER (fl. first half of 17th century). Two of the Batavia mutineers, Wouter Loos and Jan Ralgrom de Rye, were sentenced by François Pelsaert to be marooned on the mainland coast for an indeterminate number of years during which time they might gather information on the land and its people. No more was heard of them, although in later years, the captains of ships who might conceivably find themselves near to where they were put ashore were instructed to look out for them. In 1848, when traveling in the Murchison River region, southeast of Shark Bay, Augustus Charles Gregory encountered a group of Aborigines whose coloring was different from that of other tribes, being neither black nor copper but of a yellowish hue. He surmised that European blood had been introduced from the two castaways.

MACARRESE TREPANG INDUSTRY

• 139

LORYMER, CLEMENT POWELL (died 1827). Employed as a surveyor by the Van Diemen’s Land Company, Powell led a small party from Circular Head in January 1827 to explore the hills south of Rocky Cape and to determine whether open country was to be found beyond the coastal forests. Thick scrub was encountered and little progress was made. In March he conducted an overland and whaleboat expedition down the west coast to the Pieman River. He never returned, being drowned when wading the Duck River. LOVE, STUART (1884–1920). At the request of William Orr, a prominent mining industrialist in Melbourne, Stuart Love led an exploration expedition into eastern and northeastern Arnhem Land in 1910, following a report of the discovery of a major silver-lead field near the Wilton River, 60 miles north of the Roper Bar and 300 miles to the east of Pine Creek in the Northern Territory. With three men, he left Pine Creek on June 21, cut across the headwaters of the Berwick, Waterloose, Chambers, and Flying Fox Rivers, but found no trace of the alleged discovery. He continued northeastward, located the Rose, Hart, and Minnie Rivers, south of the Walker River, discovered the Koolatong River, and mapped the low divide stretching west from Caledon Bay, before returning to Pine Creek on October 23. LOZIER, JEAN-BAPTISTE CHARLES BOUVET DE (1705–1788). La Compagnie des Indes Orientales (East Indies Company) dispatched Lozier in command of two frigates, L’Aigle and Marie, in June 1738 to search for unknown lands in the South Atlantic, to find a harbor for Company ships, and to establish good relations with the inhabitants. Lozier encountered ice fields unusually far north and, on January 1, 1739, discovered a barren land, in 54º South latitude, known today as Bouvet Island. It was not what the Company was hoping to find and it declined to fund Lozier’s dreams of opening up a profitable trade with Terra Australis Incognita.

–M– MACARRESE TREPANG INDUSTRY. According to Manoel Godinho de Erédia, the fishermen of Macassar (now Ujung Pandang), on the island of Celebes (Sulawesi), asserted that for the previous two centuries annual fleets had sailed to Maraga (i.e., the South Land) to harvest trepang, alternatively known as bêche-de-mer or sea cucumbers, which the Chinese particularly relished as a delicacy. This would place Macarrese voyages to

140 •

MACKAY, DONALD (1870–1958)

Australia as early as the 14th century. Kenneth Gordon McIntyre contends in The Secret Discovery of Australia (1977) that they passed on their knowledge to the Portuguese. On February 17, 1803, Matthew Flinders encountered Macarrese praus off the coast of Arnhem Land and was informed by their chief, Pobasso, that no less than 60 of these craft were dispersed along the coast fishing for trepang. C. C. McKnight in The Voyage to Morege (1976) tentatively suggests a date between 1650 and 1750 for the origin of the trepang industry. Until further documentary evidence is uncovered, it would appear futile to speculate further, but what of Erédia’s account? Of course it might simply be an instance of regular visits stemming from much earlier sporadic contact. MACKAY, DONALD (1870–1958). Mackay’s first exploring expedition was to the Petermann Ranges by camel in 1926 when he was accompanied by Herbert Basedow. Their primary objective was to fill the blank in the southwestern corner of the Northern Territory by visiting and verifying the position of various geographical features sighted at a distance by earlier explorers. They were also to investigate the region’s pastoral potential. On May 23 the expedition, consisting of four whites and three Aborigines, left Oodnadatta by motor truck for Charlotte Waters where a team of camels and the heavy equipment were picked up. This included a Watts light mountain theodolite, a sextant and artificial horizon, an aeroid barometer, prismatic compasses, distance measurers, a super-heterodyne radio, and cameras. From Charlotte Waters, Mackay took a course westward to Ayers Rock, traveling over stony tableland intersected by dry creeks. It soon became clear that the country offered no hope of permanent pastoral settlement because of uncertain rainfall. A lack of feed for his camels forced Mackay to turn south to the eastern edge of the Musgrave Range. From Erandirrinna Bluff, they resumed their path northwest toward Ayers Rock across spinifex-covered sand hills. Mackay then began a long sweep through inhospitable country, first to Mount Olga then northwest to the McNichol Range, the Kulipurra Hills, and Mount Unapproachable, southwest across the Hull River, to the south of the Norupata and Kaltogarama Hills, the furthest extent of their journey, where he recorded in his journal that “we were as far removed from civilization as it would possible to be in Australia.” Mackay’s homeward route southeastward crossed the Petermann Range, through a valley between the Piultarana and Mannanana Ranges, along the dry watercourse of the Shaw River to Tortarinna Spring. From

MACKAY, JOHN (1839–1914)

• 141

here, Mackay and Basedow climbed Mount McCulloch. Continuing southeast, they pursued a course to Stevenson’s Peak, through the Musgraves, across the Ferdinand and Alberga Rivers to Todmorden Station, and so back to Oodnadatta. Arnhem Land was Mackay’s next destination, chosen because it was one of the last remaining unexplored regions of Australia. From April through July 1928, he traveled from Katherine to the Roper River, followed the Wilton, one of its tributaries, north to Mount Marumba, left the Wilton northeast across to the Goyder River, and then west to the Liverpool River, from where it was a comparatively short distance to the Oenpilli Mission Station and southwest to the Pine Creek railroad station. Significant though these two expeditions were, they were overshadowed by a series of aerial surveys that Mackay financed and supervised in the 1930s. The objective of the Mackay Aerial Survey Expedition Central Australia, in May and June 1930, was to survey the region west of Alice Springs, bounded in the east by the Overland Telegraph line, by Meekathara and the Marble Bar to the west, by the Victoria River and Halls Creek to the north, and by the Transcontinental Railroad to the south, an area of almost 1,000,000 square miles. Although a dysentery outbreak severely curtailed operations, the entire region within a radius of 125–130 miles of his base at Ilbilba, close to the Ehrenburg Range, was surveyed and accurately mapped for the first time. Lake Amadeus, shown on existing maps as stretching for hundreds of miles, was shown to be only 58 miles in length. In 1933, Mackay explored the territory west and northwest of the Petermann Ranges from bases at Docker Creek, the Fortescue River, and the Fitzroy Crossing, 225 miles east of Broome, when 200,000 square miles were mapped. Two years later, a huge region 900 miles long and 300 miles wide, north of the Transcontinental Railway, was surveyed, and in 1937, a large area was mapped from the air from bases at Wiluna and Fitzroy Crossing. MACKAY, JOHN (1839–1914). Persuaded by a number of cattlemen to lead a small party in search of new grazing land, Mackay set out from Marlborough, 60 miles north of Rockhampton, Queensland, on March 22, 1860. After a false start, following in George Dalrymple’s footsteps along the Isaac River, he turned northeastward to explore the untrodden country between the Burdekin River and the Isaac watershed, which is now known as the Mackay District. The Pioneer River was discovered, along whose banks Mackay subsequently established a cattle station.

142 •

MADIGAN, CECIL THOMAS (1889–1946)

MADIGAN, CECIL THOMAS (1889–1946). Geologist, one-time Antarctic explorer, and a distinguished academic, Madigan gained the support and cooperation of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch and the Royal Australian Air Force, which provided two Westland Wapiti aircraft, for an aerial reconnaissance and a high-altitude photographic survey of some 28,000 square miles of the Central Australian desert, which no European had penetrated, with the possible exception of the ill-fated Ludwig Leichhardt. The survey was completed in 9 flights, occupying 43 flying hours, in 19 days, in August 1929: (1) from Broken Hill to Marree, via Lakes Frome, Callabonna, Gregory, and Cooper’s Creek, 480 miles; (2) from Marree to Birdsville in a direct line, 280 miles; (3) from Birdsville direct across the desert to Alice Springs, 372 miles; (4) from Alice Springs easterly, across the desert to Lake Caroline, for 50 miles south, and back to Alice Springs, 504 miles; (5) Alice Springs to the west, over the Western MacDonnell Ranges, 250 miles; (6) from Alice Springs southeast into the desert, to Oodnadatta, 367 miles; (7) from Oodnadatta to Lake Eyre, over the Lake to Marree, 320 miles; (8) from Marree over Lake Eyre South and North, and return to Marree, 260 miles; (9) from Marree along the railway line to the Douglas Creek and down the center of Lake Torrens to Quorn. Ten years later, Madigan led a party of 9, with 19 camels, across the Simpson Desert from Andado Station in the Northern Territory to Birdsville in Queensland. Leaving on June 4, 1939, he went north to the junction of the Hale and Todd Rivers before turning southeast to Birdsville, which they reached on July 6. After four days’ rest, they followed the Diamantina River southward to the Goyder Lagoon, and then, via Cowarie and Lake Kalamurina, to Maree. Arriving there on August 8, they had traveled 800 miles in a little over 10 weeks, crossing a wasteland of arid red sand dunes for the first time. Pioneering the use of aircraft for surveying remote areas in the center of Australia in 1929 and taking advantage of radio communications while traveling with camels in 1939, Madigan’s explorations marked the transition from traditional expeditions on foot, with horses, oxen, and camels, to expeditions with the assistance of 20th-century transport and technology. MAGELLAN, FERDINAND (1480–1521). A Portuguese seafarer and navigator in the service of the King of Spain, Magellan sailed from Seville on September 8, 1519, to find a route to the Moluccas, in the East Indies, by way of a southwestern passage round the tip of South America and perhaps to establish that these islands were located on the Spanish side of the Line of Demarcation as defined by the Treaty of Tordesillas.

MAHOGANY SHIP

• 143

Entering the strait that is now named after him on October 21, 1520, Magellan emerged into the Pacific Ocean on November 28. During his passage, he had observed fires along the southern shore that, accordingly, he named Tierra del Fuego (land of fire). Although he believed this land to be an island, desk-bound cartographers chose to regard it as confirming the existence of Terra Australis as conceived by ancient, medieval, and contemporary cosmographers. It was not until 1578 that Francis Drake proved Magellan right. MAGELLANICA. The island of Tierra del Fuego on the southern side of the Strait of Magellan, first sighted on Ferdinand Magellan’s 1519–1522 circumnavigation, was erroneously reported to be part of the huge southern continent. In the 1560s, coinciding with the earlier term of Java-la-Grande falling into disuse, Magellanica was adopted as an alternative or complementary term to Terra Australis. On Petrus Plancius’s world map of 1599, for example, the southern continent was named Magellanica Terra Australis. MAGNETIC COMPASS DEVIATION. The difference between magnetic north and true north, which handicapped navigators on oceangoing voyages. Their problems were exacerbated by substandard magnetic compass needles and the ship’s own magnetic field. Matthew Flinders became the first to systematically investigate this phenomenon on his 1801–1803 Australian voyage and correctly attributed it to the ship’s ironwork. He advocated placing the compass in the ship’s stern, where the greater vicinity of its ironwork would counteract the pull of its center and forward parts. Should the stern’s attraction be too weak, then it should be enhanced by fixing bars of iron there. The “Flinders Bar” became a standard corrective device fitted to magnetic marine compasses. MAHOGANY SHIP. In 1836, two survivors of a capsized whaleboat discovered the timbers of a wrecked vessel lying about 300–400 yards above tide level among the hummocks of an unidentified beach between Warrnambool and Port Fairy, Victoria. The term “Mahogany Ship” was ascribed to the wreck after Captain John Mills, who subsequently became harbormaster at both Port Fairy and Warrnambool, tried to cut a sliver of timber with his clasp-knife. He remarked that “the timbers of the vessel, both in hardness and colour are not unlike mahogany.” Now covered with drift sand, the exact location of the wreck remains unknown. It is well recorded, nevertheless, that during the years 1836–1880, there were at least 40 sightings, 27 being officially reported. The ship has

144 •

MAJOR’S LINE

been variously identified as the caravel San Lesmes, separated in a violent storm from Garcia Jofre de Loaysa’s Spanish fleet ordered to the Spice Islands westward across the Pacific in 1526–1527; as the Santa Ysabel, one of four vessels under the command of Alvaro de Mendaña, attempting to colonize Santa Cruz in 1595, which parted company with the main fleet, possibly under orders to make an independent search for the great south land; and, most vociferously if controversially, as one of Christovão de Mendonca’s ships on his conjectural voyage down the east coast of Australia in 1521. An alternative theory is that the ship was a drifting derelict, abandoned in the Indian Ocean and blown by the prevailing westerly winds along the southern shores of Australia until it met its graveyard on Victoria’s notorious “Shipwreck Coast.” To mark the centenary of the last recorded sighting, The Mahogany Ship Committee was formed in 1980 in order to encourage interest and to coordinate research. Two symposia were held at the Warrnambool Institute of Advanced Education in 1980 and 1985. MAJOR’S LINE. Tracks made by Major Thomas Livingstone Mitchell on his return from Australia Felix to New South Wales in 1836. Visible for years afterward, they were followed by squatters searching for new farming land. MALLEE. See SCRUB. MAPS. Apart from classical world and medieval maps expressing philosophical concepts of the Earth demanding the existence of one or possibly two continents in the southern hemisphere in order to maintain its equilibrium, the first cartographic representations of a southern continent bearing any semblance of reality were the Dieppe Maps. Conceivably these were based on reliable and accurate information from early navigators of the Age of Discovery. Later, in the 16th century, Dutch cartographers working in Antwerp, Louvain, and Amsterdam were the recognized masters. Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theater of the Lands of the World) (1570), a useful summary of contemporary geographical “knowledge,” showed a large promontory of a world-encircling amorphous southern continent located, coincidentally or otherwise, at no great distance to the southeast of Java. The golden age of Dutch cartography continued throughout the 17th century, combining an imaginative use of color with decorated cartouches, to refine mapmaking to an art form. But the progress of the Dutch discovery of New Holland was slow to appear on the map. The hydrographic and cartographic office of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie was reluctant

MAPS

• 145

to share its knowledge. Eventually, Henricus Hondius’s 55cm x 38.5cm Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica AC Hydrographica Tabula (A New and Complete Geographic and Hydrographic Map of the Lands of the World) (1630) showed the east coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria with eight topographical names. Jean Blaeu’s 54cm ⫻ 40cm Nova Et Accuratissima Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula (A New Complete and Accurate Map of the Lands of the Earth) (1662), destined to be included in his 11-volume Atlas Maior (Great Atlas), marks a turning point in the cartography of the early modern world. It has been described as “a magnificent example of Dutch cartography at its height” in which “science is now replacing mythology for Terra Australis” (Robert Clancy. The Mapping of Terra Australis, 1995). New Holland is depicted from Cape York, round the Gulf of Carpentaria, to Arnhem Land, down the entire west coast, and along the south coast to the western shores of the Great Australian Bight. Dutch cartography declined as the period of Dutch maritime discovery came to an end and was replaced by the growing influence of a formidable school of French cartographers. Boosted by royal support, and by the establishment of a national hydrographic office, they were impatient to complete an outline of the world’s coastlines. The east coast of New Holland was an especially intriguing challenge. Unfortunately, in some instances, they reverted to mythology rather than scientific accuracy. Relying on Pedro Fernandez de Quirós’s discovery of Austrialia del Espíritu Santo, a number of prominent French cartographers of the 17th and 18th centuries joined these islands to a hypothetical continent in which the Cape York peninsula extended far to the east and was, in the south, united with a vastly enlarged Van Diemen’s Land. An untitled map in Melchisedech Thévenot’s Relation de divers voyages curieux (An Account of Various Curious Voyages) (1663) showed New Holland with an undefined Terre Australe (South Land) stretching eastward with a suggestion at least that it reached as far as New Zealand. But Pierre Duval’s Carte des Indes Orientales (Map of the East Indies) (1677) depicts New Holland as “Partie de La Terre Australe decouverte l’an 1644” (part of the South Land discovered in 1644), that is, the year of Abel Tasman’s second South Pacific voyage, which confirmed that clear blue water existed between New Holland and New Zealand. James Cook’s 1768–1771 voyage finally established the exact location of New Holland’s east coast, but it was not until the early years of the 19th century that Matthew Flinders accurately traced the configuration of Australia’s coastlines. His General Chart of Terra Australis or Australia Showing the Parts

146 •

MARION DU FRESNE, MARC-JOSEPH (1724–1772)

Explored Between 1788 and 1803, first printed in A Voyage to Terra Australis (1814), is regarded by Australians as one of the nation’s most significant documents. With the exception of a few desultory marches inland from the Gulf of Carpentaria by Dutch seamen at the beginning of the 17th century, the first serious exploration of the interior followed the English settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788. The garrison there included Army and Royal Navy officers, notably Watkin Tench and Francis Barrallier, whose survey and drawing skills ensured that the early maps of the infant colony and its hinterland were reasonably accurate. As exploration of the interior and coastal surveys expanded in the 19th century, explorers with no formal training in surveying could not always sustain the same degree of accuracy of professional surveyors like John Oxley, Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, or Edmund Kennedy. But the accuracy of even their maps was sometimes impaired by the fragile nature of their chronometers and other instruments, which were not suited for use across uneven and difficult terrain. Most maps of newly explored territory were first printed in the explorers’ own narratives or in their summary reports in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. Accounts of official government explorations were printed with maps in British parliamentary papers. A useful guide to these is A Collection of Nineteenth Century Maps of Australia and New Zealand from the British Parliamentary Papers (Dublin: Irish Universities Press, 1976). In the 20th century, aerial surveys and government surveying expeditions completed an accurate cartographic record of the continent. See also AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC: “THE EXPLORATION OF AUSTRALIA”; CONSIDERATIONS ON THE POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHICAL NOMENCLATURE OF AUSTRALIA; DIEPPE MAPS; FACSIMILE MAPS AND CHARTS OF AUSTRALIA; FRIEND OF AUSTRALIA; ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY SURVEYING SERVICE; WESTPRINT HERITAGE MAPS. MARION DU FRESNE, MARC-JOSEPH (1724–1772). With the support of the civil administrator of the Île de France, Marion du Fresne, a local landowner and an experienced naval officer, set off in December 1771 with two ships, Mescarin and Marquis de Castries, to rediscover Binot Paulmier de Gonneville’s southern continent, believed to be strategically situated astride the shipping lanes to India and the East Indies. A secondary objective was to follow in Abel Tasman’s wake to Van Diemen’s Land. The Austral and Crozet Islands were discovered in January 1772 and Van Diemen’s Land was reached in March. Neither bore any resemblance to the land Gonneville

MAURICE, R. T. (FL. EARLY 20TH CENTURY)

• 147

described. After a fruitless three-day search for freshwater on the shores of Blackman’s Bay, Marion du Fresne weighed anchor for New Zealand. MARTIN, JAMES (fl. 1860). Sailing from Champion Bay in the schooner Flying Foam, in June 1863, Martin and three others proceeded via Doubtful Bay to the lower rapids of the Glenelg River and explored a land route to Camden Harbor, with orders from the Western Australian government to look for new pastoral country. After returning to the mouth of the Glenelg, he continued his voyage to Collier Bay, explored the shores of Shoal Bay, and successfully searched for a river, which was thought to run into the southeastern corner of Secure Bay. A similar expedition in 1864 took him from Champion Bay to Brecknock Harbor when he visited the Bedout Islands. He compiled two detailed reports for the Governor on the climate, extent, pastoral resources, and general capabilities of the soil of the Glenelg and Roebuck Bay districts. MAUPERTUIS, PIERRE-LOUIS MOREAU DE (1698–1759). Almost lost behind the figure of Charles de Brosses may be discerned Pierre Maupertuis, a far from negligible figure in the history of Australian discovery, whose views on the unknown southern hemisphere were first formulated in a paper written for Frederick the Great of Prussia, published in 1752 as Lettre sur le Progrès des Sciences (Letter on Scientific Progress) and later read as a lecture to a French learned society at which de Brosses was present. Maupertuis underlined the lack of exact knowledge of the southern lands, as opposed to myth and legend, and recommended that scientific expeditions be sent there, expressing astonishment that no powerful prince had ever fitted out such an expedition. The discovery of an unknown continent, he argued, would undoubtedly unleash unprecedented trading opportunities and would reveal undreamt of scientific marvels. MAURICE, R. T. (fl. early 20th century). Accompanied by W. R. Murray as surveyor, Maurice made two exploring expeditions across the South Australian interior. Starting from Yalata Station on Fowler’s Bay, an inlet of the Great Australian Bight, in 1901, he traveled inland to the Paraminna Dam, in latitude 29º South, before turning northwest across the Western Australian border to the Jameson and Rawlinson Ranges. His return journey was by a more northerly route along the Mann and Musgrave Ranges. He reported that the northern part of the Nullarbor Plain was well grassed and that there were encouraging signs of minerals in the Cavanagh and Rawlinson Ranges. Throughout the journey there seemed to be a good supply of permanent water.

148 •

MCINTYRE, DUNCAN (1831–1866)

The following year the two men set out on a more ambitious expedition across the continent to the north coast. Again departing from Fowler’s Bay, their journey, during which they crossed the tracks of Ernest Giles, William Gosse, and William Henry Tietkens, took seven months to complete. Various waterholes were discovered, including one near Giles Creek estimated to contain a million gallons of water, which was named Thomas’ Reservoir. Gold-bearing rocks were recognized in the Petermann Range. After a long stretch of dry country, Sturt’s Creek was reached and the expedition followed existing tracks to Wyndham on the Cambridge Gulf. MCINTYRE, DUNCAN (1831–1866). While waiting for the flooded Darling River to subside so that he might cross his sheep, McIntyre advanced northward to Cooper’s Creek in order to reconnoiter a practicable route for his cattle drove and discovered several new lakes and creeks. Returning to the Darling he learned that the Queensland government had imposed restrictions on the entry of stock from the other Australian colonies either by land or sea. Waiting for permission to enter Queensland, he spent five months exploring the Paroo, Bulloo, and Barcoo Rivers. When a permit still had not arrived, he set off north again with 4 men, 3 of them Aborigines, and 25 horses to check whether the “new” country at the bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria was superior cattle country to the land he had already examined. He left Dargonelly, on the Paroo, on June 21, 1864, and reached Cooper’s Creek 3 weeks later, at a point 50 miles below the Thomson River. His course next took him to the headwaters of the Albert River and onward to the Flinders River, which he followed to within a mile of the sea, 34 days out from Cooper’s Creek, a little more than half the time taken by John McKinlay and Robert O’Hara Burke. On his return journey, he noticed on the right bank of the eastern branch of the Flinders, in approximately 20º South latitude, two trees blazed with a large L. From their weathered appearance—both had encroached four to five inches on the incisions—he concluded that the L referred to Ludwig Leichhardt rather than William Landsborough. Elsewhere he had already recovered two very old saddle horses. This was enough to excite interest back in Melbourne, not least by the Ladies Leichhardt Search Committee. It was the Committee that dispatched McIntyre north yet once more to follow up these clues to Leichhardt’s fate. The expedition of 7 men, 42 horses, and 7 camels started out on August 27, 1865, and enjoyed mixed fortunes. At one point, when McIntyre was out searching for badly needed water, his deputy incautiously dispensed medicinal brandy to the men and lost most of the horses. After a long period of rest McIntyre set off with a

MCKINLAY, JOHN (1819–1872)

• 149

much reduced party and, on February 9, 1866, reached Gibson’s Station on the Gilliat River. From April 20 through May 23, he camped 16 miles out of the fever-ridden Burketown, investigating rumors of a white man living with Aborigines. He later claimed to have seen the almost obligatory lightcolored, blue-eyed children with red hair; sure evidence, he adduced, that Leichhardt’s party had passed that way. On his return to Gilliat River, McIntyre took ill and died. MCKAY, ALEXANDER (1802?–1882). Sentenced to transportation for life, McKay arrived in Van Diemen’s Land at the end of December 1834. He worked under Henry Hellyer in his surveying explorations in the northwest of the island and, in 1831, he was with James Calder’s expedition up the Huon River. Pardoned for his work with George Robinson, in 1835 he was put in charge of road-making for George Frankland. MCKINLAY, JOHN (1819–1872). Appointed leader of the South Australian Burke Relief Expedition, John McKinlay departed from Adelaide on August 16, 1861, with 11 men including three Aboriginal trackers. His instructions were to look for Robert O’Hara Burke and William Wills, to explore the country between Eyre’s Creek and Central Mount Stuart, to examine the western shores of Lake Eyre, and to keep a weather eye open for gold, minerals, and precious stones. In addition, McKinlay was expected to keep the expedition’s journal and to draw its charts. His route took him via Lake Torrens, and by October 6, the expedition was on Lake Pando where he picked up vague Aborigine reports of white men seen traveling with camels. After negotiating severe floods (a problem not many explorers in central Australia had to contend with), McKinlay approached Cooper’s Creek from the west and crossed its lower end where the main river loses its way in a myriad of channels. At a spot near Lake Kadhi-Baerri (now Lake Massacre), he found the grave of Charles Gray. Concluding he had discovered evidence of the slaughter of the Victorian Exploring Expedition, he established a depot at a spot located in latitude 27º 41' and longitude 139º 30', and on October 23 he sent William Hodgkinson, his second-in-command, back with the news and waited for him to return. In the meantime, McKinlay examined the lake country round about, Lake Buchanan, Lake McKinlay, Lake Jeannie, Lake Hodgkinson, Goyder’s Lagoon, Lake Blance, and Lake Sir Richard. Hodgkinson returned on November 29 with authentic news of the deaths of Burke and Wills. On December 7 the expedition came across the tree near Burke’s grave marked by

150 •

MCKINLAY, JOHN (1819–1872)

Alfred Howitt “R O’H B/ 21 9 ’61/A.H.” Mindful of the expedition’s instructions, McKinlay then explored northwest across Sturt’s Stony Desert in fearful heat, which exacted a heavy toll on man and beast alike. Heading north from Lake Buchanan in mid-December, McKinlay experienced unfavorable weather conditions when heavy rains transformed the Desert into temporary lakes and meadows, but the expedition accelerated when following a river McKinlay named the Mueller River (but that later became known as the Diamantina, one of the main rivers of central Australia). By May 5, 1862, he was astride Augustus Charles Gregory’s 1856 tracks, 20 miles east of where he crossed the Leichhardt River. The next day the expedition reached the river, which flowed into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Like Burke and Wills before them, they were unable to actually reach the sea because of intervening mangrove swamps. McKinlay directed his steps toward the Albert River where he was hoping to find the steamboat HMCS Victoria, which had carried William Landsborough’s relief party to the Gulf, but the Victoria had already sailed for Melbourne. Unfazed by this setback, McKinlay decided to make for Port Denison, 600 miles away, on the east coast of Queensland, across very rough country already traversed by Gregory and Ludwig Leichhardt. By now the expedition party was in sore straits, near to exhaustion, having slaughtered all their livestock except for the horses. By July 11, they had struggled to the banks of the Campbell and Bowen Rivers and on July 22, they reached Mount McConnell where Gregory had crossed the Burdekin River. But McKinlay followed the river through a narrow gorge, and on August 2, they arrived at the Hawey and Somers outstation on the Bowen River. Their long trek was over at last. Back in Adelaide, McKinlay handed in his journal and charts. The South Australian government awarded him £1,000 for his efforts and the Royal Geographical Society presented him with a gold watch. But the South Australian government had not finished with John McKinlay. In September 1865, he left Adelaide on board the schooner Henry Ellis with 15 men, 45 horses, and 203 sheep and 20 goats for mobile rations. His orders were “to examine the country of the Northern Territory for the purpose of ascertaining the general nature of the country, and if there is a better site for settlement than now exists.” Three weeks after arriving at Adam Bay, on November 30, he sent a report back to Adelaide condemning Boyle Finniss’s Palmerston City as worthless either as a seaport or as the site for a capital city. McKinlay planned to make a grand tour around the coast of Arnhem Land from the Adelaide River eastward to the Roper River, then west to the Victoria River, before returning to Adam Bay. The party made a delayed

MCMILLAN, ANGUS (1810–1865)

• 151

start on January 14, 1866, setting off with enough provisions for 10 weeks, intending to explore the country to the mouth of the Liverpool River where the schooner Beatrice would rendezvous with them with more supplies. But it was the height of the rainy season and the entire region was transformed into an endless swamp. McKinlay was flood-bound and was lost for 5 months, never more than 100 miles from his starting point. At length, in mid-June, just as the rainy season ended, McKinlay killed his remaining horses and used their hides to construct a raft on which the party drifted down a large river to the sea, constantly warding off crocodiles attempting to tear at the hides. This rough-and-ready craft was somehow maneuvered round Adam Bay. In a report to the South Australian government, the Acting Government Resident, J. T. Manton, remarked, “For twenty weeks they have been wandering amongst swamps and scrub, not knowing where they were . . . and the country they have gone over is perfectly worthless. The whole affair is one of the greatest failures ever recorded in the annals of exploration.” Bereft of his horses, McKinlay could make no further exploration inland but he sailed in the Beatrice round the coast to examine Port Darwin and the Daly River. He recommended Port Darwin as a suitable site for settlement and as a future capital city. MCLACHLAN, GEORGE (fl. second half of 19th century). A senior surveyor on George Woodroffe Goyder’s Northern Territory Survey Expedition, McLachlan was appointed leader of an exploring party of five men that set out from Palmerston City on July 23, 1870, to travel southeast in order to find a route for the Overland Telegraph line to Queensland via the Roper River. They were equipped with 20 horses and 14 weeks’ provisions. Soon in unexplored country, their destination was Leichhardt’s Bar. McLachlan’s route took them from the headwaters of the Adelaide River and then to the Katherine, Waterhouse, and Chambers Rivers. His was the first expedition to blaze a trail overland from Port Darwin to the Roper and to cut across the tracks of Ludwig Leichhardt, Augustus Charles Gregory, and John McDouall Stuart. On his return in October, he was sent in the schooner Gulnare to survey the Roper’s entrance and channel. He found it to be navigable for over 100 miles inland although this information did not reach Goyder until March 1871 after the Gulnare had sailed to Normanston (Queensland) for more supplies. MCMILLAN, ANGUS (1810–1865). Manager of the Currawang station, Victoria, McMillan’s first excursion into present-day Gippsland was in May 1839

152 •

MCPHERSON, RONALD

when he penetrated into country watered by the Buchan River, climbed Mount Haystack (now Mount McLeod), and caught glimpses of well-watered plains stretching away to the east. In August, he set up a station at Ensay, taking equipment for an expedition in January 1840, exploring down the Tambo River with three companions and two Aboriginal guides. He named Lake Victoria, discovered the Nicholson and Mitchell Rivers, and traveled as far as the Thomson River before a shortage of food forced him to turn back. After two more abortive attempts to reach Corner Inlet, when he discovered and named the Macallister and La Trobe Rivers, he finally reached the Inlet on February 13, 1841. McMillan was incensed when his pioneering route was followed by Paul de Strzelecki in 1840. In his report, Strzelecki made no mention of being guided by another man’s trail. The name Caledonia Australis, which McMillan called the fertile region he had discovered, presumably because it reminded him of his native Scotland, was superseded by Strzelecki’s choice of Gippsland. MCPHERSON, RONALD. See BARCLAY, HENRY VERE. MEEHAN, JAMES (1774–1826). While acting as a servant to the Assistant Surveyor-General of New South Wales, James Meehan accompanied Francis Barrallier on his exploration of the Hunter River region in 1801. In 1803–1804, he took part in a boat journey up the Derwent River, in Van Diemen’s Land, to become one of its first inland explorers. He visited the island again in 1806 and 1812. On the orders of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, and accompanied by Charles Throsby and Hamilton Hume, Meehan set off on March 6, 1818, to explore the country lying beyond the Cowpastures to the south in an attempt to find a route to Jervis Bay. After separating from Throsby, he followed the Shoalhaven River to the southwest and discovered Lake Bathurst and the Goulburn Downs. MENDAÑA, ALVARO DE (1542–1595). The official purpose of the expedition fitted out by the Spanish colonial government in Peru, which sailed from Callao on November 15, 1567, was to search for Terra Australis and to convert its inhabitants to Christianity. Command of the two ships involved, Los Reyes and Todos Santos, was given to Mendaña, who was also motivated by the belief that Terra Australis was fabulously rich in gold and silver and that the Western Lands of Inca tradition were the Old Testament islands of Tarshish and Ophir. In February 1568, the expedition sighted an extensive and mountainous land, which Mendaña first thought to be the southern continent but which

MENDONCA, CHRISTOVÃO DE (FL. EARLY 16TH CENTURY)

• 153

soon proved to be an elongated island, Santa Isabel, in the center of a chain of islands afterward named the Solomon Islands. Mendaña’s orders were to form a settlement and to send for follow-up parties of colonists, but after six months of deteriorating relations with the islanders, he called a council of senior officers. Terra Australis had not been located, no gold or silver had been found, and food and ammunition were running low. Although he wished to resume the search, the two ships were in no fit condition for a prolonged voyage. On August 18, the expedition quit its base on Guadalcanal and sailed for home. Still hoping for the discovery of a southern continent, Mendaña attempted to persuade his pilots to sail southeast into the Trade Winds, alleging that the winds would change with the equinox. The final irony was that on arrival in the islands Mendaña’s log estimated that they had come 6,000 miles; in fact it was 8,000 miles, a discrepancy in the records that confused later explorers. The Solomon Islands were not seen by European eyes for another 200 years when, in quick succession, Phillip Carteret and Louis-Antoine de Bougainville sailed through them. Even then they were not immediately recognized as the islands Mendaña had discovered. Mendaña never doubted that his islands lay off a continental landmass but it was not until 1595 that he was given command of a squadron of four ships to rediscover them. Sailing from Callao in June, with Pedro Fernandez de Quirós as his chief pilot, he discovered the Marquesas and established a shortlived colony in the Santa Cruz group but narrowly failed to sight the Solomons. MENDONCA, CHRISTOVÃO DE (fl. early 16th century). Alarmed by Spanish preparations in 1519 for Ferdinand Magellan’s discovery voyage to the Pacific, the Portuguese took immediate steps to secure their vulnerable network of trading outposts in the Spice Islands. Although theoretically protected by the Treaty of Tordesillas, they were taking no chances. In 1521, Christovão de Mendonca, a high-born fighting sea captain, was ordered to proceed with three caravels, a powerful naval task force in 16thcentury terms, ostensibly to search for the Isles of Gold for their legendary riches but, in reality, to seek out Magellan, currently thought to be sailing northwestward along the coast of the unknown southern land toward the heart of Portugal’s trading empire. Although nothing is certain, there is speculation, supported by references to the Dieppe Maps, that Mendonca sailed eastward across the Arafura Sea, to Cape York Peninsula, through the Torres Strait, down the full length of Australia’s east coast and through the Bass Strait westward along the south coast as far as Warrnambool where one of his ships was wrecked.

154 •

MENINDIE (NOW MENINDEE)

At that point, if the cartographical evidence of the Dieppe Maps is accepted, he turned back. See also MAHOGANY SHIP. MENINDIE (NOW MENINDEE). Standing on the Darling River in New South Wales, 700 miles west of Sydney, Menindie’s site was first visited by Thomas Livingstone Mitchell in 1835. He named it Laidley’s Ponds after James Laidley, a Deputy Commissary-General of New South Wales, but the name never caught on. A township developed around a store established there by Francis Cadell in 1859 to cater for the river traffic. Because of its location, it was visited by many inland explorers: Edward John Eyre was in the region in 1843; Charles Sturt camped there during his 1844–1845 exploration of Central Australia; and it was here that Robert O’Hara Burke divided his expedition party in October 1860. MERCATOR, GERARD (1512–1594). The founder of the Mercator family cartography business, Mercator’s most celebrated single work was his 1569 world map, comprising 21 sheets, and the first drawn on his new projection, which has generally been employed by cartographers down to the present day. His configuration of the southern hemisphere still showed signs of Ptolemy’s influence in that he drew a continuous southern coastline around the globe and, like Oronce Finé, he consolidated Tierra del Fuego into the southern continent. He then postulated an unbroken continental shoreline running diagonally northwest across the Pacific as far as New Guinea. Clearly, he had no geographical evidence for this apart from an apparent representation of Cape York, the Gulf of Carpentaria, and Arnhem Land. To add further confusion, he transposed geographical names from Marco Polo’s account of his return by sea from China to Venice in the end decade of the 13th century, notably referring to Locach, itself sometimes corrupted and misprinted to Beach, which Polo had placed south of IndoChina and not south of Java where Mercator located it. And so Beach provincia Aurifera (province of gold) took its place to beguile and to excite would-be discoverers of Terra Australis. MERINO SHEEP. A number of Merino sheep were smuggled out of Spain in the Napoleonic Wars (1800–1815) to establish a flock at Kew Gardens under royal patronage. The intention was to encourage English farmers to rear fine-wooled animals. Sir Joseph Banks arranged for Merinos to be shipped to New South Wales where landowners might breed fine wool for export. This increased the demand for grazing land, which, in turn, led to exploration beyond the

MILNER, RALPH (FL. 1860S AND 1870S)

• 155

Blue Mountains in the first instance, and eventually to many other regions of Australia. MILLS, WILLIAM WHITFIELD (1844–1916). At no time a prominent name in Australian exploration, Mills nevertheless played a part in three notable episodes. He was one of the surveyors who worked under George Goyder in the laying out of Port Darwin from 1868 through 1870. During the following two years, he was the leader of an Overland Telegraph team of 20 men, during which time he traversed the MacDonnell Ranges, Northern Territory, as far as the Reynolds Range, about 30 miles south of Central Mount Stuart. On March 11, 1871, shortly before an encounter with John Ross, he discovered a gorge, later to be named the Heavitree Gap, and a grassed plateau cut by a dry riverbend with numerous springs and waterholes. Mills named the principal waterhole Alice Spring. In 1882, he conducted a team of 30 camels from Beltana, South Australia, to Northampton on the Western Australian coast, through much previously unexplored country, for a distance of 1,600 miles, the last third of which were traveled in extreme heat. Leaving Beltana on July 6, he arrived in Northampton on November 25. MILNER, RALPH (fl. 1860s and 1870s). A pioneering and enterprising drover, Ralph Milner’s first overland journey with a mob of sheep, cattle, horses, and bullocks was an attempt to drive from Adelaide to the Northern Territory in 1863 by following John Mackinlay’s Burke Relief Expedition route. It was a year of drought and he had to force his way through claypans and red sand hills to Cooper’s Creek, where he squatted on good grazing ground for the next six years. Milner’s overland drive from Port Augusta across the continent to Port Darwin was unquestionably one of the most remarkable in Australian history. Starting off in September 1870 with his brother John, several station hands, three 8-horse wagons, 4,300 sheep, 160 horses, 17 working bullocks, and 150 goats, he faced a journey to the Roper River, 1,200 miles away in a straight line, but more like 3,000 miles on the ground. A stop in the MacDonnell Ranges, where his ewes lambed, also allowed his hard-driven horses and bullocks to rest before he continued northward. On August 30, 1871, John Milner was murdered by Aborigines at Attack Creek, 45 miles north of Tennant Creek, at the same spot where John McDouall Stuart was attacked 10 years earlier. The two overlanders suffered a further blow near the Devil’s Marbles, between Tennant Creek and Barrow Creek, where 3,000 sheep and 100 goats died after eating poisonous weeds.

156 •

MITCHELL, THOMAS LIVINGSTONE (1792–1855)

Approaching the Overland Telegraph line, Milner sold a flock of sheep and 60 horses to a camp inspector. Barely had the mob reached the Roper River when the wet season arrived and for four months the flooded river separated the telegraph workers and the overlanders before Milner could resume the drive in April 1872. He arrived in Darwin two months later. It was an epic droving feat. Milner had to find his own way across the continent, although at various points he came across telegraph construction parties. MITCHELL, THOMAS LIVINGSTONE (1792–1855). Frequently at odds with the colonial government, Thomas Livingstone Mitchell was SurveyorGeneral of New South Wales for 27 years, succeeding John Oxley in 1828. Officially responsible for government-backed exploration of the eastern side of Australia, he personally took charge of four explorations that, if not always achieving their aims, nevertheless proved significant in the early development and expansion of the colony. The first, from November 1831 through February 1832, was to confirm Aborigine reports and George Clarke’s fanciful tale of a large, navigable Kindur River, flowing northwestward through Australia, to be located somewhere north of the Liverpool Plains. Mitchell left Sydney on November 24 with 17 men, 2 light carts, 3 drays, and several pack horses, to proceed to Tamworth. From there, he explored toward the Namoi River, which he reached on December 16. After an excursion into the Nundawar Range, he spent several weeks investigating the rivers constituting the sources of the Darling. From the Namoi, he cut across country to the lower course of the Gwydir near Moree in the second week of January 1832 and followed it for 80 miles down river. He then turned north, discovered the Macintyre River, and sailed down it to the Barwon River, which later proved to be the upper reaches of the Darling. At first sight, the expedition had not added much to Allan Cunningham’s 1827 explorations, but, in fact, knowledge of the Darling headwaters region had been considerably extended. Mitchell’s hopes of discovering a navigable river to the continent’s northern or northwestern coasts had been dashed; its existence had not entirely been disproved but now seemed much less likely. The purpose of Mitchell’s second expedition, which set out from Parramatta on March 9, 1835, was to determine once and for all the course of the Darling River, from the point where Charles Sturt had left it in 1828 down to where it joined the Murray. It was generally assumed, but was not absolutely certain, that these two points stood on the same river, although Mitchell continued to cherish the notion that the Darling would be found to turn northward to flow into the Gulf of Carpentaria, a good 1,000 miles distant.

MITCHELL, THOMAS LIVINGSTONE (1792–1855)

• 157

By April, the expedition was at the head of the Bogan River where Richard Cunningham, Mitchell’s botanist, lost his life at the hands of Aborigines. The expedition traveled down river to its confluence with the Darling, arriving there on May 25. Erecting a log stockade, Fort Bourke, near to the present New South Wales town of Bourke, because of continuous Aborigine incidents, Mitchell pressed on down the Darling for 350 miles, reaching the vicinity of Menindie on July 9. At this point he reconciled himself, temporarily at least, to the fact that the Darling continued to the Murray and showed no indications of turning north. Again encountering hostile Aborigines, Mitchell abandoned his exploration, 150 miles from the Darling’s confluence with the Murray, and returned to Parramatta by the route he had come. The results of this second expedition, in terms of exploration, were comparatively minor: the course of the Bogan had been confirmed and 350 miles of the Darling had been charted, but the junction of the Darling with the Murray was still conjectural. A renewed bid to elucidate New South Wales’s river system, in particular the exact relationship of the Murray and Darling, was set in motion when Mitchell left Sydney in March 1836 with a party 26 strong. His instructions were to travel to Menindie, then to follow the Darling either to the sea or, if it joined the Murray, to proceed up that river until he reached the settled parts of the country. He was also given discretion to follow the most promising river that flowed into the Murray. Mitchell proceeded to Boree and then turned west to the Lachlan River, which he followed until he reached a point 200 miles due west of Menindie. A lack of water in the intervening country prompted him to continue along the course of the Lachlan to the Murrumbidgee, where he arrived on May 12, and then on to the Murray. While traveling along its banks to its junction with the Darling, he experienced his most serious encounter with the Aborigines, leaving seven Aborigines dead. Stretching his instructions to the limit, he decided not to persevere with his exploration of the Darling and return to the more promising country along the Murray. Crossing its southern bank, and striking southward, he passed into some of the richest country in Australia, the fertile western districts of what is now the State of Victoria, but which Mitchell named Australia Felix. Crossing the Avoca and Wimmera Rivers, he reached the Glenelg, which he traced to its mouth in Discovery Bay. Taking a gentle northeasterly route on his return journey, he made a detour to the coast again at Portland Bay, intrigued by an unexpected settlement there, founded by Edward Henty, from Tasmania. On this latest journey Mitchell had at least cleared up the mystery of the river drainage of southeastern Australia but he

158 •

MITCHELL LIBRARY

had still not confirmed the full course of the Darling. He arrived back in Sydney in November having traveled some 2,400 miles. In 1845, Mitchell led a 32-strong party northward to find a practicable route from the New South Wales settlements to the Gulf of Carpentaria, which he still firmly believed would be found, by the discovery of a great river flowing north. Leaving the Darling in March 1846, the party struck the Narvan River, which they followed to the Balonne, Culgoa, and Cogoon Rivers. Mount Abundance, in the Maranoa region, was discovered before the party reached the Warrego River and Lake Salvator. Two months later, they arrived on the Nive, the northernmost tributary of the Darling, and on emerging from the scrub, imagined they had reached the northward-flowing river they were searching for. The jubilant Mitchell hurried back to Sydney with the good news, but his joy was premature: the river he had grandiosely named the Victoria was traced the following year by Edmund Kennedy, when it was found to turn southwestward; it was, in fact, a tributary of the Thomson, itself a branch of Cooper’s Creek. Nevertheless, Mitchell had succeeded in charting a vast area of previously unexplored country. MITCHELL LIBRARY. For the last 30 years of his life, David Scott Mitchell (1836–1907) collected records of all kinds—books, manuscripts, prints and pictures, maps, and charts relating to the history of Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of the South Pacific. In 1907, his vast collections were bequeathed to the Public Library of New South Wales (now the State Library) on condition that they would be suitably accommodated and would be made freely available to students. Today the Mitchell Library is rightly regarded as the foremost single collection on the Australasian and South Pacific regions and is especially rich in discovery and exploration primary source material. Once described as “the British Museum of the Pacific,” the Library holds the original 1644 map of Abel Tasman’s two voyages and a large collection of the Papers of Sir Joseph Banks, including correspondence with James Cook, Arthur Philip, William Bligh, Philip Parker King, and many other explorers. In 1968, G. K. Hall (Boston) published The Mitchell Library of New South Wales: Dictionary Catalog of Printed Books in 38 volumes; a single volume, First Supplement, appeared in 1970. MOB. More properly used as a collective noun for kangaroos, it was also commonly used for a herd of cattle or a flock of sheep. MOORE, GEORGE FLETCHER (1798–1866). An early sheep owner in Western Australia, with an inclination to travel and exploration, Moore ac-

MUELLER, BARON SIR FERDINAND JAKOB HEINRICH VON (1825–1896)

• 159

companied Robert Dale on his 1831 journey to the York district. In 1836, he investigated the country east of the Darling Range, reasoning that no large river had been discovered flowing from the north into the Swan River. A river found to flow into the Indian Ocean south of Cape Leschenault is now named after him. Later that year, Moore conducted a government party east and north of the Avon and Mortlock Rivers when large tracts of fertile agricultural and grazing land were found. Three years later, he examined the Champion Bay area. As a result of his explorations, and heeding Aboriginal stories of a great expanse of saltwater 10 days distant and of a large river running northeast, Moore became a firm believer in the existence of an inland sea, which he judged to emerge somewhere near the North West Cape, thus cutting the continent almost into two. MOORE, THOMAS BATHER (1850–1919). For over 40 years of his life, Thomas Moore, a skilled bushman, was engaged in prospecting. In 1874, he explored Tasmania’s west coast, south of Mount Bischoff, searching for gold and tin. In January 1877, he trekked from New Norfolk, across the Tyndall Plateau to Mount Heemskirk, a route later employed as a supply line to the west coast. The following year, again searching for minerals, he discovered Lake Margaret and Lake Mary, and in 1879 he explored south of the Arthur River and between Macquarie Harbor and Port Davey when he made corrections to the mapping of the southwestern river system. The present-day Lyell Highway essentially follows a trail he blazed westward from Lake St. Clair. MOUNT STUART. See CENTRAL MOUNT STUART. MOUNT STURT. See CENTRAL MOUNT STUART. MUELLER, BARON SIR FERDINAND JAKOB HEINRICH VON (1825– 1896). Appointed the Victorian government botanist in 1853, Ferdinand von Mueller was no desk-bound government official. That year, he traveled beyond the Grampian Mountains to the junction of the Darling and Murray Rivers and to the Albury, Omeo, and Buchan districts, often passing through unexplored regions and eventually reaching the Snowy River. He was also appointed botanist to Augustus Charles Gregory’s 1855–1856 North Australian Exploring Expedition. But it was his keen support for Ernest Giles’s 1872 and 1873 expeditions to Central Australia that exemplify his ardent advocacy of Australian exploration over many years.

160 •

MULGA

MULGA. See SCRUB. MULLIGAN, JAMES VENTURE (1837–1907). A renowned bushman, Mulligan made six journeys through largely unexplored country in the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, during a five-year period, from 1872 through 1876. His first exploration led to the development of the Palmer goldfield; the next four proved unproductive; but the sixth found payable gold along the Hodgkinson River, one of the upper tributaries of the Mitchell River. MURRAY, JOHN (1775–?). Lieutenant John Murray succeeded James Grant as commander of the survey ship Lady Nelson on September 3, 1801. After a voyage to Norfolk Island, he was ordered to complete Grant’s explorations in the Bass Strait and to trace the coastline of what is now Victoria between Western Port and Cape Otway. He entered Western Port on December 6, 1801, to survey inshore and to support Francis Barrallier’s and George Caley’s reconnaissance inland. Murray had first sighted the entrance to Port Phillip Bay on January 5, 1802, but he was too cautious because of the prevailing winds and adverse weather conditions to venture through the perilous “Rip,” as the entrance is now called. Small blame can be attached to this as he was sailing in very dangerous waters; Victoria’s renowned “Shipwreck Coast” was not many leagues distant. It was not until February 1 that he dispatched his First Mate and five men in the Lady Nelson’s launch to examine the entrance at close hand, eventually taking his ship through to spend two months surveying the Bay while shore parties explored the adjoining country. Murray named the bay Port King Bay after the Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King, but the governor later renamed it after Arthur Phillip. Back in Port Jackson by March 24, the Lady Nelson, theoretically admirably suited for shoal water and river work, accompanied Matthew Flinders when he left Port Jackson on July 22 bound for the Torres Strait. But as a conservative deep-sea sailor, Murray kept well offshore, only just in sight of land when Flinders meticulously charted the coastline and its prospective harbors as they sailed up the east coast. Losing two of her three movable keels, Lady Nelson was slowing Flinders’s voyage down and Murray was ordered back to Port Jackson. MURRAY, WILLIAM. See MAURICE, R. T.

NEW SOUTH WALES (NSW)

• 161

–N– NARDOO. A flour prepared by Aborigines from the sporocarps of the nardoo fern Marsilea drummondii. It was often used by European explorers of the interior when rations ran short. NEVER-NEVER. Behind the back of beyond, that is, generally untrodden country. Usually applied to the little-known regions of Australia’s Northern Territory. “Out on the wastes of the never-never That’s where the dead men lie There where the heatwaves dance for ever That’s where the dead men lie” (Barcroft Henry Boake. Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1897).

NEW HOLLAND. After the voyages of Abel Tasman, Dutch cartographers abandoned the name of Zuid-Landt (the South Land) in favor of Niew Hollandt (New Holland) with Compagnie Niew Nederlandt (The Company’s New Netherlands) as an occasional alternative. As the northern, western, and southern coastlines of the continent began to emerge, the unknown eastern region was left unnamed. Some maps used New Holland for the discovered coastline and hinterland and continued to use Terra Australis for the eastern side. Pierre Duval’s 1677 Carte des Indes Orientales (Map of the East Indies) encompassed old and new practice by naming the continent Nouvelle Hollande, Partie de La Terre Australe (New Holland, part of The South Land). See also DEDELSLAND; EENDRACHTSLAND; NEW SOUTH WALES; NUYTS LAND. NEW SOUTH WALES (NSW). After landing at Port Jackson, Governor Arthur Phillip was formally placed in charge of the Territory of New South Wales, which extended “from the northern cape or extremity of the coast called Cape York, in the latitude of 10 degrees 37 mins. south, to the southern extremity . . . or South cape, in the latitude of 43 degrees 39 mins. south, and of all the country inland to the westward as far as the one hundred and thirty fifth degree of longitude, reckoning from the meridian of Greenwich, including all the islands in the Pacific Ocean, within the latitude aforesaid.”

162 •

NIXON, LIEUTENANT

In effect, the continent was divided into two halves, New Holland to the west and New South Wales to the east. The colonies of Van Diemen’s Land (1825), South Australia (1836), Victoria (1851), and Queensland (1859) were carved out of this huge territory and the boundaries of New South Wales were severely reduced accordingly. If the early governors of the settlement could not always follow the example of Phillip and John Hunter and take an active role in exploration, they all involved themselves in encouraging exploring expeditions. They could hardly do otherwise; the settlement either expanded or died. Philip Gidley King, who succeeded Hunter as governor in 1801, was responsible for sending Francis Barrallier on his Blue Mountains expedition a year later. Constantly preoccupied with suspected French designs on Australia, King dispatched John Bowen and David Collins to Van Diemen’s Land in 1803 and 1804 to forestall a possible French settlement there. Great strides in exploration were taken in Lachlan Macquarie’s term as governor (1810–1821). The Blue Mountains barrier was crossed and John Oxley determined the course of the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers. Whenever possible, Macquarie toured newly opened up areas and he also crossed the Bass Strait to Van Diemen’s Land. By now it was evident that the original settlement at Sydney Cove had established itself on a permanent footing and that the exploration of a continent had begun. NIXON, LIEUTENANT. “An interesting contribution” from “a correspondent living near Halifax, Yorkshire, England,” under the heading “Discovery of a White Colony on the Northern Shore of New Holland,” published in the Leeds Mercury on January 25, 1834, prints extracts from a private journal, kept by a friend of the correspondent, relating the adventures of a commercial and geographical expedition secretly promoted by a scientific society in Singapore “aided and patronized by the local government.” Landing at Raffles Bay, on the northern coast of the Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory, on April 10, 1832, so the journal records, a party under Lieut. Nixon explored the interior and penetrated 500 miles to the south. After five weeks of traveling across hills, rocks, sand, and parched plain, they reached the summit of a hill they named Mount Singapore, in latitude 18º 13' South and longitude 132º 25' East, and gazed on a magical change of scenery. Three to four miles away they perceived a level stretch of country cut into regular plantations, with avenues of trees, and a broad river running east to west. A number of small boats, each carrying one or two persons, could be seen. Contact was made with the community of some 300 white people, living in houses enclosed within a great defensive wall. Their leader, named Van

NORMAN, W. H. (FL. MID-19TH CENTURY)

• 163

Baerle, speaking in Old Dutch, informed Nixon that their ancestors, some 80 men and 20 women, came from a distant land across a great sea and were survivors of a shipwreck 170 years earlier. They had been compelled by famine to trudge their way toward the rising sun, crossing a ridge of land, and had then followed a river to their present settlement. They had no domestic animals and they survived on their maize and yam plantations, on fresh and dried fish, and on kangaroo and other game. They were nominally Christian and respected the Sabbath. A standing militia was armed with long pikes. Nixon’s expedition stayed for eight days before returning northward. Setting aside the anonymous nature of the unsigned Leeds Mercury contribution, and the striking coincidence of Nixon having a knowledge of Old Dutch from an education in the Netherlands, a heavily weighted credulity audit can be drawn up. On the affirmative side, there are a hill and some lagoons to be found at the spot indicated; Dutch ships were wrecked on and off the west coast of New Holland; there are creeks that could have been followed eastward (the Winnecke Creek might be a possibility); and there are countless stories of survivors intermarrying with Aborigines. In addition, the harbormaster at Semarang claimed in a letter printed in the Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië, in 1851, that he had spoken with the captain of the English merchant ship that had taken Nixon’s expedition back to Singapore. But the negative side is more convincing. The coordinates given place Mount Singapore in the Tanami Desert, 120 miles northwest of Tennant Creek; it is improbable, to say the least, that a 90-strong party could find its way across inhospitable country to arrive at a desert oasis; oases tended to dry up in a far shorter time period than 170 years. And if the survivors were the 68-man crew of Pieter Albertsz’s wrecked ship, the Vergulde Draek, then they would have had to trek across the Great Victoria and Sandy Deserts, surely an impossibility. Crucially, if the settlement at Mount Singapore had existed for 170 years, why did it disappear after 1832? What the motive was for such fiction, if fiction it was, remains unclear. NORMAN, W. H. (fl. mid-19th century). Captain Norman in HMCS Victoria commanded a supply expedition to the Albert River, on the southeastern shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, to support the Burke Relief Expeditions of John McKinlay, Frederick Walker, and William Landsborough. Sailing from Melbourne on August 21, 1861, he spent 15 days hauling Landsborough, in Firefly, off Sir Charles Hardy’s Island in September and established a supply depot 20 miles up the Albert River on October 7. He organized several expeditions along the Albert and Flinders Rivers before departing on February 12, 1862.

164 •

NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION

NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. See GREGORY, AUGUSTUS CHARLES. NORTHERN AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION 1999. See KELLY, KIERAN. NORTHERN TERRITORY AND QUEENSLAND BORDER SURVEY EXPEDITION. See POEPPEL’S CORNER; WELLS, LAWRENCE ALLEN. NORTHERN TERRITORY EXPEDITION. See FINNISS, BOYLE TRAVERS. NORTHERN TERRITORY SURVEY EXPEDITION. See GOYDER, GEORGE WOODROFFE. NUYTS LAND. Although a stretch of the coast and its hinterland on the Great Australian Bight had long been named Nuyts Land, after Pieter Nuyts, a senior Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie member who had sailed along that coast with Frans Thijssen in the Gulden Zeepaard in 1627, Captain James Vetch assigned the name to the whole region between the 124º and 132º meridians extending northward to the 24th parallel in his Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia.

–O– OCEANIC CHANNEL. The speculative geographical concept of an oceanic channel dividing the Australian continent into two large islands seems to have its origins in the Rio Grande (great river) depicted on three important Dieppe Maps: the world chart contained in Jean Rotz’s “Boke of Idrography” (1542), Pierre Desceliers’s 1546 map, and the Dauphin Map (1547?). All three appear to show a wide navigable channel connecting the Gulf of Carpentaria to Joseph Bonaparte Gulf on the northwest coast of Java-la-Grande. After Dutch ships had explored the southern coastline of New Guinea, the west coast of Cape York, across the Gulf of Carpentaria to Arnhem Land, and also along the southern coast of the “Great South Land” as far as the Nuyts Archipelago in the late 1620s, the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie sent Gerrit Thomasz Pool in 1636 to investigate the bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria. If he found an entrance to a great ocean passage, he

O’DONNELL, WILLIAM JOHN NAGLE (FL. LATTER HALF OF 19TH CENTURY)

• 165

was to sail southward along its eastern bank until he came to the islands of St. Francis and St. Peter in the Nuyts Archipelago before returning up its western side. Pool, however, was killed by New Guinea Aborigines and his voyage was aborted. In 1644, Abel Tasman was instructed either to follow the continent’s southern coast eastward to discover how far it extended, whether it joined New Guinea in the vicinity of Cape Keer-Weer, or whether it was separated by channels or passages he might find it possible to pass through westward as far as the Willems River. Alternatively, he could sail far to the east and return by an indirect northern route to Cape Keer-Weer to see if a passage ran southward. Other ships were sent to explore the northern coast and the Gulf in 1705. They reported that Van Diemen Gulf “runs right through to the South side of New Holland and that there are other passages to the East and to the West. From this it seems to follow that the South-land in a great measure consists of islands, a supposition quite probable since on its south side, from Cape Leeuwin to Nuyts Land, it is surrounded by islands.” Exactly what evidence this report was based on is not clear. Conceivably it might have been influenced by William Dampier’s conclusion of six years earlier when he conjectured that behind the archipelago now named after him there “might be a passage possibly to the south of New Holland and New Guinea into the great South Sea eastward.” But the archipelago was several days sailing from Van Diemen Gulf. In the early years of the 19th century, both the French and the British were hoping to find a passage running from the Spencer Gulf on the south coast to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Indeed, if there proved not to be one, Nicolas Baudin was instructed to study the feasibility of excavating a canal across the continent! Matthew Flinders concluded that if a passage existed, one end was most likely to be found somewhere on the unexplored stretch of coastline between the Nuyts Archipelago and Western Port. Spencer Gulf was the most promising opening to the interior but, after sailing to the head of the Gulf, he was forced to admit defeat. The notion of a transcontinental passage faltered at that point, although it was not finally laid to rest until Philip Parker King’s fruitless search on the north and west coasts of New Holland 1817 through 1822. See also INLAND SEA; RIVER SYSTEMS. O’DONNELL, WILLIAM JOHN NAGLE (fl. latter half of 19th century). With instructions from the Cambridge Downs Pastoral Association to explore the Cambridge Gulf hinterland for good sheep country, O’Donnell led an expedition of 6 men, including William Carr-Boyd as second-in-command, and 26 horses out of Katherine, in the Northern Territory, on March 26, 1883.

166 •

OPHTHALMIA

Although he was successful in finding a large amount of pastoral country, he made no important geographical discoveries. In 1885, O’Donnell explored a vast area, for the Western Australian government, extending from the Overland Telegraph to Roebourne, for the purpose of seeking improved access to the goldfields. OPHTHALMIA. Purulent opthalmia, or conjunctivitis, commonly experienced in hot and sandy conditions, was one of the most irritating and agonizing ills to affect explorers in the Australian interior. Likened to having sand constantly in the eyes, its minor symptoms were no more than an eye irritation and a dislike of bright light, which could be relieved by a warm bathing and seclusion in a darkened area for several days. In its acute form, however, the symptoms were severe inflammation with the eyelids stuck fast for long periods. At its worst, it could lead to permanent semiblindness. Notable sufferers included Edward John Eyre, Ernest Giles, and Thomas Livingstone Mitchell. It is also sometimes known as “Sandy Blight.” ORTELIUS, ABRAHAM (1527–1598). A renowned map collector and dealer, a friend of Gerard Mercator, Ortelius published the first modern-style, uniform atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theater of the Lands of the World), in 1570. Based on contemporary geographical knowledge, rather than theoretical cosmography, this was so popular that it was reissued in 40 editions, from 1570 through 1612. The first edition showed a huge southern continent, “Terra Australis Nondum Cognita” (“Southern Land Not Yet Known”), and the 1589 edition included “Maris Pacifici,” the first regional map of the Pacific Ocean. Here the South Land was labeled “Terra Australis Sive Magellanica Nondum Detecta” (“Southern Land or Magellanica Not Yet Discovered”). OUTBACK. The vast, arid, parched, and sparsely populated interior of Australia, consisting of plains, deserts, and low mountain ranges, much of it covered in spinifex, which stretches two-thirds across the continent. It proved to be a formidable barrier to explorers. In Sara Murgatroyd’s words, “the history of Australian exploration is littered with the corpses of men who underestimated the power, the size and the unpredictability of the Outback” (The Dig Tree, 2002, p. 123). See also GHASTLY BLANK. OUTFITS. The outfit of each expedition differed in terms of numbers and type of transport according to its purpose and to the time and distance it would be away from its starting point or destination. In some circumstances, a small party would be sufficient, in others, a larger expedition would be

OVERLAND TELEGRAPH–CABLE TERMINUS

• 167

necessary. The safety numbers provided, either as support in emergencies or in the face of hostile Aborigines, would also be a factor to weigh in the balance. Native guides and trackers might add to the total number of an exploring party. Probably all expeditions hoped to live off the country to a certain extent but this could never be guaranteed and so basic supplies would have to be transported by animals. Carts and drays were of limited use, especially when heavy rain and floods were encountered. Some explorers, John McDouall Stuart, for example, were content with a troop of packhorses; others, like John McKinlay, “took sheep and bullocks as well as horses, together with the variety of four camels; the bullocks were designed for carriage as well as food.” Next to the supply of animal food “the great staple is flour. With this the Australian traveler turns out his simple baked damper from the hot ashes; and hardly less important than the damper is the unfailing accompaniment of tea and sugar; some bacon, some rice.” Other essentials included “tobacco; with medicines (charitably including the rum in this particular division), lucifers, signal rockets, ammunition, rifles, and other defensive arms. These, with the canvas, the poles, the cords, and the fastening pins of the indispensable tents, a supply of blankets, and a very limited assortment of personal attire, comprise the main stay of the outfit” (John Davis, Tracks of McKinlay and Party across Australia, 1863). See also EQUIPMENT. OVERLANDERS. A special breed of explorers, the overlanders pioneered and developed new routes across the continent, from colony to colony, in order to sell their mobs of sheep and cattle to new settlements or wherever else meat was in short supply. Others blazed new trails for thousands of miles to establish new stations on grazing land where their stock would fatten and be less likely to suffer from drought. See also BONNEY, CHARLES; BUCHANAN, NATHANIEL; CANNING, ALFRED WERNHAM; CANNING STOCK ROUTE; DURACK, PATRICK; EYRE, EDWARD JOHN; HANN, FRANK; HAWDON, JOSEPH; HOOLEY, EDWARD TIMOTHY; JARDINE, FRANK LASCELLES; MCINTYRE, DUNCAN; QUEENSLAND ROAD. OVERLAND TELEGRAPH–CABLE TERMINUS. Desperately eager to improve communications with Britain, the Australian colonies welcomed the concept of an internal telegraph line being linked to a submarine cable from Asia. But, quite apart from the technical difficulties of laying deep-sea cable across the ocean bed for considerable distances and the cost of manufacturing the cable, there was also the question of where the cable should be landed.

168 •

OVERLAND TELEGRAPH–CABLE TERMINUS

The shortest sea route from Ceylon, for example, would be to Western Australia’s North West Cape. However, if this terminus were to be chosen, then the cable would be brought ashore in a region uninhabited by white settlers, and the telegraph lines to the colonies in the south and southeast of the continent would either have to be strung round isolated coasts or be carried across remote deserts and mountain ranges. Other difficulties arose when the whole project became enmeshed in intercolonial rivalries and political machinations. In 1862, the South Australian government proposed to the AngloAustralian & China Telegraph Company that a cable should run either from Kupang (Timor) or Banjoewanji (Java) to the Cambridge Gulf in Western Australia and that a telegraph line should run south to Port Augusta, thus keeping the project within the colonies of Western Australia and South Australia. This was accepted by the Company on two conditions: that South Australia and the other Australian colonies should pay an annual subsidy of £50,000 and that South Australia should construct an overland telegraph line from Port Augusta to the Gulf before the end of 1864. Doubts were expressed by the Company as to the feasibility that these two conditions could be met. At the end of the year, the return of John McDouall Stuart to Adelaide following his epic first south-to-north crossing of the Australian continent was a turning point in the history of the overland telegraph project. His enthusiastic description and reports of the country he had discovered in Arnhem Land, between the Roper River and the coast of Van Diemen Gulf, in the valley of the Adelaide River, bolstered the South Australian government’s determination to bring the project to fruition. Their next step was to persuade the British government to confer the Northern Territory to South Australia so that the line could be built entirely within its boundaries. This proposal fell on receptive ears, and the Royal Letters Patent transferring the 523,620 square miles of the Northern Territory to the colony of South Australia arrived in Adelaide in September 1863. However, the whole project collapsed when it became known in the following year that the Anglo-Australian & China Telegraph Company had failed to raise sufficient capital to finance the laying of the cable. There was no point in constructing a telegraph line to a nonexistent cable terminus. It could be left to a more propitious moment. That moment arrived in January 1870 when the British Australian Telegraph Company was formed by Captain Sherard Osborn RN, the renowned Arctic explorer, and his brother Commander Noel Osborn. The express purpose of the Company was to lay a submarine cable to connect Singapore and Australia via Java, thus linking the Australian colonies to London. Its first proposal was to lay the cable to Port Darwin and to construct a land-line to

OVERLAND TELEGRAPH–CONSTRUCTION AND ROUTE

• 169

Burketown in Queensland. Unlike previous proposals, no subsidies would be required from the colonial governments; the Company would finance the capital expenditure and rely on traffic charges for its revenue and profits. The Company made it clear that potential investors in Britain would be wary should the land-line be constructed through unsettled territory. In a letter, dated January 22, 1870, to the Governor of South Australia, Sherard Osborn requested permission to construct the line across the Northern Territory. The South Australian government replied that it would give the Company every facility to construct and maintain its land-line to Burketown, although it would much prefer a line from Port Darwin to Port Augusta. In order to prevent a likely Queensland initiative to persuade the Company to divert the cable to the bottom of the Gulf of Carpentaria for its link to Burketown, Charles Todd persuaded the South Australian government to offer to construct a land-line from Port Augusta to Port Darwin, at its own expense, provided the Company guaranteed to terminate its cable at Port Darwin. The government pledged that the line would be open for traffic by January 1, 1872. After much persuasion from Francis Dutton, the South Australian Agent-General in London, the Company accepted this offer but stipulated that the line should be ready by December 1, 1871. When it became clear, in November 1871, that the line would not be completed in time, the Company made it plain to the South Australian government that it would be liable for heavy financial penalties. It also implied that it would invoke the right to extend the cable from Port Darwin to a terminus at Burketown or Normanton in Queensland. At this stage the latter threat might well have been an empty bluff but the South Australians were in no position to call it; too much had been invested in the project. But, in the event, the situation was reversed when, on June 24, 1872, the submarine cable to Port Darwin snapped off the Javanese coast near Banjoewanji. Talk of penalties now came from Adelaide, not from London, and no more was heard of extending the cable to Queensland. The link to Port Darwin was restored at the third attempt on October 21. OVERLAND TELEGRAPH–CONSTRUCTION AND ROUTE. Conceived, planned, and directed by Charles Todd, the Overland Telegraph line, strung on 40,000 poles, stretched across the Australian continent from Adelaide to Port Darwin, much of it through previously unexplored territory. Its actual construction began with the planting of the first pole at Port Darwin on September 15, 1870. In the absence of detailed surveys and maps, Todd’s plan was to rely as much as possible on John McDouall Stuart’s maps and journals, although

170 •

OVERLANDERS

it was accepted that he was half-blind and had been unable to explore more than a narrow path as he trekked from one waterhole to the next. Modifications to the route would have to be made by the men on the spot. Exploring parties were sent out, but Todd was working to a tight schedule and could not afford to wait for exact surveys and detailed reports. Construction of the line was divided into three sections: Southern, Central, and Northern. The Southern and Northern sections, both enjoying comparatively easy access to seaborne supplies and equipment, were handed over to private contractors. The more difficult Central section would be constructed by South Australian government Lands Office surveyors and engineers. The Southern and Central sections were completed on time but the Northern section, mainly because of an especially heavy rainfall during the wet season, with a consequent breakdown of road transport, but also because of human errors and mismanagement, became bogged down. Eventually, Robert Charles Patterson, South Australia’s Assistant Railways Engineer, was placed in command of government construction parties. Todd also made a fast voyage to the Roper River on board the steamer Omeo, although Patterson retained immediate responsibility for the construction work. Despite these emergency measures, the Northern section was not completed and open to traffic until August 22, 1872. Fifteen repeater stations carried the line across the continent: Adelaide, Port Augusta, Beltana, Strangways Springs, The Peake, Charlotte Waters, Alice Springs, Barrow Creek, Tennant’s Creek, Powell’s Creek, Frew’s Pond, Daly Water, Katherine, Yam Creek, Darwin. These were augmented by other transmitting and receiving stations. The overall priority in traversing the continent, whether it be small exploration parties or major engineering construction teams, is curiously indicated in the names of the telegraph stations, mostly springs, waters, rivers, ponds, or creeks. A remarkable event in Australian history had now reached completion. Adelaide was in direct communication with Port Darwin, almost 2,000 miles away, and via the transmitting station and cable terminus to London. But this was not all: the almost entirely unknown expanses of Central Australia and the Northern Territory were linked to Adelaide and Port Darwin by telegraph. “The building of the Overland Telegraph Line was the climax of Australian inland exploration” (Frank Clunes. Overland Telegraph, 1955, p. 233). OXLEY, JOHN JOSEPH WILLIAM MOLESWORTH (1783–1828). Appointed Surveyor-General of New South Wales in 1812, John Oxley continued in this post until his death in 1828. On the orders of Governor Lach-

OXLEY, JOHN JOSEPH WILLIAM MOLESWORTH (1783–1828)

• 171

lan Macquarie, his first major exploration was to explore the Lachlan River, southwest of Bathurst, to ascertain its course and to determine whether it emptied into the sea or into an inland lake. The speculation was that it might prove to be part of an inland river system, which could serve as a route through the continent from Sydney either to the Indian Ocean or to Spencer Gulf on the southern shores of Australia. With George William Evans as second-in-command, 11 other men, including Allan Cunningham, styled the King’s Botanist, a mineralogist, and a boat-builder, and 14 packhorses, Oxley made his way out of Bathurst on April 28, 1817. At the time, his was the best-equipped and largest exploring expedition ever mounted in Australia. After two weeks following the Lachlan down river, with some of the expedition in a boat and others phlegmatically plodding along the banks with the horses, exploring the river westward, it eventually petered out, dwindling away in a huge area of reedy marshland. On May 12, Oxley climbed a small hill from where it was obvious that no further progress would be made in that direction. Six days later, the expedition began a march overland toward the coast in an attempt to intercept any river that flowed from the marshes to an outlet in the Cape Northumberland region. Incredibly they now encountered dry and almost barren scrubland, which offered their horses very little feed. Oxley despaired of the country, which, he concluded, would never again be visited by men. By June 21, the expedition was within 25 miles, two days’ march, from the mouth of the Murrumbidgee River. But Oxley was not to know that and he began his return journey overland to the Macquarie River, which he wearily followed back to Bathurst where he arrived on August 29. He contrasted the two rivers: the Macquarie receiving a constant accession of water from four tributaries, rendering a great extent of country fertile; the Lachlan diffusing its waters over low and barren deserts, creating morasses and swamps. In retrospect it can be seen that Oxley’s 1817 expedition prefigured many of the difficulties and disappointments that were continually repeated as the story of Australian exploration unfolded. In 1818, Oxley led an expedition in a different direction, following the Macquarie River for 220 miles until it too disappeared in marshlands, leading him to believe that both rivers contributed to a great inland sea, surrounded by impenetrable marshes, an attractive hypothesis not proven false until the journeys of John McDouall Stuart 40 years in the future. Again with Evans, Oxley had departed from Bathurst on May 28. Now, as he once more found himself blocked by marshlands, the expedition detoured southward and discovered the Castlereagh River.

172 •

PADRAOS

Turning east, Oxley reached and named the Arbuthnot Range and on August 26 set eyes on a wide expanse of fertile grazing land, the Liverpool Plains, which, once an easier access route was found, was eagerly snapped up by squatter sheep farmers. His route now took him northeast to discover the Peel River on September 2 and on a hair-raising climb over the New England Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, to descend its 45º gradient eastern slopes. Clear of the mountains, the expedition had to hack its way through dense twisted vines, averaging four miles a day, to the headwaters of the Hastings River, which Oxley followed south to its estuary, Port Macquarie, on the South Pacific Ocean. There followed a laborious tramp down to Newcastle, a journey interspersed with minor but dangerous encounters with Aborigines. Early in 1819, on board Lady Nelson, Oxley surveyed the Hastings River and Port Macquarie, which he had discovered the previous year, and from September through December, he conducted a coastal exploration of Jervis Bay, south of Sydney, when he was accompanied by Hamilton Hume. Another discovery was chalked up to Oxley in 1823 when he was dispatched by Governor Thomas Brisbane, in HM Cutter Mermaid, north of Sydney, to find a site suitable for a new penal settlement. Moreton Bay, Port Curtis, and Port Bowen were all in the frame. Sailing as far north as Port Stephens, on his return voyage he made a thorough examination of Moreton Bay, which had first been charted by James Cook 53 years earlier. Oxley located the mouth of the Brisbane River and explored 50 miles upstream in the cutter’s boats. In his official report, he remarked on his “strong belief that the sources of this river will not be found in any mountainous country, most probably from some large collection of interior waters, the reservoir of those streams crossed by me during an expedition of discovery in 1818.” Oxley’s early death in 1828, at the age of 45, was attributed to the privations he had experienced during the course of his inland explorations.

–P– PADRAOS. The Portuguese navigators of the late 15th and early 16th centuries erected padraos (6-foot-high stone pillars) on land to mark the extent of their discoveries. A padrao erected on Cannon Hill, Warrnambool, Victoria, the location of the Mahogany Ship, was inaugurated by the Portuguese Consul in Melbourne on February 15, 1990, to mark the Portuguese exploration of the Victorian coast in the 1520s. See also MENDONCA, CHRISTOVÃO DE.

PAULMYER DE COURTONNE, JEAN (FL. MID-17TH CENTURY)

• 173

PALMERSTON, CHRISTIE (1850?–1897). Hired in 1877 by a group of Cooktown merchants apprehensive about the effect the development of a new port at Cairns would have on their trade with the goldfields in the interior of Queensland, Palmerston discovered a new route to the coast along the Mowbray River, which, in turn, led to the founding of Port Douglas. A growing reputation in this field earned him similar commissions and he continued to blaze trails and to cut new routes from 1880 through 1886. He found gold on the Russell River but it was no bonanza lode. PARAKEELIA. A small plant much enjoyed by camels for its thirst-quenching qualities. “It has a lilac flower and, in place of leaves, greenish-yellow fleshy projections growing out in all directions and full of moisture and juice and almost as good as a drink . . . it grows right amongst the spinifex and usually inside the prickly body of the wearisome plant—thus giving the camels some trouble to get at, ’tho as soon as they realized its merits they quickly found a way of unburying it from its spikey hiding place” (from David Carnegie’s 1896–1897 expedition diary). PARMENTIER, JEAN (died c.1529). An experienced cosmographer and cartographer, Parmentier was the captain of two ships, Pensé and Sacré, out of Dieppe, which sailed on a reconnaissance and trading voyage to Sumatra where they berthed on October 31, 1529. He and his brother, Raoul, died of fever, and the two ships were brought home by Pierre Crignon, their pilot and navigator, the following year. It seems probable that the Dieppois got wind of Java-la-Grande on this voyage. PATERSON, WILLIAM (1755–1810). In September 1793, with rations for six weeks, Captain William Paterson led a party of four in an attempt to penetrate the Blue Mountains in ship’s boats. Rowing up the Hawkesbury-Nepean Rivers, and then transferring to canoes, which could be carried over rapids, the party reached Wentworth Creek 10 miles from its confluence with the Nepean. This excursion was never a serious effort to pass through the mountains, but it was successful in discovering the Grose River. In 1804, Paterson founded a settlement at Port Dalrymple on the northern coast of Van Diemen’s Land. PAULMYER DE COURTONNE, JEAN (fl. mid-17th century). A French cleric who, in 1653, published Memoirs Touchant L’Etablissement D’Une Mission Chrestienne Dans Le Troisieme Monde, Autrement appellé, La Terre Australe, Meridionale Antartique, & Inconnuë. Dediez à Nostre S.

174 •

PEEREBOOM, JACOB PIETERSZOON (FL. MID-17TH CENTURY)

Pere le Pape Alexandre VII (A Memorial Concerning the Establishment of a Christian Mission in the Third World Otherwise Known as the Unknown Southern Land. Dedicated to Our Holy Father Pope Alexander VII). Paulmyer also listed reasons why France should colonize the unknown land. PEEREBOOM, JACOB PIETERSZOON (fl. mid-17th century). Peereboom commanded the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie ship Elburg, which fell in with the South Land, in latitude 32º South, after being driven off course, en route to Batavia. With high seas running for 18 days, they found a safe anchorage in Géographe Bay and, after discovering a previously unknown coast, the skipper, the steersman, and a party of marines went ashore. They came across three Aborigines, a campfire still smoldering, and a number of spears and small hammers. Peereboom worked the Elburg back to Batavia, arriving there on July 16, 1658. PELSAERT, FRANÇOIS (1591–1630). Wrecked in the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie ship Batavia on the Houtman Abrolhos, lying 50 miles off the west coast of Australia, on the night of June 4, 1629, Pelsaert managed to get the crew and passengers ashore on a nearby islet together with precious supplies. With drinking water running low, he set off in the ship’s longboat in search of a mainland freshwater source. Sighting land, he followed the coastline northward from June 8 through June 15, being prevented from landing by heavy surf and hostile Aborigines. After spending a night on an offshore island, he reported to lie in 22° 17' South latitude and favored by a change in the wind, he set a course for the long voyage to Java, which he successfully completed on July 7 after being picked up by the Frederick Hendrik in Sunda Strait. Departing a week later on a relief ship, the pinnace Sardam, Pelsaert sighted the west coast in latitude 29° South of the Abrolhos. On arrival, he was met with a truly horrific account of mutiny and the massacre of 125 people. He acted swiftly and firmly, hanging five and taking others back to Java for trial. In the course of his voyages to Java and back, Pelsaert undoubtedly sighted stretches of coastline between latitudes 22° and 29° South not previously reported. See also BATAVIA EXCAVATION; LOOS, WOUTER. PETHERICK COLLECTION. Principally comprising works on the discovery, exploration, geography, and natural history of Australasia and Polynesia, the library of Edward Augustus Petherick (1847–1917), a renowned bibliographer, book collector, and publisher, now forms part of the collections of the National Library of Australia in Canberra.

PIETERSZOON, PIETER (FL. EARLY 17TH CENTURY)

• 175

PHILLIP, ARTHUR (1738–1814). Commander of the First Fleet and first Governor of New South Wales, from January 1788 through December 1792, Arthur Phillip could spare little time from his official duties to indulge in exploration on the ground, but he gave the lead and conducted a number of important exploring parties in person. The prime purpose of his explorations of the hinterland of Port Jackson was the urgent need to find extensive tracts of arable land. At the beginning of March 1788, he took boats to explore the three branches of Broken Bay but failed to realize that the western branch was the entrance to a large river. Later that month, he ventured on two land expeditions, during which he reached the Narrabean Lagoon and sighted a distant mountain range. In April, he traveled along the Parramatta River and came upon good farming land in the Rose Hill district. The main purpose of the initial explorations was now achieved. Botany Bay was explored in December 1788 and its inhospitable character confirmed. Phillip returned to Broken Bay in June 1789, examined the branch not explored the previous year, and, after two days’ searching, discovered the Hawkesbury River, the main artery of the coastal river system linking the Nepean, Grose, and Macdonald. It was clear that the fertile land of the Hawkesbury Valley would serve the colony well for many years. Continuing upstream as far as Richmond Hill, Phillip sighted the ravines and gorges of the mountains shimmering under a blue haze. He promptly named them the Blue Mountains. Phillip’s last expedition was in April 1791 when he led a large party across the Hawkesbury to make a closer inspection of the mountains, but he took an incorrect bearing and headed in the wrong direction. Before he sailed for England, Phillip’s explorations had determined that the settlement was bounded by the Hawkesbury River and the Blue Mountains. Between Botany Bay and Broken Bay, the land was sandy and useless for cultivation; and if the settlement were to expand, it would be in the direction of Parramatta, Richmond Hill, and the Hawkesbury River region. PIETERSZOON, PIETER (fl. early 17th century). Command of the 1636 Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie expedition of two ships, Klein Amsterdam and Wesel, fitted out for an ambitious voyage “to discover the country east of Banda and the south-land which extends to the west,” was originally given to Gerrit Thomasz Pool. He was to sail to New Guinea and to Arnhem Land in order to continue Jan Carstensz’s and William van Colster’s explorations of 1623 and to explore down the west coast to Eendrachtsland to Houtman Abrolhos, and, if supplies allowed, further still.

176 •

PLACE-NAMES

The purpose was to investigate whether these lands were inhabited and, if so, to examine the natives’ race, religion, forms of government, food and clothing, disposition, and weaponry. Pool was instructed to reconnoiter all bays and inlets, and to discover any channels that offered a way to the South Sea. If a channel was discovered, or if the south land proved to be a chain of islands, he was to attempt a passage and to carefully note its entrance and exits. The expedition sailed on April 17 and sighted the south coast of New Guinea a week later, but on April 29, Pool was killed by hostile natives while exploring inland. Pieter Pieterszoon was elected commander of the expedition and immediately decided to abandon further exploration eastward because of adverse winds. He turned west to explore Arnhem Land, going ashore at intervals and sailing along the northeast and north coasts of Melville Island, sighting the entrance to Dundas Strait and the Coburg Peninsula before returning to Banda. But, although he had tidied up the map of Arnhem Land, he was seemingly unaware of its continental hinterland. In any case, it seemed a small return compared to the hopes and expectations that had surrounded the preparations for the expedition. PLACE-NAMES. It is always useful and instructive in any study of the history of discovery and exploration to refer to the origins of place-names. A prime source for Australia is Erwin H. J. Feeken and Gerda E. E. Feeken, “Gazetteer of Australian Place Names,” in The Discovery and Exploration of Australia (1970). Entries give the person who named the place, the date of naming, and the reasons for the choice of name. POEPPEL’S CORNER. Named after Augustus Poeppel, a South Australian government surveyor whose Northern Territory and Queensland Border Survey Expedition made a 160-mile dash into the Simpson Desert in 1878 in order to straighten the borderlines and to determine the point where South Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland meet. At a spot in latitude 26º South, longitude 138º East, he planted a hardwood stump (Poeppel’s Peg) four feet long and adzed to a triangular shape, its faces showing the three names. But his surveying chain had stretched through excessive wear and tear and Lawrence Wells was forced to resurvey the borderlines from 1884 through 1886. He relocated the corner peg close to its present position, where it remained until the 1960s when it was replaced by a concrete post. POLITICA DO SIGILO (POLICY OF SECRECY). To preserve the royal trading monopoly, and to prevent foreign intruders from exploiting

PORT DARWIN

• 177

Portuguese discoveries, King Manoel I promulgated a decree in 1508 that all Portuguese navigators sailing beyond the Cape of Good Hope to India and the Spice Islands should on their return home, on pain of death, deposit all their maps, charts, logbooks, and journals in the Casa de India, whose archivists and cartographers were sworn to strict secrecy. Some 250 years later, similar precautions were imposed on James Cook’s Pacific voyages, although with less stringent penalties. The Portuguese were also concerned not to be accused of trespassing on the Spanish side of the Line of Demarcation, agreed to by the Treaty of Tordesillas. This would explain the secretive nature of the voyages of Christovão de Mendonca and Gomes de Sequeira. POLO, MARCO (c.1254?–c.1324?). Locach (Cambodia?) and Maletur (Malaya? Sumatra?), two of the provinces and regions Marco Polo visited on his 1294–1296 voyage from the Chinese port of Canton to the Strait of Hormuz, described in his book Divisament dou Monde (Description of the World) as being far to the south of Further India (Indo-China), through a series of editorial blunders during the intervening years, were located by Gerard Mercator and Abraham Ortelius to the south of Java on their world maps, thus giving rise to the theory that he knew of the great land to the south and perhaps had even visited it. Marco Polo was a merchant by calling, not an explorer or navigator, and his estimation of distance was by no means accurate or reliable. Nor was he responsible for his legitimate late-13th-century geographical names being relocated by 16th-century cartographers. Speculation that he possibly heard stories of a southern land from Arab or Chinese seamen is excusable; they had been active in the region over a long period. But the notion that he had sighted its shores on his voyage is a continent too far. POOL, GERRIT THOMASZ. See PIETERSZOON, PIETER. PORT DARWIN. The harbor of Port Darwin was discovered in 1839 by John Lort Stokes. Thirty years later, it was selected by H. B. T. Strangway, the premier of South Australia, as the site of the capital of the Northern Territory, placed under South Australia’s jurisdiction by the British government in 1863, not only because of its natural advantages, a splendid anchorage, a plentiful supply of freshwater, with good grazing ground nearby, but also, crucially, because of its convenient location for the terminus of the British Australian Telegraph Company’s submarine cable from Singapore. See OVERLAND TELEGRAPH–CABLE TERMINUS.

178 •

PORT JACKSON

George Woodroffe Goyder’s surveying expedition from Adelaide dropped anchor in the harbor on February 5, 1869, when Darwin’s history may be said to have begun. Various teams of surveyors laid out the town, explored and surveyed the hinterland on horseback, or examined the harbor’s shorelines by boat. By the end of August, 665,866 acres had been marked out. Officially the town was named Palmerston, the same as Boyle Finniss’s abandoned site on the Adelaide River, but the name never really caught on and it was formally renamed Darwin in 1911. PORT JACKSON. Observed and named but not entered by James Cook on his passage up the east coast of New Holland in May 1770, Port Jackson was described by Arthur Phillip as a harbor where “a thousand ships of the line could ride in perfect safety.” Phillip had no hesitation in selecting it as the site for the British penal settlement after deciding, for many reasons, that Botany Bay was totally unsuitable. Under the name of Sydney Harbor, it is now regarded as one of the finest harbors in the world. PORT PHILLIP ASSOCIATION. See BATMAN, JOHN. PORTUGUESE PRIORITY, THE. A term coined by Professor O. H. K. Spate to denote that Portuguese mariners were the first European discoverers of Australia. PRADO Y TOVAR, DIEGO DE (fl. late 16th and early 17th century). Information coming to light in the 20th century suggests it was Prado who was in command of the San Pedro’s voyage, and not Luis Vaez de Torres, when separated from Pedro Fernandez de Quirós on their departure from Austrialia del Espíritu Santo in June 1606. Purely of academic interest now—both men were on board, the almost certain sighting of the Cape York Peninsula is not disputed, and there seems no likelihood of the Torres Strait being renamed—the full story is related in Henry N. Steven’s New Light on the Discovery of Australia (1930). E. A. Parkyn’s “The Voyage of Luis Vaez De Torres,” Geographical Journal 76, no. 3 (September 1930): 252–256, is a useful critique. PRESTON, WILLIAM (fl. early 19th century). During a period of four years, from 1829 through 1832, Lieutenant William Preston, together with his Royal Navy colleague Dr. Alexander Collie, explored the Canning River in Western Australia to its source, advanced into the Darling Range east of Cape Leschenault, and sailed to the Géographe Bay region where they discovered the two rivers named after them.

QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT NORTHERN EXPLORING PARTY

• 179

PRICE, A. GRENFELL (1892–1977). In August 1938, Edwin Lowe of the Mount Dare Station, in Central Australia, reported the discovery of seven or eight bleached skeletons in the Simpson Desert. They were immediately linked with Ludwig Leichhardt’s missing 1848 expedition. The South Australian government asked Grenfell Price to lead an investigation. At a spot in latitude 26º South, longitude 136º East, 6 miles south of the Northern Territory border, and 41 miles east of Mount Dare Station, Price found bones and teeth, two coins of relevant date, and pieces of iron and leather, but the verdict was that the human remains were most likely of Aborigine origin. PTOLEMY, i.e., CLAUDIUS PTOLEMAEUS (A.D. 87?–151?). In the year A.D.140, Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer and geographer working in Alexandria, published his Geographia, a description of the Earth that held sway for almost 1,500 years. This quintessential treatise was a distillation of the best of previous geographers’ work and contained some 8,000 placenames, each given latitude and longitude coordinates. If Ptolemy issued maps to complement his treatise, none survived, although subsequent mapmakers drew maps working from the data he provided. Preserved and studied by Islamic scholars in Christendom’s Dark Ages, Ptolemy’s Geographia was translated into Greek and Latin from the Arabic at the end of the medieval period. The first printed edition was issued in 1475. Ptolemy’s significance in the history of Australian discovery lies in his theory that a southern continent had to exist in order to maintain the Earth’s equilibrium, a theory not entirely disproved until the first and second voyages of James Cook. See also TERRA AUSTRALIS. PURRY, JEAN PIERRE (fl. early 18th century). While employed by the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) in Batavia, Purry submitted proposals in 1718 for the establishment of a colony in Nuyts Land. “Who knows what there is in New Holland, and whether that country does not perhaps contain richer mines of gold or silver than did Chili, Peru or Mexico?” He confidently predicted that the costs of such a plan would be born by the immense profits that would ensue. But the VOC rejected his proposals as did the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris.

–Q– QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT NORTHERN EXPLORING PARTY. See HANN, WILLIAM.

180 •

QUEENSLAND ROAD

QUEENSLAND ROAD. Approximately 1,250 miles long, the Queensland Road was the name given to the stock route from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Adelaide. The precise route followed very much depended on the feed available and it was usual for cattle to be dry-staged at some point on the drive. QUIRÓS, PEDRO FERNANDEZ DE (1565–1614). Second-in-command and chief pilot of Alvaro de Mendaña’s 1595–1596 South Pacific voyage, Quirós was convinced that the southern continent was close to the Marquesas Islands he had explored with Mendaña. He obtained support for a new discovery expedition from Pope Clement VIII, who sent a letter of recommendation to King Philip III of Spain. Quirós eventually sailed from Callao on December 21, 1605, with three vessels, San Pedro, San Pedro y Pablo, and a smaller launch, Los Tres Reyes, attached for coastal and riverine exploration and that might also be used to send back news of a major discovery. His objective was to discover a mainland a thousand leagues from Peru and at a similar distance from New Spain, in the region of the Marquesas. If this proved unsuccessful, he would steer for Santa Cruz island and, after replenishing his supplies, search the seas to the west. Ordered to sail west southwest to 30° South, Quirós controversially abandoned this course, which might have taken him to the southern continent. After touching the Tuamotu and Santa Cruz islands, Quirós anchored in a bay he named San Felipe y Santiago and landed on what appeared to be the mainland of a large continent on May 3, 1606. This he named Austrialia del Espíritu Santo; the actual spot where he landed he called Vera Cruz. Attempts to leave the Bay on a further voyage of exploration faltered due to adverse winds. A true visionary with a genuine religious zeal, Quirós selected a site for a new city to be called Nueva Jerusalen and inaugurated an order of chivalry, Knights of The Holy Ghost, of which all the colonists were to be members. But on May 25, disheartened that the new knights did not appear to share his high ideals, he announced that the settlement was to be abandoned. The expedition suffered from that constant state of near mutiny that categorizes Spanish attempts at Pacific colonization: not all shared Quirós’s conviction that they had reached the southern continent, and most were disappointed at not finding precious metals or gems. Sailing on June 8, the two ships were frustrated once more by contrary winds. Quirós signaled he was returning to Vera Cruz, but when Luis Vaez de Torres in the second ship arrived there the next day, Quirós was nowhere to be seen. They went their separate ways, Quirós to Mexico, Torres northwest to Manila in the Philippines.

RACE TO THE NORTH

• 181

But for his notorious indecision Quirós might well have found a southern continent. As it was, he failed to explore Austrialia del Espíritu Santo, in reality the largest island in the Vanuatu group, or to explore further to the west.

–R– RAAD VAN INDIE (COUNCIL OF THE INDIES). A Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie executive body presided over by the Governor-General in Batavia, controlling defense, transportation, administration, and trade in the East Indies. RABBIT FENCE. Early in 1901 the Western Australian government, alarmed by the seemingly inexorable advance of rabbits from the eastern states, appointed a Royal Commission to examine the problem. Working with a speed not often adopted by such bodies, a report was issued in February and, a month later, the government proposed a “properly constructed and well-maintained fence of wire netting, 42 inches wide, with a mesh of not less than 11⁄2 inches and no lighter than 17 gauge, B grade with barbed and plain wire.” The cost of the fence was estimated at £55 to £70 per mile but, probably to nobody’s surprise, the actual cost amounted to £200 per mile. Alfred Canning, with Hubert Trotman as his second-in-command, was commissioned to explore and survey a route for the fence, which eventually stretched 1,125 miles north from Starvation Harbor, on the Southern Ocean, to Pardoo, on the Eighty Mile Beach on the Indian Ocean. After it was completed, the government employed five men to constantly ride its length and to keep it in good repair. RACE TO THE NORTH. The unofficial name given to the rivalry between South Australia and Victoria to mount the first successful south-to-north transcontinental expedition. The four explorers who entered the race and the dates they arrived on Australia’s northern shores overland from the south were Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills (virtually, February 10, 1861); John McKinlay (virtually, May 3, 1862); and John McDouall Stuart (July 24, 1862). Of these, only Stuart actually stepped into the sea (Van Diemen Gulf); the others were prevented from doing so by intervening coastal swamps (Gulf of Carpentaria). See also GREAT AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION RACE.

182 •

RAMAZAN (FL. EARLY 20TH CENTURY)

RAMAZAN (fl. early 20th century). After a serious dispute with some of his Afghan colleagues in the late 1920s, Ramazan hastily left Wiluna, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with just one camel, and completed a remarkable solo journey across the Overland Telegraph line. He arrived south of Alice Springs, continued on to Oodnadatta, and reported a large freshwater lake more or less where Lake Mackay was subsequently located. RED CENTER. Generally applied to the Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Mount Conner, and the MacDonnell Ranges region, in the southern half of the Northern Territory. RED HEART OF AUSTRALIA. So named on account of the predominant color of its desert sands. Sometimes confused with the Dead Heart of Australia but see Frank Clune’s The Red Heart: Sagas of Centralia (1944), in which he applies the term to the whole of the Australian Desert, all 1,100,000 square miles of it. REX NAN KIVELL COLLECTION. The picture, manuscript, map, and pamphlet collection of Rex Nan Kivell (1899–1977) was purchased by the Australian government in 1959 and is now one of the National Library of Australia’s research collections. Of the utmost significance for the study of European penetration and settlement in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific, the collection includes 8,300 paintings, portraits, drawings, and plans and nearly 3,000 printed items. A collection of approximately 1,000 maps includes examples of 17th- and 18thcentury French and Dutch cartography, tracing European discovery and exploration in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. RIVERS. A considerable number of rivers are named in this book but it has to be remembered that many of these are often dry for long periods. They perhaps provided convenient routes of march but were by no means always a supply of freshwater. RIVER SYSTEMS. The question of Australia’s river systems perplexed and dominated Australian geographical thought from the very earliest period of colonial history. Locked in behind the Blue Mountains, the original settlers relied on rivers to be discovered to irrigate their land and to offer a passage into the interior. Moreover, under a succession of Governors with a naval background, rivers were generally regarded as the natural highways for explorers to open up the country. And, if they should prove to be navigable, they would fa-

RIVER SYSTEMS

• 183

cilitate and accelerate inland transport and communications systems. As Sir Joseph Banks remarked, in a letter to the Colonial Office in London, “it is impossible to conceive that such a body of land, as large as all Europe, does not produce vast rivers, capable of being navigated into the heart of the interior.” No wonder that the course of the major rivers and their sources and those of their tributaries preoccupied not only the explorers themselves, but also those in government and commerce who dispatched them on their expeditions. A thoughtful, geographical view of Australia’s rivers was presented by Henry Landor in a paper to the Royal Geographical Society in the 1850s. He pointed out the absence of large rivers, with one exception, debouching anywhere on the coast from the mouth of the Murray westward, and northward, to the Victoria River flowing into Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. He took no consideration of the rivers of Western Australia, which, in his opinion, were little more than surface drains. The one exception he cited was the Blackwood, flowing into the sea near Cape Leeuwin, fed by a chain of shallow lakes extending northeastward into the interior. From an examination of the rivers on the northern coast of Australia, and the Gulf of Carpentaria, he deduced that “the watershed that throws these streams to the north and northwest has also another side which throws its waters towards the south and the interior. Why then do they never reach the coast? They spread themselves out on the flat surface of the interior, which is very little above the level of the sea, and they collect into large shallow lakes, which have outlets in very wet seasons by Shark Bay, the Blackwood, Spencer Gulf, and Eyre Lake into the Darling.” He evidenced as proof, “many miles of country of a hard clay formation, with small prickly scrub on it, and coarse marshy grass, and marks of water-drift all over it, small weeds and sticks lodged high in the scrub, on banks a little higher than the general level of the plains; and this over many hundred square miles of country, which must be one vast lake in the winter or wet season. The absence of animals of the burrowing marsupials, and of reptiles that always swarm on such plains when they are not subject to periodical floods. The want of kangaroos, which dare not venture too far into the country, lest the waters of winter overtake them. The marks of the abrasion of the surface by the trickling stream as it gradually runs away. . . . All these signs indicate a state of things that cannot be mistaken” (“Notes on the Probable Condition of the Interior of Australia,” Proceedings Royal Geographical Society, 1, no. 2, 1855–1857). Gradually, the superhuman efforts of men like Charles Sturt, Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, Edward John Eyre, Ludwig Leichhardt, Augustus Charles Gregory, Robert O’Hara Burke, John McDouall Stuart, Peter Warburton, John Forrest, and Ernest Giles determined that no significant

184 •

ROARING FORTIES

river watered the central deserts. What Banks had found impossible to conceive was accepted a century later. There was no great river flowing to the sea in any direction across the Australian continent. See also FRIEND OF AUSTRALIA; INLAND SEA; OCEANIC CHANNEL. ROARING FORTIES. The westerly winds prevailing between latitudes 40º South and 60º South round the globe. It was these winds that Hendrik Brouwer utilized when pioneering the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie’s Southern Ocean route from the Cape of Good Hope to Java. ROBINSON, GEORGE AUGUSTUS (1788–1866). An immigrant who arrived in Hobart Town in January 1824, George Robinson quickly built up a prosperous building business. A quietly religious man, he was appointed by the Van Diemen’s Land government, in March 1829, to establish good relations between the settlers and the Aborigines. He soon recognized that to properly understand the native peoples and their customs, he would have to visit their tribal areas. On January 27, 1830, Robinson started from Recherche Bay with a combined party of Europeans and Aborigines, including Alexander McKay, to travel through difficult country to Port Davey on the southwest coast. He explored the Port Davey area, climbing the hills of Arthur’s Range and descending into the Crossing River Valley, to approach Port Davey from the north. He set out, on March 22, along the coast to the northwest, passing Point Hibbs and the entrance to Macquarie Harbor, and continuing first to the Pieman River and then to Arthur River, which he reached on June 9. By July 12, Robinson was at the Van Diemen’s Land Company headquarters at Circular Head. Traveling along the northern shores overland to Port Sorrell, he turned inland, past the site of the town Deloraine, and returned down the Mersey River. Next he sailed up the Tamar River to Launceston where he was at odds with the military authorities over their treatment of the Aborgines. He followed the coastline by land round to the Ringarooma River and then to Cape Naturaliste. In November, he voyaged to Swan Island with Aborigines fleeing from the military and then sailed on to the Furneaux group of islands in Bass Strait. Back on the mainland, Robinson marched south to Swansea and Great Oyster Bay and returned to Hobart on January 17, 1831. In a little under a year, he had traveled round the island’s entire coastline from Port Davey clockwise to Hobart. In subsequent years, Robinson traveled extensively, contacting Aborigine tribes in remote regions and persuading them to accept

ROE, JOHN SEPTIMUS (1797–1878)

• 185

government resettlement on Flinders Island in the Furneaux Group. He was a humane man, carrying out a policy that he failed to perceive was inhumanely flawed. ROCKINGHAM BAY EXPEDITION. See KENNEDY, EDMUND. ROE, JOHN SEPTIMUS (1797–1878). John Roe’s first experience of Australian exploration was as Master’s Mate on Philip Parker King’s coastal voyages. He was appointed Surveyor-General of the Swan River Colony (later Western Australia) in December 1828 when he was given two years’ leave of absence by the Admiralty, which was ultimately extended to 40 years. Arriving in the colony with James Stirling, he was soon occupied in surveying its environs and sea approaches. His was an influential voice in selecting the sites of the towns of Perth and Fremantle. Roe went further afield in 1835, traveling north from Albany to York and then to the Stirling range east from Perth. A year later, he headed an expedition through dispiriting country to the tableland north and east of Perth as far as Lake Brown. He found little country suitable for settlement, its only distinguishing features being salt lakes. With 6 men, 12 horses, and supplies for 3 months, Roe set off on his longest and most arduous expedition on September 14, 1848. He traveled southeast from Perth, via Nalyaring Sheep Station and a chain of salt lakes, to reach the south coast at Cape Riche. After replenishing his supplies, he followed the Pallinup River, ascending one of its branches, through a number of promising-looking valleys for pastoral settlers, but that soon led into desert covered with dense scrub. At the end of October, he discovered Mount Madden and sighted Mount Short. Passing Lake Hope and the Bremer Range, and veering southeast, he discovered Mount Ridley. After a desperate period during which his horses went without water for four days, Roe reached the Russell Range, a mass of naked rocks, further to the east. At this point, on November 28, he turned for home and, a week later was in the Esperance Bay region where water supplies became more plentiful. After investigating the minor rivers running into Stokes Inlet, he continued west across the Phillip River, found coal deposits along the Fitzgerald River, and was soon back at Cape Riche. From there it was easy going to Bunbury and Perth where he arrived on February 2, 1849. The expedition had traveled 2,000 miles in 5 months, for lengthy periods through previously unexplored country. For his survey work, his inland explorations, and his encouragement and support of younger explorers, notably Alexander Forrest, John Forrest,

186 •

ROSS, JOHN (1817–1903)

Augustus Charles Gregory, and Frank Gregory, Roe earned the sobriquet “the father of Australian exploration.” ROSS, JOHN (1817–1903). One-time shepherd, cattle-driver, and station manager, John Ross explored the region on the southwest edge of the Simpson Desert, between the Neales and Stevenson-Macumbra regions, in 1868. His furthermost point was roughly 70 miles north of Mount Margaret homestead, to the west of Lake Eyre, and 400 miles north of Port Augusta. A year later, Charles Todd appointed him leader of an expedition to blaze a trail north to determine the best route for the Overland Telegraph. He was instructed to avoid low-lying land liable to flooding. Emphasis was also laid on locating a plentiful supply of 20-foot gum tree saplings for its construction. He was to return to Mount Margaret with his report no later than mid-October. Moving out on August 14 with four men, Ross reached his most northern point of the previous year by August 23. Looking for a better route than John McDouall Stuart’s through the Waterhouse and McDonnell Ranges, in the Northern Territory, he explored eastward over heavy sand hills and through desolate country on the edge of the Simpson Desert. Falling back westward, more promising country was found on the lower reaches of the Finke River, near Charlotte Waters, in the Northern Territory. Once more on a northerly course, he discovered the Todd River, which he followed to the Fergusson Range, crossing it three times without finding a suitable wagon route. He found a gap through the Range by following Giles Creek, due east of Alice Springs. Traveling south on a more westerly route, he discovered Phillipson Creek and then cut across to the Hugh River and continued west to Chamber Pillar. At the junction of the Finke and Hugh Rivers, he discovered a lagoon, Alice Well, 30 miles south of Alice Springs and destined to be a base depot for the construction of the Central section of the telegraph line. Back at the Peake by October 19, 1870, Ross and his party had traveled 1,000 miles and had defined the Overland Telegraph’s route from the Peake to Oodnadatta, Charlotte Waters, and Alice Springs. Just four weeks later, Ross and his party departed from the Peake with orders to penetrate beyond their furthermost point in the Fergusson Range, and to explore toward Central Mount Stuart before returning to Alice Well. By December 9, they were on the Hugh River, above its junction with the Finke. Striking northwest across a very dry stretch of country, they headed for Giles Creek. North of the Fergusson Range, Ross followed a parallel course, 50 miles to the east of Stuart’s tracks, discovering Hart’s Range

ROTTNEST ISLAND

• 187

and continuing to Mount Mann, near Barrows Creek, where the party arrived on New Year’s Day 1871. Three days later, they were at Central Mount Stuart, finding the cairn recording Stuart’s visit there on April 21, 1860. Their return was by way of the Hanson River to Mount Freeling, in the Reynolds Range, past Mount Henry, across the MacDonnells at Brinkley’s Bluff, and down the Finke River, to reach Alice Well on January 26, 1871. In 10 weeks they had explored 540 miles northward on a circular route deep into the Northern Territory. After 5 weeks’ rest, shoeing their horses, and overhauling their equipment, Ross again left Alice Well with 5 men, 22 horses, and rations for 11 weeks. This time, his instructions were to follow Stuart’s tracks right through to the Roper River, 800 miles away. They were to make contact with the Northern Section construction parties, and then to return south to meet the government surveyors and engineers constructing the Central section of the telegraph line and to pilot the survey for the link up of the Central and Northern sections. Instead of passing through Brinkley’s Gap, Ross directed his course easterly along the MacDonnells, exploring a feasible wagon route. On March 18, they encountered Surveyor William Mills, riding down from the northeast, two miles from Alice Spring, which he had just discovered. Exchanging information, Ross continued north, arriving at Central Mount Stuart 10 days later. From here they followed Stuart’s route to Attack Creek, Newcastle Waters, Frew’s Pond, and Daly Waters. In search of Stuart’s Strangways River, in order to reach the Roper River, they discovered Birdum Creek, which led them to the Elsey River and on to the Roper. This route was 60 miles shorter than Stuart’s and was eventually adopted by the Overland Telegraph. Ross met the northern party near the Katherine River and went on to Port Darwin to become the second man to make the south-tonorth crossing of the continent through the center. For some unaccountable reason, John Ross is seldom bracketed among the great Australian explorers of the interior, even though his explorations played a major part in threading the telegraph line northward. G. W. Symes shall have the final word: “Opportunities came too late in life to be grasped to the full, but his exploits proved him to be an able explorer and a sagacious and energetic leader” (Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol. 6 1851–1890 [1976]). ROTTNEST ISLAND. A small offshore island southwest of Perth, Rottnest Island was discovered by Frederik de Houtman in 1619 and explored by Willem de Vlamingh in 1697. Gerrit Collaert, captain of Nijptangla, named

188 •

ROTZ, JEAN (FL. EARLY 16TH CENTURY)

it Rotteneilandt (rat island) after the so-called woodrats seen by Vlamingh’s landing party. This was shortened to Rottnest (rat nest). In fact the “woodrats” are quokkas, short-tailed wallabies, which still live on the island. ROTZ, JEAN (fl. early 16th century). Converted from a large chart of the world into a book containing a navigational treatise and 11 regional charts, Jean Rotz’s “Boke of Idrography,” presented to King Henry VIII of England in 1542, is the earliest surviving work of the renowned Dieppois hydrographers to depict “the londe of Java.” On the chart for Southeast Asia and the East Indies, Rotz draws the northern regions of a landmass, called Java-laGrande on later Dieppe Maps, stretching as far as 20° South latitude before it disappears off the page. A number of Portuguese place-names are found on the mainland and adjacent islands, strongly suggesting that the chart represents a Portuguese voyage of discovery. Rotz is regarded as the most accomplished of the Dieppois hydrographers and, unlike his contemporaries, is reputed never to have indulged in speculative mapmaking. His dedicatory letter to Henry VIII records “all this I have set down exactly and truly as possible, drawing as much from my own experience as from the certain experience of my friends and fellow navigators.” “The Boke of Idrography” has been reproduced in a magnificent presentation edition, The Maps and Text of the Boke of Idrography Presented by Jean Rotz to Henry VIII Now in the British Library (1981), edited by Helen Wallis, who contributes “Jean Rotz: His Life and Times” and “Java-laGrande: The First Sight of Australia?” to a detailed commentary. ROUS, HENRY JOHN (1795–1877). Commanding HMS Rainbow on a cruise along the northern coast of New South Wales in 1828, Rous discovered and named the Richmond River and explored it for 20 miles upstream. ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY SURVEYING SERVICE. Established in 1921, the naval surveying service assumed responsibility for surveying the coasts of Australia and its neighboring seas from the Royal Navy. At the time these waters were counted as being among the world’s most inadequately charted marine areas. The objective was to continue surveys of coastal waters, consolidating and refining existing charts and knowledge. In its first few years, surveying was concentrated on the coastline from northwest Australia eastward to Roebuck Bay, Bathurst Island, the channels between Vanderlin Island and the Sir Edward Pellew Group, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the reefs and inlets of Tasmania.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (RGS)

• 189

In 1925, the decision was made to undertake a close examination of the Cumberland Channel within the Great Barrier Reef. To assist this ambitious survey, the British Admiralty transferred HM Survey Ship Silvio to the Royal Australian Navy, which renamed it HMAS Moresby, a ship that did sterling service in the interwar years, notably in the strategic waters of the northern approaches to Darwin. After World War II, the Royal Australian Navy, taking full advantage of state-of-the-art technology, embarked upon a systematic program to cover Australian waters on 650 modern charts. A highlight of recent surveying was HMAS Flinders’ 1982 discovery of Hydrographers Passage, a new shipping route through the Great Barrier Reef. ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (RGS). Formed in London in 1830, the principal aims of the Royal Geographical Society were “to collect, digest, and publish interesting and useful geographical facts and discoveries; to accumulate a collection of books on geography, voyages, and travels, and of maps and charts; to keep specimens of such instruments as are most serviceable to a traveler; to afford assistance, instruction, and advice to explorers; and to correspond with other bodies or individuals in geographical pursuits.” Its Proceedings (1855–1878), its Journal (1831–1880), and the Geographical Journal (1893–) contain many early accounts of Australian exploration. Originating from an annual gift of 50 guineas from King William IV in 1831 “to constitute a premium for the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery,” in 1839 the Society determined to award two gold medals of equal value to be designated the Founder’s Medal and the Patron’s Medal. These medals were highly regarded and sought after by explorers of all nationalities in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Medals awarded to explorers of the Australian interior include Edward John Eyre (1843); Paul Edmund de Strzelecki (1846); Charles Sturt (1847); Ludwig Leichhardt (1847); Augustus Charles Gregory (1857); John McDouall Stuart (1861); Robert O’Hara Burke, posthumously (1862); Frank Thomas Gregory (1863); Peter Egerton Warburton (1874); John Forrest (1876); and Ernest Giles (1876). However, the Society’s role in Australian exploration has recently come under fire, notably in Simon Ryan’s The Cartographic Eye (1996, pp. 35–38). It is condemned for embodying “one end of the social hierarchy,” for aiding explorers’ social progress, awarding one medal only to an exploration party, and offering “a powerful reward system for those expeditions—as represented through reports and journals—which conformed with RGS expectations of what an explorer, and his journal, should be.” In addition, it recommended a rigorous and careful selection process for expedition leaders: “no one should

190 •

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA, QUEENSLAND

be employed . . . who may not have shown himself fitted for the prosecution of such an undertaking.” Moreover, explorers were to be given “very specific sets of instructions which prioritized those things to be observed and recorded.” These, Ryan argues, constructed the explorer as “a closely supervised government servant” who was “part of a large government-controlled information-gathering process.” In summary: “Under a façade of gentlemanly science, the RGS was an organization with a fundamentally instrumentalist agenda. And the agenda was expansion of empire.” A defense against these charges is easily mounted. Of course the Society embodied the upper end of society; at the time it could hardly have been otherwise, and social advancement still comes to all those who distinguish themselves in their chosen field of activity. Ryan’s perception that social bias was behind the Society’s advice on the choice of an expedition leader blinds him to the possibility that what the Society had in mind was evidence of exploration experience and ability. As for its instructions of what should be observed, recorded, and disseminated, all these activities feature in the Society’s objectives. He may have a case for its agenda-for-empire scenario, but then did not every national geographic society in the 19th century entertain similar ambitions? However, Ryan’s is an interesting and powerful argument and one that deserves close attention. ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA, QUEENSLAND. Founded in July 1885, the Society’s aims were to promote the interests of geographical science in its widest sense, to encourage exploration and pioneering enterprise in Australasia, and to further the study of physical and commercial geography. Augustus Charles Gregory was elected its first President. Publication of the Queensland Geographical Journal, a valuable research tool, commenced in 1900. ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BRANCH (RGSASA). Founded as The Geographical Society of Australasia in Adelaide on July 10, 1885, the royal title was granted by Queen Victoria a year later. From the start a particular interest was maintained in Australian exploration and colonial settlement and, within a very short time, the Society was actively encouraging exploration of “the remaining blanks of Australia.” David Lindsay’s journey through the unknown parts of the Northern Territory northeast of Charlotte Waters was supported and the Society played a major role in organizing the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition in 1891. It also organized and managed the Calvert Exploring Expedition led by Lawrence Wells in 1896.

RUDALL, W. F. (FL. TURN OF 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES)

• 191

The Society’s Library, now housed in the State Library of South Australia, is the largest nongovernment specialist geographical library in Australia and is open for reference by the general public. In 1905, the Society purchased the York Gate Library belonging to Stephen William Silver, a London shipping merchant, a collection largely comprising explorers’ accounts, colonial histories and handbooks, and rare atlases. The collection of Thomas Gill, the Society’s first Treasurer, containing an abundance of material on Australian, and particularly on South Australian exploration, was acquired in 1924. The Society’s Proceedings and latterly, South Australian Geographical Journal, are valuable reference sources. The Society is now known as The Royal Geographical Society of South Australia. ROYAL SOCIETY. Founded on a regular basis in 1660, the Royal Society is Great Britain’s oldest and foremost scientific society. As part of its promotion of scientific inquiries program, it was instrumental in persuading King George III to provide a Royal Navy vessel to convey a scientific party to Tahiti to observe the Transit of Venus. RUDALL, W. F. (fl. turn of 19th and 20th centuries). While exploring along the Ashburton River in 1896, Rudall was ordered by the Western Australian Lands & Survey Department to take over an expedition exploring the country from Wiluna northward to Nullagine whose leader, Aubrey Newman, had just died. With Hubert Trotman he completed the expedition. In the following year, he was dispatched by the Department to join the search for Charles Wells and G. T. Jones, of Lawrence Wells’s Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition. Making his depot at Braeside Station, he left there on December 19, 1896, on a 400-mile trek to Mount Sydney, southeast to Separation Wells, following the Oakover River south to Thundanalaji, an oasis in the desert, continuing along the river, and turning north and west of the Gregory Range to Mount Sydney. By now the intense heat was unbearable, water was in short supply, and the expedition became heavily dependent on Aboriginal skills for survival. Eventually, he was forced to return to Braeside. Setting out again, he went south of the Oakover River and found two bodies in the desert. But, after detailed descriptions had been telegraphed to Adelaide, confirmation arrived that they were not the remains of Wells and Jones. Amid considerable confusion between Adelaide and the men on the ground on how to proceed, Rudall resolved to retrace his steps to Mount Sydney and continue eastward toward the Great Sandy Desert. Traveling by night in order to avoid the heat, Rudall mapped 23,000 square miles of

192 •

RYE, JAN RALDROM DE

country through and around the Broadhurst Range; Mounts McPherson, Isdel, and Hodgson; the Gregory, Throssell, and Paterson Ranges; and across the desert to Joanna Springs, before returning to Braeside on June 20, 1897. There he learned that Lawrence Wells had finally located the bodies of the two missing men. RYE, JAN RALDROM DE. See LOOS, WOUTER.

–S– SAILOR H. (fl. 1771). On July 19, 2000, Robert Bednarik, one of Australia’s foremost scientific investigators of Aboriginal rock art, regarded as an enthusiastic debunker of fanciful and wrongly identified antiques and artifacts, and President of the Federation of Rock Art Organizations, discovered carvings of the letter H, the date 1771, a ship’s wheel, and an anthropomorph on the top of a rock art platform in the rugged hills of the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 150 miles from the sea. The exact location of his discovery has not as yet been divulged in order to protect the carvings from vandalism and theft. From microscopic examination, and from comparisons with other indigenous carvings of the same age nearby, it is Bednarik’s considered opinion that the carvings are consistent with the date 1771 and that they were cut by a European sailor, most probably a Dutchman he named Sailor H who, he conjectured, had lived with a native tribe for a considerable period, accompanying it inland. The date does not easily coincide with a known Dutch voyage, but it is surmised that Sailor H was either a survivor of a storm-wrecked ship or else had been marooned as a troublemaker. Normally the terms “discovery” and “exploration” denote lands or seas discovered and/or explored and are reported to the known world, but the circumstances here are curious enough to warrant Sailor H’s inclusion in this present work. SAINT ALLOUARN, FRANÇOIS ALESNO DE (17?–1772). The owner of Le Gros Ventre, the transport ship that accompanied Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen’s 1772 voyage, and a far more resolute mariner than his commanding officer, Saint Allouarn became separated from Kerguelen off his newly discovered island on February 14. Following his written instructions, he sailed eastward to the west coast of New Holland, reaching Flinders Bay behind Cape Leeuwin on March 18. After conducting a brief survey of the

SCRUB

• 193

Bay, he set a course northward up the coast to Dirk Hartog’s Island. At Turtle Bay, at the northern end of the island, he sent a party ashore on March 30 to take possession of the country in the name of the King of France. Entering Shark Bay on March 31 he took a week to extricate his ship from its treacherous shoals. His conduct compares favorably to that of Kerguelen; by obeying orders he was able to prove that no continental landmass existed in the southern waters of the Indian Ocean. His voyage also focused French attention on the relatively unknown western shores of New Holland. SANDY BLIGHT. See OPHTHALMIA. SCHOUTEN, WILLEM CORNELISZ. See LE MAIRE, JAKOB. SCOTT, JAMES REID (1839–1877). The elder son of Thomas Scott, James Scott was a prominent public figure in the Tasmania of the 1860s and 1870s. He explored many little-known regions in the west and southwest of the island and, in 1876, he presented a report, “Exploration in the Western Country,” principally concerned with mineral prospecting and development, to the Minister for Lands and Works. SCOTT, THOMAS (1800–1855). In 1821, Governor Lachlan Macquarie appointed Scott as Assistant Surveyor in Van Diemen’s Land. During the years 1822 through 1824, he explored the east coast and laid out the township of Bothwell, on the Clyde River. Two years later he led an expedition to Adventure Bay, on the east coast of Brunn Island, in search of coal. He is best known for his Chart of Van Diemen’s Land from the best authorities and from actual Surveys and Measurements (1824). SCRUB. “Dense ramparts of greenery” (Edgar Beale. Kennedy of Cape York, 1970), which explorers of the Australian interior encountered more often than not. Different types of scrub are distinguished. Closely packed brigalow scrub (Acacia harpophylla), or wattle, is a kind of woodland covering much of northern New South Wales and Queensland. In the 19th century when brigalow was even more extensive, it was known as the national scrub. Some botanists are of the opinion that brigalow is the northern equivalent of mallee, a small eucalypt common in Victoria and Western Australia, that shoots up thin, crooked stems often festooned with shreds of old bark catching the breeze. Gidyea (sometimes Gidgee) scrub (Acacia cambagei), similar to brigalow, takes the form of small, closely spaced trees, some 30 feet high, and is easily distinguished by its silver-gray leaves, with little or no undergrowth.

194 •

SEQUEIRA, GOMES DE (FL. EARLY 17TH CENTURY)

A different species (Acacia georginae) is found in the Simpson Desert and near the Georgina River. Gidgea scrub is sometimes known as “stinking wattle” on account of its strong odor when flowering or in wet weather. Mulga scrub (Acacia aneura) is common throughout the inland. Where dense, there is little ground vegetation but where the trees are scattered, a ground cover of grasses and herbage plants is to be found. Myall scrub (Acacia pondula or Acacia homalophylla) is similar in appearance to miniature silver-gray weeping willows. Its presence was often thought to be an infallible sign that water would be found nearby. Whatever type of scrub lay in wait for explorers, it was never easy to negotiate. See also BUSH. SEQUEIRA, GOMES DE (fl. early 17th century). From confused and contradictory Portuguese sources it seems likely that Gomes de Sequeira was sent on a reconnaissance voyage in 1525 to investigate the islands in the Arafura Sea, the south coast of New Guinea, and the mainland sighted by Christovão de Mendonca. He possibly reached Croker, Melville, or Bathurst Island off the Arnhem Land coast or the Coburg Peninsula. SETTLERS’ EXPEDITION. Organized by Western Australian settlers, who lobbied the Western Australian government to have Augustus Charles Gregory lead their expedition in search of good farming land. The expedition departed from Perth on September 9, 1846, for the Gascoyne River. Impenetrable scrub north of the Murchison River, 350 miles from Perth, forced them to turn back but not before promising agricultural land had been found. The expedition returned to Perth on November 17. SEXTANT. A manual astronomical instrument comprising a telescope mounted on a frame with two mirrors, one rotative, making it possible to measure the angle between the horizon and the sun, and to establish lunar and stellar data when ascertaining latitude at sea. SEYNBRIEF. Instructions issued by the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie in August 1617 to all Dutch sea captains sailing to the East Indies to steer a course eastward of the Cape of Good Hope across the southern Indian Ocean in 35–36° or 40–44° South latitude, depending where the winds were most favorable. They were to continue on this course for at least 1,000 miles before turning to port and sailing north to the Indies. An unforeseen result was that, in an age that lacked instruments for the accurate measurement of longitude, it was inevitable that many ships would sail too far eastward and would arrive off the west coast of the southern continent.

SMITH, JAMES (1827–1897)

• 195

SHARLAND, WILLIAM STANLEY (1801–1877). Employed by the Van Diemen’s Land Government Survey Office, William Sharland discovered Lake St. Clair in 1827 and explored the sources of the Derwent River in August 1828. In 1832, he traveled from Bothwell to Frenchman’s Cap. SHORTLAND, JOHN (1769–1810). In pursuit of the Cumberland, a colonial government ship seized by absconding convicts, John Shortland discovered the estuary of the Hunter River on September 9, 1797, and charted its harbor. SILVA, JUAN DE (fl. 1565–1630). Inspired by the religious zeal of Pedro Fernandez de Quirós, Juan de Silva, a Franciscan friar, conceived a plan to conquer and to convert the people of Austrialia del Espíritu Santo to Christianity under the aegis of the Spanish Crown. As part of his plan, he proposed to establish a seminary to train friars for missionary work in the South Seas. Although he intended to make no charge on the royal treasury, his plans failed to gain the approval of either Philip III or Philip IV. A memorial addressed to the Crown by Juan Luis Arias met with equal indifference. De Silva’s plea to Pope Urban VIII to sponsor a Franciscan mission to the southern lands also failed. SINCLAIR, H. D. (fl. mid-19th century). The master of a nine-ton schooner, Sinclair sailed from Rockhampton, Queensland, in September 1859, with one seaman and two passengers on board, to earn a reward for discovering a secure harbor north of Port Curtis. Keeping inshore, he headed north, anchoring each night and sighting Gloucester Island on October 14. Anchoring in a deep sheltered bay on the night of October 15, at daybreak he was astonished to find the schooner lying in a fine and capacious harbor, now known as Port Denison, formed partly by islands, partly by sandbanks, and sheltered from all winds. SMITH, ISAAC. Midshipman Isaac Smith, a cousin of the wife of James Cook, was encouraged to be the first to step ashore at Botany Bay on April 28, 1770. SMITH, JAMES (1827–1897). A landowner and farmer in the forest between the Forth and Leven Rivers, James Smith explored the wooded country in the northwest of Tasmania. In October 1871, after making arrangements for supplies to be stored at a depot in the Black Bluff Highlands, he crossed the Arthur River and reached Mount Cleveland before turning back to the river. Descending a deep gorge, he found traces of tin ore and, following a

196 •

SOAK

creek to its source, discovered rich deposits of tin oxide near the summit of Mount Bischoff. SOAK. A subterranean source of water needing digging out and sometimes extensive excavation. The Aborigines were renowned for their exact knowledge of where soaks were to be found. SOLIS, DIEGO ALONSO DE (fl. early 16th century). Based on a close analysis of the Dieppe Maps and other documentary sources, and supported by possible archaeological and anthropological evidence, the French scholar Roger Hervé contended that the Mahogany Ship was in fact the Spanish caravel San Lesmes, commanded by De Solis, which became separated from Garcia Jofre de Loaysia’s squadron of four ships when they were scattered in a violent storm five days after emerging from the Strait of Magellan in May 1526. De Solis’s attempts to beat back to the Strait were frustrated by gale-force southeasterlies and he was forced to run before the wind in a northwesterly direction. Eventually he sighted land running north to south, which could only be New Zealand. Remaining in New Zealand waters long enough to carry out a detailed survey, De Solis then sailed for the East Indies, sighted the island of Tasmania, and was then wrecked in Armstrong Bay off the present-day city of Warrnambool. The survivors, Hervé argued, found their way up the east coast as far as Rockhampton Bay where they were possibly rescued by Gomes de Sequeira. SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BURKE RELIEF EXPEDITION. See MCKINLAY, JOHN. SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT REWARD. A reward of £2,000 was offered by the government of South Australia in July 1859 to “the first person who shall succeed in crossing through the country lately discovered by Mr. Stuart, to either the north or northwestern shores of the Australian continent, west of the 143rd degree of east longitude.” The conditions were craftily drafted to ensure that competing expeditions would have to pass through South Australia and the Northern Territory. The country lately discovered by John McDouall Stuart was in the region of longitude 136º East and latitude 27º South. Effectively the reward required competitors to start from Stuart’s furthest point north in the neighborhood of Oodnadatta (135º 27' E, 27º 33' S). SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT’S NORTH-WEST PROSPECTING EXPEDITION. See WELLS, LAWRENCE.

STEYNS, JAN (FL. EARLY 18TH CENTURY)

• 197

SOUTH LAND. See TERRA AUSTRALIS. SPINIFEX (TRIODIA IRRITANS). Circular clumps of coarse grass, whose roots went 40 feet down in search of water, spinifex has been likened to a gigantic pincushion because of its 3-foot-high razor-sharp needles. Encountered everywhere across the Central Australian desert, it wounded horses’ feet, causing them to swell and bleed, shaved off the hair from the lower legs of camels, turning them a shiny ebony color, and tortured all those explorers who had no option but to tramp through it. STANLEY, OWEN (1811–1850). The purpose of Owen Stanley’s 1848 voyage in HMS Rattlesnake was to chart the Inner Reef Passage, between the northeastern shores of the Australian mainland and the Great Barrier Reef so that steamships from Sydney might make a shorter passage to Singapore rather than take the long voyage across the Great Australian Bight, round Cape Leeuwin, into the Indian Ocean. Having disembarked Edmund Kennedy’s overland expedition to Cape York in Rockingham Bay during the last week in May, Stanley weighed anchor and set a course northwestward. He planned to make a completely fresh survey of the whole length of the 600 miles of coastline to Torres Strait by means of an unbroken series of triangulations. The Asp was sent on ahead to lay down the coastline to the next station, Rattlesnake sounded the middle channel, while Bramble was responsible for soundings further out. Stanley arrived at Port Albany on October 6 and anchored in Evans Bay waiting for Kennedy to arrive overland. When relieved of this duty by the schooner Ariel, Stanley sailed for Port Essington on November 7 before returning to Sydney via Cape Leeuwin. He ordered Lieutenant Yule in Bramble to complete the survey of Endeavour Bay and to return to Sydney through the inner channel in order that an estimate could be made of the time needed to beat down to Sydney from Cape York should a settlement be established there. It remains a matter for conjecture why Stanley did not determine this himself. STATION. Apart from an Overland Telegraph station, this is an Australian word for a cattle or sheep ranch. STEYNS, JAN (fl. early 18th century). When sailing his ship Zeewijk (SeaWitch) from Cape Town to Batavia, for some unaccountable reason and against the advice of his steersman, Jan Steyns deviated from Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie standing orders and decided to visit Eendracht Land. On June 9, 1727, the Zeewijk foundered on the northern edge of the Half

198 •

STING RAY’S HARBOR

Moon Reef of the Houtman Abrolhos. The ship did not break up immediately and most of the passengers and crew were able to reach a nearby island after taking to the boats. The First Mate, Pieter Langeweg, and 10 seamen set off for Batavia in the Zeewijk’s longboat on July 10 but were never seen again. Undaunted, the 88 survivors built a vessel 45 feet long and 25 feet in the beam from the Zeewijk’s timber and from mangrove trees cut down on Pelsart Island. On March 26, 1728, the Sloepie (Little Ship) departed on its 1,700-mile voyage to Batavia, which was reached on April 20. Although Steyns had arrived with the 10 chests of treasure on board Zeewijk, he was indicted before the Court of Justice and found guilty of disobeying orders by running too near land, despite his steersman’s protests, and of contemplating falsifying records to cover up his crime. STING RAY’S HARBOR. Reflecting the large numbers of stingrays encountered in the shallows, one of which weighed in at 231 pounds, this was the first name given by James Cook to his original landing place on the east coast of New Holland on April 28, 1770. In swift succession this name was changed to Botanist Harbor, Botanist Bay, and finally, Botany Bay. STIRLING, JAMES (1791–1865). Sailing into Port Jackson in HMS Success on November 28, 1826, with orders to liaise with the Governor of New South Wales on the transfer of the Melville Island settlement to another site on Australia’s north coast, Stirling persuaded Governor Ralph Darling to allow him first to conduct a close examination of the Swan River discovered by Willem de Vlamingh 130 years earlier. In the period of March 5–13, 1827, Stirling’s 18-man exploring expedition in Success’s brig and cutter ascended the river, past the site of the modern city of Perth, to the point where it turns east. Parties were sent north, east, and west before returning downstream. Cockburn Sound, Gage Roads, and the coastline of Rottnest Island were surveyed before Stirling sailed 35 miles to the north, then turned about to begin his return voyage to Port Jackson where he dropped anchor on April 5, 1827. Largely through Stirling’s efforts in London, the Colonial Office eventually accepted a plan for establishing a new colony on the Swan River independent of New South Wales. Western Australia officially came into existence at a ceremony at Arthur’s Head, overlooking the Swan Estuary, on June 17, 1829. James Stirling was appointed Lieutenant-Governor. Over the next six months, parties explored the Canning River, which flows from the Darling range of hills to the Swan estuary, and the Collie and Preston Rivers emptying into Koombana Bay.

STREICH, JOHN VICTOR (FL. LATE 20TH CENTURY)

• 199

STOKES, JOHN LORT (1811–1895). Engaged in continuous survey work for the British Admiralty’s Hydrographic Service, Stokes spent 18 years as an officer on HMS Beagle, succeeding John Clements Wickham as captain in 1841. In a six-year period in Australian waters, he circumnavigated the continent twice, charting in detail Houtman Abrolhos, the Monte Bello Islands, Bass Strait, and Torres Strait. He is especially noted for his determination in tracing rivers to their sources, being the first naval surveyor to make extensive journeys up river in whaleboats, which served as floating bases for scouting parties exploring inland. He discovered and named the Fitzroy, Albert, and Flinders Rivers and Port Darwin and ascended the Victoria River to a distance of 140 miles from the sea. At one point, Stokes was the preferred candidate of the Secretary of State for the Colonies to lead the 1855–1856 British government expedition to explore the interior of Northern Australia but, in the event, the post was offered to Augustus Charles Gregory. STREICH, JOHN VICTOR (fl. late 20th century). Grandson of Victor Streich, geologist to David Lindsay’s 1891–1892 Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition, John Streich planned to reenact the expedition in its entirety. A failure to gain permission to travel across Aboriginal land reduced the scope of the project to the Western Australian section. The purpose of the reenactment was to follow the Expedition’s route to locate its campsites, blazed trees, and other physical features found by Lindsay. Streich set out from Kalgoorlie on September 15, 1990, with six others (including four members of the Streich family) and two diesel-operated vehicles, heading for Queen Victoria Springs, where a memorial pipe marker was erected alongside the remains of a tree Lindsay had blazed: In September 1891 the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition camped near here and blazed A tree on this site as follows: EEE DL60 23-IX-91 Victor Streich was the geologist on that expedition. Erected by his grandsons John and Peter Streich September 16th 1990

Lindsay’s Camps 50 and 54 could not be found but Camp 47, known as Limejuice Camp, was eventually located. Streich then headed west to the Connie Sue Highway, stopping at Point Lillian where the party visited an Aboriginal painting dated by University of Western Australia geologists as being 23,000

200 •

STRZELECKI, PAUL EDMUND DE (1797–1873)

years old. Their route now took them to Sykes Bluff and Cameron Hill before returning to the Highway, to the Hann Breakaways at the Marlarungkalku waterhole, and to Warburton to refuel. Camp 33 was located, as was Camp 27 where a tree once stood that had been blazed by William Gosse (1873), John Forrest, (1874), Lindsay (1891), and Frank Hann (1906). STRZELECKI, PAUL EDMUND DE (1797–1873). Arriving in Sydney in April 1839, Strzelecki soon earned respect as an explorer, geologist, and mineralogist. On January 1, 1840, he departed from Ellerslie, near Adelong, in search of good grazing land his companion, James Macarthur, had surmised to lie behind Wilson’s Promontory and Corner Inlet when sailing along the coast. Financed by Macarthur, the expedition comprised four others including an Aboriginal guide. Pushing south for a week through wooded hill country, they crossed the Hume River into the Australian Alps and detoured to the east so that Strzelecki and Macarthur could climb to the summit of the highest peak. This Strzelecki named Mount Kosciusko because of a supposed resemblance to the tomb of Tadeusz Kosciusko, the Polish patriot and democratic leader, in the city of Krakow. Resuming their march, they arrived at Ensay where Angus McMillan had established an outstation in a large and fertile area, which extended from the Great Dividing Range to the shores of the Bass Strait much as Macarthur had conjectured. McMillan’s nephew pointed a way through the Range but the expedition lost its way. Across the Avon River, the open plains gave way to thick bush and the expedition’s advance slowed to no more than two miles a day. With their supplies running low, it became obvious that they could not reach Corner Inlet. They altered course to the west on a nightmare journey to the settlement of Westernport, 70 miles away. Turning their starved and exhausted horses loose, they eked out their provisions by shooting koala bears before arriving at Westernport on May 12. Receiving succour and shelter from escaped convicts, Strzelecki and his companions eventually reached Melbourne. He published a report and maps of the good farming land he had discovered, which he named Gippsland in honor of the Governor, Sir George Gipps. This provoked an angry retort from McMillan, who had already explored these lands and had named the region Caledonia Australis. Understandably, Strzelecki’s name of Gippsland prevailed; it stretches the imagination too far to conceive either contemporary or modern Australians tolerating Caledonia Australis.

STUART, JOHN MCDOUALL (1815–1866)

• 201

STUART, JOHN MCDOUALL (1815–1866). Employed by the South Australian Survey Department as a draftsman, Stuart accompanied Charles Sturt on his 1844 journey to the Simpson Desert. It was 14 years later before he set off from Adelaide, on May 14, 1858, with two men, one an Aboriginal tracker, to explore to the northwest of Lake Torrens and to look for good grazing land. He got as far as Coober Pedy, discovering and naming Chambers Creek, before turning south to Lake Gairdner. He intended to make his way to Fowler’s Bay, on the Great Australian Bight, but the endless sandy, spinifex-covered desert took its toll and he was relieved to struggle to an outstation at Streaky Bay on August 22. Traveling light, fast, and at minimal cost, in 4 months Stuart had explored over 1,000 miles and had discovered 40,000 square miles of possible sheep country. Back in Adelaide, he was given an enthusiastic welcome. Financed by William Finke and James Chambers, Stuart was out again in April 1859 with the purpose of locating good grazing country and looking for signs of gold. With him were Hergott the artist, Mueller the botanist, and Campbell, a stockman. Striking north from Beltana, to the west of the Flinders Ranges, on April 2, they reached St. Francis Pond five days later. But its waters had evaporated at the end of a long dry summer. At this point Stuart became very ill and it was left to Hergott and Mueller to scout for water, with some success, discovering Hergott’s Springs (present-day Marree), which provided excellent drinking water rising through limestone beds. Continuing westward, they reached the Douglas River, previously the furthest point of exploration northward, pushing on for a further 100 miles and discovering Peake Creek and the Neales River, in the vicinity of the modern township of Oodnadatta. Moving down the Neales, Stuart found abundant and well-watered grasslands but turned back to Adelaide, regretting that his party was not large enough to conduct a full-scale examination of this promising country. But, significantly, he had finally broken through the lake district barrier, which had hemmed in South Australia for 20 years, and had opened up a permanent route north. What is more, he had, in no small way, encouraged the South Australian government to proceed with the Overland Telegraph. Once more supported by Finke and Chambers, Stuart started out again from Chambers Creek, the furthest north sheep station, on November 4, 1859, with four men, to look for new sheep runs near Mount Margaret, to the west of Lake Eyre. Traces of gold were found in the Davenport Range, but three weeks of unsuccessful prospecting persuaded one man to desert and encouraged two others to adopt a truculent and uncooperative attitude. Stuart was forced to return to Chambers Creek.

202 •

STUART, JOHN MCDOUALL (1815–1866)

Undaunted, he set off again on March 2, 1860, with 2 men and 13 horses, but floodwater spoiled their provisions and, by the time they discovered the Finke River, Stuart was suffering severely from scurvy and ophthalmia. Never a man to make the most of his afflictions, he continued to advance, following the Finke northward. Soon he sighted a red-and-yellow sandstone monolith, 500 feet high, 20 feet wide, and 10 feet deep, which he named Chambers Pillar. Discovering and crossing the Hugh River, and passing through the James and Waterhouse Ranges, in the Northern Territory, he could see ahead of him a large and high range of mountains, stretching east to west, “the only real range that I have met since leaving the Flinders Ranges. I have named it the MacDonnell Range, after His Excellency the Governor of South Australia.” From the summit of Brinkley Bluff he could see “as fine a pastoral hill-country as a man would wish to possess,” exploding the myth of a Great Australian Desert barring the way to the north. On April 22 he arrived at a spot he calculated to be the Geographical Center of the Australian continent, naming a hill two miles away Central Mount Sturt, later changed to Central Mount Stuart. In recognition of this landmark in Australian exploration the Royal Geographical Society awarded Stuart its 1861 Gold Medal. For the next three weeks, the expedition battled through mulga and spinifex as far as Mount Turnbull, 120 miles to the northwest, and only 240 miles from the headwaters of the Victoria River, but there was no water for his horses and Stuart was forced to retreat to his base camp at the Central Mount. After a period of rest at the nearby Hanson Creek, he followed it northward for 60 miles until it drained away into the sand. On May 26, he climbed the highest peak in a range of mountains to the east, which he named after Paul Edmund de Strzelecki, and could see the waterless spinifex plains stretching to the west and northwest horizons. Seeking a westward-flowing river that would lead him to the Victoria and open up an access route from South Australia to its rich pasturelands, he encountered an east-flowing creek, with good feed for his horses. Naming it Tennant Creek, he kept his course to the north and soon overlapped the southern limits of Augustus Charles Gregory’s 1855–1856 North Australian Exploring Expedition. A reconnaissance to the west from Mount Woodcock, 20 miles from Tennant Creek, failed to find a way through the scrub and, after a week’s rest, Stuart abandoned his plan to reach the Victoria and determined to head east for the Gulf of Carpentaria 300 miles away, assuming that he would traverse the headwaters of the Gulf rivers.

STURT, CHARLES (1795–1869)

• 203

At first he made good progress, water was found at Kekwick Ponds, named after one of his two companions, but he soon ran into the familiar scrub and spinifex. Sixteen weeks out from Chambers Creek, weakened by insufficient food and outnumbered by at least 10 to 1 in a well-organized Aborigine attack on June 27, at Attack Creek, Stuart decided it was time to make his way back to Adelaide. His expedition had ridden over 1,000 miles, 700 miles into the Northern Territory, and 800 miles through unexplored country. He had not reached Australia’s northern coasts but he was confident that with a larger party he could attain either the Victoria River region or the Gulf. Backed by a South Australian government grant of £2,500, the ever-resilient Stuart rode out northward from Chambers Creek on New Year’s Day 1861 with 11 men, 49 horses, and supplies for 30 weeks, on his third attempt to cross the continent. His second-in-command was again William Kekwick. Six months later, he was desperately trying to negotiate the waterless plains north of Attack Creek. On May 23, they discovered a chain of ponds and deep lagoons of permanent water to which Stuart gave the name of Newcastle Waters, providing a perfect base for further attempts at exploration both to east and west. These proved fruitless and Stuart was again forced to retreat. He arrived back in Adelaide on September 23. Incredibly, Stuart was back at Newcastle Waters with Kekwick and eight others by April 14, 1862. His objective now was neither the Victoria nor the Gulf but the Adelaide River. Within six weeks, he had advanced to Daly Waters where he camped for two weeks. From here, his progress was rapid; he discovered the Strangways River, following it down to the Roper River, upstream to a crossing over to the Chambers River, then across a divide to the Waterhouse, a tributary of the Roper, to the Katherine and Mary Rivers, and then, on July 24, 1862, to Van Diemen’s Gulf on the Indian Ocean. During the period from April 1859 through July 1862, Stuart had tenaciously traveled thousands of miles across deserts, scrublands, and mountain ranges. His health now collapsed and he faced a 2,000-mile nightmare journey back to Adelaide, at times completely paralyzed, almost blind, and possibly suffering from a stomach cancer. If he had failed again, it is inconceivable that he could have found the strength to mount another expedition. But he had blazed a trail for the Overland Telegraph to follow and had played a prominent part in proving that Central Australia was not an impassable barrier. STURT, CHARLES (1795–1869). Captain Sturt arrived in Sydney in May 1827 with a detachment of his regiment, acting as guard to a shipload of

204 •

STURT, CHARLES (1795–1869)

transported convicts. Shortly afterward, he became military secretary to the Governor of the settlement, Sir Ralph Darling, who appointed him to lead an expedition to investigate the drainage of the inland-flowing river system of New South Wales. Specifically, he was to determine the nature and extent of the marshes that had blocked the path of John Oxley on his 1817 and 1818 expeditions. His second-in-command was Hamilton Hume. The expedition, comprising Sturt, Hume, 2 soldiers, 8 convicts, 15 horses, 10 bullocks, and a lightly constructed, carriage-borne, sprit-sailed boat, left Sydney on November 10, 1828. Sturt first followed Oxley’s tracks across the Blue Mountains to Bathurst, before pressing on along the eastern banks of the Macquarie River and arriving at Mount Harris, the expedition’s base camp, on December 20. After fruitless diversions to find a way round vast expanses of mud flats and 12-foot-high reeds, Sturt led the expedition down New Year Creek, now known to be part of the 365-mile-long Bogan River, which normally flows from the Macquarie but dries up in periods of drought. After only a day’s march, they arrived on February 2, 1829, on the banks of a great saltwater river, some 70–80 yards wide, flowing southwestward, which Sturt named the Darling River. Sorely tried by leeches clinging to their legs and by flesh-biting kangaroo flies, they followed the river for 60 miles until the salinity of the water increased. In a normal season Sturt could probably have run down river until it joined the Murray, but there had been no rain for two years and the river water came more and more from brine springs, and he was forced to turn back. Returning eastward across the stifling Macquarie Plains, the expedition was back at Mount Harris by February 22, resting before striking camp again to explore the dried-up bed of the Castlereagh River down to the Darling, 90 miles above the point where they first reached it. Without losing a single man or beast, the expedition returned to Sydney on April 19, 1829. On his first exploration, Sturt had put the Darling on the map, established the course of its main tributaries, and confirmed that the Marshes obscured the last feeble waters of the Macquarie River as it too drained into the Darling. But whether the Darling, almost certainly the principal channel of the western watershed, emptied into the sea or ended its course in inland swamps remained a mystery. Many, including Sturt, favored an inland sea. By September 1829, Sturt had persuaded the Governor to allow him to lead a second expedition but not, as he originally requested, to explore the Darling to its outlet. The Governor was still concerned about the overall pattern of the river system and his attention had been drawn to the Murrumbidgee, southwest of Sydney, which appeared to flow into the sea. Sturt’s first objective was therefore to trace the Murrumbidgee to its end,

STURT, CHARLES (1795–1869)

• 205

and if it joined the Darling, as Sturt firmly believed, to follow that river as far as circumstances permitted. Following the Murrumbidgee on foot almost to the Lachlan River, Sturt encountered swamps whereupon the 27-foot whaleboat was assembled. Together with John Harris, his servant, George Maclean, the second-in-command, two soldiers, and three convicts, Sturt then embarked on one of the epic journeys of Australian exploration, down river to the Murrumbidgee’s confluence with another mighty river, which he named the Murray, after Sir George Murray, Secretary of State for the Colonies in London. Successfully avoiding conflict with sometimes hostile Aborigines, constantly threatened by sunken rocks and dangerous rapids, rowing 1,000 miles in 33 days, during which they discovered the Rufus and Lindesay Rivers and another river joining from the North correctly identified as the Darling, they eventually, on February 6, 1830, reached a lake Sturt named Lake Alexandrina after the 10-year-old Princess Alexandrina Victoria, who ascended the throne as Queen Victoria in 1837. From the lake, situated south of the present-day city of Adelaide, they could hear the surf breaking on the shores of Encounter Bay but sand banks and quicksands prevented them taking the boat any further. Like other Australian rivers, the Murray, although navigable for 1,800 miles, had no direct outlet to the sea. At daybreak on February 12, Sturt, accompanied by Maclean and another member of the expedition, reached the sea, 7 miles from the lake, and looked out over the channel, 440 yards wide but fronted by a double line of breakers and a hazardous current. Provisions were running low and it was imperative they begin the journey back. Calculating that if they pulled up river the same distance every day that they had covered when running down river with the current their daily rations of 3⁄4 lb of flour and 1⁄4 lb of tea would just about last until they reached their depot on the Murrumbidgee, the much-weakened expedition struggled against the current, often forced to haul their boat over the shallows. At one point, only the assistance of friendly Aborigines enabled them to overcome a particularly difficult stretch of rapids. But when they reached the depot on March 23, no supplies were there and they faced another 17 days rowing on the turbulent river. Only the occasional swan sustained them. After abandoning the boat, 2 of the expedition trekked 90 miles in 3 days to return with supplies, underlining the epic nature of Sturt’s Murrumbidgee-Murray expedition. He arrived back in Sydney on May 25 after nine months’ absence. After this taxing journey, Sturt lost his eyesight for several months and it was years before he completely recovered his health but, in 1843, he put forward a scheme to explore the whole continent in just two and a half years. Officialdom, rightly doubting its feasibility, would have none of it. However,

206 •

STURT STONY DESERT

Sturt was selected to lead an expedition “for the purpose of ascertaining whether in the interior there is a chain of hills trending from NE to SW . . . so as to form a great natural division of the continent, and of examining what rivers take their rise in this supposed chain of hills, and what appears to be the course of these rivers” (Governor George Grey’s Letter of Instructions to Sturt). At the age of 49, he set out to solve the puzzle of the Australian interior. Leaving Adelaide on August 10, 1844, Sturt marched to the Murray and followed that river to its confluence with the Darling, and on to Menindie, where a stockade was erected. In October he proceeded northwestward into the unknown at the head of a party of 15, including John McDouall Stuart as a draughtsman, across unrelenting terrain, in one of the hottest summers on record. Turning north, the expedition advanced to Flood’s Creek (December 10) and to Depot Glen on Preservation Creek where a seemingly inexhaustible supply of water was found. Here the expedition camped in underground shelters, roofed with logs and turf. In July, the long-awaited rain flooded the Creek and the expedition moved out and established another depot at Fort Grey. In August 1845, Sturt and four others made a dash for the center of the continent but, after 400 miles across sand ridges and the stony desert that now bears his name, the party was forced to turn back only 150 miles from their goal, on the fringes of the Simpson Desert, where Sturt half expected to find an inland sea. A further attempt by a route further east was no more successful and Sturt, again almost blind and suffering from scurvy, stumbled back to Adelaide in January 1846. It was Charles Sturt’s last throw. He had not found a chain of hills; he was forced to recognize that the inland sea was nothing more than desert but, almost at the last gasp, from October 9 through November 17, he traced Strzelecki Creek upstream and was the first to see Cooper’s Creek in full bloom, at the heart of the Central Australian lake system. In 1847, the Royal Geographical Society presented Sturt with its Founder’s Medal. STURT STONY DESERT. An immense inhospitable dark purple plain of gibbers in South Australia’s far northeast bounded on the north by Goyder’s Lagoon, on the northwest by the Simpson Desert, with the Tirari Desert to the west and southwest, and the Srzelecki Desert and Cooper’s Creek to the east and southeast. Charles Sturt first encountered the desert on August 24, 1845. SWAG. Usually a canvas bag packed with blankets, a pillow, and, perhaps, spare clothes.

TASMAN, ABEL JANSZOON (1603–1659)

• 207

–T – TASMAN, ABEL JANSZOON (1603–1659). Dispatched by Anthoniij van Diemen to carry out a systematic exploration to establish whether New Holland was the northern limit of the unknown southern continent and to investigate the possibility of a quicker and less dangerous passage to Chile, the next target for Dutch colonial and commercial imperialism, Abel Tasman commanded the Heemskerk and the Zeehaen, which departed from Batavia in August 1642 for the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC)’s Indian Ocean staging post on the island of Mauritius. On board Heemskerk as chief pilot and navigator was François Jacobsz Visscher. After a refit the two ships set sail on their momentous voyage on October 8 on a southerly course, hoping to strike the southern continent below 54º South latitude. But in 44º the prevailing westerlies drove them eastward, well below New Holland’s southern coastline. Land was sighted on November 24, probably in the region of Cape Sorrell and Macquarie Sound, which Tasman named Anthoniij Van Diemenslandt (Van Diemen’s Land). Ten days were spent following the west and south coasts, rounding the South East Cape, and up the east coast past the Tasman Peninsula, Maria Island, Schouten Island, and Cape Freycinet, to Eddystone Point where the coast turned northwest. As the ships would now be facing a headwind Tasman resumed his course eastward. Two weeks later, he arrived off the northern tip of South Island, New Zealand, which he assumed to be the western edge of the southern continent. He moved north to the Friendly and Fiji island groups. Then, disregarding Visscher’s advice to proceed due west, he missed an opportunity to rediscover the Torres Strait and returned to Batavia in June 1643 via the familiar New Guinea north coast route. His reception was cool and he was censured for not investigating more closely the condition and nature of the lands and peoples he had discovered. But, in geographical terms, Tasman had circled New Holland in a wide arc, proving that it was not part of a massive southern continent, and he had confirmed that VOC merchantmen could sail unhindered from the Cape of Good Hope eastward to Chile. Even so, the position of New Holland in relation to New Guinea was still in doubt and Tasman embarked on a second voyage of discovery, from February through August 1644, in Limmen, with Zeemeux and Braque in company, to determine whether these territories constituted a single landmass with Van Diemen’s Land. He made a close examination of New Guinea’s southern shoreline but again missed the Torres Strait and saw nothing to disprove that the Cape York Peninsula was an extension of New Guinea. However, he

208 •

TASMANIA

found that no channel ran from the Gulf of Carpentaria through New Holland to Van Diemen’s Land. He completed his voyage, sailing along New Holland’s northern coast to Arnhem Land, charting hundreds of miles of coastline, and followed the west coast as far as Shark Bay. Tasman’s place in the discovery of Australia is secure, yet the impression remains that had he possessed half the vision and drive of his chief pilot, François Visscher, the question of New Holland’s east coast, and whether it was separated from New Guinea, would have been settled a full hundred years before James Cook. As it was, Tasman’s two voyages marked the end of Dutch participation in Australian discovery. TASMANIA. The island colony of Van Diemen’s Land, a department of New South Wales until 1825, officially changed its name to Tasmania in 1855, although there had been many advocates for this over a long period, certainly as early as 1820 when Charles Jeffreys used the name in his pioneering work, A Geographical, Historical, and Topographical Description of Van Diemen’s Land. In 1901, Tasmania joined the other Australian colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia. The name Tasmania had also been applied to the north coast region of Australia, between longitude 124º and 132º East, and stretching south to the 24th parallel, by Captain James Vetch in his Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia (1838). TENCH, WATKIN (1759–1833). Although Captain Watkin Tench, Royal Marines, spent less than four years at Port Jackson, arriving in the convict transport ship Charlotte with the First Fleet in January 1788, he cut a dashing figure in the early exploration of the hinterland. On June 26, 1789, when in command of the outpost at Rose Hill, he led a three-day excursion party first to Prospect Hill and then to the north and west to discover the Nepean River, which he described as broad as the River Thames at Putney in London. Early in August 1790, with William Dawes, George Worgan, and other officers, he spent seven days exploring to the southwest of Port Jackson, striking the Nepean closer to its source and penetrating inland for some considerable distance. At the end of the month, he made another excursion to the northwest, tracing the Nepean to his 1789 point of discovery. With the aim of defining the relationship of the Nepean and the Hawkesbury River, Tench and Dawes set off again on May 24, 1791, and established that the Nepean is in fact a major tributary of the Hawkesbury. Watkin Tench’s two books, A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay (1789) and A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson in New

TERRA AUSTRALIS (SOUTH LAND)

• 209

South Wales (1793), undoubtedly the most lively accounts of the settlement’s early days, helped to keep interest alive in Great Britain’s fledgling colony on the other side of the world. TERRA AUSTRALIS (SOUTH LAND). The concept of a great southern continent surrounding the South Pole derived from the ancient Greek view that the landmass of Europe and Asia and North Africa (their known world) must be balanced by a large continent in the southern hemisphere in order to provide the required equilibrium and so prevent the Earth hurtling into space. This theory was consolidated by Ptolemy in his treatise Geographica, a manuscript copy of which came to light in early-15th-century Italy. Subsequent maps, based on the Geographica, depicted the southern tip of Africa stretching as far as latitude 20º South where it joined a west-to-east coastline extending to the Asian continent, thus enclosing the Indian Ocean. Across the bottom of the map, behind this long coastline, was a vast continent known to contemporary cartographers as Terra Incognita (the unknown land). The Portuguese maritime expansion at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, during which they pioneered a route round the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean in 1488, dispelled the Ptolemaic theory of a landlocked ocean, but the concept of a southern continent was to remain for almost 300 years. Speculation that it extended to the South Atlantic region was seemingly given substance by Amerigo Vespucci’s claim to have reached 52º South latitude and to have sighted an unknown land on his 1501–1502 voyage down the coast of South America. When Ferdinand Magellan penetrated even further south to pass through the strait that now bears his name and reported seeing campfires on a land to the south, which he appropriately named Tierra del Fuego, a vast southern continent became even more imprinted on the minds and maps of European cartographers. Following Magellan’s voyage across the Pacific, the southern continent’s configuration was amended to an irregular and roughly circular landmass, surrounded by a continuous southern ocean, which appears on the 1531 map drawn by Oronce Finé, Nova Et Integra Universi Orbis Descriptio (A New and Complete Description of the World) on which the continent is designated “Terra Australis Recenter inventa sed nondum plene cognita” (The South Land recently discovered but not yet well known). Gerard Mercator’s famous 1569 world map outlined Terra Australis’s coastline running continuously and diagonally from Tierra del Fuego to New Guinea. On the promontory closest to New Guinea is the legend “Haec continentem Australem nonnulli Magellanicum regionem ab eius inventore non cupant” (this southern continent some call Magellanica after its discoverer).

210 •

TERRA AUSTRALIS (SOUTH LAND)

The name Magellanica continued to appear on maps in tandem with Terra Australis until the 17th century when Terra Australis Incognita (The Unknown Southern Land) was favored by the leading Dutch cartographers. Mercator’s continental coastline descended into a wide gulf (Gulf of Carpentaria?) containing two islands (Groote Eylandt?) whose western shore was formed by another promontory reaching almost to Java. This was the furthest extent of the imaginary continent in the Pacific region; the coastline now dropped away to the southwest until it completed the circle back to Tierra del Fuego. Abraham Ortelius’s 1571 atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theater of the Lands of the World) included a map showing a southern continent similar to Mercator’s. By the beginning of the 17th century, not only was Terra Australis believed to be a geographical certainty just waiting to be discovered but also, because of its location in the tropics, a vast, untapped source of gold, precious stones, grain, and spices. It was even linked to the distant biblical land of Ophir, which had sent its riches to King Solomon. Not for nothing were the islands discovered by Alvaro de Mendaña and Pedro Fernandez de Quirós named after the Old Testament king. Brief details of Terra Australis occur in Cornelis Wytfliet’s Descriptionis Ptolemaicae Augmentum (Supplement to Ptolemy’s Descriptions) published in an English-language edition in Louvain in 1598: “The terra Australis is therefore the southernmost of all other lands, directly beneath the Antarctic circle; extending beyond the tropic of Capricorn to the West, it ends almost at the equator itself, and separated by a narrow strait lies on the East opposite to New Guinea, only known so far by a few shores because after one voyage and another that route has been given up and unless sailors are forced and driven by stress of winds it is seldom visited. The terra Australis begins at two or three degrees below the equator and it is said by some to be of such magnitude that if at any time it is fully discovered they think it will be the fifth part of the world.” Vague though this description might be, the passage possesses an intrinsic interest insofar as it mentions a narrow strait separating New Guinea from Terra Australis, eight years before Luis Vaez de Torres sailed through it, giving rise to further speculation regarding a prior discovery by the Portuguese. Terra Australis continued to bewitch and bewilder cartographers until the latter half of the 18th century when men like Charles de Brosses and Alexander Dalrymple still urged its merits as a source of immense wealth, as a colony, and as a strategic base dominating the Indian and Pacific Ocean sea routes. For a time Abel Tasman’s discovery of New Zealand seemed to confirm Mercator’s northwest-tending Pacific shoreline but, eventually, the voy-

TERRY, MICHAEL (1899–1967)

• 211

ages of Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville and James Cook crisscrossed the ocean, finding deep waters where Terra Australis was to be found. Eventually this rich and mythical continent shrank into the reality that was Australia, but the one bore virtually no relation to the other. TERRA AUSTRALIS INCOGNITA. See TERRA AUSTRALIS. TERRA AUSTRALIS NONDUM COGNITA. See TERRA AUSTRALIS. TERRA INCOGNITA. See TERRA AUSTRALIS. TERRE NAPOLÉON. Name given by Nicolas Baudin to present-day Victoria and South Australia when he sailed east to west along their coasts in April 1802. TERRY, MICHAEL (1899–1967). In the years 1923 through 1936 Terry led a number of expeditions in the Far North and across Central Australia, principally in search of commercial mineral deposits. His first journey, a lighthearted exploration with no financial backing, “traveling to an outpost of civilization, with the avowed intention of striking out into the interior, for no definite reason” (Across Unknown Australia, 1925), through little-known country, took him 2,245 miles from Winton, in Queensland, on a direct eastto-west route, via Cloncurry, Camooweal, Anthony’s Lagoon, Jump-Up (on the edge of the Barkly Tableland), Soakage Creek, Wave Hill, Hall’s Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, to Derby and Broome, on the northwest coast of Western Australia. Terry and a companion, Richard Yockney, set out from Winton on February 6, 1923, and reached their destination on October 4. In July 1925, Terry entrained at Darwin, traveling 198 miles south to the railhead at Emulgalen to join five others on an expedition cutting across Australia’s northwestern corner to arrive once more at Broome. This time he was traveling with two 1-ton Guy-Roadless trucks, two 10 cwt trailers, and a motorcycle and sidecar. Their equipment included a radio receiving set, mineral prospecting tools, and survey and hypsometrical instruments loaned to them by the Royal Geographical Society. The expedition had three main aims: prospecting, exploring little-known topographical features, and recording the location of Aboriginal tribes from information volunteered by the Aborigines themselves. From the Manbuloo cattle station, nine miles down the Katherine River, they joined the Dry River stock route to Montejinnie’s Station, on to Wave Hill, before turning southwest to Inverary, Gordon Downs, and Billiluna,

212 •

TERRY, MICHAEL (1899–1967)

and to Gregory’s Salt Sea, the furthermost point south of Sturt’s Creek reached by Augustus Charles Gregory in 1856. A diversion south to Mount Cornish, in the Southesk Range, followed before they rejoined Terry’s route of two years previously to Broome. They arrived there on November 22, having traveled 2,000 miles through the heart of northern Australia in 4 months. Terry’s first major incursion into Central Australia began on May 9, 1928, when he started out from Port Hedland with 2 Morris 6-wheeled motors on a 5,500-mile prospecting expedition to Melbourne, which included venturing across 2,000 miles of remote virgin spinifex country. His indirect route took him first up the Eighty Mile Beach to Wallal Downs and Broome before turning inland to Halls Creek and then southeast to Tanami. The next stage across the desert to the Lander River proved to be of most geographical interest in that there was practically no settlement after leaving the Western Australian border, and that the expedition arrived at the very large dry marsh discovered by Alan Davidson on his 1900 exploration west from Barrow Creek. The expedition continued southeast to Alice Springs and on to Adelaide and Melbourne. Another prospecting expedition into Central Australia began in July 1930 when Terry set out with a party of four, including Edmund Colson, from Erldunda Station in the Northern Territory, equipped with a Morris truck. They proceeded due west to the eastern end of the Petermann Range via the 3 great tors of Central Australia, Mount Conner, Ayers Rock, and Mount Olga, a distance of 343 miles, which they covered in 3 weeks. Their principal topographical discovery was that the creeks flowing northward from the Petermanns do not empty into Lake Amadeus, as was commonly supposed, but disappear into the desert short of the lake. Rich iron deposits were found. Prospecting was also carried out in the Musgrave Range and in the Tomkinson Range from Mount Davies west to Mount Aloysius. The expedition sighted Blackstone River and eventually turned back at Mount Cooper in the Cavenagh Range. The rock specimens they collected were subsequently identified by Professor Cecil Madigan of Adelaide University. Continuing his search for minerals for Adelaide business syndicates, Terry explored near the Western Australian border in 1933, reaching the northeast corner of Lake Mackay, reported by Donald Mackay’s Aerial Survey Expedition. He sighted an unexplored high range of mountains beyond the lake and named them the Alec Ross Range. Although Terry’s primary objective in these 1930s expeditions was the discovery of mineral deposits, his motorized journeys amplified geographical knowledge of the vast area bounded by the 14º South and 27º South parallels and the 128º East and 133º East meridians. His astronometrical and

THOMSON, DONALD (1901–1964)

• 213

hypsometrical observations checked and coordinated the surveying work of earlier explorations. In his own words, “during my expeditions we found, mapped and named places which now are on the official maps” (Walkabout, August 1965). See also EGYPTIANS. THEODOLITE. An accurate land-surveying instrument that uses a small telescope, mounted on a tripod, equipped with adjustable devices, allowing it to measure horizontal and vertical angles so as to determine the altitude of the sun, or a number of stars, and thus to establish latitude. This angle-measuring capacity also enables surveyors to measure angles between two lines on the ground, to the horizon and to prominent land features, the basis of the triangulation method of surveying. Its drawback for 19th-century explorers was its heavy and cumbersome weight. THIJSSEN, FRANS (fl. early 17th century). Captain of ’t Gulden Zeepaard (Golden Seahorse), Thijssen had Pieter Nuyts, a member of the powerful Raad van Indie, on board when making the first voyage along Australia’s southern coast in the early months of 1627. Mapping the coastline from Point D’Entrecasteaux, Cliffy Head, and Point Nuyts, Thijssen sailed for 900 miles through the Recherche Archipelago and along the coast of the Great Australian Bight as far as the Nuyts Archipelago. The reasons for this extensive cruise remain obscure but it is difficult not to conclude that Pieter Nuyts at least acquiesced to it if he did not actually instigate it. THOMSON, DONALD (1901–1964). In 1935, the federal government asked Donald Thomson, a university anthropologist, to investigate the causes of Aboriginal attacks on Japanese trepang fishermen and on police patrols in Arnhem Land. Leaving Darwin on May 29, he traveled with two Aborigines to Roper Bar police station, by way of Mataranka, and proceeded down river to the Limmen Bight. They then explored northward across the Hart River to Bennet Bay but, poorly equipped, with insufficient rations, they barely reached Cape Barrow. Guided by local Aborigines they were just able to reach their ship, St. Nicholas, at anchor in Bennet Bay. With only two days’ rest, Thomson next sailed to Morgan Island and across Blue Mud Bay to the mouth of the Koolatong River. In July, he traveled overland from Cape Shield to Trial Bay and discovered Lake Peterjohn. Sailing north to Cape Bradshaw, he marched across the northeast tip of Arnhem Land toward Arnhem Bay, despite severe bouts of fever and dysentery. After another short period of rest on St. Nicholas, he sailed to Milingimbi Island and radioed an interim report to the government.

214 •

THROSBY, CHARLES (1777–1828)

In October, Thomson set off on his longest continuous trek from Milingimbi, across eastern Arnhem Land, to Blue Mud Bay, and along the Walker River to the Parsons Range. During December, he made a study of tribal customs in the Roper and Wilton River regions. He had lived for several months in close contact with the dwindling Aboriginal population, earning their trust, and was able to make a detailed report, recommending that they be isolated in their tribal areas with only minimum contact with suitably trained police patrols and medical teams to eliminate the diseases that were threatening them with extinction. More than 20 years later, in 1957, with a small party equipped with fourwheel-drive vehicles, Thomson reconnoitered north and west of Lake Mackay in the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts. THROSBY, CHARLES (1777–1828). A former Royal Navy surgeon turned settler and stockholder, Throsby explored the country west of Sutton Forest, New South Wales, with Hamilton Hume in 1817 and, a year later, accompanied James Meehan on his journey from the Cowpastures to Jervis Bay. In 1819, he traveled from the Cowpastures to Bathurst, opening up fertile country, and discovered a pass between the Illawarra and Robertson districts. The following year he explored the country in the Goulburn and Lake Bathurst region and, in 1821, he again ventured into untrodden territory, crossing the Molongo and Queanbeyan Rivers, and was the first to penetrate to the country where Canberra now stands. He named it Limestone Plains. TIERRA DEL FUEGO (LAND OF FIRE). So named by Ferdinand Magellan because of the campfires on the southern shore marking his 1520 passage through the strait that was subsequently named after him. In geographical terms, Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago situated off the tip of South America, but Magellan believed it to be an island. During the course of the 16th century, it became identified with the unknown southern continent, Terra Incognita, or Terra Australis. Oronce Finé, Gerard Mercator, and others depicted it as part of a continuous shoreline running northwest across the Pacific Ocean as far as New Guinea. The voyages of Francis Drake and Jakob Le Maire eventually corrected the hypothesis that Tierra del Fuego was part of the northern fringe of a continental landmass. See also MAGELLANICA. TIETKENS, WILLIAM HENRY (1844–1933). Second-in-command on all three of Ernest Giles’s attempts to cross the Gibson and Great Victorian Deserts to reach the Western Australian settlements, W. H. Tietkens was

TORRES, LUIS VAEZ DE (?–1613?)

• 215

himself the leader of the Central Australian Exploring Expedition, dispatched by the Central Australian Exploring and Prospecting Association, a commercial speculative company formed by prominent members of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch. Tietkens started out from Alice Springs on March 14, 1889, to examine the hitherto unexplored country to the north and west of Lake Amadeus. He hoped to find a large drainage system watering an expanse of good country. “The plan combined the two strongest drives in Australian exploration: compelling scientific curiosity and insatiable lust for pastoral land” (Ray Ericksen. Ernest Giles: Explorer and Traveller 1835–1897, 1978, p. 264). Tietkens also cherished the notion that such country would open up a route to the settlements on Australia’s northwest coast. By the time the expedition returned to the Charlotte Waters station on the Overland Telegraph line, Tietkens had discovered Lake MacDonald and the Kintore Range, climbed Mount Leisler, explored the Cleland Hills, and had more accurately defined the western limits of Lake Amadeus. Important though these discoveries were in geographical terms, their practical results were minimal: there was no extensive drainage system, only unbroken spinifex plains stretching to the horizon, and no gold or copper. TODD, CHARLES HEAVITREE (1826–1910). In 1856 Charles Todd, Superintendent of South Australia’s electric telegraph, was instrumental in forging telegraph links with Victoria and New South Wales. When proposals for the landing of a submarine cable in Australia to link up with an internal telegraph system hardened in 1869, Todd submitted a report to the South Australian government in which he commented on the routes that had been touted by the Australian colonies and recommended that South Australia should undertake the construction of an 1,800-mile overland telegraph line, from Port Augusta to Port Darwin, at its own expense, provided that the British Australian Telegraph Company guarantee to bring its cable ashore there. He estimated that the cost would amount to £120,000. The Company agreed to his proposal provided that the line would be ready for business by the end of 1871. Without an adequate survey of the interior, and with no time to waste, Todd galvanized his department into action and, although he was more accustomed to the role of planning and organizing projects, in meticulous detail, he proved himself equally capable in directing field operations when work on the northern section of the line fell behind schedule. TORRES, LUIS VAEZ DE (?–1613?). Being separated from Pedro Fernandez de Quirós on their departure from Austrialia del Espíritu Santo

216 •

TORRESIA

in 1606, Torres, captain of the San Pedro, opened sealed orders from the Viceroy of Peru that provided for such a contingency. In accordance with his instructions, he sailed to the southwest to extend Quirós’s search for the southern continent. If he had continued on his course, he must have sighted the east coast of Australia but after 400 miles, he was forced to alter it to the northwestward because his supplies were running low. After discovering the Louisade Archipelago, off the southeastern tip of New Guinea, strong currents prevented him from taking the northern route round that island and he was forced to sail along its southern shores, possibly the first European navigator to pass this way. He threaded the San Pedro through the strait that now bears his name, a 90-mile-wide passage full of hazards. Torres recorded that some very large islands were spotted to the south, now generally assumed to be the Cape York peninsula, although uncertainty hovers over his precise route. Whether Torres actually sighted the Australian mainland remains a subject of controversy. From Manila, Torres sent an account of his voyage to the Spanish King, reporting his discovery and confirming that New Guinea was an island and not part of the southern continent. See also PRADO Y TOVAR, DIEGO DE. TORRESIA. Encompassing most of northern Queensland, its inland boundaries being the 141st East meridian and the 24th parallel, which runs into the Pacific Ocean to the south of Cape Capricorn, Torresia was one of James Vetch’s nine proposed Australian states as outlined in his Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia. TORRES STRAIT. A 90-mile-wide channel between Cape York and the coast of New Guinea, the Torres Strait is crowded with islands, reefs, sand banks, and shoals that, in places, are treacherously obscured by the muddy discharge of New Guinea rivers. It was first negotiated by Luis Vaez de Torres and Diego de Prado y Tovar in 1606. Information on the Strait was suppressed by the Spanish and it was not until 1762, when Alexander Dalrymple found Torres’s report in the Spanish archives in Manila, after the British captured the Spanish base there, that knowledge of the Strait became more widely known. In the 17th century when Dutch seamen were exploring along the southern coast of New Guinea and across the Gulf of Carpentaria, they never ventured to pass through the Strait, assuming that its islands and shoals were offshore from a continuous mainland. James Cook became the first navigator after Torres to sail through the Strait in 1770 when returning from his first Pacific voyage. Other early navigators of the Strait include William

TREATY OF TORDESILLAS

• 217

Bligh (1792), William Bampton and Mathew Alt (1793), and Matthew Flinders (1802 and 1803), all of whom followed different channels. TRANSIT OF VENUS. By accurate observations, at widely spaced points on the Earth’s surface, the transit of the planet Venus across the face of the sun, due to occur on June 3, 1769, afforded 18th-century astronomers an opportunity to calculate the distance of the Earth from the sun. In southern latitudes, the best results would be obtained from an area bisected by the Tropic of Capricorn and approximately halfway across the Pacific from Chile to the East Indies. The Royal Society appealed for royal aid and patronage, and King George III promised £4,000 and a Royal Navy ship. Brushing aside the pretensions of Alexander Dalrymple, the Admiralty appointed Lieutenant James Cook to command HMS Endeavour on its eventful voyage to the Pacific Ocean. TREATY OF SARAGOSSA. By the late 1520s, it suited both Spain and Portugal to end their differences over the status of the Spice Islands. Under the terms of the Treaty of Saragossa signed on April 22, 1529, the Spanish surrendered all their claims to Java, Borneo, Timor, and the Moluccas in return for 350,000 gold ducats. Amending the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Line of Demarcation was moved to 144º 44' East longitude, thus assigning all but the furthest eastern seaboard of Australia to Portugal. It is conjectured that the Portuguese took advantage of their knowledge of the land to the south, obtained through the voyages of Christovão de Mendonca and Gomes de Sequeira, to outsmart the Spanish envoys. TREATY OF TORDESILLAS. The agreement drawn up by the representatives of the monarchs of Portugal and Spain at the royal palace in the Spanish town of Tordesillas on June 7, 1494, to delimit their respective claims to newly discovered lands overseas. A boundary, or Line of Demarcation, was agreed on, drawn from the Arctic Pole to the Antarctic Pole, at a distance of 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, thought at the time to be the midway point between Europe and the New World. The Portuguese sphere was to be east of the line, the Spanish to the West. All lands discovered by either party not encompassed within its own sphere were to be surrendered to the other. Ratified by the Pope on January 24, 1506, the Treaty was never recognized by the other European maritime nations and even the two signatories found it difficult to avoid disputes. However, the Treaty exerted an influence on the extent of the Dutch trading empire in Indonesia and on the location of the initial British settlements in Australia.

218 •

TROTMAN, HUBERT STANSLAKE (1874–1965)

TROTMAN, HUBERT STANSLAKE (1874–1965). Joining the Western Australian Lands and Survey Department in 1894, Trotman secured a place in N. M. Brazier and Aubrey Newman’s surveying party to examine and map the area round the mining center of Coolgardie, then to Mount Magnet, and back to Perth by way of the Yalgoo, Mullewa, and Jurien townships and the Hills and Moore Rivers. On the outward journey from Perth to Coolgardie, a distance of some 300 miles, at the height of summer, they were also to keep a watchful eye open for likely watering places. In 1896, he was invited by Newman to participate in another Outback expedition to explore the country from Wiluna north to Nullagine. Starting out from Geraldton, on the coast, across familiar ground to Mullewa, Yalgoo, and Mount Magnet, the expedition turned north to Peak Hill. There, after learning that Newman had died, Trotman was instructed to locate W. F. Rudall and set out for Yalgathuga Station, Rudall’s last known whereabouts, with an Aborigine by the name of Banjo, who had served a prison sentence on Rottnest Island for murder. From Yalgathuga, they had to ride on to the Ashburton River where they finally caught up with Rudall. Before he returned to his new command, Rudall gave Trotman permission to search for the source of the Ashburton. This he achieved before returning to camp. After completing this expedition with Rudall, Trotman was immediately appointed second-in-command to him on an expedition searching for Charles Wells and George Jones, who had gone missing on the Calvert Exploring Expedition led by Lawrence Wells. After four incident-packed years in the Outback, Trotman enjoyed a relatively quiet period until he was appointed second-in-command to Alfred Canning, who had been commissioned by the Western Australian government to explore and survey a rabbit fence in August 1901. For the next four years they surveyed a route from Starvation Harbor, on the Southern Ocean, northward through Burracoppin, Youanmi, to Mount Sydney, and west to Pardoo, on the Eighty Mile Beach. But even this project was overshadowed by exploration for what became known as the Canning Stock Route, from 1908 through 1910, when Trotman was again Canning’s second-in-command. It was Trotman’s fate always to be the leader’s right-hand man on Western Australian exploring expeditions. Yet in itself, this testifies to his sterling qualities. No expedition leader will invite his former deputy to travel with him again if that deputy has proved to be in any way fallible or unreliable. As W. V. Fyfe, a former Surveyor-General of Western Australia, remarked of Trotman: “After 45 years of active service with the State Government he retired in 1939. . . . His story provides an inspiring record of courage, ability, and unselfish determination to succeed no matter how great

VALLARD ATLAS (1547)

• 219

the difficulties, nor how severe the hardships” (Foreword to Eleanor Smith. The Beckoning West, 1966). TYERS, CHARLES JAMES (1806–1870). A surveyor in Victoria, Tyers left Melbourne on October 8, 1839, with an assistant and seven convicts to determine on the ground the position of the 141st meridian of East longitude, the boundary between Victoria and South Australia. Proceeding to Geelong, he turned northwest past the extinct volcano, Mount Elephant, and Lake Linlithgow, before sweeping south to Portland. Continuing west along the coast, he discovered the mouth of the Glenelg River, in Discovery Bay. To determine the exact position of the boundary line, Tyers employed triangulation, chronometer readings, and lunar observations. Throughout almost all of the country he traversed, except where the formation was limestone or granite, the magnetic properties of the rock were so great that the compass was rendered almost useless.

–U– ULIMAROA. On the strength of James Cook asking New Zealand Maoris, when anchored in the Bay of Islands in December 1769, whether they knew of any land other than their own, and their reply that a land of great extent called Ulimaroa lay to the northwest, Daniel Djurberg’s map of Polynesia, first published in Sweden in 1780, named Australia as Ulimaroa or New Holland. Many German maps at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries also employed this name. “After it appeared in Hawkesworth, one or two fanciful geographers and novelists applied it to Australia, which is absurd” (J. C. Beaglehole. The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks. 2 vols., 1962).

–V –

VALLARD ATLAS (1547). Several maps feature Java-la-Grande in the Vallard Atlas (so called because Nicholas Vallard is thought to be the original owner), the most Portuguese of all the Dieppe Maps. The coastal place-names appear to be Portuguese in form and written in a Portuguese hand. Now in the Huntingdon Library, San Marino, California, one map was reproduced by chromolithography in 1856 under the title The First Map of Australia.

220 •

VANCOUVER, GEORGE (1757–1798)

VANCOUVER, GEORGE (1757–1798). A professional naval officer, Vancouver was appointed commander of an expedition fitted out in the spring of 1791 to proceed to the northwest coast of America to assert British territorial claims to Nootka Sound and to explore the coastline for the western exit of the long-sought Northwest Passage. He sailed from Falmouth on April 1, 1791, in HMS Discovery accompanied by Lieutenant William Robert Broughton in HMS Chatham. Entering the Indian Ocean in August, he steered for the southern coast of New Holland. With the wide discretion apparently allowed Royal Navy officers sailing in remote waters for months and years on end, Vancouver determined “to endeavour to acquire some information on that unknown though interesting country” and to explore the coast eastward in an attempt to discover whether it joined Van Diemen’s Land. He found a safe anchorage in King George Sound, on September 27, remaining there for two weeks, exploring the Sound and charting it in Discovery’s and Chatham’s cutters. A shore party landed close to the anchorage, made its way northward, and ascended a hill, Possession Point, where Vancouver took possession of the country in the name of King George III. From here he enjoyed a wide view over the Sound and its two harbors, which he named Princess Royal Harbor and Oyster Harbor. During the days that followed both were explored and a river on the north side of Oyster Harbor was followed several miles inland. Weighing anchor on October 11, Vancouver made a running survey of the coast for 110 leagues as far as Termination Island. But, mindful that his mission was not primarily concerned with the exploration of New Holland’s southern coasts, and that weather conditions were worsening, he abandoned his original intention to determine the insularity, or otherwise, of Van Diemen’s Land and shaped his course out to sea for New Zealand. VAN DIEMEN’S LAND. Discovered by Abel Tasman in 1642 and named Anthooniij van Diemens Landt in honor of the Governor of the Dutch East Indies who had commissioned Tasman’s voyage of discovery and exploration. The island was formally renamed Tasmania in 1855. VAN DIEMEN’S LAND COMPANY. A London business syndicate formed the Van Diemen’s Land Company in 1825 to take advantage of a British government offer of thousands of square miles of grazing land “beyond the ramparts of the known lands” in Van Diemen’s Land at a very attractive price. Edward Curr, a young and enterprising merchant in Hobart, was appointed manager of the Company’s operations in the colony and it was he who was instrumental in dispatching exploring and surveying expeditions

VERGULDE DRAECK (GOLDEN DRAGON) EXCAVATION

• 221

under Joseph Fossey, Henry Hellyer, Jorgen Jorgensen, and John Helder Wedge, to the northwestern corner of the island in the late 1820s. In the event, large-scale grazing did not prove profitable and the Company later moved into tenant farming, forestry, and mining. VEREENIGDE OOSTINDISCHE COMPAGNIE (VOC) (UNITED EAST INDIA COMPANY) (1602–1798). Following indifferent results from independent voyages to the East Indies 1595–1602, the merchants of six principal Dutch seaports formed the VOC. Each was represented by a chamber consisting of directors who held their office for life and nominated their replacements. A charter was obtained from the States-General, which granted it a monopoly of trading voyages to the East Indies by way of the Cape of Good Hope or through the Strait of Magellan. In effect the VOC was the chief instrument of Dutch maritime power, being able to engage in armed hostilities, in diplomatic relations with Eastern princes, and to fortify its trading factories. It virtually eliminated its Portuguese and English commercial rivals. Little interest was shown in exploration for its own sake, although in the 17th century its ships discovered and, to some extent, explored the entire coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria and the north, northwest, west, and much of the south coast of the land it named Nova Hollandia (New Holland). To a company bent solely on trade, New Holland proved to be a sad and profitless enterprise. See also HEREN XVII; SEYNBRIEF. VERGULDE DRAECK (GOLDEN DRAGON) EXCAVATION. In 1931, a young boy, Fred Edwards, found 40 silver coins (1601–1685) in the sand near Cape Leschenault. Although the discovery excited interest at the time, 32 years passed before more finds were uncovered by a skin-diving party from Perth that sighted the remains of a wreck off Ledge Point, discovered an iron cannon inscribed with the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC)’s monogram, and recovered 231 coins (1644–1654), which were presented to the Western Australian Museum in Perth. By the end of 1963, it was virtually certain that the wreck was the remains of the Vergulde Draeck. Marine archaeology erupted in chaos as would-be looters began to use dynamite at the wreck site, destroying valuable historical evidence. The Western Australian government’s Museum Act of 1964 made all wrecks prior to 1900 the responsibility of the Museum. Further investigations of the site, estimated to cover an area 50 yards by 40 yards, on a limestone and coral reef, were made by Museum divers working under Jeremy Green in 1968. The Dutch government relinquished all rights of ownership to VOC ships on the ocean bottom off the Western Australian coast in 1972. Excavations that year recovered 19

222 •

VICTORIA

cannons, 5 anchors, 7,881 coins (1590–1654), and various quantities of ceramics and earthenware. By the 1990s, some 22,000 of the 40,000 lost coins had been recovered. See also ALBERTSZ, PIETER; LEEMAN, ABRAHAM. VICTORIA. Previously part of New South Wales, settlements south of the Great Dividing Range, principally in the Port Phillip region, after much clamor and agitation, were constituted as a separate colony, named in honor of Queen Victoria in 1851. Fifty years later it became one of the states of the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia. Victoria was also put forward as the name for what is now the southern half of Western Australia as one of the nine Australian states proposed in Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia. VICTORIAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. Of all the expeditions in the history of Australian interior exploration, this is the one that has most indelibly imprinted itself on the Australian psyche. It had its origins in a November 1857 meeting of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria (later the Royal Society of Victoria) when a committee was appointed “for the purpose of inquiring into the practicability of fitting out in Victoria an expedition for traversing the unknown interior of the Australian continent from east to west.” The committee sought the advice of Augustus Charles Gregory, who replied that the largest tract of unexplored country lay between the meridians of 115º and 140º and the parallels of 20º and 32º of latitude, an area 1,600 miles long by 800 miles wide. Because of the nature of this immense area—sandy desert and scrubland—and its hostile climate, he advised the committee that only a south-to-north crossing offered the prospect of success. That Gregory’s warning did not initially register is evident from a resolution passed at a public meeting in the Mechanics Institute, Melbourne, on January 4, 1858, which called for an attempt “at as early a period as possible to penetrate through Central Australia from east to west.” Eventually, however, the organization and membership of the expedition devolved upon the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria. Wisely, they saw no point in duplicating the discoveries made by Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, Edmund Kennedy, Charles Sturt, George Grey, and Gregory; the task was to link up their discoveries and to open up the center. The Committee’s instructions to Robert O’Hara Burke, leader of the expedition, were couched in general terms: “The Committee having decided upon Cooper’s Creek, of Sturt, as the basis of your operations, request that you will proceed thither, form a depot of provisions and stores, and make

VISSCHER, FRANÇOIS JACOBSZ (DIED 1645?)

• 223

arrangements for keeping open a communication in your rear to the Darling. . . . The object of the Committee in directing you to Cooper’s Creek is, that you should explore the country intervening between it and Leichhardt’s track, south of the Gulf of Carpentaria, avoiding, as far as practicable, Sturt’s route on the west, and Gregory’s, down the Victoria (or Cooper) on the east. To this object the Committee wishes you to devote your energies in the first instance; but should you determine the impracticability of this route, you are desired to turn westward into the country recently discovered by Stuart, and connect his furthest point northward with Gregory’s furthest southern exploration in 1856 (Mount Wilson). “In proceeding from Cooper’s Creek to Stuart’s country, you may find the salt marshes an obstacle to the progress of the camels; if so, it is supposed you will be able to avoid these marshes by turning to the northward as far as Eyre’s Creek, where there is permanent water, and then by going westward to Stuart’s furthest. “Should you fail, however, in connecting the two points of Stuart’s and Gregory’s furthest, or should you ascertain that this space has already been traversed, you are requested, if possible, to connect your explorations with those of the younger Gregory in the vicinity of Mount Gould, and thence you might proceed to Shark’s Bay, or down the River Murchison to the settlements in Western Australia. . . . “For all useful and practical purposes, it will be better for you, and for the object of future settlements, that you should follow the watercourses and the country yielding herbage than to pursue any route which the Committee might be able to sketch out from an imperfect map of Australia.” Burke enjoyed wide discretionary powers: once at Cooper’s Creek he could proceed in any direction within a wide arc from north to west. “This was juggling with thousands of miles of unexplored land as though it presented no more obstacle than the empty sea, and it placed an immense responsibility on the leader” (Alan Moorehead. Cooper’s Creek, 1963). See also BERGIN, TOM; BRAHE, WILLIAM; DIG TREE; WILLS, WILLIAM. VISSCHER, FRANÇOIS JACOBSZ (died 1645?). Esteemed by the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie as possessing “greater skill in the surveying of coasts and the mapping of lands than any of the steersmen” in the East Indies, François Visscher presented a memoir concerning the discovery of the South Land to Anthoniij van Diemen in January 1642. This impressive document outlined a number of plans for seeking the unknown continent and heavily influenced the instructions given to Abel Tasman for

224 •

VLAMINGH, WILLEM HESSELSZ DE (1640–1698?)

his voyage of discovery later in the year. Visscher sailed on Heemskerk as Tasman’s Pilot Major and was a member of the expedition council on which he held the casting vote on all matters concerning navigation. In many respects he was better qualified to lead the expedition than Tasman. VLAMINGH, WILLEM HESSELSZ DE (1640–1698?). The purpose of Vlamingh’s 1696–1697 voyage was to ascertain the fate of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) ship De Ridderschap van Hollandt, which had gone missing en route from Cape Town to Batavia in 1694. It was thought likely that the ship had gone aground somewhere on the shores of New Holland. In addition, Vlamingh was to explore the coastline. Vlamingh set sail from the Texel on May 3, 1696, in command of a flotilla of three ships, De Geelvinck and the smaller De Nijptaugh and t’Weseltje. Rottnest Island was sighted in December 1696 and explored, as was the Swan River area, with the three boats being taken up river for a distance of 45 miles, but no contact was made with the Aborigines. Although no trace of the missing ship was found, Vlamingh conducted a close examination of the coastline from the Swan River to the North West Cape, charting his course and making frequent landings. The peninsula reported by Dirck Hartog was found to be an island and nine days were spent in exploring Shark Bay, but even here the coast was “rocky, dry and forbidding.” After reaching the North West Cape, Vlamingh set a course for Batavia where the fleet arrived on March 20, 1697. This was the last large-scale VOC voyage of discovery to New Holland. Vlamingh had undoubtedly sharpened geographical knowledge of an extensive stretch of the coastline, but the VOC lost interest in the bleak and perilous coasts fronting a barren and waterless hinterland. No more resources were to be allocated for exploration. See also DIRK HARTOG’S PLATE; VLAMINGH PLATE. VLAMINGH PLATE. After Dirk Hartog’s Plate was found by the Vlamingh expedition in 1697, still nailed to its post, Vlamingh replaced it with a plate of his own, commemorating the arrival of his ships, their commanders, and senior officers. This, in turn, was discovered and restored by Nicolas Baudin in 1801 and retrieved 17 years later by Louis Freycinet, who was reluctant to leave it in situ at the mercy of the elements and subject to depredation. Freycinet presented it to the Académie Royale des Inscriptions et BellesLettres de l’Institut de France in 1821, but in 1897, when an inquiry was received from Australia, the Institute was embarrassed to admit it could not be found. However, in 1938, the Historical Society of Victoria asked for a fur-

WARBURTON, GREG

• 225

ther search to be made and, two years later, it came to light in an obscure cupboard. It was returned to Australia in 1947 and is now in the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle.

–W– WALKER, FREDERICK (1820?–1866). A tough ex-policeman, Walker commanded a search party consisting mainly of troopers of the Queensland Native Police, which set out from Rockhampton on September 7, 1861, to look for signs of Robert O’Hara Burke and William Wills. Leaving the Nogoa River a week later, they reached the Barcoo before crossing the Alice and Coreena Rivers. On the headwaters of the Flinders, they found signs of the missing explorers and, after a rest at the Albert River depot, maintained to replenish the stores of the Burke and Wills relief parties, followed these rivers for some distance before returning eastward to Queensland. It had been a moderately successful expedition: they had found traces of the explorers, confirming that they had reached the Gulf of Carpentaria, they had reported their finds at the Albert River, and they had, almost incidentally, opened up large tracts of unexplored country. WALLIS, SAMUEL (1728–1795). Accompanied by Philip Carteret in HMS Swallow, Wallis sailed from Plymouth in HMS Dolphin, on August 22, 1766, to search for the southern continent that still exercised the imagination of European cosmographers and navigators before the illusion was shattered by James Cook’s second Pacific voyage just six years later. His orders were to proceed round Cape Horn, or through the Strait of Magellan, and stretch to the westward for about 120º longitude from Cape Horn, losing as little southing as possible. It was confidently expected that he would make the southern continent’s coastline well within that distance. Separated from Swallow in a storm, Wallis was forced northwestward, like all other navigators entering the Pacific from the east, and became the first European to land on the island of Tahiti. Before sailing round the island, Wallis had been deceived by clouds on the horizon that the continent had been discovered at its northernmost tip. WARBURTON, GREG. Comprising the Carnegie Centenary Expedition, Greg Warburton, and his wife Vicki, having first established five water dumps on a 2,000-mile round trip into the Gibson Desert and burying food

226 •

WARBURTON, PETER EGERTON (1813–1889)

at Well 22 on the Canning Stock Route, to the south of the Talawana Track, departed from Kalgoorlie on May 16, 1996, to commemorate David Carnegie’s 1896–1897 south-to-north, north-to-south crossings of the Western Australian deserts. They arrived with their camels in Hall’s Creek on September 8. WARBURTON, PETER EGERTON (1813–1889). As South Australia’s Commissioner of Police, Warburton was renowned for venturing 300 miles or so into unexplored territory when visiting remote police outposts under his command. In the years 1857–1858, he explored the country north of Adelaide and Spencer Gulf, discovering a passable route from the northern edge of Lake Torrens to the southern end of Lake Eyre, whose shape and size he determined. Warburton concluded that South Australia’s central region consisted of open country, whereas Edward John Eyre 20 years earlier had declared it an impassable barrier of salt lakes and marshes. This was of crucial importance when the colony was advancing its boundaries northward. In 1866, Warburton explored northeast of Lake Eyre and discovered the Warburton River, a continuation of the Diamantina, flowing from Goyder’s Lagoon to the lake. Warburton’s most ambitious exploration was his 1873 transcontinental expedition, which started out from Alice Springs on August 15 with the aim of crossing Western Australia southwestward to Perth. It was a brave effort on the part of the 60-year-old veteran, who took with him his eldest son, 2 other whites, an Aborigine, and 2 Afghan cameleers in charge of 17 camels. Following the Overland Telegraph line as far as Burt’s Creek, Warburton turned west along the northern edges of the MacDonnell Ranges and discovered to his dismay that, contrary to popular supposition, no streams flowed from the hills. He turned north, reaching Central Mount Wedge on May 6. A week later, he observed an eclipse of the moon, which he commemorated by naming a nearby hill Mount Eclipse. Proceeding northwestward to Mount Hardy, he turned west along the Treuer Range and found a plentiful supply of water at Eva Spring. A reconnaissance journey to Mount Stanley proved unsuccessful, as did a 70-mile ride to the west in his ceaseless search for waterholes. He was forced to travel north, and on June 18 he discovered Waterloo Wells, so called because it was the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. The expedition remained at the wells from June 23 through July 30, a welcome respite from the constant shortage of water, but this got them no further to Perth and the party consumed their provisions at an alarming rate. Water was at last discovered at Mary Springs, 100 miles in a west-northwest

WEDGE, JOHN HELDER (1793–1872)

• 227

direction. After filling their carriers, they continued northwest, passed Lake White, a large saltwater lagoon, still searching for their next supply of water, still further from Perth than when they set out. After camping at Emily Spring for some days, Warburton started to look for Sturt Creek and Lake Gregory, discovered by Augustus Charles Gregory in 1855, but his timepiece was not registering correctly and, in addition, he had lost his notebook and was, in fact, 20 miles further east than he calculated. At that distance, sand hills obstructed his view. Five days after leaving Emily Spring, the expedition reached the freshwater Lady Edith’s Lagoon where they were able to shoot some game birds. In September, their difficulties increased, their supplies were dwindling fast, the water situation was as perilous as ever, and even the camels were suffering from the intense heat. What is more, only two riding camels remained. They were now in the Great Sandy Desert, a barren land almost devoid of water. Warburton realized that Perth, still 1,000 miles away, was no longer a practicable proposition. The expedition badly needed an escape route. He decided to make for the settlements in the Oakover River region discovered by Frank Gregory in 1861. Joanna Spring afforded temporary relief as the expedition struggled on from one waterhole to the next over sand hills, exhausting for men and camels alike. On December 4, they made camp on a tributary of the Oakover, but even then their privations were not at an end. It was not until December 29 that John W. Lewis, their most experienced bushman, who had been sent ahead, returned from the De Grey cattle station with a relief party. The expedition was then able to continue to Roebourne, 975 miles north of Perth. Including the detours and the reconnaissance journeys, the expedition had toiled for 2,000 miles across scorching and inhospitable desert never before explored. The Royal Geographical Society awarded Warburton its Gold Medal. WEDGE, JOHN HELDER (1793–1872). Wedge explored extensively in the northeast and central highlands of Van Diemen’s Land after his appointment as an Assistant Surveyor in the colony. In 1828, he explored the far northwest of the island to examine lands belonging to the Van Diemen’s Land Company but his report of rich soil in the forests, and his map, were called into question by the Company, which was hoping for open pastureland. In 1835, he was leader of one of George Frankland’s parties on his major exploration of the central river system and, on Frankland’s recall to Hobart, took command of the expedition, explored Lake Pedder, and traced the Huon River as far as the present-day town of Huonville. Wedge played a

228 •

WELBE, JOHN (FL. EARLY 18TH CENTURY)

major role, with John Batman, in forming the Port Phillip Association and, being refused leave of absence on his return to Hobart, resigned his post in the colony and crossed to Port Phillip, explored along the Barwon River, and surveyed the land acquired by Batman from the Aboriginal tribes there. WELBE, JOHN (fl. early 18th century). A junior officer on William Dampier’s disastrous privateering voyage to the Pacific coast of South America in 1703, a subsequent mutineer, and a would-be discoverer and share promoter, John Welbe submitted a “Scheme of a Voyage Round the Globe for the Discovery of Terra Australis Incognita” to the British government in 1713. He requested two naval vessels to be put at his disposal to take to the Pacific by way of Cape Horn, Chile, and Peru. His plan was to steer west to the Solomon Islands in search of the gold reported by Alvaro de Mendaña and Pedro Fernandez de Quirós 150 years earlier. From the Solomons he proposed “to sail west to the Coast of Nova Guinea which is the East Side of Nova Hollandia in the East Indies and make a true discovery of that coast.” He would then move on to Nova Britannia (New Britain) and search those islands. Neither the government, King George, the Royal Society, nor the South Sea Company showed any real interest and so, in 1716, Welbe attempted to form his own trading company, the London Adventurers, which, with a joint stock of £2,500,000, would establish colonies in Terra Australis and exploit its gold and silver mines. At the time he was languishing in a prison cell for a debt of £6! WELLS, LAWRENCE (LARRY) ALLEN (1860–1938). Five years after joining the South Australian Survey Department in 1878, Wells was appointed Assistant Surveyor to the Northern Territory and Queensland Border Survey Expedition headed by Augustus Poeppel. He resurveyed the border, from 1884 through 1886, after it was found that Poeppel’s survey was inaccurate due to worn instruments. He relocated the peg at Poeppel’s Corner close to its present position. In 1891 he was promoted to Surveyor to David Lindsay’s Elder Scientific Exploration Expedition. He replaced Lindsay as leader when the scientific members either resigned or were dismissed on their arrival at Geraldton, Western Australia, and Lindsay was recalled to Adelaide in January 1892. On assuming command, he was instructed to proceed eastward with a lightened team to explore Western Australia between latitudes 26º and 28º South as far as longitude 119º East. Starting from Welbundinum on February 17, he established a base camp at a well close to the 119th parallel three days later and moved out on Feb-

WELLS, LAWRENCE (LARRY) ALLEN (1860–1938)

• 229

ruary 23 with three others and provisions for six weeks on a planned circular route. They headed southeast and reached a salt lake (Lake Darlot) before changing direction to find Mount Shenton, their furthest point south, on March 12. Perceiving little prospect of improvement in the country to the east, and satisfied that he was now on the western edge of the Great Victoria Desert, Wells shaped his course northward again, reaching another salt lake (Lake Wells) and naming the flat-topped hills to the northwest the Von Treuer Range. He decided to swing westward on his return journey to arrive at Lake Way on April 1. He was back at his depot four days later. In six weeks, Wells had traveled 825 miles, he had discovered some fine ranges, large tracts of pastoral land, although very little water, to virtually complete the initial stage of Lindsay’s exploration. “The results were indeed very promising, more valuable than the original Elder Expedition” (Ernest Favenc. Explorers of Australia, 1908). A telegram from Adelaide instructing him to discontinue the expedition must have caused Wells acute disappointment. Recognition of Wells’s achievements came when he was selected as leader of the Calvert Exploring Expedition, organized under the control and management of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch, to explore the remaining unknown desert regions of Western Australia, stretching from the colony’s eastern border to the headwaters of the northwestern rivers. Starting out from Lake Way, near present-day Wiluna, on June 16, 1896, to proceed to the Upper Murchison River, then east into the desert and north to the Fitzroy River, Wells established a base camp on July 28 southwest of Lake Augusta and a few miles east of Lake Carnegie. Repeating his previous pattern, he scouted ahead and found a native well he named Midway Well, 200 miles to the north, in the Little Sandy Desert east of Lake Disappointment. By September 28 he had conducted the entire expedition there and, five days later, he discovered another native well now known as Separation Well. After this substantial reconnaissance trip, October found the party just over halfway through the two Sandy Deserts, when it was decided that Wells’s older cousin Charles Wells and George Jones (the 18-year-old nephew of David Lindsay) would make a “flying trip” to the west, and then rendezvous with the main party at Peter Warburton’s Joanna Spring, some 185 miles further north. The increasing heat of the advancing summer, lack of feed for the camels, and scant water caused both parties incredible hardship—the main party was soon only traveling at night and was forced to abandon virtually everything at Adverse Well. Low on water and unable to locate Joanna Spring, innocently mismapped by Warburton, they made a desperate dash for the Fitzroy River.

230 •

WENTWORTH, WILLIAM CHARLES (1790–1872)

Charles Wells and Jones abandoned the flying trip, and following the main party by about 12 days, perished. Their sun-dried bodies were finally found on May 27, 1897, 16 miles southwest of Joanna Spring, after 5 search expeditions by Larry Wells. Two Aborigines led him to the bodies. This was not the end of his journeys in the Outback. In 1903, he led the South Australia government’s North-West Prospecting Expedition to the Tomkinson, Mann, and Petermann Ranges in the Northern Territory and, from 1905 through 1908, he made trigonometrical surveys on the Victoria and Ord Rivers. A quarter of a century later, in his seventies, he led three other prospecting expeditions into Central Australia. Not for nothing was Wells described as “the last of the great inland explorers.” He was rewarded with the Jubilee Medal in 1935 and the O.B.E. in 1937. See also CRAMER, ROD. WENTWORTH, WILLIAM CHARLES (1790–1872). A substantial landowner, of aristocratic birth, and Provost-Marshal of New South Wales, Wentworth joined Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson in the Blue Mountains expedition of May–June 1813, which proved to be a landmark in the pastoral expansion of the early settlement in Sydney. He always acknowledged that the expedition owed a lot to previous reconnaissances in the mountains and that they had not actually completed a crossing. WEST AUSTRALIAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. The 1874 expedition, commanded by John Forrest, from Champion Bay, on the west coast, to the Overland Telegraph line. WESTPRINT HERITAGE MAPS. Compiled by John Deckert, published in Nhill, Victoria, and designed for modern explorers, these 63cm ⫻ 44cm maps, folding to 10.5cm ⫻ 22.5cm, offer a wide range of information. Highways and major distances; sealed and unsealed roads; 4WD tracks; towns and homesteads; national parks; bores, wells, and watercourses; lakes; and Aboriginal land are all indicated. On the reverse side are notes on the original European explorers, places of historical interest, and natural features. Scale: mostly 1:1,000,000 but smaller areas vary to 1:500,000 and 1:125,000. Titles include Alice Springs–Ayers Rock; Alice Springs–Oodnadatta; Birdsville and Strzelecki Track; Canning Stock Route; Dalhousie and Simpson Desert; Desert Park South Australia; East MacDonnells; Flinders Ranges; The Gunbarrel Highway; Innamincka and Coongie Lakes; Innes National Park; Little Desert National Parks; MacDonnell Ranges; Oodnadatta Track; Plenty Highway; Sturt National Park; South-Western Queensland; Tanami Track; and York Peninsula.

WILSON, JOHN (1770?–1800)

• 231

WICKHAM, JOHN CLEMENTS (1798–1864). Captain John Wickham was in command of HMS Beagle in the initial phase of her six-year tour of duty in Australian waters from 1837 to 1843. The purposes of Beagle’s voyages were to make detailed charts of the north and northwest coasts of Australia and to discover and explore the outlets of large rivers possibly flowing from an inland sea. This had been a prime motive for maritime and inland exploration since Matthew Flinders’s survey of the Australian coastline. In July 1839, Wickham discovered the mouth of the Adelaide River on the mainland shore of Clarence Strait and explored 80 miles inland in the ship’s boats. Two months later he sighted a wide bay and magnificent harbor, named Port Darwin in honor of Charles Darwin, one of Beagle’s most distinguished former passengers. The Victoria River, with a strong flow of freshwater, was discovered to the southwest. Wickham sailed the Beagle up river 50 miles to anchor at Holdfast Reach. From here, the boats were again launched to penetrate further into the interior. At first it was thought that the Victoria drained a huge area and was a part of a major river system comparable to the Murray-Darling basin in the southeast of Australia but this proved not to be the case. See also STOKES, JOHN LORT. WILKINS, GEORGE HUBERT (1888–1958). In 1921, the British Museum was alerted to the rapid disappearance of wildlife in northern Australia in the face of the advance of farming. Wilkins was commissioned to lead a scientific survey expedition through southeastern Queensland, to the Roper River region in Arnhem Land, and across to Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria. He collected some 5,000 specimens, including some of the rarer mammals, from 1923 through 1925. WILLS, WILLIAM JOHN (1834–1861). Appointed as Surveyor and Astronomer of the Victorian Exploring Expedition, Wills was promoted to second-in-command by Robert O’Hara Burke after George Landells resigned before the Expedition reached Menindie. He accompanied Burke to the Gulf of Carpentaria and, apart from a scrappy and disjointed notebook kept by Burke, of very little value, Wills’s detailed and well-written journals are the only documentation of their epic journey and return to Cooper’s Creek. Wills disagreed with Burke’s decision to return by way of Mount Hopeless and South Australia, preferring to follow the route back to Menindie, but he deferred to Burke’s position as expedition leader. See also DIG TREE. WILSON, JOHN (1770?–1800). One of the most extraordinary characters in the history of Australian exploration, John Wilson arrived at Botany Bay as

232 •

WINDICH, TOMMY (1840–1876)

a convict in the First Fleet in January 1788. After his sentence expired, he took to the bush and lived with Aborigines for many years, acquiring an extensive knowledge of the country within 100 miles of Port Jackson in every direction. It has been cogently argued that during his wanderings he crossed the Great Divide, possibly by way of Coxs River and the upper Coxs Valley. For a time he was a proscribed outlaw. In January 1798, Governor John Hunter, increasingly worried by the number of convicts, mainly Irish, seeking to escape from the settlement to a supposed white community rumored to be located 200 miles to the southwest, sent four of them under armed guard to see for themselves that the rumor was based on fable. Wilson was appointed as a guide to this reconnaissance party. Although the convicts soon became disillusioned, much as Hunter had intended, and returned to the settlement, Wilson and two companions marched 240 miles in 10 days, reaching a high point looking over the junction of the Wollondilly and Wingecarribee Rivers before hunger obliged them to turn back. Soon after his return to Port Jackson on February 9, 1799, Hunter sent Wilson out again in the same direction. Leaving Prospect Hill on March 9, Wilson moved slowly across the Nattai Tableland between Picton and Mount Jellore, discovering the Thirlmere Lakes, advancing to Mount Towrang, near the modern city of Goulburn, and glimpsing the Goulburn Plains. Clearly a betterprovisioned party could have continued for some distance, but Wilson was again forced to return. By April 3, he was back at Prospect Hill. If Wilson’s first official reconnaissance over the Blue Mountains had proved that an Acadian haven for escaped convicts was not to be easily reached, his second opened new ground for settlement and, paradoxically, pointed the way to a relatively easy route across the mountains. In fact, Wilson had crossed the mountains twice long before the celebrated Gregory Blaxland–William Lawson–William Charles Wentworth trio. See also IRISH CONVICTS. WINDICH, TOMMY (1840–1876). An outstanding Aboriginal tracker and explorer, Windich accompanied C. C. Hunt’s 1864 expedition east of York, Western Australia, to Lake Lefroy. This was a prelude to his almost continuous employment by John Forrest and Alexander Forrest, both of whom regarded him highly for his ability to seek out water and animal feed in desert country and for his prowess as a huntsman. He was on John Forrest’s 1869 expedition to the northeastern districts of Western Australia in search of Ludwig Leichhardt; his 1870 trek along the Great Australian Bight to Adelaide; and on his 1874 expedition from Geraldton across the desert to the Overland Telegraph, and on to Adelaide again. In 1871 he was with

WITT, GERRIT FREDERIKSZOON DE (FL. EARLY 17TH CENTURY)

• 233

Alexander Forrest on his search for good pastoral land along the Swan River into the interior. Windich contracted pneumonia and died in Esperance Bay in February 1876. The Forrest brothers erected a tombstone inscribed: “Erected by John and Alexander Forrest. In Memory Of Tommy Windich Born near Mount Stirling 1840 Died at Esperance Bay 1876. He was an aboriginal native of Western Australia, of great intelligence and fidelity, who accompanied them on Exploring Expeditions into the Interior of Australia, two of which were from Perth to Adelaide. Be ye also ready.” WIND ROSE. The circular card of a mariner’s compass marked with 16 or 32 directional points radiating from the center to the circumference. WINNECKE, CHARLES (1856–1902). Employed by the Survey Department of South Australia, Winnecke commanded a survey party dispatched from Adelaide in 1877 to accurately delineate the boundary between Queensland and the Northern Territory. Three years later, he was in charge of a party of four that set out from Alice Springs to follow up Henry Vere Barclay’s shortened 1879–1880 expedition. He advanced to Sandover River, linking this region to William Landsborough’s exploration of the Herbert River. He then continued to the Ranken River, but a serious shortage of water so delayed his progress that his food supplies ran out and the party was hard put to reach Buchanan Creek and on to Tennant’s Creek. Nevertheless, they had added 90,000 square miles of territory to the map. In 1894, Winnecke was appointed director of the 15-strong Horn Scientific Exploring Expedition, sponsored by William Austin Horn, a leading mining businessman, to conduct a scientific examination of the MacDonnell Ranges in the Northern Territory. Starting out from the Finke River on May 16, 1895, Winnecke led the expedition to its junction with the Palmer River before proceeding west along the James and George Gill Ranges to the MacDonnells. Although not primarily a geographical exploration, but one more concerned with the natural history of the region, previously unexplored areas were traversed by independent groups, thus filling in many blanks. By the time the expedition returned to Oodnadatta on August 5, it had traveled 2,185 miles and had mapped 27,000 square miles of territory, most of which the scientists described as good pastoral country. WITT, GERRIT FREDERIKSZOON DE (fl. early 17th century). Ordered by the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie authorities in Java to sail

234 •

WOOD, WATER, AND GRASS

through the Bali Strait on the initial stage of his voyage home to the Netherlands in 1628 because of contrary monsoon winds in the Sunda Strait, de Witt’s ship, Vianen, was blown off course far to the south and ran aground on Australia’s northwest coast in 21º South in the vicinity of present-day Port Hedland. By throwing overboard much of his cargo, de Witt was able to refloat his ship and sail down the coast for 50 miles to the Monte Bello Islands before making for Mauritius. This 1628 discovery filled in Dutch knowledge of the Western Australian coastline. WOOD, WATER, AND GRASS. According to Ernest Giles, the three essentials for an explorer’s happiness. To be sure of procuring them was one good reason why so many exploring expedition parties included Aborigines. WRIGHT, WILLIAM (fl. mid-19th century). A former station manager, William Wright was appointed foreman of the Victoria Exploring Expedition by Robert O’Hara Burke in Menindie when he volunteered to lead the expedition to Cooper’s Creek. He was sent back when they reached Torowoto with orders to get the camp in order and to bring up supplies. He arrived in Menindie on October 29, 1860, and remained there until January 26, 1861, when at last he set out with Burke’s supplies. From that unconscionable delay unfolded the whole grim story of the tragedy of Cooper’s Creek. The Burke and Wills Commission condemned Wright’s inaction in no uncertain terms: “The conduct of Mr. Wright appears to have been reprehensible in the highest degree. It is clear that Mr. Burke, on parting with him at Torowoto, relied on receiving his immediate and zealous support; and it seems extremely improbable that Mr. Wright could have misconstrued the intentions of his leader so far as to suppose that he ever calculated for a moment on his remaining for any length of time on the Darling. Mr. Wright has failed to give any satisfactory explanation of the causes of his delay; and to that delay are mainly attributable the whole of the disasters of the expedition, with the exception of the death of Gray.” But Sarah Murgatroyd’s The Dig Tree (2002) suggests that he was a convenient scapegoat. WYTFLIET, CORNELIS (fl. latter half of 16th century). As Secretary to the Council of Brabant, a duchy of the Netherlands, Cornelis Wytfliet’s official position kept him closely in touch with the latest developments in discovery and exploration. He was not so much a cartographer as a collector of geographical information similar to Ptolemy, “an analyst who sifted through all the available geographical knowledge of the day, and resolved it in synthesised form” (Kenneth Gordon McIntyre. The Secret Discovery of Australia,

ZHOU MAN (FL. EARLY 15TH CENTURY)

• 235

1977, p. 234). His Descriptionis Ptolemaicae Augmentum (Supplement to Ptolemy’s Descriptions) was issued in seven editions 1597 through 1611. The description of Terra Australis implies he had knowledge of two early, preDutch discovery voyages since he apparently knew of a strait between New Guinea and the southern land eight years before Luis Vaez de Torres approached it form the east. There is speculation that these two voyages were those of Gomes de Sequeira and Christovão de Mendonca.

–Z– ZHENG-HE (1371–1434). See CHINESE DISCOVERY. ZHOU MAN (fl. early 15th century). It is conjectured in Gavin Menzies’s 1421: The Year China Discovered the World (2002) that Zheng-He (see CHINESE DISCOVERY) allocated to Zhou Man’s fleet the task of charting the world’s coasts west of South America. Relying on Jean Rotz’s 1542 world map for cartographical confirmation, and on archaeological evidence, Menzies calculates that Zhou Man arrived in Australian waters off the New South Wales coast in the vicinity of Sydney or Newcastle. He charted the southeast coast from Nelson Bay southward. After a long detour to the edge of Antarctica and to New Zealand, Zhou Man sailed up the northeast coastline, across the top of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and along the continent’s northwest coasts.

Bibliography

CONTENTS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

Bibliographies Maps and Atlases Place-Names and Nomenclature Biography Research Library Collections Voyages: Collections Voyages: General Ancient and Medieval Voyages (?) Portuguese Priority (?) Spanish Dreams and Fantasies Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (United East India Company) English Navigators French Navigators Maritime Archaeology Exploration: Australia Southeastern Australia Van Diemen’s Land/Tasmania Eastern Australia Western Australia South to North Across the Western Deserts Northern Australia Central Australia Stockmen of the Outback Coastal Surveys

237

246 246 249 250 250 252 253 255 256 259 261 265 272 276 278 280 288 290 294 299 302 304 307 310 311

238 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION The history of the discovery and exploration of Australia is manifestly part and parcel of mainstream Australian history, and researchers not enjoying a more than cursory knowledge of its principal events, themes, and progress will at least need to be aware of its main reference apparatus. Australia’s modern history began with the establishment of a single British settlement in 1788 and expanded into six separate colonies during the course of the following century. In 1890 the colonies agreed to proceed to a federation and, on January 1, 1901, the Commonwealth of Australia, consisting of six states with their own government, and the federal Northern territory, came into being as a self-governing Dominion of the British Empire. Some knowledge is therefore required of Australia’s imperial past. Ernest Scott’s The Cambridge History of the British Empire, Vol. 7., Pt. 1 Australia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1932) was reissued as late as 1988. But, in truth, it was by then little more than a respected historical relic, although it retains some interest and value if only for its specialist select bibliographies on “Oceanic Exploration” and “The Exploration of the Continent.” The Oxford History of the British Empire, 5 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998–1999), a major new assessment, which takes full advantage of modern scholarship and the progressive opening up of official archives, consists of four chronological volumes, each with its own bibliography, and a fifth volume of historiography.

REFERENCE WORKS A number of single-volume reference works offer their own insight on Australia’s history. Graeme Davison, John Hirst, and Stuart MacIntyre’s The Oxford Companion to Australian History (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1999) has 1,600 signed cross-referenced A–Z entries, from 300 contributors, on events, themes, topics, and the like relating to precolonial times onward. Jan Bassett’s The Concise Dictionary of Australian History, 2nd ed. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1994) includes 500 entries on the principal persons, institutions, places, ideas, movements, events, and documents generally considered to be historically significant. James C. Docherty’s Historical Dictionary of Australia, 2nd ed. (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1999) provides a guide to modern Australia and its past in 376 entries and is intended to act as a one-stop gateway to all aspects of Australian history from the earliest human settlements to the end of the 20th century. An extensive, up-to-date an-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 239

alytical bibliography, containing 1,167 citations, divided into 45 form and thematic sections, accelerates access to specialized sources of information. In addition to the Events and Places volume in the Australians: A Historical Library series, other chronologies may be consulted. A. Barker’s When Was That? Chronology of Australia (Sydney: John Ferguson, 1988) is a guide to events from the beginnings of European settlement. A mainline chronology of political and general events against precise dates is followed by separate lists dealing with 10 specific topics including Discovery. Similarly, R. Brown and Richard Appleton’s Collins Milestones in Australian History (Sydney: Collins, 1956) has Discovery as one of its six main subject headings. A larger work, Bryce Fraser and Ann Atkinson’s The Macquarie Encyclopedia of Australian Events (Sydney: Macquarie Library, 1997) details 10,000 events that shaped Australia.

BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND RESEARCH GUIDES The best single bibliography of printed material relating to Australia is John Alexander Ferguson’s Bibliography of Australia, 7 vols. (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1941–1969; Winchester: St. Paul’s Bibliographies, 1986–). Based on his exceptional private collection of Australiana, now housed in the Ferguson Room in the National Library of Australia in Canberra, the bibliography includes books, pamphlets, broadsides, journals, and government publications. Locations are given for copies in 10 Australian libraries and in the British Library in London. Bibliography of Australia Addenda, 1784–1850 (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1986) supplements volumes 1–4 and a second Addenda will cover volumes 5–7. Susan Radvansky’s The Monash University Library Supplement to John Alexander Ferguson Bibliography of Australia 1780–1900 (Clayton, VIC: Monash University Library, 1980) also extends coverage. A long series of indexes is available for tracing journal articles. Terry Hogan, A. T. Yarwood, and Russell Ward’s Index to Journal Articles on Australian History (Armidale, NSW: University of New England, 1976) is continued by Victor Crittenden and John Thawley’s Index to Journal Articles on Australian History for 1981 (Kensington: Reference Section of History Project Incorporated, University of New South Wales, 1983) and for 1982 (North Balwyn, VIC: Australian Reference Publications, 1987); Victor Crittenden’s 1983 volume (1990); and Victor Crittenden and Dietrich Borchardt’s Index to Journal Articles on Australian History, 1984–1988 (1994). Without question the most comprehensive guide and research tool for the history of Australia is Australians: A Historical Library, 11 vols. (Broadway, NSW: Fairfax, Syme & Weldon; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

240 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1988). Involving 400 scholars and researchers, and 16 years in the making, this cooperative history was designed to present Australia’s past in an accessible and inviting format. Volumes 1–5 are historical studies: 1. Australians to 1788; 2. Australians 1838; 3. Australians 1888; and 4. Australians 1938, examples of the slicing method of writing history whereby single years are examined to explore every aspect of national life; and 5. Australians from 1939. There follow five reference volumes: 6. Australians: A Historical Atlas; 7. Australians: A Historical Dictionary; 8. Australians: Events and Places; 9. Australians: Historical Statistics; and 10. Australians: A Guide to Sources. Volume 11, Australians: The Guide and Index, links the individual volume indexes and connects the more detailed information in the previous 10 volumes with the broader themes of Australian history. Four of the reference titles are of immediate interest here. Jack C. R. Camm and John McQuilton’s Australians: A Historical Atlas, the first large-scale historical atlas of Australia, contains 15 chapters with maps, text, and illustrations closely integrated. T. M. Terry’s “European Discovery and Exploration” includes features on Maritime Discovery and Exploration; Land Exploration to 1860; Oxley and Eyre’s continental crossings; Sturt; Land Exploration from 1860; South to North crossings; and High Hopes and Stark Realities. Graeme Apin, S. G. Foster, and Michael McKernan’s Australians: A Historical Dictionary presents a succinct overview of Australian history in 1,233 entries encompassing historical episodes, concepts, institutions, movements, achievements, and biographies. The same three editors are also responsible for Australians: Events and Places, which includes a chronology of Australian history, with timelines of Aboriginal Australia and of European Exploration to 1788, and a historical account of Australian places. Dietrich H. Borchardt’s Australians: A Guide to Sources is arranged in 10 sections including Research for Australian Studies; General Reference Works; Aborigines; General History; and European Discovery and Exploration. The National Library of Australia’s website, Australian History on the Internet (URL:http://www.nla.au/oz/histsite.html), is invaluable. It includes sources on Australian history, Australian universities, and other institutions holding historical collections, overseas sources, a list of online journals, and appropriate Internet sources.

WORLD DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION There are two preeminent bibliographies of discovery and exploration. The first is Edward Godfrey Cox’s A Reference Guide to the Literature of Travel including Voyages, Geographical Descriptions, Adventures, Shipwrecks, and Expedi-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 241

tions, 3 vols. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1935 and 1949: Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1970). The first two volumes list in chronological order relevant material printed in Great Britain, or translated into English, down to 1800. Vol. 1, The Old World, begins with collections, circumnavigations, and general works. Vol. 2, The New World (1938), includes the North and South Pacific, and Australia, with concluding sections on geography, navigations, maps and atlases, naval and military expeditions, fictitious voyages and travels, and general reference works and bibliographies. This Reference Guide is definitive in nature, many of its entries being extensively annotated. The second is the catalog of an extensive library of printed books, journals, pamphlets, maps, and atlases, now consisting of over 50,000 volumes, housed at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, on the lower reaches of the River Thames. Its Catalogue of the Library, 5 vols. (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1966–1977) is indispensable. Vol. 1, Voyages and Travel (1968), begins with collected voyages and circumnavigations and is then arranged by area of discovery. Vol. 2, Biography, is, in fact, two volumes: the first comprises collective biography, navy lists, individual biography, and a general index; the second is a reference index to maritime biography. Vol. 3, Atlases and Cartography (1971), also in two volumes, has its entries arranged into national groups according to recognized cartographic schools, with general sections on modern (post-1840) atlases, facsimile atlases, and cartography and historiography.

ENCYCLOPEDIAS Inevitably, in all fields of human endeavor, progress is measured and commemorated by the men and women who make the crucial breakthrough even though their work built on and climaxed the efforts of previous workers. In discovery and exploration, it is the commanders of voyages and leaders of expeditions who gain the kudos and the accolades. Their first lieutenants and deputy leaders, the ship’s crew and expedition members, are rarely rewarded or remembered. Nevertheless biography provides a convenient and marketable approach for the editors and compilers of encyclopedias of world discovery and exploration. Some fine examples have been published in recent years. Helen Delpar’s The Discoverers. An Encyclopedia of Explorers and Exploration (New York: McGraw Hill, 1980), whose emphasis is on European discoverers, has 250 signed entries, each with a brief bibliography. Michèle GavetImbert’s The Guinness Book of Explorers and Exploration (Enfield, Mdx: Guinness Publishing, 1991) adds an extra dimension in that it was originally a

242 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

French-language publication and offers a different perspective of Pacific exploration. François Bellec’s chapter “Oceans and the Antipodes,” although paying full tribute to James Cook’s achievements, underlines the contribution of the French navigators. Richard E. Bohlander’s World Explorers and Discoverers (New York: Macmillan, 1992) includes 313 profiles of the most significant men and women in the history of world exploration, outlining their lives, characters, primary achievements, and the historical importance of their explorations. A glossary, lists of the explorers according to their nationality and area of exploration, and a bibliography complement the text. Carl Waldman and Alan Wexler’s Who Was Who in World Exploration (New York: Facts on File, 1992) is a more ambitious work on the lives of more than 800 explorers including many lesser-known names. An appendix lists explorers by region of exploration and the bibliography is arranged by the same geographical groupings. Daniel B. Baker’s Explorers and Discoverers of the World (Detroit: Gale Research, 1993) contains the biographies of 320 world explorers, which examine the historical significance and consequences of their explorations within their political, economic, and religious context. A Chronology of Exploration listing the major expeditions by geographical area, 17 area maps, a glossary, and a general bibliography strengthen the dictionary entries, each of which ends with a short guide to further reading. A thoroughly researched and well-received regional title, John Dunmore’s Who’s Who in Pacific Navigation (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991), records the achievements of 256 Spanish, English, Dutch, and French voyagers.

MAPS AND ATLASES Serving as an introductory textbook of the cartography of the main episodes of European exploration of the world from the 15th century onward, Rahleigh Ashlin Skelton’s Explorers’ Maps: Chapters in the Cartographical Record of Geographical Discovery (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958) reprints a series of articles originally published in Geographical Magazine, July 1953 through August 1956. In the author’s own words: “the maps reproduced in this book reflect, in varying degree, the knowledge with which the early explorer set out, his hopes and expectations, and the discoveries which he made” (p. 325). Contents include “European Rivalry for the Spice Islands,” “The Spanish in the South Sea,” “The Dutch Quest of the South-Land,” and “James Cook and the Mapping of the Pacific.” The predominant theme of Peter Whitfield’s Maps in the History of Exploration (London: The British Library, 1998) is an investigation of how

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 243

explorers and those who backed them regarded the expanding world. What were their real motives? Whitfield concentrates on period maps, illustrating contemporary geographical knowledge and belief, and not the precise and accurately drawn maps of modern times, so unlike the uncertain world of the discoverers and explorers. A chapter on “The Pacific and Australia” presents a chronological account of discovery from Magellan to Cook, recognizing “the triple problems of the phantom Southern Land, the absence of any really significant island groups to act as landmarks in the immensity of the Pacific, and the measurement of longitude” (p. 105). All three atlases of discovery mentioned here are visually attractive and each is worth a careful scrutiny. In Eric Newby’s The Mitchell Beazley World Atlas of Exploration (London: Mitchell Beazley, 1975), the maps are an adjunct to the text, which is generously sprinkled with quotes from original sources. A section, “Men of the World,” lists over 600 explorers. The bibliography is arranged by continent. Forty-seven magnificently illustrated chapter-length map features, divided into 12 continent or ocean sections, covering 3,000 years of world exploration, including 180 facsimile maps and 130 specially commissioned topographical maps showing discovery and exploration routes, are to be found in Felipe Fernandez-Armesto’s The Times Atlas of World Exploration (London: Times Books, 1991). A chronology in the form of continent time bands, a glossary of technical terms, a biographical glossary, and an index of over 12,000 placenames support the text. An inexplicable absence of any sort of bibliographical coverage is the only blemish of what is otherwise a superb atlas. “Pacific, Australia and New Zealand” is one of the 10 sections in Philip’s Atlas of Exploration (London: Philips, 1996), a comprehensive guide attractively presented, which also includes a time chart of exploration and a biographical section.

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARIES Biographical dictionaries play an important role in all fields of historical study, the history of discovery and exploration being no exception. Generally speaking, biographical coverage in this particular discipline is rich and varied but, even so, it is sometimes difficult to find information on the backgrounds of many Australian land explorers of relatively humble origins. This does not usually apply to the Royal Navy discovery voyage commanders, who, as often as not, subsequently attained high rank, or other persons of influence who promoted and encouraged discovery, all of whom were likely to be among “the

244 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

great and the good” included in Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee’s The Dictionary of National Biography, 63 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1885–1890). A series of supplements and decennial and quinquennial additions to the year 1990 have been added to this monumental and magisterial work. The Dictionary of National Biography on CD-ROM (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) incorporates all dictionary entries to 1985 and provides access to precise information presented in ways not possible in the printed volumes. A halt has been called to this series and a “New Dictionary of National Biography,” taking the biographies up to the year 2000, containing 50,000 entries, is planned to supersede it in both printed and electronic format. The Australian Dictionary of Biography (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press (1966– ) is arranged in a chronological sequence: Period 1, Convicts and Settlers 1788–1850, 2 vols. (1966–1967); Period 2, Gold Rush and After 1851–1890, 3 vols. (1969–1976); Period 3, Federation and After 1891–1939, 6 vols. (1979–1990); and 1940–1980 (1993 in progress). Index: Volumes 1–12. 1788–1939 (1991) includes a very useful Occupations classified list. A CDROM version of all 12 volumes covering the 1788–1939 period is available. H. J. Gibney and Ann G. Smith’s A Biographical Register 1788–1939: Notes and Name Index of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2 vols. (Canberra: Australian National University, Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1987) incorporates material on thousands of individuals not included in the main dictionary. L. Baillie and P. Sieveking’s The British Biographical Archive (London: K.G. Saur, 1984–1989) is a single A–Z cumulation, on 1,236 fiches, of fulltext entries from 324 English-language biographical reference works, published 1601 through 1929. This was extended in A. Esposito’s The British Biographical Archive Series II (1991–1994), with a further 632 fiches. These two micropublications are indexed in The British Biographical Index, 7 vols. (London: K.G. Saur, 1998), which provides basic information, and a listing of biographical citations and fiche reference number for each person in the Archive. S. Bradley’s Archives Biographiques Françaises/French Biographical Archive (Munich: K.G. Saur, 1989–1991); T. Nappo’s Archives Biographiques Françaises Deuxième Série/French Biographical Archives Series II (1993–1996); and H. Dwyer’s Index Biographique Français/French Biographical Index, 2nd ed., 7 vols. (Munich: K.G. Saur, 1997) are similar French-language works. Victor Herrero Mediavilla’s Archivo Biográfico de España, Portugal e Iberoamérica/Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Biographical Archive (1986–1989) and (1996–1998) and Indice Biográphico de España, Portugal e Iberoamérica/Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Biographical Index, 3rd ed. 10 vols. (Munich: K.G. Saur, 1999) is a comparable series for Spanish-language material.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 245

Mediavilla also edited Australasian Biographical Archive (Munich: K.G. Saur, 1990–1994), which comprises 423 fiches, a single-sequence cumulation of approximately 100,000 full-text entries, from 140 biographical works, covering Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and South Pacific islands since their discovery and settlement by Europeans. A Supplement (1995) extends the coverage, in 119 fiches, to 174,600 biographical entries on 95,100 men and women. Australasian Biographical Index, 3 vols. (1998) is a printed index to both works.

ARRANGEMENT The bibliography is arranged in 25 form, chronological, thematic, and geographic sections, designed to present the unfolding story of Australia’s discovery and exploration within a dictionary format. Arrangement within sections is general items first and then entries are subdivided alphabetically by individual explorers or, where necessary, by associated themes. To avoid confusion and repetition, all explorers are placed in the geographical region in which they made their most memorable or geographically significant achievements. Biographies and bibliographies relating to individuals are incorporated with their subjects and not in the form sections at the beginning of the bibliography.

ABBREVIATIONS For convenience and space considerations, a number of abbreviations have been used within citations for journals with unusually long titles: Cartography Globe

Great Circle HSANZ JRAHS JRGS PRGS

Cartography. Journal of the Australian Institute of Cartographers Globe. Journal of the Australian Map Collectors Circle (August 1974–1992); Journal of the Australian Map Circle (1983–) Great Circle. Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History Historical Studies Australia and New Zealand Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society Journal of the Royal Geographical Society Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society

246 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRGSASA

Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch

1. BIBLIOGRAPHIES Davidson, Rodney. A Book Collector’s Notes on Items Relating to the Discovery of Australia, the First Settlement and the Early Coastal Exploration of the Continent. North Melbourne: Cassell Australia, 1970. Mackaness, George. Bibliomania: An Australian Book Collector’s Essay. Sydney: Angus & Robinson, 1965. McLaren, Ian F. Australian Explorers by Sea, Land and Air 1788–1988. 9 vols. Parkville: The University of Melbourne Library, 1988–1991. Petherick, Edward Augustus. Australasia: A Catalogue of Four Hundred Volumes Illustrative of Discovery and Colonization, 16th to 20th Century. London: E.A. Petherick, 1916. ———. Catalogue of a Collection of Books, Illustrative of Discovery and Colonization in Australasia . . . Now in the Possession of M.Larkin J.P., South Melbourne. London: E.A. Petherick, 1890. ———. Catalogue of the York Gate Library Formed by Mr. S. William Silver. London: R. Clay, 1882. ———. Edwards’ Australasian Catalogue: Catalogue of Books Relating to Australasia, Malaysia, Polynesia, the Pacific Coast of America and the South Seas. London: Francis Edwards, 1899. Politzer, Ludwig. Bibliography of Dutch Literature on Australia. Melbourne: privately printed in an edition of 100 copies, 1953. Robert, Willem C. R. Contributions to a Bibliography of Australia and the South Sea Islands. 4 vols. Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1968–1975. Spence, Sydney A. A Bibliography of Selected Early Books and Pamphlets Relating to Australia 1610–1880. London: Sydney A. Spence, 1955. A limited edition of 525 copies. Wantrup, Jonathan. Australian Rare Books 1788–1900. Sydney: Hordern House, 1987.

2. MAPS AND ATLASES The British Library Map Catalogue on CD-ROM. London: Primary Source Media and the British Library, 1999. A printed guide by Tony Campbell accompanies the disk. Carter, Paul. The Road to Botany Bay: An Essay in Spatial History. London: Faber, 1987. Clancy, Christine and Robert Clancy. “A Vintage Map.” Mercator’s World 2, no. 5 (1997): 60–61. Clancy, Robert. The Mapping of Terra Australis. Macquarie Park, NSW: Universal Press, 1995.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 247

———. “The Mapping of Terra Australis.” Map Collector 55 (Summer 1991): 10–15 and Globe 38 (1993): 11–12. ———. “Scramble for the Southern Continent.” Mercator’s World 4, no. 3 (May/June 1999): 46–53. Clancy, Robert and Alan Richardson. So They Came South. Silverwater, NSW: Shakespeare Head Press, 1988. A Collection of Nineteenth Century maps of Australia and New Zealand from the British Parliamentary Papers. Dublin: Irish Universities Press, 1976. Facsimiles of Old Charts of Australia Now in the British Museum. Reproduced by the kind permission of the Trustees of that institution under the direction, and at the expense of the Trustees of the Free Public Library, Sydney, New South Wales; the Trustees of the Public Library, Museum and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; the Board of Governors of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. London: Trübner, 1885. Fausset, David. “Historical and Literary Parallels in the Early Mapping of Australia.” Terra Incognitae 26 (1994): 27–35. Fawcett, J. W. “Notes on Early Australian Charts and Discoverers.” Notes and Queries 161 (22 August 1931): 133–134. General Map of Australia Showing the Routes of the Explorers. 2nd ed. Melbourne: Office of Lands & Survey, 1863. Single sheet 8cm x 5.8cm. Scale 1 inch:110 miles. Hooker, Brian. “Finding Australia’s East Coast.” Map Collector 50 (Spring 1990): 19–22. Krogt, Peter van der. “Gerard Mercator.” Mercator’s World 1, no. 4 (1996): 34–41. Kunz, Egon and Elsie Kunz. A Continent Takes Shape. Sydney: Collins, 1971. Lines, John D. Australia on Paper: The Story of Australian Mapping. Box Hill, VIC: Fortune Publications, 1992. Marchant, Leslie R. “The Political Division of Australia 1479–1829: The Historical Development of the Western Australian Border.” Cartography 29, no. 1 (June 2000): 29–48 and no. 2 (December 2000): 1–21. Martin, Gillian. “Interesting Maps in the Tooley Collection.” Globe 3 (September 1975): 41–50. Mollet, du Jourdin, Michel and Monique de la Roncière. Sea Charts of the Early Explorers 13th to 17th Century. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1984. O’Connor, Maura. Map Collections in Australia. 4th ed. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1991. O’Hagan, J. E. “The Use of Torres’s Charts by 17th Century Cartographers.” Australian Geographer 8, no. 3 (September 1961): 95–102. Perry, Thomas Melville. “Australia and Cartography of the Late Eighteenth Century Expeditions.” In Terra Australis the Furthest Shore, ed. William Eisler and Bernard Smith, 129–133. Sydney: International Cultural Corporation of Australia, 1988. ———. The Discovery of Australia: The Charts and Maps of the Navigators and Explorers. Melbourne: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

248 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Perry, Thomas Melville and Dorothy Prescott. A Guide to Maps of Australia in Books Published 1780–1830. An Annotated Cartobibliography. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1996. Prescott, Dorothy. “Buried Treasure: Maps of Australia in the Nineteenth Century Imperial and Colonial Parliamentary Papers.” Globe 37 (1992): 57–64. ———. “The Colonisation of Australia by the British as Shown through Maps.” In Technical Papers of the 12th Conference of the International Cartographic Association Perth, Australia, August 6–13 1984. Vol. 2. Perth: 12th ICA Conference Committee, 1984. ———. “Maps of Australia in Books: A Cartobibliography.” Globe 45 (1997): 19–31. Reinhartz, Dennis. “Cartography, Literature and Empire.” Mercator’s World 4, no. 2 (March/April 1999): 32–39. Richardson, W. A. R. “Enigmatic Indian Ocean Coastlines in Early Maps and Charts.” Globe 46 (1998): 21–41. Ryan, Simon. The Cartographic Eye: How Explorers Saw Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Sanz, Carlos. Cartográfia historica de los descrubrimientos australes (Historical maps of the southern discoveries). Madrid: Aguirre, 1967. Schilder, Günter. “New Cartographical Contributions to the Coastal Exploration of Australia in the Course of the Seventeenth Century.” Imago Mundi 26 (1972): 41–44. Suarez, Thomas. “The Mapping of Terra Australis.” Mercator’s World 2, no. 1 (January/February 1997): 60–63. ———. “A 2,000-Year Premonition: Maps of the Great Southern Continent—Before Its Discovery.” Mercator’s World 1, no. 2 (1996): 10–17. Thomas, Rebecca and Robert Clancy. “Contributions to the Mapping of Australia through the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.” Globe 37 (1992): 65–67. Tooley, R. V. Early Maps of Australia: The Dutch Period. London: Map Collectors Circle, 1965. ———. “The History of Australian Cartography.” In The Mapping of Australia. London: The Holland Press, 1979. ———. The Mapping of Australia. London: The Holland Press, 1979. This work in effect is a catalog of the Tooley Collection in the National Library of Australia, Canberra. ———. Maps and Map-Makers. 6th ed. London: B.T. Batsford, 1978. ———. One Hundred Foreign Maps of Australia 1773–1887. London: Map Collectors Circle, 1964. ———. The Printed Maps of New South Wales. London: Map Collectors Circle, 1968. Unfolding Australia. Proceedings of the Joint Meeting of the International Map Collectors Society (IMCOS) and the Australian Map Circle, Sydney, Australia, November 1991. Published as Special Issue of The Globe 37 (1992). Wantrup, Jonathan. “Printed Maps In Explorers’ Journals, 1788–1850.” Globe 37 (1992): 48–56. Wenholz, R. J. “Discovering Australian History through Maps.” Cartography 11, no. 4 (September 1980): 234–242.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 249

Whitehouse, Eric B. The Northern Approaches: Australia in Old Maps 820 to 1770. Brisbane: Boolarong Press, 1994. Wilson, Lee. Mystery Continent: Historical Atlas of European Exploration in Australia. Sydney: C.C.H. Australia, 1984.

3. PLACE-NAMES AND NOMENCLATURE Appleton, Richard and Barbara Appleton. The Cambridge Dictionary of Australian Places. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Atchison, J. F. “Toponymy in Australia: A Saga of Lost Opportunities.” Globe 9 (1978): 77–95. “Gazetteer of Australian Place Names.” In Discovery and Exploration of Australia, ed. Erwin H. J. Feeken and Gerda E. E. Feeken. Melbourne: Nelson, 1970. Kennedy, Brian and Barbara Kennedy. Australian Place Names. Sydney: Hodder & Stoughton, 1989. King, R. “Territorial Boundaries of New South Wales in 1788.” Great Circle 3, no. 2 (1987): 70–89. Lodewyckx, A. “The Name of Australia: Its Origins and Early Use.” Victorian Historical Magazine 13, no. 3 (June 1929): 99–115. Mack, James D. “The Naming of Australia: A Revised View.” Geographical Journal 124, no. 4 (December 1958): 514–516. Payne, Anthony. “Australia Appears So-Called for the First Time.” Map Collector 33 (December 1985): 36–37. See also letters by T. M. Perry and Anthony Payne. Map Collector 35 (June 1986): 51–52. Reed, Alexander Wyclif. Place Names of Australia. Terrey Hills, NSW: Reed, 1979. Richardson, W. A. R. “Jave-La-Grande: A Case Study of Place-Name Corruption.” In Technical Papers of the 12th Conference of the International Cartographic Association Perth, Australia, August 6–13, 1984. Vol. 2. Perth: 12th ICA Conference Committee, 1984. Also in Globe 22 (1984): 9–32. ———. “Jave-la-Grande: A Place-Name Chart of Its East Coast.” Great Circle 6, no. 1 (April 1984): 1–23. ———. “Toponymy and the History of Cartography.” JRAHS 78, nos. 1 and 2 (June 1992): 125–129. Rupert-Jones, John A. “Early Australian Surveys: Place-Names and Their Sources.” Notes and Queries 161 (4 July 1931): 2–4 and (11 July 1931): 25–26. Sanz, Carlos. Australia: Its Discovery and Name. Madrid: Imprenta Ministerio De Asuntos Exteriores. 1964. Spate, O. H. K. “South Seas to Pacific Ocean: A Note on Nomenclature.” Journal of Pacific History 12, nos. 3–4 (1977): 205–221. Vetch, James. “Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia.” JRGS 8 (1838): 157–169.

250 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wells, William Henry. A Geographical Dictionary or Gazetteer of the Australian Colonies. Sydney: W & F. Ford, 1848; Sydney: The Council of The Library of New South Wales, 1970.

4. BIOGRAPHY Atkinson, Ann. The Dictionary of Famous Australians. 2nd ed. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1995. Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1966. Index: Vols. 1–12 1778–1939 (1991). A CD-ROM version of this work, covering Periods 1–3, was issued in 1996. Gibney, H. J. and Ann G. Smith (eds.). A Biographical Register, 1788–1939: Notes from the Australian Dictionary of Biography. 2 vols. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1987. Heaton, J. H. Australian Dictionary of Dates and Men of the Time: Containing the History of Australasia from 1542 to Date. London: S.W. Silver; Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide: George Robertson, 1879. Contents include sections on Australian Land Explorers and Australian Navigators. Mediavilla, Victor Herrero (ed.). Australasian Biographical Archive. Munich: K.G. Saur, 1990–94. 423 fiches accumulating 100,000 full-text entries from 140 biographical works. ———. Supplement. Munich: K.G. Saur, 1995. 119 fiches. ———. Australasian Biographical Index. 3 vols. Munich: K.G. Saur, 1998. Printed index to Australasian Biographical Archive.

5. RESEARCH LIBRARY COLLECTIONS Bloomfield, Valerie. Resources for Australian and New Zealand Studies: A Guide to Library Holdings in the United Kingdom. London: Australian Studies Centre, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London and The British Library, 1986. Davis, Gail. “The Map and Plans Collection of the Archives Office of New South Wales.” Globe 37 (1992): 94–95. The Great South Land: An Exhibition of Books Relating to the European Discovery and Exploration of Australia. Melbourne: The Friends of the State Library of Victoria. Library Council of Victoria, 1988. Published as a special issue of the La Trobe Library Journal 11, no. 41 (Autumn 1988). McLaren-Turner, Patricia (ed.). Australian and New Zealand Studies: Papers Presented at a Colloquium at the British Library 7–9 February 1984. London: The British Library, 1985. Moignard, K. “A Cartobibliography of Early Maps of Australia in the Library of Congress.” Cartography 13, no. 4 (September 1984): 266–268.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 251

O’Connor, Maura. “Early Map Collections in Australian Libraries.” Map Collector 55 (Summer 1991): 2–6. Pitt, G. H. “The South Australian Archives.” HSANZ 1, no. 1 (April 1940): 46–56. Reilly, Diane. “The La Trobe Library: A History.” La Trobe Library Journal 12, nos. 47 and 48 (1991): 72–76. Richardson, G. D. “The Early Archives of New South Wales. Notes on Their Creators and Their Keepers.” JRAHS 59, no. 2 (June 1973): 79–94.

National Library of Australia Hetherington, Michelle. “Paradise Possessed: The Rex Nan Kivell Collection.” National Library of Australia News 8, no. 11 (August 1998): 3–8. Knight, T. M. “The Map Collection of the National Library of Australia.” Cartography 10, no. 2 (July 1977): 94–99. O’Connor, Maura. “National Library of Australia’s Map Collection.” Globe 37 (1992): 91. Paradise Possessed: The Rex Nan Kivell Collection. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1998. Santamaria, Catherine. “Source Materials for Australian Studies in the National Library of Australia: The Collections; the Issues; the Future.” In Australian and New Zealand Studies, ed. Patricia McLaren-Turner. London: The British Library, 1985. Smith, Bernard William. The Rex Nan Kivell Room. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1974.

Royal Geographical Society of South Australia MacDonald, Bruce. Filling in the Maps. A Cameo of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australia Branch Inc. Supplement to the South Australian Year Book, 1995. Adelaide: Australian Bureau of Statistics South Australian Office, 1995. Sitters, Valerie. “The Flagship of the Society—The Royal Geographical Society Library.” Geonews 7, no. 4 (September/October 2000): 4–5; no. 5 (November/December 2000): 4–5; and 8, no. 1 (April/May 2001): 7–9. ———. “The Royal Geographical Society of South Australia Library.” History South Australia the Newsletter of the Historical Society of South Australia 154 (May 2001): 7.

State Library of New South Wales Berzins, Baiba. “The Mitchell and Dixson Collections in the State Library of New South Wales.” In Terra Australis: The Furthest Shore, ed. William Eisler and Bernard Smith, 157. Sydney: International Cultural Corporation of Australia, 1988. Joinson, Don. “Treasures of The Mitchell.” Walkabout 34, no. 10 (October 1968): 12–15. Leeson, Ida. The Mitchell Library Sydney Historical and Descriptive Notes. Sydney: The Mitchell Library, 1936.

252 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Mitchell Library. The Public Library of New South Wales: Dictionary Catalogue of Printed Books. 38 vols. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1968. First Supplement, 1970. Robertson, Anne. Treasures of the State Library of New South Wales: The Australian Collections. Sydney: Collins in association with the State Library of New South Wales, 1988. Thomas, Rebecca. “The Map Collection of the State Library of New South Wales.” Globe 37 (1992): 96.

6. VOYAGES: COLLECTIONS Burney, James. A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean Commencing with an Account of the Earliest Discovery of That Sea by Europeans. 5 vols. London: G&W. Nicol, 1803–1817. Callander, John. Terra Australis Cognita; or Voyages to the Terra Australis, or Southern Hemisphere, during the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. 3 vols. Edinburgh: A. Donaldson, 1766–1768. Churchill, Awnsham and John Churchill. A Collection of Voyages and Travels, Some now First Printed From Original Manuscripts, Others Now First Published In English. 3rd ed. 8 vols. London: John Osborne, 1752. Cook, Arthur S. “Alexander Dalrymple. Research Writing and Publication of the Account.” In Alexander Dalrymple. An Account of the Discoveries made in the South Pacifick Ocean Previous to 1764. Sydney: Australian National Maritime Museum and Hordern House, 1996. Dalrymple, Alexander. An Account of the Discoveries made in the South Pacifick Ocean previous to 1764. London: privately printed, 1767. Sydney: Australian National Maritime Museum and Hordern House, 1996. ———. An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean. Being Chiefly a Literal Translation from the Spanish Writers. 2 vols. London: Nourse, Payne, Elmsley, 1770–1771. De Brosses, Charles. Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes. Contenant ce que l’on sçait des moeurs et des productions des Contrées découvertes jusqu’à ce jour; et où il est traité de l’utilité d’y faire de plus amples découvertes, et moyens d’y former un établissement. (History of the Voyages to the South Lands. Containing What is Known of the Customs and Products of the Countries Discovered up to the Present Time and a Treatise on the Usefulness of Making Further Discoveries, and on the Resources for Forming a Settlement There). Paris: Durand, 1756. Harris, John. Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca or A Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels. Consisting of above Six Hundred of the most Authentic Writers . . . Carefully revised by John Campbell. 3rd ed. 2 vols. London: Thomas Osborne, 1744–1748. Pinkerton, John. A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of The World. 17 vols. London: Longman, Hurst etc. 1800–1814.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 253

Thévenot, Melchisedech. Relations de Divers Voyages Curieux qui n’ont point esté publiés et qu’on a traduites ou tirées des originauz des Voyageurs François, Espagnoles, Allemands, Portugois, Hollandois, Persans, Arabes etc. (Accounts of Sundry Curious Voyages That Have Not Been Translated or Drawn from French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Persian, Arab Originals). 4 vols. Paris: Jacques Langlois, 1663.

7. VOYAGES: GENERAL Allen, Oliver E. The Pacific Navigators. Amsterdam: Time-Life Books, 1980. Appleyard, R. T. and T. B. Mountford. The Beginning: European Discovery and Early Settlement of Swan River, Western Australia. Nedlands: University of Western Australia, 1979. Badger, Geoffrey. The Explorers of the Pacific. Kenthurst, NSW: Kangaroo Press, 1988. Bayldon, Francis J. “Remarks on Criticisms of Explorers in the Pacific Ocean.” JRAHS 19, no. 3 (1933): 141–174. ———. “Remarks on Navigators of the Pacific from Magellan to Cook.” JRAHS 18, no. 3 (1932): 134–152. Beaglehole, J. C. “Eighteenth Century Science and the Voyages of Discovery.” New Zealand Journal of History 3 (1969): 115–118. ———. The Exploration of the Pacific. 3rd ed. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1966. Blair, David. Cyclopedia of Australia; or, Directory of Facts, Events, Dates, Persons and Places Connected with the Discovery, Exploration and Progress of the British Dominions in the South, from the Earliest Dawn of Discovery in the Southern Ocean to the Year 1881. Melbourne: Fergusson & Moore, 1881. Brosse, Jacques. Great Voyages of Exploration: The Golden Age of Discovery in the Pacific. Lane Cove, NSW: Doubleday Press, 1983. Calvert, Albert Frederick. The Discovery of Australia. 2nd ed. London: Dean, 1901. Cole, Keith. Seafarers of the Groote Archipelago: Aborigines and Mariners of the Islands off Eastern Arnhem Land. Bendigo: Keith Cole Publications, 1980. Collingridge, George. The Discovery of Australia. A Critical, Documentary and Historic Investigation Concerning the Priority of Discovery in Australasia by Europeans before the Arrival of Lieut. James Cook, in the ‘Endeavour’ in the Year 1770. Sydney: Hayes Brothers, 1895; Silverwater, NSW: Golden Press, 1983. Cowley, Des. “European Voyages of Discovery.” In The Great Southland, ed. Des Cowley. Melbourne: The Friends of the State Library of Victoria, 1988. Dodge, Ernest S. Beyond the Capes: Pacific Exploration from Captain Cook to the Challenger 1776–1877. London: Victor Gollancz, 1971. Dunbabin, Thomas. “Early Voyages to Terra Australis.” JRAHS 22, no. 4 (1936): 229–246. Emery, James. The Discovery of Australia Including the Mandated Territory of New Guinea: A Chronological Summary of Voyages of Discovery up till the Foundation of Australia (1526–1788). Sydney: Hamlyn Guides, 1973.

254 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Estensen, Miriam. Discovery: The Quest for the Great South Land. Sydney: Allen & Unwin; London: Conway Maritime Press, 1998. Fairbridge, Rhodes W. “Discoveries in the Timor Sea, North-West Australia.” JRAHS 33, no. 4 (1948): 193–212. Feeken, E. H. J. and G. E. Feeken. The Discovery and Exploration of Australia. Melbourne: Thomas Nelson, 1970. Hardy, John and Alan Frost (eds.). European Voyaging towards Australia. Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1990. ———. Studies from Terra Australis to Australia. Papers of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Bicentennial Conference Terra Australis to Australia. Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1989. Holland, Julian. Lands of the Southern Cross. London: Aldus Books, 1971. Howse, Derek (ed.). Background to Discovery: Pacific Exploration from Dampier to Cook. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Kenny, John. Before the First Fleet: The Europeans in Australia 1606–1777. Kenthurst, NSW: Kangaroo Press, 1995. Lamprell, Bernard. Sea Explorers of Australia. Adelaide: Rigby, 1978. Lincoln, Margaret (ed.). Science and Exploration in the Pacific: European Voyages to the Southern Oceans in the 18th Century. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press in association with the National Maritime Museum, 1998. Lloyd, Christopher. Pacific Horizons: The Exploration of the Pacific before Captain Cook. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1946. Mackaness, George. “Some Proposals for Establishing Colonies in the South Seas.” JRAHS 29, no. 5 (1943): 261–280. MacLean, Donald. “The Search for the Great South Land.” Walkabout 1, no. 1 (January 1935): 38–41; no. 2 (February 1935): 43–45, 60; no. 3 (March 1935): 46, 48–49; no. 4 (April 1935): 42, 63–64; and no. 5 (May 1935): 47, 61, 63. Major, Richard Henry (ed.). Early Voyages to Terra Australis, now called Australia: a Collection of Documents, and Extracts from Early Manuscript Maps, Illustrative of the History of Discovery on the Coasts of that Vast Island, from the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century to the Time of Captain Cook. London: Hakluyt Society, 1859. Morris, Roger. Pacific Sail. Four Centuries of Western Ships in the Pacific. Auckland: Bateman, 1987. Nicholson, I. H. Log of Logs: A Catalogue of Logs, Journals, Shipboard Diaries, Letters, and All Forms of Voyage Narrative. 3 vols. Yaroomba, QLD: the Author, 1990. Radok, Rainer. Capes and Captains. A Comprehensive Study of the Australian Coast. Chipping Norton, NSW: Surrey Beatty, 1990. Rainaud, Armand. Le Continent Austral. Hypothèses et Découvertes. (The Southern Continent. Theories and Discoveries). Paris: Colin Armand, 1892. Scott, Ernest (ed.). Australian Discovery by Sea. London: J.M. Dent, 1929. Sharp, Andrew. The Discovery of Australia. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963. Ward, Russell. Finding Australia: The History of Australia to 1821. Melbourne: Heinemann Educational, 1987.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 255

Williams, Glyndwr and Alan Frost (eds.). Terra Australis to Australia. Melbourne: Oxford University Press in association with the Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1988. Wood, G. Arnold. The Discovery of Australia. London: Macmillan, 1922. ———. The Discovery of Australia. Rev. ed. Melbourne: Macmillan of Australia, 1969. Woods, Julian E. Tenison. A History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia; Or an Account of the Progress of Geographical Discovery in That Continent, from the Earliest Period to the Present Day. 2 vols. London: Sampson, Law, Marston, 1865.

8. ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL VOYAGES (?) Navis. “Australia and the Ancients.” Notes and Queries 7th series, no. 2 (10 July 1886): 36. Lach-Szyrma, W. S. “Australia and the Ancients.” Notes and Queries 7th series, no. 1 (22 May 1886): 408 and no. 5 (5 May 1888): 356. Terry, Michael. “Australia’s Unknown History.” Walkabout 33, no. 8 (August 1967): 19–23. ———. “Did Ptolemy Know of Australia?” Walkabout 31, no. 8 (August 1965): 30–31. Wood, G. Arnold. “Ancient and Medieval Conceptions of Terra Australis.” JRAHS 3, no. 10 (1916): 455–465. Worsley, P. M. “Early Asian Contacts with Australia.” Past and Present 7 (April 1955): 1–11.

Chinese Voyages Fitzgerald, C. P. “A Chinese Discovery of Australia.” In Australia Writes, ed. T. Inglis Moore. Melbourne: Cheshire, 1953. Goddard, W. C. “Did the Chinese Discover Australia?” Brisbane Courier, no. 23269 (27 August 1932): 21. Hsieh, Chiao-min. “The Chinese Exploration of the Ocean—A Study in Historical Geography.” Chinese Culture (Taiwan) 9 (1968): 123–131. Jack-Hinton, Colin. “Early Asian Contacts with the Continent.” In Studies from Terra Australis to Australia, ed. John Hardy and Alan Frost, 37–46. Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1989. Lu Zi and Liu Yang. “Zheng He 1371–1433.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 20, ed. Geoffrey J. Martin and Patrick H. Armstrong, 119–125. London: Continuum, 2000. Menzies, Gavin. 1421: The Year China Discovered the World. London: Bantam Press, 2002. Peterson, Barbara Bennett. “The Ming Voyages of Cheng Ho (Zheng He) 1371–1433.” Great Circle 16, no. 1 (1994): 43–51. Wade, John. “Shou Lao: A Chinese Figurine Excavated at Darwin in 1879.” Australian Society for Historical Archaeology Newsletter 7, no. 2 (1977): 15–16.

256 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Macarrese Voyages Burningham, Nick. “Aboriginal Nautical Art: A Record of the Macassans and the Pearling Industry in Northern Australia.” Great Circle 16, no. 7 (1994): 139–151. Green, Jeremy. “The Carronade Islands: Guns and Australia’s Early Visitors.” Great Circle 4, no. 2 (October 1982): 73–83. McKnight, C. C. The Voyage to Morege: Macassan Trepangers in Northern Australia. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976. Patterson, Ewen K. “With the Australian Trepangers.” Empire Review 63, no. 420 (January 1936): 35–39.

Medieval Perceptions of Terra Australis Clancy, Robert. “By a Parity of Reason . . . Or Terra Australis and the Early Printed World Maps.” Globe 31 (1989): 7–12. Eisler, William. The Furthest Shore: Images of Terra Australis from the Middle Ages to Captain Cook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Eisler, William and Bernard Smith (eds.). Terra Australis: The Furthest Shore. Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales and International Cultural Corporation of Australia, 1988. Giordano, Antonio. Marco Polo . . . and After: A Brief Survey of Italian Travel and Exploration in South-East Asia, New Guinea and Australia. Adelaide: A. Giordano, 1974. Richardson, W. A. R. “Mercator’s Southern Continent.” Globe 37 (1992): 17–22. ———. “Mercator’s Southern Continent: Its Origins, Influence and Gradual Demise.” Terra Incognitae 25 (1993): 676–698. Wallis, Helen. “Visions of Terra Australis in the Middle Ages.” In Terra Australis: The Furthest Shore, ed. William Eisler and Bernard Smith, 35–38. Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales and International Cultural Corporation of Australia, 1988. Wroth, Lawrence C. “The False Continent.” In The Early Cartography of the Pacific. Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 38, no. 2 (1944).

9. PORTUGUESE PRIORITY (?) Abendanon, E. C. “Missing Links in the Development of the Portuguese Cartography of the Netherlands East Indian Archipelago.” Geographical Journal 54, no. 6 (December 1919): 347–355. Ariel, A. “Navigating with Kenneth McIntyre: A Professional Critique.” Great Circle 6, no. 2 (October 1984): 135–139. Collingridge, George. The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea, Being the Narrative of Portuguese and Spanish Discoveries in the Australasian Regions Be-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 257

tween the Years 1492–1606 with Description of Their Old Charts. Sydney: William Brooks, 1906. Duncan, Stuart. “The Discovery of Australia: The Portuguese Priority Reconsidered.” Victorian Historical Journal 68, no. 1 (April 1997): 64–78. ———. “Shaving with Ockham’s Razor: A Reappraisal of the Portuguese Priority Hypothesis.” Globe 39 (1993): 1–9. Fitzgerald, Lawrence. Java La Grande: The Portuguese Discovery of Australia. Hobart: The Publishers, 1986. Fowler, T. W. “Notes on the Discovery of the Victorian Coastline.” Australian Association for the Advancement of Science Reports (1913): 343–351. Heawood, Edward. “Was Australia Discovered in the Sixteenth Century?” Geographical Journal 14, no. 4 (October 1899): 421–426. Hervé, Roger. Chance Discovery of Australia and New Zealand by Portuguese and Spanish Navigators between 1521 and 1528. Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press, 1984. First published as Découverte fortuite de l’Australie et de la Nouvelle-Zélande par des Navigateurs Portugais et Espagnols entre 1521 et 1528. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1982. McIntyre, Kenneth Gordon. “Portuguese Discoverers on the Australian Coast.” Victorian Historical Magazine 45, no. 4 (November 1974): 201–228. ———. The Secret Discovery of Australia: Portuguese Ventures 200 Years before Captain Cook. Medindie, SA and London: Souvenir Press, 1977. McKiggan, Ian. “The Portuguese Expedition to Bass Strait in AD 1522.” Journal of Australian Studies 1 (June 1977): 2–32. ———. “Jave-la-Grande: An Apologia.” Journal of Australian Studies 19 (November 1986): 96–101. “The Portuguese Debate.” Globe 37 (1992): 12–15. Two short articles: “Jave-la-Grande and Australia” (Helen Wallis) and “Jave-la-Grande is not Australia” (W. A. R. Richardson). Rennie, B. C. “The Dauphin Map.” Journal of Australian Studies 3 (June 1978): 75–80. Richardson, W. A. R. “A Critique of Spanish and Portuguese Claims to Have Discovered Australia.” Investigator 30, no. 3 (September 1995): 83–107 and no. 4 (December 1995): 131–147. Investigator is the Journal of the Geelong Historical Society. ———. “Is Jave-la-Grande Australia?” Globe 19 (1983): 9–46. ———. “Jave-la-Grande: A Case of Cartographic Confusion.” Geographical Magazine 54, no. 11 (November 1982): 615–622. ———. “Jave-la-Grande Hypothesis.” Journal of Australian Studies 21 (November 1987): 96–100. ———. “Jave-la-Grande: Latitude and Longitude versus Toponymy.” Journal of Australian Studies 18 (1986): 74–91. ———. “Jave-La-Grande. The Interpretation of Evidence.” Globe 26, (1986): 42–57. ———. The Portuguese Discovery of Australia. Fact or Fiction? Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1989. Spate, O. H. K. “Java-la-Grande: The Great Whodunnit.” Great Circle 6 (1984): 132–134.

258 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wallis, Helen. “The Challenge That Is an Australian Map.” Globe 37 (1992): 1–11. ———. “Did the Portuguese Discover Australia?” History Today 38, no. 2 (March 1988): 30–35. ———. “Did the Portuguese Discover Australia? The Map Evidence.” In Technical Papers of the 12th Conference of the International Cartographic Association, Perth, Australia, August 6–13, 1984. Vol. 2. Perth: 12th ICA Conference Committee, 1984. ———. “The Dieppe Maps—The First Representation of Australia?” Globe 17 (1982): 23–51. ———. “The Rotz Atlas: A Royal Present.” Map Collector 20 (September 1982): 40–41. ———. “Terra Australis, Australia and New Zealand: Voyages, Discoveries and Concepts.” In Australian and New Zealand Studies, ed. Patricia McLaren-Turner, 184–193. London: The British Library, 1985. ———. (ed.). The Maps and Text of the Boke of Idrography Presented by Jean Rotz to Henry VIII Now in the British Library. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981. Printed for Presentation to the Members of the Roxburghe Club. Wood, G. Arnold. “Was Australia Known in the Sixteenth Century?” JRAHS 4, no. 5 (1918): 269–279.

Line of Demarcation Bourne, Edward G. “The History and Determination of the Line of Demarcation Established by Pope Alexander VI between the Spanish and Portuguese Fields of Discovery and Colonization.” American Historical Association Annual Report (1891): 103–130. Chicoteau, Marcel. “A Papal Bull and Australian Gold.” Globe 18 (1982): 1–8. Dawson, S. E. “The Line of Demarcation of Pope Alexander VI 1493.” Proceedings and Transactions Royal Society of Canada 5 (1899): Sect. II: 457–546. King, Robert J. “Terra Australis, New Holland and New South Wales: The Treaty of Tordesillas and Australia.” Globe 47 (1998): 35–55. Leyland, Michael. “The Line That Divided the World.” Mercator’s World 1, no. 1 (1996): 34–36.

Dieppe Maps Coleman, P. L. “Is Jave-la-Grande Australia?” JRAHS 72, no. 3 (December 1986): 191–203. McKiggan, Ian. “The Dauphin Map—A Reply.” Journal of Australian Studies 3 (1978): 78–80.

The Mahogany Ship Anderson, J. L. “The Mahogany Ship: History and Legend.” Great Circle 3 (April 1981): 46–48 and no. 8 (1986): 122–126.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 259

Hall, Christopher. “The Mahogany Ship—An Unidentified Australian Wreck.” Mariner’s Mirror 48, no. 4 (November 1962): 304–308 and 50, no. 1 (August 1963): 187–188. Hilder, Brett. “The Mahogany Ship.” Mariner’s Mirror 61, no. 2 (May 1975): 162. MacRobert, Ian. “The Mahogany Ship.” Mariner’s Mirror 49, no. 3 (August 1963): 224–225. Potter, Bill (ed.). The Mahogany Ship. Relic or Legend? Proceedings of the Second Australian Symposium on the Mahogany Ship. Warrnambool: The Mahogany Ship Committee and Warrnambool Institute Press, 1987. The Proceedings of the First Australian Symposium on the Mahogany Ship: Relic or Legend. Including the Report of Operation Sandfly the 1981 Search. 3rd ed. Warrnambool: The Mahogany Ship Committee, 1985. Quarrel, Avis. The Legend of the Mahogany Ship. Warrnambool: Covell Publications, 1996.

Manoel Godinho de Erédia Major, Richard Henry. “Further Facts in the History of the Early Discovery of Australia.” Archaeologia 44 (1873): 233–241. ———. “On the Discovery of Australia by the Portuguese in 1601, Five Years before the Earliest Known Discovery; with Arguments in Favour of a Previous Discovery by the Same Nation Early in the Sixteenth Century.” Archaeologia 38, no. 2 (1861): 439–459. ———. “Supplementary Facts in the History of the Discovery of Australia.” Archaeologia 44 (1873): 242–258. Mills, J. V. “Eredia’s Description of Malaca Meridional India and Cathay.” Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 8, no. 1 (April 1930): 1–288. Richardson, W. A. R. “A Cartographical Nightmare—Manuel Godhino Erédia’s Search for India Meridional.” In The Portuguese and the Pacific, ed. Francis A. Dutra and João Camilo. Santa Barbara: Center for Portuguese Studies, University of California, 1995. Spate, O. H. K. “Manuel Godinho de Erédia: Quest for Australia.” In Let Me Enjoy. London: Methuen, 1965. ———. “Terra Australis-Cognita?” HSANZ 29 (November 1957): 1–19.

10. SPANISH DREAMS AND FANTASIES Amherst of Hackney, Lord and Basil Thomson (eds.). The Discovery of the Solomon Islands by Alvaro de Mendana in 1568. 2 vols. London: The Hakluyt Society, 1901. Arias, Juan Luis. “A Memorial to His Catholic Majesty Philip The Third, King of Spain.” In Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Now Called Australia, ed. Richard Henry Major. London: Hakluyt Society, 1859. Also in La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo, ed. Celsus Kelly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society, 1966.

260 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jack-Hinton, Colin. The Search for the Islands of Solomon 1567–1838. London: Clarendon Press, 1969. Kelly, Celsus. “The Franciscan Missionary Plan for the Conversion to Christianity of the Natives of the Austral Lands as Proposed in the Memorials of Fray Juan de Silva O.F.M.” Americas 17 (1961): 277–291. ———. “Geographical Knowledge and Speculation in Regard to Spanish Pacific Voyages.” HSANZ 33 (November 1959): 12–17. ———. (ed.). Calendar of Documents: Spanish Voyages in the South Pacific from Alvaro de Mendaña to Alejandro Malaspina 1567–1794. Madrid: Franciscan Historical Society (Australia) in Association with Archivo Ibero-Americano (Madrid), 1965. Maude, H. E. “Spanish Discoveries in the Central Pacific: A Study in Identification.” Journal of the Polynesian Society 68, no. 4 (December 1959): 284–326. Shaw, Carlos Martinez. “Terra Australis: The Spanish Quest.” In Studies from Terra Australis to Australia, ed. John Hardy and Alan Frost, 57–69. Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1989. Spate, O. H. K. The Spanish Lake. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1979.

Pedro Fernandez de Quirós Dunn, F. M. “La Austrialia del Espíritu Santo.” JRAHS 53, no. 4 (December 1967): 340–353. Review article. ———. “La Austrialia del Espíritu Santo. An Answer to Father Celsus Kelly’s Reply.” JRAHS 56, no. 1 (March 1970): 67–72. Kelly, Celsus. “La Austrialia sel Espíritu Santo.” JRAHS 55, no. 2 (June 1969): 171–178. ———. (ed.). La Austrialia del Espíritu Santo. The Journal of Fray Martín de Munilla O.F.M. and other documents relating to The Voyage of Pedro Fernández de Quirós to the South Sea (1605–1606) and the Franciscan Missionary Plan (1617–1627.). 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society, 1966. ———. “The Narrative of Pedro Fernandez de Quirós.” HSANZ 9, no. 34 (May 1960): 181–190. ———. “Pedro Fernàndes de Queiros, the Last Great Portuguese Navigator.” In Actas do Congresso Internacional de Historia dos Descobrimentos. Lisboa, 1961. ———. Some Early Maps Relating to the Queirós-Torres Discoveries of 1606. Lisboa: Congresso Internacional de História Dos Descobrimentos, 1961. Markham, Clements (ed.). The Voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros 1595–1606. 2 vols. London: Hakluyt Society, 1904. Terra Australis Incognita, or a new Southerne Discoverie, Containing a Fifth Part of the World. Lately Found out by Ferdinand de Quir, a Spanish Captaine. London: Iohn Hodgetts, 1617.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 261

Luis Vaez de Torres Bayldon, Francis J. “Voyage of Torres.” JRAHS 16, Supplement to Part 2 (1930): 133–146. ———. “Voyage of Luis Vaez de Torres from the New Hebrides to the Moluccas, June to November 1606.” JRAHS 11, no. 3 (1925): 158–194. Clarkson, William. “Note on Prado’s Relacion.” JRAHS 16, Supplement to Part 2 (1930): 147–150. Dixson, William. “Notes and Comments on ‘New Light on the Discovery of Australia’ by Henry N. Stevens.” JRAHS 17, no. 5 (1931): 289–330. Hilder, Brett. “The First Navigation of Torres Strait.” Journal of the Institute of Navigation 30, no. 3 (September 1977): 459–466. ———. The Voyage of Torres: The Discovery of the Southern Coastline of New Guinea and Torres Strait by Captain Luis Vaez de Torres in 1606. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1980. Hinks, A. R. “The Discovery of Torres Strait.” Geographical Journal 98, no. 2 (August 1941): 91–102. Ingleton, Geoffrey C. “The First Navigation of Torres Strait: Some Comments.” Journal of Navigation 31, no. 2 (March 1978): 232–243. Parkyn, E. A. “The Voyage of Luis Vaez De Torres.” Geographical Journal 76, no. 3 (September 1930): 252–256. Parsonon, G. S. “Torres and the Discovery of Southern New Guinea.” New Zealand Geographer 23, no. 2 (October 1967): 132–156. Stanley, Henry E. J. (ed.). The Phillippine Islands, Moluccas . . . at the Close of the Sixteenth Century by Antonio De Morga . . . and a Letter from Luis Vaez de Torres Describing his Voyage through the Torres Straits. London: Hakluyt Society, 1868. Stevens, Henry N. “The Voyage of Luis Vaez de Torres.” Geographical Journal 76, no. 3 (September 1930): 252–256. ———. (ed.). New Light on the Discovery of Australia as Revealed by the Journal of Captain Don Diego de Prado y Tovar. London: The Hakluyt Society, 1930.

11. VEREENIGDE OOSTINDISCHE COMPAGNIE (VOC) (UNITED EAST INDIA COMPANY) Bednarik, Robert G. “Earliest Known Historical Rock Art in Australia.” Rock Art Research 17, no. 2 (November 2000): 131–133. Betheras, Leigh. “We Grew from the Eendracht.” Walkabout 29, no. 1 (January 1963): 14–15. Booghart, Ernst van den. “The Mythical Symmetry in God’s Creation: The Dutch and the Southern Continent 1569–1756.” In Terra Australis: The Furthest Shore, ed. William Eisler and Bernard Smith. Sydney: International Cultural Corporation of Australia, 1988.

262 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Boxer, C. R. The Dutch East-Indiamen: Their Sailors, Their Navigators and Life on Board 1602–1792. Greenwich: The Society for Nautical Research, 1976. First printed in Mariner’s Mirror 49, no. 2 (May 1963): 81–104. De Villiers, J. A. J. (ed.). The East and West Indian Mirror, Being an Account of Joris Van Speilbergen’s Voyage Round the World (1614–1617) and the Australian Navigation of Jacob Le Maire. London: Hakluyt Society, 1906. “The Dirck Hartog-Vlamingh Plates.” Victorian Historical Magazine 21, no. 2 (September 1947): 85–86. Dixon, Conrad. “The First Australian.” History Today 22, no. 10 (October 1972): 706–715. Heeres, J. E. The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606–1765. London: Luzac, 1899. Henderson, J. A. Marooned: The Wreck of the Vergulde Draeck and the Abandonment and Escape from the Southland of Abraham Leeman in 1658. Perth: St. George Books, 1982. Jacobs, E. M. In Pursuit of Pepper and Tea: The Story of the Dutch East India Company. Zutphen: Netherlands Maritime Museum, 1991. Keuning, Johannes. “Hessel Gerritsz.” Imago Mundi 6 (1949): 49–66. Le Maire, Jacob. Mirror of the Australian Navigation: An Account of the Voyage of Jacob Le Maire and Willem Schouten 1615–1616. Sydney: Hordern House, 1999. Includes Dutch text Spieghel der Australische Navigatie (Mirror of the Australian Navigation) 1622, and a facsimile of Alexander Dalrymple’s translation. Loos, N. A. “Aboriginal-Dutch Relations in North Queensland, 1606–1756.” Queensland Heritage 3, no. 1 (November 1974): 3–8. “Relics of Early Voyages to Western Australia.” Geographical Journal 30, no. 4 (October 1907): 442–443. Robert, Willem C. H. The Dutch Explorations 1605–1756 on the North and Northwest Coast of Australia: Extracts from Journals, Log Books, and Other Documents Relating to These Voyages. Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1973. Rockwell, Nicolas. “H Marks the Spot of First Desert Explorer.” Australian (4 December 2000): 1–2. Schilder, Günter. Australia Unveiled. The Share of the Dutch Navigators in the Discovery of Australia. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1976. ———. “A Continent Found by Mistake.” Geographical Magazine 50, no. 5 (February 1978): 335–342. ———. “The Dutch Conception of New Holland in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries.” In Technical Papers of The 12th Conference of The International Cartographic Association Perth, Australia, August 6–13 1984. Vol. 2. Perth: 12th ICA Conference Committee, 1984. Also in Globe 22 (1984): 38–46. ———. “From Secret to Common Knowledge.” In Studies from Terra Australis to Australia, ed. John Hardy and Alan Frost. Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1989. ———. In the Steps of Tasman and De Vlamingh. An Important Cartographic Document for the Discovery of Australia. Amsterdam: Nico Israel, 1988.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 263

———. “Organisation and Evolution of the Dutch East India Company’s Hydrographic Office in the Seventeenth Century.” Imago Mundi 28 (1976): 61–78. Schouten, Willem Corneliszoon. The Relation of a Wonderfull Voiage Made by William Cornelison Schouten of Horne Shewing How South from the Straights of Magelan, in Terra Del-fuogo: He Found and Discovered a Newe Passage through the Great South Sea and that Way Sayled about the World. Describing What Islands, Countries, People, and Strange Adventures he Found in his Saide Passage. London: Nathaniell Newbury, 1619. Sigmond, J. Peter and Louis H. Zuiderbaan. Dutch Discoveries of Australia: Shipwrecks, Treasures and Early Voyages off the West Coast. Adelaide: Rigby, 1979. Stapel, F. W. De Oostindishe Compagnie en Australia (The East India Company in Australia). Amsterdam: Van Kampen & Zoon, 1937. Wroth, Lawrence C. “The Dutch Exploration and the Mapping of Australia.” In The Early Cartography of the Pacific. Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 38, no. 2 (1944).

Willem Jansz Lasry, Ian. “Voyage of the Little Dove.” Walkabout 30, no. 8 (August 1964): 20–21. Murdoch, Priscilla. Duyfken and the First Discoveries of Australia. Artarman, NSW: Antipodean Publishers, 1974. Mutch, T. D. “The First Discovery of Australia with an Account of the Voyages of the Duyfken and the Career of William Jansz.” JRAHS 28, no. 5 (1942): 303–352. Zanden, Henry van. 1606 Discovery of Australia. Perth: Rio Bay Enterprises, 1997.

Lieut. Nixon and the White Colony “Discovery of a White Colony on the Northern Shore of New Holland.” Leeds Mercury 67, no. 3422 (25 January 1834): 7. Doolan, Paul. “First Europeans in Australia.” History Today 49, no. 6 (June 1999): 3–4. Gaastra, Femme S. “The Dutch East India Company: A Reluctant Discoverer.” Great Circle 19, no. 2 (1997): 109–123.

François Pelsaert Dash, Mike. Batavia’s Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History’s Bloodiest Mutiny. London: Weidenfeld, 2002. Drake-Brockman, Henrietta. Voyage to Disaster: The Life of Francisco Pelsaert. Covering his Indian Report to the Dutch East India Company and the Wreck of the Ship, Batavia, in 1629 off the Coast of Western Australia Together with a Full Text of His Journals Concerning the Rescue Voyages, the Mutiny on the Abrolhos Islands, and the Subsequent Trials of the Mutineers. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1964.

264 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Edwards, Hugh. Islands of Angry Ghosts: Murder, Mayhem and Mutiny. The Story of the Batavia. Rev. ed. Sydney: HarperCollins, 2000. Gerritsen, Rupert. And Their Ghosts May Be Heard. Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Center Press, 1997. Godard, Phillipe. The First and Last Voyage of the Batavia. Perth: Abrolhos Publishing, 1993. The Life and Times of François Pelsaart: His Journals. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1995. “The Voyage and Shipwreck of Captain Francis Pelsart, in the Batavia, on the Coast of New Holland, and his Succeeding Adventures.” In Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Now Called Australia, ed. Richard Henry Major, 59–74. London: Hakluyt Society, 1859.

Abel Janszoon Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman: A Bibliography. Sydney: Trustees of The Public Library of New South Wales, 1963. Burfitt, C. T. “The Discovery of Tasmania (Van Diemen’s Land), New Zealand and Bass’ Straits.” JRAHS 3, no. 3 (1912–13): 113–122. Clark, Manning. Abel Tasman. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1959. Duyker, Edward (ed.). The Discovery of Tasmania: Journal Extracts from the Expeditions of Abel Janszoon Tasman and Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne 1642 and 1772. Hobart: St. David’s Park, 1992. Heeres, J. E. (ed.). Abel Janszoon Tasman’s Journal of His Discovery of Van Diemen’s Land and New Zealand in 1642 with Documents Relating to His Exploration of Australia in 1644. Being Photo-Lithographic Facsimiles of the Original Manuscripts in the Colonial Archives at the Hague with an English Translation and Facsimiles of Original Maps to Which Are Added the Life and Labours of Abel Janszoon Tasman. Amsterdam: Muller, 1898; Adelaide: Australian Heritage Press, 1964. Hoving, Ab and Cor Emke. The Ships of Abel Tasman. Hilversum: Verloren, 2000. Lord, Clive E. “On the Planting of the Dutch Flag in Tasmania in 1642.” Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania (1926): 25–33. Sharp, Andrew. The Voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968. The Tasman Map of 1684. Historical Note and Description of the Manuscript Map in the Mitchell Library, Sydney. Sydney: The Trustees of the Public Library of New South Wales, 1948. Walker, James Backhouse. A Collection of Papers Relating to Abel Janszoon Tasman and His Voyages. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1986. ———. “The Discovery of Van Diemen’s Land in 1642.” Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania (1890): 269–284.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 265

Willem de Vlamingh Playford, Phillip. Voyage of Discovery to Terra Australis by Willem de Vlamingh in 1696–97. Perth: Western Australian Museum, 1998. Includes Journal of Willem Vlamingh translated from an early-18th-century manuscript held in the Archives Nationales de France. ———. “William de Vlamingh’s Exploratory Voyage to the Southland in 1696–97.” In The ANCODS Colloquium, ed. Jeremy Green, Myra Stanbury, and Femme Gaastra. Fremantle: Australian National Centre for Excellence in Maritime Archaeology, 1998. Robert, Willem C. H. The Explorations, 1696–1697, of Australia by Willem de Vlamingh. Extracts from Two Log-Books Concerning the Voyage to and Explorations on the Coast of Western Australia and from Other Documents Relating to This Voyage. Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1972. Schilder, Günter. Voyage to the Great South Land: Willem de Vlamingh 1696–1697. Sydney: Royal Australian Historical Society in association with the Australian Bank, 1985. “The Vlamingh Plate.” Victorian Historical Magazine 23, no. 2 (June 1950): 78–81.

12. ENGLISH NAVIGATORS Anon. An Historical Account of all the Voyages Round the World, Performed by English Navigators Including Those Lately Undertaken by Order of His Present Majesty. The Whole Faithfully Extracted from the Journals of the Voyagers. 4 vols. London: F. Newbery, 1774. Carrington, Hugh (ed.). The Discovery of Tahiti: A Journal of the Second Voyage of HMS Dolphin Round the World, under the Command of Captain Wallis, RN, in the Years 1766, 1767, and 1768. London: Hakluyt Society, 1948. Cock, Randolph. “Precursors of Cook: The Voyages of the Dolphin 1764–8.” Mariner’s Mirror 85, no. 1 (February 1999): 30–52. David, Andrew. The Voyage of HMS Herald to Australia and the South-West Pacific 1852–1861 under the command of Captain Henry Mangles Denham. Carlton: Miegunyah Press, 1995. Furneaux, Rupert. Tobias Furneaux: Circumnavigator. London: Cassell, 1960. Gallagher, Robert E. Byron’s Journal of His Circumnavigation 1764–1766. Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1964. Hawksworth, John. An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, and Successfully Performed by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret, and Captain Cook . . . Drawn from the Journals Which Were Kept by the Several Commanders, and from the Papers of Joseph Banks. 3 vols. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1773. Lee, Ida. “The First Sighting of Australia by the English.” Geographical Journal 83, no. 4 (April 1934): 317–321.

266 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chope, R. Pearse. “New Light on Sir Richard Grenville 1. The Projected South Seas Voyage.” Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association 49 (1917): 210–246. Rowse, A. L. Sir Richard Grenville of the Revenge: An Elizabethan Hero. London: Jonathan Cape, 1932. Wallis, Helen (ed.). Carteret’s Voyage Round the World 1766–1769. 2 vols. Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1965. Ward, J. M. “British Policy in the Exploration of the South Pacific 1694–1793.” JRAHS 33, no. 1 (1947): 25–48. Williams, Glyndwr. “From Dampier to Cook: English Perceptions of Australia.” The Hakluyt Society Annual Report (1988): 12–23. ———. The Great South Sea: English Voyages and Encounters 1570–1750. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. ———. “To Make Discoveries of Countries Hitherto Unknown. The Admiralty and Pacific Exploration in the Eighteenth Century.” Mariners Mirror 82, no. 1 (February 1996): 14–27.

Joseph Banks Adams, Brian. The Flowering of the Pacific: Being an Account of Joseph Banks’ Travels. London: British Museum (Natural History), 1986. Beaglehole, J. C. (ed.). The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks 1768–1771. 2 vols. Sydney: Trustees of the Public Library of New South Wales in Association with Angus & Robertson, 1962. Cameron, Hector Charles. Sir Joseph Banks K.B., F.R.S: The Autocrat of the Philosophers. Sydney: Angus & Robertson; London: Butterworth, 1952. Carter, Howard B. His Majesty’s Spanish Flock: Sir Joseph Banks and the Merinos of George III of England. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1964. ———. Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820): A Guide to Biographical and Bibliographical Resources. Winchester: St. Paul’s Bibliographies in association with British Museum (Natural History), 1987. Dawson,Warren R. (ed.). The Banks Letters. London: British Museum, 1958. Gascoigne, John. Joseph Banks and the English Enlightenment: Useful Knowledge and Polite Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Lyte, Charles. Sir Joseph Banks: Eighteenth Century Explorer, Botanist and Entrepreneur. Sydney: Reed, 1980; Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1980. Mackaness, George. Sir Joseph Banks: His Relations with Australia. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1936. O’Brian, Patrick. Joseph Banks: A Life. London: Collins Harvill, 1987. Paget, H. To the South There Is a Great Land: Captain Cook, Sir Joseph Banks and Australia. Sydney: The Australian, 1970. Steven, Margaret. First Impressions: The British Discovery of Australia. London: British Museum (Natural History), 1988.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 267

Watkins, T. H. “Sir Joseph Banks.” National Geographic 190, no. 5 (November 1996): 28–53.

William Bligh Bligh, William. A Voyage to the South Sea, Undertaken by Command of His Majesty, for the Purpose of Conveying the Bread-fruit Tree to the West Indies, in His Majesty’s Ship the Bounty, Commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh. Including an Account of the Mutiny on Board the Said Ship, and the Subsequent Voyage of Part of the Crew in the Ship’s Boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch Settlement in the East Indies. London: George Nichol, 1792. Darby, Madge. “Bligh’s Disciple: Matthew Flinders’ Journals of HMS Providence (1791–3).” Mariners Mirror 86, no. 4 (November 2000): 401–441. Lee, Ida. Captain Bligh’s Second Voyage to the South Sea. London: Longmans, 1920. Mackaness, George. The Life of Vice-Admiral Bligh. Rev. ed. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1951. Spence, S. A. Captain William Bligh, R.N. (1754–1827) & Where to Find Him Being a Catalogue of Works Wherein Reference is Contained to this Remarkable Seaman. Sydney: Privately printed for the author, 1970. Toohey, John. Captain Bligh’s Portable Nightmare. London: Fourth Estate; Sydney: Duffy & Snellgrove, 1999.

James Cook Adrian, F. S. “Cook’s Attitude to Australia.” JRAHS 10, no. 3 (1924): 121–130. Anon. (John Marra?). Journal of the Resolution’s Voyage in 1772, 1773, 1774 and 1775. On Discovery to the Southern Hemisphere, by Which the Non-Existence of an Undiscovered Continent, between the Equator and the 50th Degree of Southern Latitude, is Demonstratively Proved . . . London: F. Newbery, 1775. ———. A Journal of a Voyage Round the World, in His Majesty’s ship Endeavour, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770 and 1771; Undertaken in Pursuit of Natural Knowledge, at the Desire of the Royal Society. Containing all the Various Occurrences of the Voyage, with Descriptions of Several New Discovered Countries in the Southern Hemisphere. London: T. Becket and P. A. de Hondt, 1771. Aughton, Peter. Endeavour: The Story of Captain Cook’s First Great Epic Voyage. Moreton-in-the Marsh, Glos: Windrush Press, 1999. Badger, G. M. (ed.). Captain Cook Navigator and Scientist. Papers presented at the Cook Bicentenary Symposium Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, 1 May 1969. London: C. Hurst, 1970. Beaglehole, J. C. “Cook the Navigator.” Explorers Journal 48, no. 4 (December 1970): 264–273. ———. Endeavour: Captain Cook’s Journal 1768–71 (i.e., The Journals of Captain Cook on His Voyages of Discovery. Vol. 1: The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768–1771).

268 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1999. Computer file on an optical disc holding a complete indexed transcript, a supplementary background text, and a virtual tour of the Endeavour replica. There is also a printed guide. ———. The Life of Captain James Cook. London: A. & C. Black, 1974. ———. “Some Problems of Cook’s Biographer.” Mariners Mirror 55, no. 4 (November 1969): 365–381. ———. “Some Problems of Editing Cook’s Journals.” HSANZ 8, no. 29 (November 1957): 20–31. Reprinted in Robin W. Winks’s The Historian as Detective: Essays on Evidence. New York: Harper and Row, 1969. ———. (ed.). The Journals of Captain Cook on His Voyages of Discovery. Vol. 1: The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768–1771. Vol. 2: The Voyage of the Resolute and Adventure 1772–1775. Vol. 3: The Voyage of the Resolute and Discovery 1776–1780 Pt. 1 and Pt. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society, 1955, 1961, 1967. Beale, Edgar. “Cook: Landfall and the Next Eight Days.” JRAHS 57, no. 4 (December 1971): 287–309. ———. “Cook’s First Landing Attempt in New South Wales.” JRAHS 50, no. 3 (August 1964): 191–204. Benjamin, P. J. “Cook’s First Voyage.” Cartography 17, no. 1 (June 1988): 9–18. Bertie, Charles H. “Captain Cook and Botany Bay.” JRAHS 10, no. 5 (1924): 233–278. Captain Cook’s First Voyage Round the World. The Kings Library. The British Museum, 19 July to 27 October 1968. London: British Museum, 1988. Carr, D. J. Sydney Parkinson: Artist of Cook’s Endeavour Voyage. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1983. Carter, Harold B. “The Royal Society and the Voyage of HMS Endeavour 1768–71.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 49 (1995): 245–260. Clark, M. “The Choice of Botany Bay.” HSANZ 9, no. 35 (November 1960): 221–232. Collingridge, Vanessa. Captain Cook: Obsession and Betrayal in the New World. London: Ebury Press, 2002. Cook, James. A Voyage towards the South Pole and Round the World. Performed in His Majesty’s Ships the Resolution and Adventure, In the years 1772, 1773, 1774 and 1775 . . . In which is included, Captain Furneaux’s Narrative of his Proceedings in the Adventure during the Separation of the Ships. 2 vols. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1777. Couper-Johnston, Ross. The Weather Phenomenon That Changed the World. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2000. David, Andrew C. F. The Charts and Coastal Views of Captain Cook’s Voyages. 3 vols. London: Hakluyt Society, 1988–1997. ———. “Cook and the Cartography of Australia.” In Technical Papers of the 12th Conference of the International Cartographic Association Perth, Australia, August 6–13, 1984. Vol. 2. Perth: 12th ICA Conference Committee, 1984. Also in Globe 22 (1984): 47–59. Douglas, H. P. “Cook as an Hydrographical Surveyor.” Geographical Journal 73, no. 2 (February 1929): 110–116.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 269

“The Failure of the Philosophers to Sail with Cook in the Resolution.” Geographical Journal 116, nos. 1–3 (July–September 1950): 49–54. Fisher, Robin and Hugh Johnson. Captain James Cook and His Times. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1979. Frost, Alan. The Voyage of the Endeavour: Captain Cook and the Discovery of the Pacific. St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1998. Hilder, Brett. “Point Hicks: Land or Illusion of Land. Captain Cook and the Coast of Victoria.” Victorian Historical Magazine 41, no. 2 (May 1970): 285–297. Hooper, Beverley (ed.). With Captain James Cook in the Antarctic and Pacific. The Private Journal of James Burney Second Lieutenant of the Adventure on Cook’s Second Voyage 1772–1773. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1975. Lamb, Jonathan. “Minute Particulars and the Representation of the South Pacific Discovery.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 28, no. 3 (1995): 281–294. Macarthur, Antonia. His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour: The Story of the Ship and Her People. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1997. McCallum, G. K. “A Date with Cook. Some Observations on the Chronology of the Endeavour Voyage.” JRAHS 57, no. 1 (March 1971): 1–9. McCordingley, David (ed.). Captain James Cook Navigator. London: National Maritime Museum in association with Campbell Publishing Sydney, 1988. Megaw, J. V. S. (ed.). Employed as a Discoverer. Papers presented at the Captain Cook BiCentenary Symposium in Sydney, 1–3 May 1970. Contents: “Introduction: James Cook and His Predecessors” (N. Horwood); “Some Problems of Cook’s Biographer” (J. C. Beaglehole); “The Bark Endeavour and Life aboard Her” (Sir John Collins); “Cook and the Aborigines” (J. V. S. Megaw); “Sir Joseph Banks and the Royal Society” (H. Newton Barber); “Daniel Carl Solander” (I. Knutzelins); “The Natural History of the Endeavour Expedition” (R. C. Carolin); “The Endeavour Voyage and Observations of the Transit of Venus” (W. H. Robertson); and “Cook the Navigator” (J. C. Beaglehole). Parkin, Ray. His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour, Her Place in Australian History. With an Account of Her Construction, Crew and Equipment and a Narrative of Her Voyage on the East Coast of New Holland in the Year 1770. Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, 1997. Parkinson, Sydney. A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty’s ship, the Endeavour. London: Stanfield Parkinson, 1773; London: Caliban, 1984. Percy, Carol E. “In the Margins: Dr. Hawksworth’s Editorial Emendations to the Language of Captain Cook’s Voyages.” English Studies, 77, no. 6 (November 1996): 549–578. Perrin, W. G. “Instructions to Captain Cook for His Three Voyages.” In Naval Miscellany, Vol. 3. ed. W. G. Perrin. London: Navy Records Society, 1928. Robson, John. Captain Cook’s World. Maps of the Life and Voyages of James Cook. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000. Special Captain Cook Bi-Centenary Issue Victorian Historical Magazine 41, no. 2 (May 1970). Villiers, Alan. Captain Cook, the Seamen’s Seaman: A Study of the Great Discoverer. 2nd ed. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1978.

270 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wharton, W. J. L. (ed.). Captain Cook’s Journal during his First Voyage Round the World made in H.M. Bark ‘Endeavour’ 1768–71. London: Eliot Stock, 1893. Williamson, James A. Cook and the Opening of the Pacific. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1946. Woskel, Augustus. “Captain Cook and Point Hicks.” Victorian Historical Magazine 19, no. 1 (June 1941): 17–30.

Bibliography Beddie, N. K. (ed.). Bibliography of Captain James Cook R.N., F.R.S. 2nd ed. Sydney: The Mitchell Library, 1970. Holmes, Maurice. Captain James Cook RN FRS: A Bibliographical Excursion. Rev. ed. London: Francis Edwards, 1952. Rutherford, Jill and Patrick H. Armstrong. “James Cook RN 1728–1779.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 20, ed. Patrick H. Armstrong and Geoffrey J. Martin, 9–23. London: Continuum, 2000. “Select Bibliography of Books Relating to Captain James Cook in the Oxley Memorial Library.” Queensland Heritage 2, no. 2 (May 1970): 30–32. Spate, O. H. K. “The Literature of Cook’s Voyages.” In The Great Southland, ed. Des Cowley. Melbourne: The Friends of the State Library of Victoria, 1988. Spence, S. A. Captain James Cook, R.N. (1728–1779): A Bibliography of His Voyages to Which Is Added Other Works Relating to His Life, Conduct and Nautical Achievements. Sydney: Privately printed for the author, 1960. Wallis, Helen. “Publication of Cook’s Journals: Some New Sources and Assessments.” Pacific Studies 1, no. 2 (Spring 1978): 163–194.

Alexander Dalrymple Bayldon, Francis J. “Alexander Dalrymple: The Man Who Wished to Command the Endeavour.” JRAHS 13, no. 1 (1927): 41–59. Dalrymple, Alexander. Memoir Concerning the Chagos and Adjacent Islands. London: George Bigg, 1786. ———. A Serious Admonition to the Publick on an Intended Thief Colony at Botany Bay. London: John Sewell, 1786. Edwards, H. S. “Alexander Dalrymple F.R.S. (1737–1808): First Hydrographer to the Admiralty.” Map Collector 4 (September 1978): 19–29. Fry, Howard T. Alexander Dalrymple (1737–1808) and the Expansion of British Trade. London: Frank Cass for the Royal Commonwealth Society, 1970. Jack-Hinton, Colin. “Alexander Dalrymple and the Rediscovery of the Islands of Solomon.” Mariners Mirror 50, no. 2 (May 1964): 93–114. “Memoirs of Alexander Dalrymple.” European Magazine 42 (November 1802): 323–328, 331–337 and (December 1802): 421–424.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 271

Spray, W. A. “Alexander Dalrymple, Hydrographer.” American Neptune 30, no. 3 (July 1970): 200–216.

William Dampier Dampier, William. A Voyage to New Holland, &c. in the Year, 1699. Wherein Are Described . . . Abrohlo-Shoals. A Table of all the Variations observ’d in this Voyage . . . The Course to New Holland. Shark’s Bay. the Isles and Coast, &c of New Holland. London: James Knapton, 1703. Gill, Anton. The Devil’s Mariner: A Life of William Dampier, Pirate and Explorer 1651–1715. London: Michael Joseph, 1997. Lloyd, Christopher. William Dampier. London: Faber, 1966. Marchant, L. R. An Island unto Himself: William Dampier and New Holland. Perth: Hesperian, 1988. Masefield, John (ed.). Dampier’s Voyages. London: Grant Richards, 1906. Wilkinson, Clennal. Dampier: Explorer and Buccaneer. London: John Lane The Bodley Head, 1929.

George Vancouver Anderson, Bern. Surveyor of the Sea: The Life and Voyages of Captain George Vancouver. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1960. Appleyard, Reginald. “Vancouver’s Discovery and Exploration of King George’s Sound.” In Technical Papers of the 12th Conference of the International Cartographic Association Perth, Australia, August 6–13 1984. Vol. 2. Perth: 12th ICA Conference Committee, 1984. Fisher, Robin and Hugh Johnston (eds.). The Pacific Voyages of George Vancouver. Victoria: University of British Columbia Press, 1993. Godwin, George. Vancouver. A Life 1757–1798. London: Philip Allan, 1930. Lamb, W. Kaye (ed.). George Vancouver. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World 1791–1795. 4 vols. London: Hakluyt Society, 1984. Vol. 1 is concerned with the voyage to Australia and Tahiti. Uren, Malcolm. “Albany’s Debt to Vancouver.” Walkabout 33, no. 2 (February 1967): 12–15.

Motives for English Settlement Abbolt, Graham J. “The Botany Bay Decision.” Journal of Australian Studies 16 (May 1985): 21–41. ———. “The Expected Cost of the Botanist Bay Scheme.” JRAHS 81, no. 2 (December 1995): 151–166.

272 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frost, Alan. Convicts and Empire. A Naval Question 1776–1811. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1980. King, Robert J. “A Regular and Reciprocal System of Commerce—Botany Bay, Nootka Sound, and Japan.” Great Circle 19, no. 1 (1997): 1–29. Martin, Ged. The Founding of Australia. The Argument about Australia’s Origins. Sydney: Hole & Iremonger, 1978. Wilson, Charles. Australia 1788–1988: The Creation of a Nation. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987. ———. “Convicts, Commerce and Sovereignty: The Forces behind the Settlement of Australia.” In Business Life and Public Policy: Essays in Honour of D. C. Coleman, ed. N. McKendrick and R. B. Outhwaite. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

13. FRENCH NAVIGATORS Baldwin, F. S. “French Sources for South Australian History.” PRGSASA 64 (1962–63): 23–37. Charnley, W. “History of the Archipelago of the Recherche.” Walkabout 18, no. 7 (July 1952): 40–42. Cooper, H. M. French Exploration in South Australia with Especial Reference to Encounter Bay, Kangaroo Island, the Two Gulfs and Murat Bay 1802–1803. Adelaide: Privately printed, 1952. Dahlgren, M. E. W. Voyages Français à Destination de la Mer du Sud avant Bougainville (French Voyages to the South Sea before Bougainville). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1907. Dixson, William. “French Discoveries on the Northern Coast of Western Australia.” JRAHS 27, no. 3 (1941): 232–234. Dunmore, John. French Explorers in the Pacific. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965–1969. Duyker, Edward. An Officer of the Blue: Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne, South Sea Explorer 1724–1772. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1994. Fleurieu, Charles-Pierre. Discoveries of the French in 1768 and 1769, to the South-East of New Guinea, with the Subsequent Visits to the Same Lands by English Navigators, Who Gave Them New Names. To Which is Prefixed an Historical Abridgement of the Voyages and Discoverys of the Spaniards in the same Seas. London: John Stockdale, 1791. Forster, Colin. France and Botany Bay: The Lure of a Penal Colony. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996. Forsyth, Elliott. “French Exploration in the Pacific in the Eighteenth Century.” In Studies from Terra Australis to Australia, ed. John Hardy and Alan Frost. Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1989: 93–97. Forsyth, J. “Latouche-Tréville and His Proposal to Explore the South Coast of New Holland.” Mariners Mirror 45, no. 2 (May 1959): 115–129.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 273

Gazielle, Catherine. “French Interests and Ambitions.” In European Voyaging towards Australia, ed. John Hardy and Alan Frost. Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1990: 81–83. Henn, P. U. “French Exploration on the Western Australian Coast.” Journal and Proceedings of the Western Australian Historical Society 2, no. 15 (1934): 1–22. Hervé, M. F. “Australia in French Geographical Documents of the Renaissance.” JRAHS 41, no. 1 (July 1955): 23–28. Knight, Roger. “The First Fleet: Its Structure and Preparation 1786–1787.” In Studies from Terra Australis to Australia, ed. John Hardy and Alan Frost, 121–136. Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1989. Macdonald, A. C. “What Australia and the British Empire Owes to Governor Philip Gidley King.” Victorian Geographical Journal 23–24 (1905–1906): 60–71. Marchant, Leslie R. France Australe. A Study of French Explorations and Attempts to Found a Penal Colony and Strategic Base in South Western Australia 1503–1826. Perth: Artlook Books, 1982. Nisbet, Anne-Marie. French Navigators and the Discovery of Australia. Sydney: School of French, The University of New South Wales, 1985. Paulmyer de Courtonne, Jean. Memoirs Touchant L’Etablissement D’Une Mission Chrestienne Dans Le Troisième Monde, Autrement appellé, La Terre Australe, Meridional Antartique, & Inconnuë Dediez à Notre S. Pere le Pape Alexandre VII (A Memorial Concerning the Establishment of A Christian Mission in the Third World Otherwise Known as the Unknown Southern Land. Dedicated to Our Holy Father Pope Alexander VII). Paris: Claude Cramoisy, 1663. Scott, Ernest. Terre Napoléon: A History of French Exploration and Projects in Australia. London: Methuen, 1910. Taylor, Alan Cary. Le Président de Brosses et l’Australie (President de Brosses and Australia). Paris: Armand Colin, 1938. Terry, Martin. “Terre Napoleon.” In Terra Australis: The Furthest Shore, ed. William Eisler and Bernard Smith, 153–156. Sydney: International Cultural Corporation of Australia, 1988. Triebel, Louis Augustus. The French Exploration of Australia: With Special Reference to Tasmania. Hobart: L.G. Shea, Government Printer, 1957. Triebel, Louis Augustus and J. C. Batt. The French Exploration of Australia. Hobart: University of Tasmania Press, 1943.

Nicolas Baudin Baudin, Nicolas. The Journal of Post Captain Nicolas Baudin, Commander-in-Chief of the Corvettes Géographe and Naturaliste Assigned by Order of the Government to a Voyage of Discovery. Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia, 1976. Cornell, Christine. Questions Relating to Nicolas Baudin’s Australian Expedition 1800–1804. Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia, 1965.

274 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Helling, William P. “Redistributing the Blame: Baudin’s Voyage to the Australian Seas.” Great Circle 15, no. 2 (1993): 107–127. Horner, Frank. The French Reconnaissance: Baudin in Australia 1801–1803. Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1987. Jose, Arthur W. “Nicolas Baudin.” JRAHS 20, no. 6 (1934): 337–396. Marchant, Leslie R. “The Baudin Scientific Mission and the Franco-British Race to Survey the Southern Indian Ocean.” In Technical Papers of the 12th Conference of the International Cartographic Association Perth, Australia, August 6–13 1984. Vol. 2. Perth: 12th ICA Conference Committee, 1984. ———. “The Baudin Scientific Mission of Exploration and the French Contribution to the Maritime Discovery of Australia.” Globe 23 (1985): 11–31. ———. “The French Discovery and Survey of the Legendary North-West Cape and Willem River in Western New Holland.” Imago Mundi 40 (1988): 46–51. ———. “The Race to Unveil Southern New Holland: The French and British Contribution to Scientific Exploration in Australia in the Age of Enlightenment and Early Romantic Period 1791–1803.” Cartography 23, no. 2 (December 1994): 21–47 and 24, no. 1 (June 1995): 1–20. Monteath, Peter. “Exploring Terra Australis.” History Today 53, no. 1 (January 2003): 48–55. Peron, M. F. A Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Hemisphere, performed by order of the Emperor Napoleon, during the years 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804. 2 vols. London: Richard Phillips, 1809. Plomley, Norman James Brian. The Baudin Expedition and the Tasmanian Aborigines 1802. Hobart: Blubber Head Press, 1983. Scott, Ernest. “Baudin’s Voyage of Exploration to Australia.” English Historical Review 28, no. 110 (April 1913): 341–346. Terre Napoléon. Australia through French Eyes 1800–1804. Sydney: Hordern House and Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, 1999. Wallace, Colin. The Lost Australia of François Péron. London: Nottingham Court Press, 1984.

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville Bougainville, Lewis de. A Voyage Round the World. Performed by Order of His Most Christian Majesty, In the years 1766, 1767, 1768, and 1769 . . . in the Frigate La Boudeuse, and the Store-Ship L’Étoile. London: J. Nourse, 1772. Ross, Michael. Bougainville. London: Gordon & Cremonisi, 1978. Thierry, Maurice. Bougainville: Soldier and Sailor. London: Grayson, 1932.

Antoine-Raymond-Joseph de Bruni d’Entrecasteaux Duyker, Edward and Maryse Duyker (eds.). Bruni d’Entrecasteaux’s Voyage to Australia and the Pacific 1791–1793. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 275

Gonneville, Binot Paulmyer de. Campagne de Navire. Histoire de Honfleur 1503–1505. Relation Authentique du Voyage du Capitaine de Gonneville aux Nouvelles Terres des Indes. (Ship Operations. History of Honfleur 1503–1505. A True Account of Captain de Gonneville’s Voyage to the New Lands of the Indies). Paris: Challamel, 1869. Hogg, G. H. “D’Entrecasteaux: An Account of His Life, His Expedition, and His Officers.” Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania (1937): 53–74. Horner, Frank. Looking for La Pérousse: D’Entrecasteaux in Australia and the South Pacific 1792–1793. Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, 1995. Labillardière, Jacques-Julien de. An Account of a Voyage in Search of La Pérousse, Undertaken by Order of the Constituent Assembly of France, and Performed in the Years 1791–1793, in the Recherche and Ésperance, Ships of War under the Command of Rear-Admiral Bruni d’Entrecasteaux. London: John Stockdale, 1800. Lee, Ida. Commodore Sir John Hayes His Voyage and Life (1767–1831); With Account of Admiral d’Entrecasteaux’s Voyage of 1792–1793. London: Longmans Green, 1912. Plomley, Brian and Josianne Picard-Bernier. The General: The Visits of the Expedition Led by Bruny d’Entrecasteaux to Tasmanian Waters in 1792 and 1793. Launceston: Queen Victoria Museum, 1993. Richard, Hélène. “D’Entrecasteaux’s Expedition.” In European Voyaging towards Australia, ed. John Hardy and Alan Frost. Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1990: 95–97.

Jean-François de Galaup de la Pérousse Bellec, François. “The Impact of Laperousse on Mapping in the Australian-Pacific Region by the French.” Globe 37 (1992): 25–29. Coleman, Ron. “Missing Explorer’s Disappearance Creates a 200-Year-Old Puzzle.” Australian Geographic 8 (October–December): 84–99. Dunmore, John. Pacific Explorer: The Life of Jean-François de la Pérousse 1741–1788. Palmerston North, NZ: Dunmore Press, 1985. King, Robert J. “What Brought La Pérousse to Botany Bay.” JRAHS 85, no. 2 (December 1999): 146–147. McLaren, Ian F. Lapérouse in the Pacific Including Searches by d’Entrecasteaux, Dillon, Dumont d’Urville: An Annotated bibliography. Parkville: The University of Melbourne Library, 1993. Milet-Mureau, L. A. (ed.). A Voyage Round the World, Performed in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787 and 1788, by the Boussole and Astrolabe, under the Command of J. F. G. de La Pérouse. 2 vols. London: G.G. and J. Robinson, 1799. O’Grady, Alix. “Pacific Passages. With LaPérouse to Botany Bay.” Beaver 67, no. 6 (December 1987/January 1988): 30–33. Beaver is the journal of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

276 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

14. MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY Australian Shipwrecks: Including Vessels Wrecked en Route to and from Australia, and Some Strandings. Vol. 1 1622–1850. Sydney: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1973. Byron, K. W. Lost Treasures in Australia and New Zealand. London: Angus & Robertson, 1964. Edwards, Hugh. “Deep in a Drowned World.” Walkabout 29, no. 2 (February 1963): 33–36. ———. Gods and Little Fishes. London: Peter Davies, 1962. Henderson, Graeme. Maritime Archaeology in Australia. Perth: University of Western Australia Press, 1986. ———. Unfinished Voyages: Western Australian Shipwrecks 1622–1850. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1980. Henderson, James. Sent Forth a Dove: Discovery of the Duyfken. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1999. Kendercline, Sarah. Shipwrecks 1656–1942: A Guide to Historic Wreck Sites of Perth. Perth: Department of Archaeology, Western Australian Maritime Museum, 1986. Loney, Jack Kenneth. Wrecks in Australian Waters: An Illustrated Survey of Shipwrecks, Fires, Collisions and Strandings on the Australian Coast from 1629. Newport, VIC: Australian Sports Publications, 1978. Stanbury, Myra. “Select Bibliography on Maritime Archaeology.” Great Circle 2, (April 1980): 42–43. Stannard, Bruce. “Maritime History in Recreation.” Australian Geographic 53 (January– March 1999): 21–22. Uren, Malcolm. Sailormen’s Ghosts: The Abrolhos Islands in Three Hundred Years of Romance and Adventure. Melbourne: Robertson & Mullens, 1940. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1979. Wilson, S. J. “The Significance of Coins in the Identification of Old Dutch Wrecks on the West Australian Coast.” Numismatic Circular 72, no. 9 (September 1964). Wright, John. Encyclopedia of Sunken Treasure. London: Michael O’Mara Books, 1995.

Batavia Drake-Brockman, Henrietta. “The Wreck of the Batavia.” Walkabout 21, no. 1 (January 1955): 33–39. Edwards, Hugh. “They Found the Batavia.” Walkabout 30, no. 3 (March 1964): 18–22. Green, Jeremy N. “The VOC Ship Batavia Wrecked in 1629 on the Houtman Abrolhos Western Australia.” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 4, no. 1 (March 1975): 43–63.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 277

———. The VOC Retourship Batavia. Wrecked Western Australia 1629 Excavation Report and Artifact Catalogue. Oxford: British Archaeological Records International Series 489, 1989. Stanbury, Myra (ed.). Abrolhos Islands Archaeological Site Interim Report. Fremantle: Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology, 2000.

Trial Green, J. W. (ed.). Australia’s Oldest Wreck: The Historical Background and Archaeological Analysis of the Wreck of the English East India Company’s Ship “Trial.” Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. Supplementary Series, 1977. ———. “The Survey and Identification of the English East India Company Ship Trial 1622.” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 15, no. 3 (1986): 195–204. Henderson, James A. Phantoms of the Tryall. A documented account of Australia’s First Shipwreck, the English East India Company’s Vessel Tryall in 1622 off the Monte Bello Islands in Western Australia’s North-West, the Remains Discovered in 1969 but Later Devasted by the Gelignite Buccaneer. The Turbulent Story of the Battle to Save Australia’s Historic Wrecks. Perth: St. George Books, 1993.

Vergulde Draeck Green, Jeremy N. The AVOC jacht Vergulde Draeck Wrecked Western Australia 1656. 2 vols. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports. Supplementary Series, 1977. ———. Treasures from the Vergulde Draeck (Gilt Dragon). Perth: Western Australian Museum, 1974. ———. “The Wreck of the Dutch East Indiaman the Vergulde Draeck 1656.” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 2, no. 2 (September 1973): 267–289. Henderson, James A. Marooned: The Wreck of the Vergulde Draeck and the Abandonment and Escape from the Southland of Abraham Leeman in 1658. Perth: St. George Books, 1982.

Zeewijk Charnley, W. “The Story of the Zeewijk.” Walkabout 22, no. 4 (April 1986): 10–16. Edwards, Hugh. The Wreck on the Half-Moon Reef. Adelaide: Rigby, 1970. London: Robert Hale, 1971. Ingelman-Sandberg, Catharina. Relics from the Dutch East Indiaman Zeewijk Foundered in 1727. Perth: Western Australian Museum, 1978. ———. “The V.O.C. Ship Zeewijk Foundered in 1727: Report on Two Seasons of Investigation.” Papers from the first southern Hemisphere Conference on Maritime Archaeology. Newport: Australian Sports Publications, 1977, pp. 91–100.

278 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

15. EXPLORATION: AUSTRALIA Badger, Geoffrey. Explorers of Australia. East Roseville, NSW: Kangaroo Press, 2001. Calvert, Albert F. The Exploration of Australia from 1844 to 1896. London: George Philip, 1896. Cameron, J. M. R. and others. “Bushmanship: The Explorers’ Silent Partner.” Australian Geographer 30, no. 3 (1999): 337–353. Cannon, Mike. The Exploration of Australia. Sydney: Reader’s Digest, 1987. Carter. Jeff. In the Steps of the Explorers. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1969. Cooper, Bill and Glen McLaren. “The Development of Mobility in the Exploration of Australia.” JRAHS 83, no. 1 (June 1997): 31–46. Cumpston, J. H. L. The Inland Sea and the Great River: The Story of Australian Exploration. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1964. Curl, David. “Wild at Heart.” Australian Geographic 33 (January–March 1994): 52–71. Donovan, Peter. “The Exploration Myth: Exploration in the Northern Territory until the Second World War.” PRGSASA 82 (1982): 34–47. Eyre, Edward John. “Considerations against the Supposed Existence of a Great Sea in the Interior of Australia.” JRGS 16 (1846): 200–212. Favenc, Ernest. Explorers of Australia and Their Life Work. Melbourne: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1908; Twickenham, England: Senate, 1998. ———. The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888: Compiled from State Documents, Private Papers, and the most Authentic Sources of Information. Sydney: Turner & Henderson, 1888. Feeken, Erwin H. J. and Gerda E. E. Feeken. Discovery and Exploration of Australia. Melbourne: Nelson, 1970. Gigler, Michael. The Afghans in Australia. Melbourne: Text Publishing, 1986. Grimm, George. The Australian Explorers: Their Labours, Perils and Achievements Being a Narrative of Discovery from the Landing of Captain Cook to the Centennial Year. Melbourne: G. Robertson, 1888. Hodgkinson, Clement. Australia from Port Macquaries to Moreton Bay; with Descriptions of the Natives, Their Manners and Customs; the Geology, Natural Productions, Fertility, and Resources of that Region; First Explored and Surveyed by Order of the Colonial Government. London: T. & W. Boone, 1845. Hogg, Garry. The Overlanders. London: Robert Hale, 1961. Hooper, Meredith. Doctor Hunger & Captain Thirst: Stories of Australian Explorers. North Ryde, NSW: Methuen Australia, 1982. Joy, William. The Explorers. Sydney: Shakespeare Head Press, 1964. ———. The Other Side of the Hill: 200 Years of Australian Exploration. Lane Cove, NSW: Doubleday Australia, 1984. Landor, Henry. “Notes on the Probable Condition of the Interior of Australia.” PRGS 1, no. 2 (1856): 31–32.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 279

Lee, Ida. Early Explorers in Australia, from the Log-books and Journals, including the Diary of Allan Cunningham, Botanist, from March 1, 1817 to November 19, 1818. London: Methuen, 1923. Levey, George Collins. Hutchinson’s Australasian Encyclopaedia. Comprising a Description of all Places in the Australasian Colonies: an Account of the Events which Have Taken Place in Australasia from the Discovery to the Present date, and Biographies of Distinguished Early Colonists. London: Hutchinson, 1892. McEwan, Marcia. Great Australian Explorers. Sydney: Bay Books, 1985. McLaren, Glen. Beyond Leichhardt: Bushcraft and the Exploration of Australia. South Fremantle, WA: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1996. Maslen, T. J. The Friend of Australia; Or a Plan for Exploring the Interior, and for Carrying on a Survey of the Whole Continent of Australia. By a Retired Officer of the Hon East India Company’s Service. London: Hurst, Chance, 1830. Peach, Bill. The Explorers. Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1984. Perry, Thomas Melville. “Seasons for Exploration.” PRGSASA 76 (1975): 51–58. Reed, Thomas S. “Twenty Five Years of Australian Exploration.” PRGSASA 11 (1903–1909): 81–93. Russell, Henry Stuart. “Exploring Excursions in Australia.” JRGS 15 (1845): 305–327. Scholes, Arthur. The Sixth Continent. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1958. Scott, Ernest (ed.). Australian Discovery by Land. London: J.M. Dent, 1929. Sellick, Robert. “The Explorer as Hero: Australian Exploration and the Literary Imagination.” PRGSASA 78 (1977): 1–16. Smith, Peter Wearing. Outback Australia? No Worries! How to Explore the Great Australian Outback in Safety and Comfort. Hong Kong: Omni Travel and General Publications, 1993. Stevens, Christine. “Afghan Cameleers.” Australian Geographic 20 (October–December 1990): 98–111. Vacher, Luc. “Le Bush, Espace du Mythe Australien ou Comment l’Australie Rêve Son Territoire.” Mappe Monde 60 (Décembre 2000): 18–23.

Anthologies Bassett, Jan. Great Southern Landings. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1995. ———. (ed.). Great Explorations: An Australian Anthology. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1996. Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. Australian Explorers. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1958. Flannery, Tim. The Explorers. Melbourne: Text Publishing, 1998; London: Phoenix, 1999; New York: Grove Press, 2000. King, J. In the Beginning . . . The Story of Australia from the Original Writings. South Melbourne: Macmillan Company of Australia, 1985. Millar, Ann. “I See No End to Travelling.” Journals of Australian Explorers 1813–1876. Sydney: Bay Books, 1986.

280 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

16. SOUTHEASTERN AUSTRALIA Cleland, J. B. “Captain Barker’s Overland Journey to the Murray Mouth.” PRGSASA 46 (1944–1945): 75–82. Dowd, B. T. “James Meehan.” JRAHS 28, no. 2 (1942): 108–118. Henderson, James. “Narrative of an Expedition to Lake Frome in 1843.” PRGSASA 26 (1924–25): 85–128. Kruta, Vladislav. Dr. John Lhotsky: The Turbulent Australian Writer, Naturalist and Explorer. Melbourne: Australia Felix Literary Club, 1977. Lhotsky, John. A Journey from Sydney to the Australian Alps, Undertaken in the Months of January, February and March 1834. Being an Account of the Geographical & Nautical Relation of the Country Traversed, Its Aborigines &c. Together with some general information respecting the Colony of New South Wales. London: J. Innes, 1835; Hobart: Blubber Head Press, 1979. Mackaness, George: “George Augustus Robinson’s Journey into South-Eastern Australia, 1844.” JRAHS 27, no. 5 (1941): 318–349. Newland, B. C. “Edward Charles Frome.” PRGSASA 63 (1961–1962): 51–71. Perry, Thomas Melville. Australia’s First Frontier. The Spread of Settlement in New South Wales 1788–1829. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press in association with the Australian National University, 1963. Price, A. Grenfell. “The Work of Collett Barker in South Australia.” PRGSASA 26 (1924–25): 52–60. Ross, Valerie. The Everingham Letterbook. Sydney: Anvil Press, 1985. ———. Matthew Everingham. A First Fleeter and His Times. Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1980. “South Australia.” JRGS 13, no. 2 (1843): 341–344. Threadgill, Bessie. South Australian Land Exploration 1856 to 1880. Pt. 1: Text. Adelaide: Board of Governors of the Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery of South Australia, 1922. ———. South Australian Land Exploration 1856 to 1880. Pt. II: Maps. Adelaide: Board of Governors of the Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery of South Australia, 1922. Tyers, C. J. Report of an Expedition to Ascertain the Position of the 141st Degree of East Longitude Being the Boundary Line Between New South Wales & South Australia. Sydney: Herald Office, 1840. Williams, Gwenneth. South Australian Exploration to 1856. Adelaide: Board of Governors of the Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery of South Australia, 1919. Weatherburn, A. K. “The Exploration and Surveys of James Meehan between the Cowpastures, Wingecarribee River, Goulburn Plains, Shoalhave River and Jervis Bay 1805, 1818 and 1819.” JRAHS 64, no. 3 (December 1978): 167–181.

Blue Mountains Andrews, Alan E. J. “The Carmarthen Hills and Thereabouts: The First Fifty Years of Mapping the Blue Mountains.” JRAHS 69, no. 1 (June 1983): 1–17.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 281

———. “Mount Hunter and Beyond. With Hunter, Bass, Tench, Wilson, Barrallier, Caley and Macquarie 1790 to 1815.” JRAHS 76, no. 1 (June 1990): 3–15. Barker, Theo. “The Crossing of the Mountains and the Founding of Bathurst.” JRAHS 51, no. 2 (June 1965): 97–112. Boardman, Alan and Roland Harvey. The Crossing of the Blue Mountains. Canterbury, VIC: Five Mile Press, 1984. Cambage, R. H. “Exploration beyond the Upper Nepean in 1798.” JRAHS 6, no. 1 (1920): 1–36. Cambell, J. F. “John Howe’s Exploration Journey from Windsor to the Hunter in 1819.” JRAHS 14, no. 4 (1928): 232–234. Craft, F. A. and R. Else-Mitchell. “In Search of Dawes’ Mount Twiss.” JRAHS 27, no. 4 (1941): 245–275. Cramp, K. R. “William Charles Wentworth—Explorer, Scholar, Statesman.” JRAHS 4, no. 8 (1918): 389–423. Cunningham, Chris. The Blue Mountains Rediscovered: Beyond the Myths of Early Australian Exploration. Kenthurst, NSW: Kangaroo Press, 1996. Else-Mitchell, R. “The Discovery of Bell’s Line 1823: A Note and a Document.” JRAHS 66, no. 2 (September 1980): 91–96. ———. “The Grose River Valley.” JRAHS 26, no. 3 (1941): 235–262. Jervis, James. “William Lawson, Explorer and Pioneer.” JRAHS 40, no. 2 (1954): 65–92. Mackaness, George. “The Discovery of the Hunter River.” JRAHS 16, no. 3 (1930): 166–169. ———. (ed.). Fourteen Journeys over the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, 1813–1841. Sydney: Horwitz Grahame, 1965; Dubbo, NSW: Review Publications, 1978. Walker, F. Official History of the First Crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1873. Sydney: Blue Mountains Centenary Celebrations Committee, 1913. Weatherburn, A. K. George William Evans, Explorer. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1966. Wentworth, William Charles. Statistical, Historical and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales and Its Independent Settlements in Van Diemen’s Land. London: Whittaker, 1819; Adelaide: Griffin Press, 1978. Whitley, Thomas. “The Reputed Passage of the Blue Mountains in 1798 and Incidents Connected with Its Story.” JRAHS 1, no. 1 (1904): 186–188.

Francis Barrallier Andrews, Alan E. J. “Barrallier and Caley: The Evidence of their Bullagorang Maps 1802 and 1806.” JRAHS 82, no. 1 (June 1996): 60–72. Barrallier, F. L. Journal of the Expedition into the Interior of New South Wales 1802 by Order of His Excellency Governor Phillip Gidley King. Melbourne: Marsh Walsh Publications 1975. Brownscombe, R. “Barrallier’s Blue Mountain Expedition in 1802: Clearing the Matter Up Finally?” JRAHS 78, no. 1 (1992): 5–16.

282 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cambage, R. H. “Barrallier’s Blue Mountain Exploration in 1802.” JRAHS 3, no. 1 (1907–10): 11–12. Cunningham, Chris. Landscape and Legend: The Noble Toils of Francis Barrallier. Auckland: Conference of the Institute of Australian Geographers, 1992. Else Mitchell, R. “Barrallier’s Blue Mountains Explorations, 1802.” JRAHS 24, no. 4 (1938): 291–313. MacQueen, Andy. Blue Mountains to Bridgetown: The Life and Journeys of Barrallier. Sydney: MacQueen, 1993. Moxley, E. “Barrallier’s Exploration of Christy’s Creek.” JRAHS 41, no. 2 (1955): 80–87. Steward, H. R. “Francis Barrallier: The Man behind the Maps.” Globe 50 (2000): 27–46.

John Batman Billot, Cecil Philip. John Batman. The Story of John Batman and the Founding of Melbourne. Melbourne: Hyland House, 1979. Bonwick, James. John Batman the Founder of Victoria. Melbourne: Samuel Mullen, 1867; Wren Publishing, 1979. ———. Port Phillip Settlement. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1883. Campbell, Alastair. “Discovering John Batman’s Port Phillip Exploration.” Victorian Historical Magazine 62, nos. 3 and 4 (December 1991–March 1992): 98–106. Harcourt, Rex. “Batman’s Treaties.” Victorian Historical Magazine 62, nos. 3 and 4 (December 1991–March 1992): 85–97. Kenyon, A. S. “The Port Phillip Association.” Victorian Historical Magazine 16, no. 3 (May 1937): 102–114.

Gregory Blaxland Blaxland, Gregory. A Journal of a Tour of Discovery across the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, in the year 1813. 3rd ed. Maitland, NSW: T. Dimmock, 1904. Havard, W. L. “Gregory Blaxland’s Narrative and Journal Relating to the First Expedition over the Blue Mountains, New South Wales.” JRAHS 23, no. 1 (1937): 28–41. Houison, J. K. S. “John and Gregory Blaxland.” JRAHS 22, no. 1 (1936): 1–41. Richards, Joanna Armour (ed.). Blaxland—Lawson—Wentworth 1813. Hobart: Blubber Head Press, 1979.

William Buckley Betheras, J. L. “The Strange Story of William Buckley.” Walkabout 20, no. 8 (August 1954): 38, 40. Morgan, John. The Life and Adventures of William Buckley: Thirty-Two Years as a Wanderer amongst the Aborigines of the Unexplored Country round Port Phillip. Firle, Sussex: Caliban Books, 1979.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 283

Tudehope, C. M. “William Buckley.” Victorian Historical Magazine 32, no. 4 (May 1962): 216–236.

George Caley Andrews, Alan E. J. (ed.). The Devil’s Wilderness: George Caley’s Journey to Mount Banks 1804. Hobart: Blubber Head Press, 1984. Caley, George. Reflections on the Colony of New South Wales. Melbourne: Lansdowne Press, 1966; London: Angus & Robertson, 1988. Currey, John. “George Caley: Botanist for Banks.” Walkabout 33, no. 1 (January 1967): 25–27. Else-Mitchell, R. “George Caley: His Life and Work.” JRAHS 25, no. 6 (1939): 437–542. Jervis, James. “Discovery and Settlement of Burragorang Valley.” JRAHS 20, no. 3 (1935): 164–196. Morgan, H. A. McLeod. “The Account of a Journey to the Sea in the Month of February 1805.” JRAHS 43, no. 5 (1957): 260–266. Webb, J. George Caley: 19th Century Naturalist. Sydney: Surrey Beatty, 1995.

George Woodroffe Goyder Deckert, John. Flinders Ranges. 2nd ed. Nhill, VIC: Westprint Heritage Maps, 1996. Goyder, George Woodroffe. “Report on the Country between Mount Serle and Lake Torrens.” PRGS 2, no. 1 (1857–58): 16–28. Kerr, Margaret. The Surveyors: The Story of the Founding of Darwin. Adelaide: Rigby, 1971; London: Robert Hale, 1972. Powell, J. M. “George Woodroffe Goyder 1826–1898.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 7, ed. T. W. Freeman, 47–50. London: Mansell, 1983. Williams, Michael. “George Woodroffe Goyder. A Practical Geographer.” PRGSASA 79 (1978): 1–21.

William Howitt Howitt, M. E. B. “The Howitts in Australia.” Victorian Historical Magazine 3 (1913): 1–24. Howitt, William. Land, Labour and Gold; or Two Years in Victoria, with Visits to Sydney and Van Diemen’s Land. London: Longman Brown, 1855; Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1972. ———. “Personal Reminiscences of Central Australia and the Burke and Wills Expedition.” In Report of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science 11 (1907): 1–43. Powell, J. M. “Alfred William Hewitt 1830–1908.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 15, ed. Geoffrey J. Martin, 51–60. London: Mansell, 1994.

284 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Walker, Mary Howitt. Come Wind, Come Weather: A Biography of Alfred Howitt. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1971.

William Hovell and Hamilton Hume Andrews, Alan E. J. (ed.). Hume and Hovell 1824. Hobart: Blubber Head Press, 1987. Andrews, Arthur. “Where Hume and Hovell First Crossed the Hume or Murray River.” Victorian Historical Magazine 7, no. 2 (1919): 77–78. Bland, William (ed.). Journey of Discovery in Port Phillip, New South Wales, in 1824 and 1825. By W. H. Hovell and H. Hume Esquires. 2nd ed. Sydney: James Tegg, 1837. Boyes, Rosemary. Overland to Port Phillip Bay: The Story of the Epic of Exploration by Hume and Hovell, with Party, October–December 1824. 6th ed. Albury, NSW: Albury and District Historical Society, 1984. Duncan, J. S. “Hume and Hovell Passed This Way—Or Did They?” South Australian Geographical Journal 87 (1987): 14–27. Hovell, William Hilton. “Journal Kept on the Journey from Lake George to Port Phillip 1824–25.” JRAHS 7, no. 6 (1921): 307–378. ———. Reply to “A Brief Statement of Facts, in Connection with an Overland Expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip, in 1824,” Published I May last, by Hamilton Hume. Sydney: Thomas Daniel, 1855. Hume, Hamilton. A Brief Statement of Facts, in Connection with an Overland Expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip, in 1824. 3rd ed. With addenda. Sydney: S.E. Lees, 1897. O’Grady, Frank. “Hamilton Hume.” JRAHS 49, no. 5 (January 1964): 337–359. Scott, Ernest. Hume and Hovell’s Journey to Port Phillip. Sydney: D.S. Ford, 1921. Also in JRAHS 7, no. 6 (1921): 289–307. Webster, R. H. Currency Lad: The Story of Hamilton Hume and the Explorers. Avalon Beach, NSW: Leisure Magazine, 1982. Wilson, Alex. “Journal of Discovery of Hovell and Hume in 1824.” JRAHS 10, no. 6 (1924): 352–356.

William Light Dutton, Geoffrey. Founder of a City: The Life of Colonel William Light. First Surveyor General of the Colony of South Australia: Founder of Adelaide 1786–1839. Adelaide: Rigby, 1960. Elder, David (ed.). William Light’s Brief Journal and Australian Diaries. Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 1984. Fenner, Charles. “Diary of Colonel William Light (January to October 1839).” PRGSASA 35 (1933–34): 93–129. Oldham, Wilfrid. “The Discovery of Port Adelaide.” PRGSASA 48 (1946–1947): 9–21.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 285

Angus McMillan Cox, Kenneth. Angus McMillan: Pathfinder. Olinda, VIC: Olinda Publications, 1973. Melbourne: K.R. Pryse, 1984. Daley, Charles. “Angus McMillan.” Victorian Historical Magazine 11 (1926–1927): 143–156. Mackay, Richard. Recollections of Early Gippsland Goldfields, With an Appendix, Being Memorandum of the Discovery and Exploration of Gippsland by the Discoverer, the late Angus McMillan. Traralgon, VIC: L W. Chappell, 1916.

Ferdinand von Mueller Critchley, L. G. “The Explorations of Von Mueller.” Walkabout 19, no. 9 (September 1953): 18–20. Powell, J. M. “Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich Von Muller 1825–1896.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 5, ed. T.W. Freeman. London: Mansell, 1981. Willis, Margaret. By Their Fruits: A Life of Ferdinand von Mueller Botanist and Explorer. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949.

John Oxley Dunlop, E. W. John Oxley. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1960. Jervis, James. “Jervis Bay: The Discovery and Settlement.” JRAHS 22, no. 2 (1936): 118–134. Johnson, Richard. The Search for the Inland Sea: John Oxley, Explorer 1783–1828. Carlton South, VIC: Melbourne University Press, 2001. Oxley, John. Journals of Two Expeditions in to the Interior of New South Wales, Undertaken by Order of the British Government in the Years 1817–18. London: John Murray, 1820. Proudfoot, Helen. “A Continent without Maps: Territorial Exploration in the Age of Macquarie: A New Look at the Journeys of John Oxley.” JRAHS 79, nos. 1 and 2 (June 1993): 20–32. Rivière, M. S. “A Unknown 1824 French Version of Oxley’s Exploration of the Brisbane River.” Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland 16, no. 4 (November 1996): 143–157. Rowland, E. C. “The Life and Work of Lieutenant John Oxley.” JRAHS 28, no. 4 (1942): 249–272. Weatherburn, A. K. “Oxley’s Expedition down the Lachlan River.” JRAHS 42, no. 6 (1957): 312–316.

Arthur Phillip Andrews, Alan G. J. “The Three Land Excursions of Governor Phillip.” JRAHS 85, no. 2 (December 1999): 148–162.

286 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bassett, Marnie. “Governor Phillip and the Opposite Coast.” Victorian Historical Magazine 40, no. 3 (August 1969): 87–100. Bertie, C. H. “Captain Arthur Phillip’s First Landing Place in Botany Bay.” JRAHS 38, no. 3 (1952): 107–126. Campbell, J. F. “Explorations under Governor Phillip.” JRAHS 12, no. 1 (1926): 26–40. Eldershaw, M. B. Phillip of Australia. London: George G. Harrap, 1938. Frost, Alan. Arthur Phillip, 1738–1814: His Voyaging. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1987. Mackaness, George. Admiral Arthur Phillip: Founder of New South Wales 1738–1814. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1937. Phillip, Arthur. The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay; with an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island; Compiled from Authentic Papers, Which have been obtained from the Several Departments, to Which Are Added the Journals of Lieuts. Shortland, Watts, Ball, & Capt. Marshall, with an Account of their New Discoveries. London: John Stockdale, 1789; Melbourne: Georgian House, 1950. Wantrup, Jonathan. “The Voyage of the First Fleet.” In The Great South Land, ed. Des Cowley, 30–35. Melbourne: The Friends of the State Library of Victoria, 1988. Wood, G. Arnold. “Explorations under Governor Phillip.” JRAHS 12, no. 1 (1926): 1–40.

Paul Edmund Strzelecki Andrews, Alan E.J. “Strzelecki’s Route 1840 from the Murray River to Melbourne.” JRAHS 77, no. 4 (June 1991): 50–63. Babicz, Józef. Woclaw Slabezynski and Thomas G. Vallance. “Pawel Edmund Strzelecki 1797–1873.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 2, ed. T. W. Freeman and Philippe Pinchemel. London: Mansell, 1978. Daly, Charles. “Count Paul Strzelecki’s Ascent of Mount Kosceiusko and through Gippsland.” Victorian Historical Magazine 19, no. 2 (December 1941): 41–53. Havard, W. L. “Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki.” JRAHS 26, no. 1 (1940): 20–97. With an addendum, “The Cartography of Mount Kosciusko”: 97–107. Heney, H. M. E. In a Dark Glass: The Story of Paul Edmund Strzelecki. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1961. Kaluski, Marian. Sir Paul Edmund Strzelecki: The Man Who Climbed and Named Mt. Kosciusko. Melbourne: Polish-Australian Historical Society and Polish-Australian Cultural Society, 1981. Paszkowski, Lech. Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki: Reflections on His Life. Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publicity, 1997. Rawson, Geoffrey. The Count: A Life of Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki. London: Heinemann, 1954. Strzelecki, Paul Edmund de. Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1845.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 287

Charles Sturt Arrowsmith, John. Map of Captain Sturt’s Route from Adelaide into the Centre of Australia, Constructed from his Original Protractions, and other Official Documents. 2 sheets. London: John Arrowsmith, 1849. Beale, Edgar. Sturt the Chipped Idol: A Study of Charles Sturt, Explorer. Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1979. Brock, Daniel. To the Desert with Sturt: A Diary of the 1844 Expedition. Adelaide: Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch, 1975; Adelaide: Government Printer, 1988. Browne, John Harris. “Journal of the Sturt Expedition 1844–45.” South Australiana 6, no. 1 (1966): 23–54. Cramp, K. R. “Captain Charles Sturt’s Expedition into the Interior 1844–46.” JRAHS 30, no. 3 (1944): 196–214. ———. “Captain Sturt’s Explorations.” JRAHS 15, no. 2 (1929): 49–92. Cumpston, I. M. “Further Documents for the Life and Times of Charles Sturt.” HSANZ 4, no. 13 (November 1949): 151–161. Cumpston, J. H. L. Charles Sturt: His Life and Journeys of Exploration. Melbourne: Georgian House, 1951. Deckert, John. Sturt National Park. Nhill, VIC: Westprint Heritage Maps, 1992. Farwell, George. Riders to an Unknown Sea: The Story of Charles Sturt, Explorer. London and Adelaide: Macmillan, 1963. Feeken, Erwin and Gerda Feeken. “Sturt and the Inland Sea.” Walkabout 34, no. 1 (January 1965): 28–31. Foster, William. “The Terminal Point of Captain Sturt’s Darling River Expedition (1828–29).” JRAHS 45, no. 1 (1949): 41–47. Gammage, Bill. “Tracing Sturt’s Footsteps.” JRAHS 70, no. 1 (June 1984): 52–59. Langley, Michael. “Charles Sturt and the Heart of Australia.” History Today 17, no. 11 (November 1967): 735–742. ———. Sturt of the Murray. Father of Australian Exploration. London: Robert Hale, 1969. Pitt, George H. “Sturt’s Expedition of 1844–46.” PRGSASA 44 (December 1943): 20–34. Stokes, Edward. “In Sturt’s Footsteps: Retracing Charles Sturt’s 1844–46 Expedition to Central Australia.” Australian Geographic 7 (July–September 1987): 26–45. ———. “To the Inland Sea: Charles Sturt’s Expedition 1844–45.” PRGSASA 86 (1986): 41–47. Sturt, Charles. “A Condensed Account of an Exploration in the Interior of Australia.” JRGS 17 (1847): 85–129. ———. “Course of the Hume River, from the Hilly Districts to the Junction of the Morumbidgee.” JRGS, 14 (1844): 141–144. ———. Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia, Performed under the Authority of Her Majesty’s Government during the years 1844, 5 and 6. Together with

288 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

a Notice of the Province of South Australia in 1847. 2 vols. London: T. and W. Boone, 1849; Adelaide: Corkwood Press, 2001. ———. Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, during the years 1828, 1829, 1830 and 1831: with Observation on the Soil, Climate, and General Resources of the Colony of New South Wales. 2 vols. London: Smith, Elder, 1833; North Adelaide: Corkwood Press, 1999. Swan, Keith and Margaret Carnegie. In Step with Sturt. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1979.

Watkin Tench Tench, Watkin. A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, in New South Wales, including an Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and of its Natural Productions. London: G. Nicol, and J. Sewell, 1793. ———. “Exploring Down Under. Traveling Diaries in New South Wales.” Mercator’s World 6, no. 6 (November–December 2001): 12–15. Extract from A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson (1793). ———. A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay; with an Account of New South Wales, its Productions, Inhabitants etc. to Which is Subjoined, A List of the Civil and Military Establishments at Port Jackson. London: J. Debrett, 1789. ———. 1788: Comprising a Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay and a Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, ed. Tim Flannery. Melbourne: Text Publishing, 1996. ———. Sydney First Four Years Being a Reprint of a Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay and a Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, ed. L. F. Fitzhardinge. Sydney: Angus & Robertson in association with The Royal Australian Historical Society, 1961. Wood, G. Arnold. “Lieutenant William Dawes and Captain Watkin Tench.” JRAHS 10, no. 1 (1924): 1–22.

17. VAN DIEMEN’S LAND/TASMANIA Aurousseau, M. “The First Published Representation of Tasmania as an Island.” Geographical Journal 118, no. 4 (December 1952): 483–485. Binks, C. J. Explorers of Western Tasmania. Launceston: Mary Fisher Bookshop, 1980. Bunce, Daniel. Twenty Three Years Wanderings in the Australias and Tasmania: Including Travels with Dr. Leichhardt in North and Tropical Australia. Geelong: Thomas Brown, 1857. Calder, James Erskine. Rambles on Betsy’s Island, Tasman’s Peninsula and Forestier’s Peninsula in February 1848. Adelaide: Sullivan’s Cove, 1985.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 289

———. Topographical Sketches of Tasmania 1845 and 1847 from Deloraine to Emu Bay; and to the Great Lake and the Nineteen Lagoons. Adelaide: Sullivan’s Cove, 1987. Clune, Frank and P. R. Stephensen. The Viking of Van Diemen’s Land: The Stormy Life of Jorgen Jorgensen. London: Angus & Robertson, 1954. Collins, C. R. Saga of Settlement: A Brief Account of the Life and Times of LieutenantColonel David Collins, First Judge Advocate of the Colony of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governor of Southern Van Diemen’s Land. Perth: Imperial Printing Company, 1957. Collins, David. An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from its First Settlement, in January 1788, to August 1801 . . . and an Account of a Voyage Performed by Captain Flinders and Mr. Bass; by Which the Existence of a Strait Separating Van Diemen’s Land from the Continent of New Holland was Ascertained. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1802; Sydney: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1975. Crawford, Mr. Justice, W. F. Ellis, and G. H. Stancombe (eds.). The Diaries of John Helder Wedge 1824–1835. Hobart: Royal Society of Tasmania, 1962. Cumpston, J. S. First Visitors to Bass Strait. Canberra: Roebuck Society, 1973. Darke, J. C. Journal of Expeditions in Van Diemen’s Land 1833. Adelaide: Sullivan’s Cove, 1985. Evans, George William. A Geographical Historical, and Topographical Description of Van Diemen’s Land with Important Hints to Emigrants . . . Also a Large Chart of the Island Thirty Inches by Twenty-four with the Soundings of Harbours and Rivers. London: John Souter, 1822. Frankland, George. The Narrative of an Expedition to the Head of the Derwent and to the Countries Bordering the Huon in 1835. Adelaide: Sullivan’s Cove, 1983. ———. Report on the Transactions of the Survey Department of Van Diemen’s Land from the Foundations of the Colony to the End of Colonel Arthur’s Administration. Hobart: William Gore Elliston, 1837. Giblin, R. W. The Early History of Tasmania: The Geographical Era 1642–1804. London: Methuen, 1928; Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2 vols., 1939. Jones, Alan. Backsight: A History of Surveying in Tasmania. Hobart: The Institution of Surveyors Australia. Tasmanian Division, 1989. Kentish, Nathaniel Lipscombe. Report on the North West Quarter of Van Diemen’s Land in the Years 1842–3–4–5 and on the Route Discovered. Launceston: The Chronicle, 1846. Lord, Clive E. The Early Explorers of Tasmania. Hobart: J. Walch, 1920. Love, Angus. “Maps and Tasmanian Exploration.” Globe 21 (1984): 4–11. Montgomery, H. H. “Two Journeys Westward. W. S. Sharland in 1832 and Sir John Franklin in 1842.” Royal Geographical Society of Tasmania Papers and Proceedings (1898–99): liii–lvi. Plomley, Norman James Brian (ed.). Friendly Mission. The Tasmanian Journals and Papers of George Augustus Robinson 1829–1834. Hobart: Tasmanian Historical Research Association, 1966. Supplement 1971.

290 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Robson, Lloyd L. A History of Tasmania. Vol. 1: Van Diemen’s Land from the Earliest Times to 1855. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983. Rosenman, Helen. “Maritime Exploration of Van Diemen’s Land.” In Tasmanian Insights. Essays in Honour of Geoffrey Thomas Stilwell, ed. Gillian Winter. Hobart: State Library of Tasmania, 1992. Scott, Thomas. Chart of Van Diemen’s Land from the Best Authorities and from Actual Surveys and Measurements by Thomas Scott, Asst. Surveyor General of Lands in the Island. Edinburgh: Charles Thomson, 1824. Taylor, H. G. The Discovery of Tasmania. Hobart: Cat and Fiddle Press, 1973. Tooley, R. V. Printed Maps of Tasmania 1642–1900. London: Francis Edwards, 1975. Walker, James Backhouse. Early Tasmania: Papers Read before the Royal Society of Tasmania during the Years 1888–1899. Hobart: Government Printer, 1950. Wedge, John Helder. Official Report of Journeys Made by J. H. Wedge Assistant-Surveyor in the Year of 1828. Hobart: Jas. Barnard Government Printer, 1828.

Van Diemen’s Land Company Bischoff, James. A Sketch of the History of Van Diemen’s Land . . . and an Account of the Van Diemen’s Land Company. London: John Richardson, 1838. Jorgensen, Jorgen. History of the Origin, Rise and Progress of the Van Diemen’s Land Company. Hobart: Melanie Publications, 1979. Meston, A. L. The Van Diemen’s Land Company 1825–1842. Launceston, Tas.: Launceston City Council Museum Committee, 1958. Miles, T. A. “The Van Diemen’s Land Company.” Walkabout 22, no. 5 (May 1956): 30–32.

18. EASTERN AUSTRALIA Boyd, Bill. “The Early Exploration of Australia’s East Coast.” Search 24, no. 10 (November–December 1993): 289–291. Collins, R. M. “Early Expedition on the Logan and the Ascent of Mount Lindesay by Captain Logan in 1828.” PRGSAQ 13 (1897–1898): 1–12. Field, Barron (ed.). Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land; by Various Hands: Containing an Account of the Surveyor-General’s Late Expedition to Two New Ports; the Discovery of Moreton Bay River, with the Adventures for Seven Months There of Two Shipwrecked Men; A Route from Bathurst to Liverpool Plains. London: John Murray, 1825. Frawley, Kevin J. “European Exploration and Early Images of Northeast Queensland, 1770–1880.” Journal of Australian Studies 10 (June 1982): 2–16. Gill, J. C. H. “In Search of a River.” Queensland Heritage 1, no. 8 (May 1968): 16–26.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 291

Hann, William. “Hann’s Expedition in Northern Queensland.” PRGS 18, no. 1 (1873–74): 87–107. Jack, Robert Logan. “The Exploration of Cape York Peninsula 1606–1915.” JRAHS 3, no. 5 (1915): 181–226. ———. Northmost Australia: Three Centuries of Exploration, Discovery and Adventure in and around the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. 2 vols. London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1922; Victoria Park, WA: Hesperian Press, 1998. Jackson, Ernest Sandford. “Early Visitors to Moreton Bay.” JRAHS 15, no. 6 (1930): 309–323. Jervis, James. “The West Darling Country: Its Exploration and Development.” JRAHS 34, no. 2 (1948): 65–88; no. 3 (1948): 146–183; no. 4 (1948): 218–253. Landsborough, William. Journal of Landsborough’s Expedition from Carpentaria, in Search of Burke and Wills. Melbourne: Wilson & Mackinnon, 1862. ———. “Overland Journey from Rockhampton to Port Denison, via Bowen Downs and the Salt Lake.” PRGS 10, no. 3 (1865–66): 62–66. Lockyer, N. “Exploration by Major Edmund Lockyer of the Brisbane River in 1825.” Historical Society of Queensland Journal 2 (1920): 54–73. ———. “Journal of an Excursion up the River Brisbane in the Year 1825.” In The Genesis of Queensland by Henry Russell Stuart. Sydney: Turner & Henderson, 1888. Mackaness, George (ed.). The Discovery and Exploration of Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River 1799–1823. 2 vols. Sydney: D.S. Ford, 1956. Munro, Colin. “The Exploration of the Moreton Bay District, 1839 and 1840.” Queensland Geographical Journal 7, 4th ser. (1992): 45–54. Russell, Henry Stuart. The Genesis of Queensland: An Account of the First Exploring Journeys to and over Darling Downs: The Earliest Days of Their Occupation; Social Life; Station Seeking; the Course of Discovery, Northward and Westward and a Resumé of the Causes Which Led to Separation from New South Wales. Sydney: Turner & Henderson, 1888. Steele, J. G. The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770–1830. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1972.

Allan Cunningham Cunningham, Allan. “Brief View of the Progress of Interior Discovery in New South Wales.” JRGS 2 (1832): 99–132. Hamilton, R. C. “Allan Cunningham—With Special Reference to His Work in What Is Now Queensland.” JRAHS 66, no. 6 (1960): 323–342. Minn, W. G. Allan Cunningham Botanist and Explorer. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1970. Morgan, Arthur. “The Discovery and Early Development of the Darling Downs.” Queensland Geographical Journal 17, new ser. (1901–1902): 87–116. Munro, Colin. “The Exploration of the Moreton Bay District 1. Cunningham 1824–1828.” Queensland Geographical Journal 6, 4th ser. (1991): 71–79.

292 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

George Elphinstone Dalrymple Dalrymple, George Elphinstone. “Exploration of the Districts near the Burdekin, Suttor and Belyando Rivers in North-East Australia.” PRGS 5, no. 1 (1860–61): 4–7. ———. “Exploration of the Lower Course of the River Burdekin, in Queensland, and its Identification with the River Wickham.” JRGS 33 (1863): 3–5. ———. “Report on His Journey from Rockingham Bay to the Valley of Lagoons.” JRGS 35 (1865): 198–212. Farnfield, D. J. Frontiersman: A Biography of George Elphinstone Dalrymple. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1968. Scott, A. J. “On an Overland Expedition from the Denison to Rockingham Bay in Queensland.” PRGS 8, no. 4 (1863–64): 110–114. Smith, Joseph W. and George Ephinstone Dalrymple. Report of the Proceedings of the Queensland Government Schooner “Spitfire” In Search of the Mouth of the River Burdekin on the North-Eastern Coast of Australia and of the Exploration of a Portion of that Coast Extending From Gloucester Island To Halifax Bay. Brisbane: T.P. Pugh, 1860.

Edmund Kennedy Beale, Edgar. “Edmund Besley Court Kennedy.” JRAHS 5, no. 35 (1949): 1–25. ———. Kennedy the Barcoo and Beyond: The Journals of Edmund Besley Court Kennedy and Alfred Allatson Turner with New Information on Kennedy’s Life. Hobart: Blubber Head Press, 1983. ———. Kennedy of Cape Yorke. Adelaide: Rigby, 1970. ———. Kennedy Workbook: A Critical Analysis of the Route of E. B. Kennedy’s 1848 Exploration of Cape Yorke Peninsula. Wollongong: Wollongong University College, 1970. Beard, William. “Explorer Courageous: Edmund Kennedy.” JRAHS 56, no. 3 (September 1970): 225–246. Carron, William. Narrative of an Expedition Undertaken under the Direction of the Late Mr. Assistant Surveyor E.B. Kennedy for the Exploration of the Country Lying between Rockingham Bay and Cape York. Sydney: Kemp and Fairfax, 1849. Deckert, John. South West Queensland. Nhill, VIC: Westprint Heritage Maps, n.d. Kennedy, E. H. “Extracts from the Journal of an Exploring Expedition into Central Australia to Determine the Course of the River Barcoo (or the Victoria of Sir T. L. Mitchell).” JRGS 22, (1852): 228–280. Paice, Margaret. Jackey-Jackey. Sydney: Collins, 1976.

Thomas Livingstone Mitchell Andrews, Alan E. J. Major Mitchell’s Map 1834: The Saga of the Survey of the Nineteen Counties. Hobart: Blubber Head Press, 1992.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 293

———(ed.). Stapylton with Major Mitchell’s Australia Felix Expedition 1836, largely from the journal of Granville William Chetwynd Stapylton. Hobart: Blubber Head Press, 1986. Baker, D. W. E. The Civilised Surveyor: Thomas Mitchell and Australian Aborigines. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1997. ———. “Thomas Mitchell as Explorer.” JRAHS 80, nos. 1 and 2 (June 1994): 24–45. Beaver, P. “The Mitchell of the Nineteen Counties and the Early Trigonometrical Surveys of New South Wales.” Australian Surveyor (September–December 1952): 89, 92–93. Bird, Juliet. “Thomas Mitchell and the Discovery of Australia Felix.” PRGSASA, 77 (1976): 1–11. ———. “Thomas Mitchell’s Route in North-Western Victoria.” Victorian Historical Magazine 43, no. 1 (February 1972): 741–748. Boyce, Dean. Clarke of the Kindur: Convict, Bushranger, Explorer. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1970. Cumpston, J. H. L. Thomas Mitchell: Surveyor General and Explorer. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1954. Eccleston, G. C. Major Mitchell’s 1836 Australia Felix Expedition. Melbourne: Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands, 1985. ———. Major Mitchell’s 1836 Australia Felix Expedition: A Reevaluation. Melbourne: Monash University, 1992. Foster, William C. Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell and His World 1792–1855. SurveyorGeneral of New South Wales 1828–1855. Sydney: The Institution of Surveyors of New South Wales, The New South Wales Division of The Institution of Surveyors, Australia, 1985. Haverd, W. L. “New Light on Mitchell’s Second Expedition.” JRAHS 22, no. 2 (1936): 103–117. Julian, M. (ed.). The Major Mitchell Trail. Exploring Australia Felix. Melbourne: Community Education and Information Branch and National Parks and Wildlife Division, Department of Conservation and Environment, State of Victoria, 1990. Major Mitchell’s Map of the Colony of New South Wales 1834. Sydney: The Archives Authorities of New South Wales in Conjunction with the Association of Consulting Surveyors, Australia, 1994. Mitchell, Thomas Livingstone. “Account of the Recent Exploring Expedition to the Interior of Australia.” JRGS, 7 (1837): 271–285. ———. Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia, in Search of a Route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longman, 1848. ———. Three Expeditions in to the Interior of Eastern Australia with Descriptions of the Recently Explored Region of Australia Felix, and of the Present Colony of New South Wales. 2 vols. London: T. & W. Boone, 2nd ed. 1839; Maryborough, VIC: Eagle Press, 1996. Powell, J. M. “Thomas Livingstone Mitchell 1792–1855.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 5, ed. T. W. Freeman. London: Mansell, 1981.

294 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Salier, Cecil W. “Thomas Livingstone Mitchell: Explorer, Surveyor-General and Savant.” JRAHS 17, no. 1 (1931): 1–43.

19. WESTERN AUSTRALIA Appleyard, R. T. and Toby Mansford. The Beginning: European Discovery and Early Settlement of Swan River, Western Australia. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press for the Education Committee of the 150th Anniversary Celebrations, 1979. Austin, Robert. Journal of Assistant-Surveyor R. Austin, Commanding an Expedition sent by the Government to Explore the Interior of Western Australia, North and East of the Settled Districts, for Extensive Tracts of Fertile Land available for Pastoral and Agricultural Purposes, Supposed to Exist in the Vicinity of a Large Sheet of inland Water, Called “Cow-Cow-ing”, and upon the Gascoigne River, Flowing into the North Arm of Shark’s Bay . . . Perth: E. Stirling, Government Printer, 1855. Calvert, Albert F. Recent Explorations in Australia (1891 Expedition). Taunton, England: E. Goodman, 1893. ———. Narrative of an Expedition in to the Interior of North-West Australia. London: Gillingham and Henry, 1892. Carr-Boyd, William Henry James. “Journey from Western Australia to Warina in South Australia.” Geographical Journal 9, no. 1 (January 1897): 61–62. Compton, G. Spencer. “Searching Eastwards for Gold in Western Australia 1887–1896.” JRAHS 43, no. 1 (1957): 1–47. Cross, Joseph. Expedition Made in Western Australia during the years 1829, 1830, 1831 and 1832; under the Sanction of the Governor Sir James Stirling. London: Joseph Cross, 1833. Perth: University of Western Australia Press, 1980. Drake-Brockman, Frederick Slade. Report on Exploration of North-West Kimberley. Perth: Government Printer, 1902. Drake-Brockman, Geoffrey. The Turning Wheel. Perth: Paterson Brokensha, 1960. “Exploration in the Kimberley District of Western Australia.” Geographical Journal 20, no. 4 (October 1902): 436–437. Gregory, Francis Thomas. “Expedition to the North-West Coast of Australia.” JRGS 32 (1862): 372–429. ———. “Exploration of the Murchison, Lyons and Gascoyne Rivers in Western Australia.” PRGS 3, no. 1 (1858–59): 34–53. Hann, Frank. “Exploration in Western Australia.” Proceedings Royal Society of Queensland 16 (1900): 9–34. Hunt, C. C. “Extracts from the Journal of an Expedition Organized under the Patronage of H.E. the Governor by the Agricultural Society of York District (WA), for the purpose of exploring the country to the eastward of the District.” PRGS 9, no. 3 (1864–1865): 111–112. Landor, Henry and H. H. Lefroy. “Western Australia.” JRGS 13 (1843): 189–194. Martin, James. “Explorations in North-Western Australia.” JRGS 35 (1865): 237–289.

———. Journals and Reports of Two Voyages to the Glenelg River and the North-West Coast of Australia, 1863–64. Perth: A. Shenton, 1864. Scholl, R. J. “Journal of an Expedition from the Government Camp, Camden Harbour, to the Southwest of the Glenelg River in North-Western Australia.” JRGS 36 (1866): 203–227. Steere, F. S. Bibliography of Books, Articles and Pamphlets dealing with Western Australia since its Discovery in 1616. Perth: Government Printer, 1923. Stirling, James. Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia during the Years 1829, 1830, 1831, and 1832: Containing the Latest Authentic Information Relative to that Country. Perth: University of Western Australia Press, 1980. Uren, Malcolm. Land Looking West. The Story of Governor James Stirling in Western Australia. London: Oxford University Press, 1948. Appendix B. Captain James Stirling’s first report on his survey of the Swan River district together with his “Narrative of Operations” and “Observations of the Territory.”

296 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

32–43.

Alexander Forrest Bolton, G. C. Alexander Forrest: His Life and Times. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1958. Forrest, Alexander. “Account of an Expedition to Explore South-Western Australia Eastward of the Settled Districts and beyond Hampton Plains.” JRGS 42 (1872): 388–390. ———. 1880 Western Australia. North-West Exploration. Journal of Expedition from De Grey to Port Darwin. Perth: Richard Pether, Government Printer, 1880; Bundaberg, QLD: Corkwood Press, 1996.

John Forrest Ayris, Cyril. John Forrest: Man of Legend. West Perth: C.A. Freelance, 1996. Crowley, F. K. Sir John Forrest 1847–1848. Vol. 1. Apprenticeship to Premiership. St. Lucia: Queensland University Press, 1968. Forrest, John. Explorations in Australia: 1. Explorations in Search of Dr. Leichhardt and Party. 2. From Perth to Adelaide, around the Great Australian Bight. 3. From Champion Bay, across the Desert to the Telegraph and to Adelaide. 2 vols. London: Sampson Low, 1875. ———. “Exploring Expedition in Search of the Remains of the late Dr. Leichhardt and Party, Undertaken by Order of the Government of Western Australia.” JRGS 40 (1870): 231–250. ———. “Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Country from West Australia to Port Eucla, and thence to Adelaide, South Australia.” JRGS 41 (1871): 361–372. ———. Journal of Proceedings of the Western Australian Expedition through the Centre of Australia from Champion Bay, on the West Coast, to the Overland Telegraph Line between Adelaide and Port Darwin. Perth: Government Printer, 1875. ———. Journal of Proceedings of an Exploring Expedition Organized by the Government of Western Australia to Explore the Country eastward to Port Eucla and thence to Adelaide . . . March to September. Perth: Government Printer, 1871. ———. “Journey across the Western Interior of Australia, from Murchison River to Peake Station.” PRGS 19, no. 5 (1874–75): 310–317. ———. A North-West Exploration: Journal of an Expedition from De Gray to Port Darwin. Perth: Government Printer, 1880. Nicholson, Charles. “On Forrest’s Expedition into the Interior of Western Australia, Goyder’s Survey of the Neighbourhood of Port Darwin, and on the recent Progress of Australian Discovery.” PRGS 14, no. 3 (1869–1870): 190–204. Powell, J. M. “John Forrest and Alexander Forrest 1849–1901.” In Geographers Bibli-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 297

ographical Studies 8, ed. T. W. Freeman, 39–43. London: Mansell, 1984. Serventy, Vincent. “Tommy Windich.” Walkabout 27, no. 4 (April 1961): 20.

George Grey “A Brief Outline of the Recent Expedition to the North-West Coast of Australia; under Lieutenants Grey and Lushington.” JRGS 8 (1838): 454–459. Burr, Thomas. “Extracts from Deputy-Surveyor Thomas Burr’s Journal of his Expedition in Company with Governor Grey.” JRGS 15 (1845): 163–184. Cameron, J. M. R. “George Grey Goes Exploring—The Interplay of Personalities, Politics and Place.” JRAHS 78, nos. 1 and 2 (June 1992): 49–68. Feeken, Erwin and Gerda Feeken. “Sir George Grey’s Incredible Journeys.” Walkabout 34, no. 9 (September 1968): 37–41. Grey, George. Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-west and Western Australia, during the years 1837, 38, and 39, Under the Authority of Her Majesty’s Government. Describing Many Newly Discovered, Important, and Fertile Districts, With Observations On the Moral and Physical Condition of the Aboriginal Inhabitants. 2 vols. London: T. & W. Boone, 1841. Rutherford, James. Sir George Grey KCB 1812–1898. London: Cassell, 1961.

David Lindsay Donovan, P. F. “David Lindsay 1856–1922: Explorer, Surveyor and Northern Territory Apologist.” South Australiana 18, no. 2 (September 1979): 194–207. Handbook of Instructions for the Guidance of the Officers of the Elder Scientific Exploration Expedition to the Unknown Portions of Australia. Adelaide: Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch, 1991. First published in 1891. Journal of the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition 1891–1892 under Command of David Lindsay. Equipped Solely at the Cost of Sir Thomas Elder GCMG For the Purpose of Completing the Exploration of Australia. Adelaide: C.E. Bristow Government Printer, 1893; Adelaide: Corkwood Press, 1999. Lindsay, David. “Explorations in the Northern Territory.” PRGSASA 2 (1887–1888): 1–16. ———. “Explorations through Arnhem Land.” Proceedings Royal Geographical Society of Australasia Victoria 2 (1884): 1206. ———. “The Geographical Results of the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition 1891–92.” Proceedings Royal Geographical Society of Australasia Victoria 12 (1896): 40–59. Lindsay, H. A. “Across Australia in 1886.” PRGSASA 54 (1952–1953): 35–41. Peake-Jones, Ken. “The Elder Scientific Expedition, 1891. A Study of Incompatibles.” PRGSASA 85 (1985): 54–67. Streich, John V. “In Search of the Elder Expedition 1990.” South Australian Geographical Journal 92 (1992): 68–77.

298 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

George Fletcher Moore Doyle, Martin (ed.). Extracts from the Letters and Journals of George Fletcher Moore, Esq. Now Filling a Judicial Office at the Swan River Settlement. London: Orr and Smith, 1834. Moore, George Fletcher. Diary of an Early Settler in Western Australia, 1830–41. London: M. Walbrook, 1884. ———. Evidence of an Inland Sea Collected from the Natives of the Swan River Settlement. Dublin: William Curry Junior, 1837.

John Septimus Roe Goodchild, Brian. “John Septimus Roe Surveyor General of Western Australia 1829–1871.” Globe 14 (1980): 1–11. Hercock, Marion. “John Septimus Roe 1797–1878.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 21, ed. Patrick H. Armstrong and Geoffrey J. Martin, 85–96. London: Continuum, 2001. Jackson, J. L. Barton. Not an Idle Man. A Biography of John Septimus Roe: Western Australia’s First Surveyor-General (1797–1878). West Swan: M.B. Roe, 1982. Mercer, Frederick Royston. Amazing Career: The Story of Western Australia’s First Surveyor-General. Perth: Paterson Brokensha, 1962. Roe, John Septimus. “Report of an Expedition under the Surveyor-General Mr. J. S. Roe to the South-Eastward of Perth, in Western Australia, between the Months of September, 1848, and February 1849.” JRGS 22 (1852): 1–57.

Lawrence Allen Wells Cramer, Rod. “The Calvert Centenary Project—Re-examining the 1896 Calvert Exploring Expedition.” South Australian Geographical Journal 97 (1998): 51–60. Hill, J. G. (ed.). The Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition Australia 1896. Perth: Government Printer, 1902; London: George Philip, 1905. MacDonald, Bruce. “Exploring a Century-Old Track.” Australian Geographic 49 (January–March 1998): 74–87. ———. Lawrence Allen Wells 1860–1938. Penola: Penola Branch of the National Trust of South Australia, 1996. Steele, Wilfrid and Christopher Steele. To the Great Gulf. The Surveys and Explorations of L. A. Wells, Last Australian Explorer 1860–1933. Blackwood, SA: Lynton Publications, 1978 (?). Wells, L. A. Journal of the Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition 1896–97. Equipped at the Request and Expense of Albert F. Calvert, Esq, FRGS, London, for the Purpose of Exploring the Remaining Blanks of Australia. Perth: W.A. Watson, Government Printer, 1902.

20. SOUTH TO NORTH

300 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

McKellar, John. “John King (Explorer): Sole Survivor of the Burke and Wills Expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria.” Victorian Historical Magazine 20, no. 4 (December 1944): 105–137. McLaren, Ian F. “The Victorian Exploring Expedition and Relieving Expeditions, 1860–61. The Burke and Wills Tragedy.” Victorian Historical Magazine 29, no. 4 (November 1959): 212–253. ———. “William John Wills 1834–61.” Victorian Historical Magazine 32, no. 2 (November 1962): 337–350. Moorehead, Alan. Cooper’s Creek. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1963. Murgatroyd, Sarah. The Dig Tree: The Extraordinary Story of the Ill-Fated Burke and Wills Expedition. London: Bloomsbury, 2002. Parker, F. L. and J. D. Somerville. “The Cooper’s Creek Controversies.” HSANZ 2, no. 8 (November 1943): 224–226 and PRGSASA 44 (December 1943): 55–58. Rundall, Charlotte. Across the Outback. London: Reader’s Digest Association, 1995. Contains a condensed version of Tom Bergin’s In the Steps of Burke and Wills (1981). Tipping, M. (ed.). Ludwig Becker: Artist & Naturalist with the Burke & Wills Expedition. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press for the Library Council of Victoria, 1979. Wills, William (ed.). A Successful Exploration through the Interior of Australia, from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. From the Journals and Letters of William John Wills. London: Richard Bentley, 1863. Woolf, S. H. “Tragedy at Cooper’s Creek.” History Today 24, no. 2 (February 1974): 112–119.

John McKinlay Alexander, C. R. “John McKinlay, Explorer 1819–1872.” PRGSASA 63 (December 1962): 1–22. Davis, John. Tracks of McKinlay and Party across Australia . . . with an Introductory View of the Recent Australian Explorations of McDouall Stuart, Burke and Wills, Landsborough Etc. by William Westgarth. London: Sampson Low, 1863. Lockwood, Kim. Big John. The Extraordinary Adventures of John McKinlay 1819–1872. Melbourne: State Library of Victoria, 1995. McKinlay, John. John McKinlay’s Northern Territory Explorations 1866. Adelaide: South Australian Parliament Proceedings, 1866. ———. McKinlay’s Journal of Exploration in the Interior of Australia. (Burke Relief Expedition). Melbourne: F.F. Balliere, 1862.

R. T. Maurice “Exploration in South Australia.” Geographical Journal 19, no. 6 (June 1902): 760. “Journey across Australia.” Geographical Journal 21, no. 3 (March 1903): 323–324. Maurice, R. T. “A Trip to the Western Interior of South Australia.” PRGSASA 5 (1901–1902): 40–41.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 301

“Mr. R. T. Maurice’s Expedition North of Fowler’s Bay.” PRGSASA 5 (1901–1902): 33–39.

John McDouall Stuart Auld, W. P. Recollections of McDouall Stuart. Adelaide: Sullivan’s Cove, 1984. Crone, G. R. “Centenary of Stuart’s Crossing of Australia.” Geographical Journal 128, no. 4 (December 1962): 573–574. Hardman, William (ed.). Explorations in Australia. The Journals of John McDouall Stuart during the years 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, & 1862, When He Fixed the Center of the Continent and Successfully Crossed it from Sea to Sea. London: Saunders, Otley, 1864. Mudie, Ian Mayelston. The Heroic Journey of John McDouall Stuart. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1968. “On the New Country of North Australia Discovered by Mr. John McDouall Stuart.” PRGS 9, no. 1 (1864–65): 21–23. Pike, Douglas. John McDouall Stuart. London: Oxford University Press, 1958. Quick, Mary. “John McDouall Stuart.” JRAHS 49, no. 4 (December 1963): 304–306. Stokes, Edward. Across the Centre: John McDouall Stuart’s Expeditions 1860–1862. St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1996. ———. “John McDouall Stuart: In the Footsteps of Australia’s Greatest Explorer.” Australian Geographic 11 (July–September 1988): 30–49. Strehlow, T. G. H. Comments on the Journals of John McDouall Stuart. Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia, 1967. Stuart, John McDouall. “Diary of Mr. John McDouall Stuart’s Explorations from Adelaide across the Continent of Australia.” JRGS 33 (1863): 276–321. ———. “Diary of Mr. John McDouall Stuart’s Explorations to the North of Murchison Range, in 20º s Lat., 1860–61.” JRGS 32 (1862): 340–371. ———. J. McDouall Stuart’s Explorations across the Continent of Australia . . . 1861–62. Melbourne: F.F. Balliere, 1863. ———. “Journal of Australian Exploration.” JRGS 31 (1861): 65–145. Webster, Mona Stuart. John McDouall Stuart. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1958.

Overland Telegraph Clune, Frank. Overland Telegraph: The Story of a Great Australian Achievement and the Link between Adelaide and Port Darwin. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1955. Giles, Arthur. Exploring in the Seventies and the Construction of the Overland Telegraph Line. Adelaide: W.K. Thomas, 1926. Haines, A. B. “The Overland Telegraph Line.” Walkabout 3, no. 9 (July 1937): 37–41. Leggett, George R. “Early Australian Cables and the O.T. Line.” Victorian Historical Magazine 22, no. 3 (September 1950): 116–132.

302 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mills, Elliott Whitfield. W. Whitfield Mills. Experiences with Darwin Survey & Overland Telegraph Parties and Discovery of Alice Spring. Adelaide: The author, 1993. O’Byrne, Denis. Telegraph Stations of Central Australia. Alice Springs: Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve, n.d. Stubbs, Pauline. “Todd and His Telegraph.” Walkabout 34, no. 10 (October 1968): 12–15. Symes, George W. and Bryan T. Ward. “Charles Todd and the Overland Telegraph.” PRGSASA 81 (1980–81): 59–73. Thomson, Alice. The Singing Line. London: Chatto & Windus, 1999.

21. ACROSS THE WESTERN DESERTS Beard, J. S. “The Penetration of the Western Deserts of Australia.” Geographical Journal 136, no. 4 (December 1970): 557–568. Gosse, Fayette. The Gosses: An Anglo-Australian Family. Canberra: Brian Clouston, 1981. ———. “Sir Thomas Elder G.C.M.G.” PRGSASA 63 (December 1962): 33–50. Gosse, William Christie. W. C. Gosse’s Explorations . . . Report and Diary of Mr. W. C. Gosse’s Central and Western Exploring Expedition in 1873. Adelaide: Government Printer, 1874. Rawson, Geoffrey. Desert Journeys: An Account of the Arduous Exploration of the Interior of the Continent of Australia by Rival Expeditions in 1873–4. London: Jonathan Cape, 1948. Ross, John. “The Country North-West of Cooper’s Creek Central Australia.” PRGS 15, no. 1 (1870–71): 96–100. Symes, G.W. “The Exploration and Development of the Northern Part of South Australia between 1850 and 1869 and the Early Life of John Ross.” PRGSASA 58 (1956–57): 1–20. ———. “Exploring in the MacDonnell Ranges 1870–1872.” PRGSASA 61 (1959–60): 37–53.

Len Beadell Beadell, Len. Outback Highways. Adelaide: Rigby, 1979. Deckert, John. The Gunbarrel Highway. Nhill, VIC: Westprint Heritage Maps, 1994. Shephard, Mike. A Lifetime in the Bush: The Biography of Len Beadell. Adelaide: Corkwood Press, 1998.

Edward John Eyre Armstrong, Patrick. “Edward John Eyre 1815–1901.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 15, ed. Geoffrey J. Martin, 37–50. London: Mansell, 1994.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 303

Dutton, Geoffrey. The Hero as Murderer: The Life of Edward John Eyre, Australian Explorer and Governor of Jamaica, 1815–1901. Sydney: Collins, 1967. ———. In Search of Edward John Eyre. South Melbourne: Macmillan Company of Australia, 1982. Eyre, Edward John. “Excursions from Adelaide to the Murray and Westwards as Far as Spencer’s Gulf 1839.” JRGS 13 (1843): 161–162. ———. “Expeditions of Discovery in South Australia.” JRGS 13 (1843): 161–182. ———. Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia, and Overland from Adelaide to King George’s Sound, in the years 1840–1. 2 vols. London: T. & W. Boone, 1845. ———. “Report to Governor Grey, Dated Moorunde, 20th January, 1844, Containing a Notice of the Lower Course of the River Darling.” JRGS, 15 (1845): 327–332. ———. Reports of the Expedition to King George’s Sound 1841 and the Death of Baxter. Adelaide: Sullivan’s Cove, 1983. Stokes, Edward. The Desert Coast: Edward Eyre’s Expedition 1840–41. Knoxfield, VIC: Five Mile Press, 1993. ———. “The Triumph of Edward John Eyre.” Australian Geographic 16 (October– December 1989): 92–111. Uren, Malcolm and Robert Stephens. Waterless Horizons. The First Full-Length Study of the Extraordinary Life Story of Edward John Eyre. Melbourne: Robertson & Mullens, 4th ed., 1945.

Ernest Giles Dutton, Geoffrey. Australia’s Last Explorer: Ernest Giles. London: Faber, 1970. Ericksen, Ray. “Conflict in Vision: Ernest Giles, Explorer and Traveller.” PRGSASA 75 (1974): 37–48. ———. Ernest Giles: Explorer and Traveller 1835–1897. Melbourne: Heinemann, 1978. ———. West of Centre. London: Heinemann, 1972. Giles, Ernest. Australia Twice Traversed: The Romance of Exploration, Being A Narrative Compiled from the Journals of Five Exploring Expeditions into and through Central South Australia, and Western Australia, from 1872 to 1876. 2 vols. London: Sampson Low, 1889. ———. Geographic Travels in Central Australia From 1872 to 1874. Melbourne: McCarron Bird, 1875; Adelaide: Corkwood Press, 1993. ———. The Journal of a Forgotten Expedition. Adelaide: W.K. Thomas, 1880; North Adelaide: Cork Press, 1999. ———. “Journey of Exploration from South to Western Australia, in 1875.” JRGS 46 (1876): 328–357. ———. A Trip West of the Peake. Adelaide: W.K. Thomas, 1880. Hill, Pete. “In Search of Giles.” Australian Geographic 37 (January–March 1995): 78–91.

304 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Young, Jess. Recent Journey of Exploration across the Continent of Australia: Its Deserts, Native Races, and Natural History. Melbourne: Gaston Renard, 1978. First printed in Bulletin of the American Geographical Society 10, no. 2 (1878): 116–141.

“Harry” Lasseter Coote, Errol. Hell’s Airport: The Key to Lasseter’s Last Legacy. 3rd ed. Hawthorndene, SA: Investigator Press, 1981. Deckert, John. Alice Springs—Ayers Rock. 3rd ed. Nhill, VIC: Westprint Heritage Maps, 1998. Dickson, C. M. Lasseter and Giles and the Gold Reef. Yandina, QLD: The Author, 1998. Idriess, Ion L. Lasseter’s Last Ride: An Epic of Central Australian Gold Discovery. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1931. Mansfield, Mary (ed.). Dream Millions: New Light on Lasseter’s Lost Reef. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1972. Marshall-Stoneking, Billy. Lasseter: In Quest of Gold. 2nd ed. Sydney: Hodder & Stoughton, 1989. ———. Lasseter: The Making of a Legend. Sydney: George Allen & Unwin Australia, 1985. Stapleton, Austin. Lasseter Did Not Lie! Hawthorndene, SA: Investigator Press, 1981. Stokes, Edward. “Lasseter’s Gold.” Australian Geographic 1, no. 1 (January–March 1986): 34–51. Insert Dick Smith’s “Where Might the Reef Be?” 2p.+2p. foldover. Terry, Michael. “Does Lasseter’s Reef Exist?” Walkabout 2, no. 10 (August 1936): 16–21.

Peter Egerton Warburton Diary of Colonel Warburton’s Expedition to Western Australia 1872–74. Adelaide: The South Australian Parliament, 1875. Warburton, Peter Egerton. Australian Expedition North-East and North-West of Lake Eyre. The Discoveries and Despatches of Major Warburton, Commissioner of Police 1846. Adelaide: Sullivan’s Code, 1988. ———. Journey across the Western Interior of Australia. London: Sampson Low, 1875; Victoria Park, WA: Hesperian Press, 1981.

22. NORTHERN AUSTRALIA Basedow, Herbert. “Journal of the Government North-West Expedition.” PRGSASA 15 (1913–14): 57–242. Also issued separately. ———. Narrative of an Expedition of Exploration in North-Western Australia. Adelaide: W.K. Thomas, 1918.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 305

Chewings, Charles. “A Journey from Barrow Creek to Victoria River.” Geographical Journal 76, no. 3 (September 1930): 316–338. Deckert, John. Tanami Track. 2nd ed. Nhill, VIC: Westprint Heritage Maps, 1996. Frost, Cheryl. The Last Explorer: The Life and Work of Ernest Favenc. Townsville, QLD: Foundation for Australian Literary Studies, James Cook University of North Queensland, 1983. Grierson, John. Sir Hubert Wilkins. Enigma of Exploration. London: Robert Hale, 1960. Love, Stuart. “Narrative of a Journey through Arnhem Land in 1910.” Victorian Historical Magazine 25, no. 3 (December 1953): 73–95. Peterson, Nicolas (ed.). Donald Thomson in Arnhem Land. Melbourne: Currey O’Neil, 1983. Pike, Glenville. Frontier Territory: The Colorful History of the Exploration and Pioneering of Australia’s Northern Territory. Darwin: Printed by Imperial Printers, n.d. Thomson, Donald F. “The Bindibu Expedition: Exploration among the Desert Aborigines of Western Australia.” Geographical Journal 128, no. 1 (March 1962): 1–14; no. 2 (June 1962): 143–157; and no. 3 (September 1962): 262–278. Twidale, C. R. “J. C. Darke’s North Western Exploration Expedition of 1844.” JRAHS 60, no. 1 (March 1974): 28–47. Wilkins, George Hubert. Undiscovered Australia. Being an Account of an Expedition to Tropical Australia to Collect Specimens of the Rarer Native Fauna for the British Museum 1923–1925. London: Ernest Benn, 1928.

Augustus Charles Gregory Birman, Wendy. Gregory of Rainsworth: A Man in His Time. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1979. Cumpston, J. H. L. Augustus Gregory and the Inland Sea. Canberra: Roebuck Society, 1972. Gregory, Augustus Charles. “Continuation of the Report of the North Australian Expedition.” PRGS 1, no. 9 (1855–1857): 491–501. ———. “Expedition from Moreton Bay in Search of Leichhardt and Party.” PRGS 3, no. 1 (1858–59): 18–34. ———. “Journal of an Expedition Undertaken by Messrs. Gregory in the Months of August and September 1846.” JRGS 18 (1848): 26–37. ———. “Journal of the North Australian Exploring Expedition under the Command of Augustus C. Gregory.” JRGS 28 (1858): 1–135. Gregory, Augustus Charles. “Progress of the North Australian Expedition.” PRGS 1, no. 2 (1855–1857): 32–33. ———. “Report of the Progress of the North Australian Expedition.” PRGS 1, no. 6 (1856): 183–191. ———. “Return of the North Australian Expedition.” PRGS 1, no. 8 (1855–1857): 324–325 and no. 9 (1855–1857): 341–342. ———. “The Settlers’ Expedition to the Northward from Perth.” JRGS 22 (1852): 57–71.

306 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gregory, Augustus Charles and Frank Thomas Gregory. Journals of Australian Explorations. 2 vols. London: T. & W. Boone, 1841; New York: Greenwood Press, 1969; Perth: Hesperian Press, 1981. Kelly, Kieran. Hard Country Hard Men: In the Footsteps of Gregory. Alexandria, NSW: Hale & Iremonger, 2000. Knight, A. Hardman. “Gregory Brothers.” Queensland Geographical Journal 48, (1943–1944): 53–59. Toohey, Paul. “North by North-west.” Australian Magazine (31 July–1 August 1999): 16–18, 21.

Ludwig Leichhardt “Account of Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt’s Expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, Australia.” JRGS 16 (1846): 212–238. Arrowsmith, John. Detailed Map of Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt’s Route in Australia, from Moreton Bay to Port Essington (Upwards of 3000 miles, Performed in the Years 1844 & 1845). Laid Down from His Original Map, Adjusted & Drawn to the Maritime Surveys of Captns. Flinders, King, Wickham, Stoke, Blackwood &c. London: John Arrowsmith, 1847. Aurousseau, M. (ed.). The Letters of F. W. Ludwig Leichhardt. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for the Hakluyt Society, 1968. Bunce, Daniel. Travels with Dr. Leichhardt in Australia. Melbourne: W. Fairfax, 1859. Charnley, W. “The Evergreen Leichhardt Mystery.” Walkabout 20, no. 1 (January 1954): 29–32. Chisholm, Alex Hugh. “The Leichhardt Problem.” JRAHS 57, no. 1 (March 1971): 74–78. ———. Strange Journey: The Adventures of Ludwig Leichhardt and John Gilbert. Adelaide: Rigby, 1973. Connell, Gordon. The Mystery of Ludwig Leichhardt. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1980. Cooper, William and Glen McLaren. “Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt 1813–1848.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 17, ed. Geoffrey J. Martin and Patrick H. Armstrong, 52–67. London: Mansell, 1997. Cotton, Catherine Drummond. Ludwig Leichhardt and the Great South Land. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1938. Fisher, Clem. “Following in the Footsteps of Leichhardt. The Events of the First Leichhardt Expedition, and the Route Retraced by The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland, June–July 1990.” Queensland Geographical Journal 5, 4th ser (July 1990): 80–95. Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. “Leichhardt: A Great Australian Explorer.” Geographical Journal 135, no. 1 (March 1969): 67–69. Larcombe, E. E. “The Search for Dr. Leichhardt.” JRAHS 12, no. 3 (1926): 167–186.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 307

Leichhardt, Ludwig. Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia, from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, a Distance of Upwards of 3,000 Miles, during the Years 1844–45. London: T. & W. Boone, 1847; North Adelaide: Corkwood Press, 1996. Mann, John Frederick. Eight Months with Dr. Leichhardt, in the Years 1846–47. Sydney: Turner and Henderson, 1888. McLaren, Glen and William Cooper. “Leichhardt Revisited.” Queensland Geographical Journal 8, 4th ser. (1993): 43–54. Perrin, Les. The Mystery of the Leichhardt Survivor: The Story of Men Who Sought to Solve It. Stafford, QLD: The Author, 1990. Politzer, Ludwig. Bibliography of Literature on Ludwig Leichhardt, German Explorer in Australia during 1842–1848 Including a List of Documents. Melbourne: Privately Printed, 1953. Price, A. Grenfell. “The Mystery of Leichhardt: The South Australian Government Expedition of 1938.” PRGSASA 39 (May 1939): 9–48. Roderick, Colin. Leichhardt: The Dauntless Explorer. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1980. ———. “New Light on Leichhardt.” JRAHS 72, no. 3 (December 1986): 166–190. Simpson, Bruce. In Leichhardt’s Footsteps: More Stories from the Packhorse Drover. Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1997. Sprod, Dan. “Leichhardt’s First Attempt to the Swan River 1846–1847: An Analysis of a Failed Expedition.” South Australian Geographical Journal 92 (1992): 1–18. Turnbull, Henry Mathew. Leichhardt’s Second Journey: A First-Hand Account. Sydney: Halstead Press, 1983. Webster, E. M. Whirlwinds in the Plain: Ludwig Leichhardt—Friends, Foes and History. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1980.

23. CENTRAL AUSTRALIA Barclay, Henry Vere. “Recent Central Australian Exploration.” Victorian Geographical Journal 13–14 (1905–1906): 72–77. ———. “Report on Exploration of a Portion of Central Australia by the BarclayMacpherson Expedition 1904–1905.” PRGSSA 16 (1914–1915): 106–130. Clune, Frank. The Red Heart: Sagas of Centralia. Melbourne: Hawthorn Press, 1944. Colson, Edmund Albert. “Crossing the Simpson Desert.” Queensland Geographical Journal 46 (1939–1940): 35–38. ———. “The First Recorded Crossing of the Simpson desert From West to East.” PRGSASA 41 (1939–1940): 10–21. Day, T. E. “Central Australia—The Undeveloped Interior and Its Possibilities.” PRGSASA 23 (1921–1922): 7–28. Deckert, John. Dalhousie and Simpson Desert. 4th ed. Nhill, VIC: Westprint Heritage Maps, 2000.

308 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gregory, J. W. The Dead Heart of Australia. A Journey Round Lake Eyre in the Summer of 1901–1902, with Some Account of the Lake Eyre Basin and the Flowing Wells of Central Australia. London: John Murray, 1906. Shephard, Mark. The Simpson Desert—Natural History and Human Endeavour. Adelaide: Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch, 1992.

Allan Davidson Davidson, Allan A. Journal of Explorations in Central Australia by the Central Australian Exploration Syndicate Ltd under the Leadership of Alan Davidson 1898 to 1900. Adelaide: Government Printer, 1905. Winnecke, Charles. “Davidson’s West Central Australia Expedition.” PRGSASA 5 (1901–1902): 29–31. ———. (ed.). Map of Explorations in Central Australia by Allan A. Davidson 1898 to 1901. Adelaide: Surveyor General’s Office, 1901.

Donald Mackay Basedow, Herbert. Notes to Accompany the Map of the Mackay Expedition in Central Australia 1926. Adelaide: Register Newspapers, 1929. Bennett, H. T. “The Work of the Mackay Aerial Survey Expedition of 1935.” Australian Geographer 2, no. 8 (1935–1937): 3–7. Clune, Frank. Last of the Australian Explorers: The Story of Donald Mackay. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1942. Mackay, Donald. “An Expedition in Arnhem Land in 1928.” Geographical Journal 74, no. 6 (December 1929): 568–573. ———. “The Mackay Aerial Survey Expedition, Central Australia, May–June 1930.” Geographical Journal 84, no. 6 (December 1934): 511–514. ———. “The Mackay Exploring Expedition, Central Australia 1926.” Geographical Journal 73, no. 3 (March 1929): 258–264. Smith, K. Langford. “Mackay Expedition to the Central Regions of Australia, June–July 1935.” Australian Geographer 2, no. 7 (1933–1935): 49.

Cecil Thomas Madigan Madigan, Cecil Thomas. “An Aerial Reconnaissance into the South-Eastern Portion of Central Australia.” PRGSASA 30 (1928–1929): 83–108. ———. Central Australia. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1944; Marleston, SA: J.B. Books, 2001. ———. Crossing the Dead Heart. Adelaide: Georgian House, 1946; Marleston, SA: J.B. Books Australia, 2001.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 309

———. “Lake Eyre, South Australia.” Geographical Journal 76, no. 3 (September 1930): 215–240. O’Byrne, Denis. “In the Footsteps of Madigan.” Geographical Magazine 53, no. 11 (August 1981): 737–739.

Michael Terry Barnard, Charlotte (ed.). The Autobiography of Michael Terry. Rushcutters Bay, NSW: Australian University Press in association with Northern Australian Research Unit (Darwin), Australian National University Canberra, 1987. Robinson, Judy. Bushman of the Red Heart: Central Australian Cameleer and Explorer, Ben Nicker 1908–1942. Rockhampton: Central Queensland University Press, 1999. Terry, Michael. Across Unknown Australia. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1925. ———. “Adventures of a Camelman.” Walkabout 2, no. 11 (September 1936): 34–37. ———. “The Canning Basin of Western Australia.” Geographical Journal 123, no. 2 (June 1957): 157–166. ———. “Explorations near the Border of Western Australia.” Geographical Journal 84, no. 6 (December 1934): 498–510. ———. “From East to West across Northern Australia.” Geographical Journal 64, no. 1 (July 1924): 21–43. ———. “A Journey through the North-West of Central Australia in 1928.” Geographical Journal 75, no. 3 (March 1930): 218–224. ———. Sand and Sun. Two Gold-Hunting Expeditions with Camels in the Dry Lands of Central Australia. London: Michael Joseph, 1937. ———. Through a Land of Promise: With Gun, Car and Camera in the Heart of Northern Australia. London: Herbert Jenkins, 1927. ———. “Through Northern Australia: Report of the Terry Australian Expedition.” Geographical Journal 68, no. 4 (October 1926): 302–322. ———. “Twelve Hundred Miles South-East.” Walkabout 1, no. 7 (July 1935): 15–19. ———. “Two Journeys Westward from Horseshoe Bend and Oodnadatta, Central Australia.” Geographical Journal 78, no. 4 (October 1931): 341–346. ———. Untold Miles: Three Gold Hunting Expeditions amongst the Picturesque Borderlands of Central Australia. London: Selwyn & Blount, 1933. ———. “West of the Overland Telegraph Line in Central Australia.” Australian Geographer 4 (4 December 1942): 91–106.

William Henry Tietkens Tietkens, William Henry. Diary of the Exploration in South Australia. Adelaide: Department of Supply, 1961. ———. “Experiences in the Life of an Australian Explorer.” JRAHS 5, no. 2 (1919): 45–74. ———. Journal of the Central Australian Exploring Expedition, 1889, under the Command of W. H. Tietkens. Adelaide: C.E. Bristow, Government Printer, 1891.

310 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

———. Private Journal of W. H. Tietkens on an Expedition to the Nullarbor Plain February 1879 to January 1880. North Adelaide: Corkwood Press, 1998.

Charles Winnecke Spencer, Baldwin. “The Horn Expedition to Central Australia.” Geographical Journal 4 (1894): 67–68. Spencer, Baldwin and F. J. Gillen. Across Australia. 2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1912. Winnecke, Charles. Journal of the Horn Exploring Expedition. Adelaide: C.E. Bristow Government Printer, 1897; Bundesberg: Corkwood Press, 1995.

24. STOCKMEN OF THE OUTBACK Blake, L. J. “Talking of Overlanders.” Victorian Historical Magazine 40, no. 4 (November 1969): 151–171. Buchanan, Bobbie. In the Tracks of Old Bluey. Rockhampton: Central Queensland University Press, 1997. Buchanan, Gordon. Packhorse and Waterholes. With the First Overlanders to the Kimberleys. Reminiscences of Nathaniel and Katherine Buchanan. Sydney: Angus & Robinson, 1933; Victoria Park, WA: Hesperian Press, 1984. The Complete Jardine Expedition Journals. Adelaide: Corkwood Press, 1998. Contents: (1) Narrative of the Overland Expedition of the Messrs Jardine Compiled from the Journals of the Brothers, ed. Frederick J. Byerley (1867); (2) Private Journal of the Surveyor Attached to Messrs Frank and Alexander Jardine’s Overland Expedition to Cape York by Archibald Richardson (1867). Durack, Mary. Kings in Grass Castles. London: Constable, 1959. ———. Sons in the Saddle. London: Constable, 1983. Foskett, Alan. “Stock Routes of Northern Australia.” Walkabout 22, no. 4 (April 1956): 10–16. Hawdon, Joseph. The Journal of a Journey from New South Wales to Adelaide Performed in 1838. Melbourne: Georgian House, 1952. ———. Joseph Hawdon’s Journal of His Overland Journey by Tandem from Port Phillip to Adelaide with Alfred Mundy in 1839: With Accounts of the Earlier Journeys of Charles Bonney 1839 and Foley, Stone and Stanley 1837. Adelaide: Sullivan’s Cove, 1984. Lehane, Fleur. Heartbreak Corner: A Story of the Tully, Durack and Other Pioneer Families in South-West Queensland. 2nd ed. Rockhampton: Central Queensland University Press, 2000. The Romance of the Stockman, the Lore, Legend and Literature of Australia’s Outback Heroes. Melbourne: Viking O’Neil, 1993.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 311

25. COASTAL SURVEYS Battye, C. “HMS Beagle 1833–1841—Minor Exploration 1837–1840.” In the Cyclopedia of Western Australia, ed. J. S. Battye. London: Hussey & Gillingham, 1912. Blewitt, Mary. Surveys of the Seas. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1957. Flemming, James. Journal of the Explorations of Charles Grimes. Carlton, VIC: Queensbury Hill Press, 1984. Furness, Ronald A. “The Hydrographic Service, Royal Australian Navy.” In National Report to ICA, 1991 Australia. 15th International Cartographic Conference. 9th General Assembly of ICA, Bournemouth, England 1991. (Cartography Supplement, July 1991). Furness, Ronald A. and Meredith Clark. “Royal Australian Navy Hydrographic Service.” In National Report to ICA, 1995. Australia. 17th International Cartographic Conference. 10th Assembly of ICA, Barcelona, Spain, 1995. (Cartography Supplement, July 1995). Gill, J. C. H. The Missing Coast—Queensland Takes Shape. Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1988. Howard, Frederick. “Marine Survey of the Northern Territory of South Australia.” JRGS 36 (1866): 227–244. Ingleton, G. C. “A Brief History of Marine Surveying in Australia.” JRAHS 30, no. 1 (1944): 1–44; no. 2 (1944): 85–151; and no. 3 (1944): 259–288. ———. Charting a Continent: A Brief Memoir on the History of Maritime Exploration and Hydrographical Surveying in Australian Waters from the Discoveries of Captain James Cook to the War Activities of the Royal Australian Navy Surveying Service. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1944. Note: Appendix 2. Surveying and Exploring Navy List 1770–1939 Australia and Adjacent Waters. Jukes, Joseph Beete. Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of HMS Fly, Commanded by Captain F. P. Blackwood, RN, in Torres Strait, New Guinea, and Other Islands of the Eastern Archipelago, During the Years 1842–1846. 2 vols. London: T. & W. Boone, 1847. Kraybill, Gene. “Charting New Waters: The Bottom Line on Our Navy Hydrographers.” Australian Geographic 32 (October–December 1993): 76–93. Leonard, Brian C. “The Compilation of Nautical Charts of Australia—Past, Present and Future.” Globe 7 (1977): 34–38. ———. “Updating and Correction of Naval Charts in Australian Waters.” Globe 19 (1983): 47–58. Macknight, C. C. The Farthest Coast: A Selection of Writings Relating to the History of the Northern Coast of Australia. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1969. May, W. E. A History of Marine Navigation. Henley-on-Thames: G.T. Foulis, 1973. McGuire, Frances Margaret. The Royal Australian Navy: Its Origins, Development and Organization. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1948. Perry, Thomas Melville. “The Early Evolution of the British Hydrographical Office’s Set of Charts of Australian Waters.” Globe 37 (1992): 45–47.

312 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ritchie, G. S. The Admiralty Chart: British Naval Hydrography in the Nineteenth Century. new ed. Edinburgh: Pentland Press, 1995. Schurfield, Judith. “An Extensive and Distant Survey: Nautical Surveying of the Australian Coast 1770–1880.” Globe 48 (1999): 35–45.

George Bass Bowden, Keith Macrae. George Bass 1771–1803: His Discoveries, Romantic Life, and Tragic Disappearance. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1952. Cole, Valda. “George Bass and the Whaleboat Voyage 1797–1798.” Victorian Historical Magazine 69, no. 2 (November 1998): 77–91. Else Mitchell, R. “Bass’s Land Explorations.” JRAHS 37, no. 4 (1951): 244–250. Graves, Kathleen E. “The Distant Climate and Savage Shore: Being the Life of George Bass.” Walkabout 23, no. 8 (August 1957): 10–15. Leggett, George R. “History of Bass Strait.” Victorian Historical Magazine 25, no. 2 (June 1953): 44–59. Roe, Michael. “New Light on George Bass.” JRAHS 72, no. 4 (April 1987): 251–272.

Matthew Flinders Austin, K. A. Matthew Flinders on the Victorian Coast April–May 1802. Melbourne: Cypress Books, 1974. ———. The Voyage of the Investigator 1801–1803 Commander Matthew Flinders, R.N. London: Angus & Robertson, 1964. Baker, Sidney J. My Own Destroyer: A Biography of Matthew Flinders, Explorer and Navigator. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1963. Bertie, Charles H. “Matthew Flinders—Australia’s Navigator.” JRAHS 3, no. 7 (1908, 1911, 1914): 295–326. Bowden, Keith Macrae (ed.). Matthew Flinders’ Narrative of Tom Thumb’s Cruise to Canoe Rivulet. Brighton, VIC: South Eastern Historical Association, 1985. Brown, Tony. Ill-Starred Captains: Flinders and Baudin. Adelaide: Crawford House, 2000. ———. “Terra Australis or Terre Napoléon? Flinders, Baudin and the Unknown Coast.” Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia 28 (2000): 42–48. Brunton, Paul. “The Man Who Put Australia on the Map.” Weekend Australian 11, 614 (26–27 January, 2002): 19. ———. (ed.). Matthew Flinders: Personal Letters from an Extraordinary Life. Sydney: Hordern House in association with the State Library of New South Wales, 2002. Cooper, Harold Moors. The Unknown Coast: Being the Explorations of Captain Matthew Flinders R.N. along the Shores of South Australia. Adelaide: Advertiser Printing Office, 1953. Supplement. Adelaide: E.J. McAlister, 1955. Davies, Peter. “Celebrating the Man Who Put Australia on the Map.” Times (London) 66, no. 837 (May 2000): 24.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 313

Flannery, Tim (ed.). Terra Australis: Matthew Flinders’ Great Adventures in the Circumnavigation of Australia. Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2000. Flinders, Matthew. The First Map of Australia by Matthew Flinders, Published 1814. Sydney: The Australian and State Library of New South Wales, supported by Coastcare and National Heritage Trust, 2002. Reproduction 75cm x 55cm single sheet of General Chart of Terra Australis and Australia Showing the Parts Explored Between 1798 and 1803 by Matthew Flinders Commr. of HMS Investigator. ———. Observations on the Coasts of Van Diemen’s Land, on Bass’s Straits and its Islands and on Part of the Coast of New South Wales; intended to Accompany the Charts of the Late Discoveries in Those Countries. London: John Nichols, 1801: Dubbo, NSW: Review Publications, 1979. ———. A Voyage to Terra Australis; Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of That Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty’s Ship the Investigator, and Subsequently in the Armed Vessel Porpoise and the Cumberland Schooner. 2 vols., Atlas. London: G. and W. Nichol, 1814. Ingleton, Geoffrey. Matthew Flinders: Navigator and Chartmaker. Melbourne: Hedley Australia, 1986. King, Jonathan. “Matthew Flinders: A Genius Flawed.” Weekend Australian 11, 614 (26–27 January, 2002): 2. ———. “Nine Years in a Leaky Boat.” Weekend Australian Magazine (29–30 September 2001): 26–27, 29. Mack, James D. “Matthew Flinders and the British Admiralty Orders to H.M.S. Investigator.” JRAHS 43, no. 5 (1957): 205–222. ———. Matthew Flinders 1774–1814. Melbourne: Nelson, 1966. Mackay, David. “In the Shadow of Cook: The Ambition of Matthew Flinders.” In European Voyaging towards Australia, ed. John Hardy and Alan Frost. Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1990: 99–111. Marchant, Leslie R. “Setting the Flinders Record Strait.” The Australian (9 April 2002): 10. Matthew Flinders, 1774–1814: Private Journal 17 December 1803 to 10 July 1814. Hindmarsh, SA: Crawford House Publishing, 2002. Matthew Flinders Bicentenary Celebrations 1774–1974. Issue Victorian Historical Magazine 45, no. 2 (May 1974). Matthew Flinders. The Ultimate Voyage. Sydney: State Library of New South Wales, 2001. Catalog of an exhibition presented at the State Library of New South Wales October 1, 2001 through January 13, 2002, which afterward toured Australia. May, W. E. “The Man Who Named Australia.” Geographical Magazine 21, no. 8 (December 1948): 306–311. Perry, Thomas Melville. “Matthew Flinders and the Charting of the Australian Coast.” In Technical Papers of the 12th Conference of the International Cartographic Association Perth, Australia, August 6–13 1984. Vol. 2. Perth: ICA Conference Committee, 1984. Also printed in Globe 23 (1985): 1–40. Perry, Thomas Melville and D. H. Simpson (eds.). Drawings by William Westall: Landscape Artist on Board HMS Investigator during the Circumnavigation of Australia

314 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

by Captain Matthew Flinders R.N. in 1801–1803. London: Royal Commonwealth Society, 1962. Pineo, Huguette Ly-Tio-Fane. In the Grips of the Eagle: Matthew Flinders at Isle de France 1803–1810. Moka, Mauritius: Mahatma Gandhi Institute, 1988. Ritchie, G. S. “Matthew Flinders, Hydrographer.” Journal of Navigation 7, no. 3 (July 1974): 282–297. Royal Historical Society of Victoria. 1774–1974 Matthew Flinders Bi-Centenary. An Exhibition of Maritime Paintings, Maps, Documents, from the Collection of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria March 18–March 29. Melbourne: Royal Historical Society of Victoria, 1974. Rupert-Jones, John A. “Early Australian Surveys: The Story of Matthew Flinders.” Notes and Queries 160 (27 June 1931): 453–454 and (11 July 1931): 25–26. Scott, Ernest. “English and French Navigators on the Victorian Coast.” Victorian Historical Magazine 2, no. 4 (December 1912): 145–175. ———. The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1914. Reissued 2001. Smith, Robert James. “Matthew Flinders and the North Coast of New South Wales, 1794.” JRAHS 85, no. 2 (December 1999): 163–170.

James Grant Charnley, W. “The Lady Nelson.” Walkabout 19, no. 7 (July 1953): 39–40. Grant, James. The Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery, Performed in His Majesty’s Vessel the Lady Nelson . . . in the years 1800, 1801 and 1802, to New South Wales. Including Remarks . . . on the hitherto Unknown Parts of New Holland, Discovered by Him in His Passage (the First Ever Attempted from Europe through the Streight Separating that Island from the Land Discovered by Van Diemen. London: T. Egerton, 1803. Lee, Ida. The Logbooks of the ‘Lady Nelson’ with the Journal of Her First Commander Lieutenant James Grant, R.N. London: Grafton, 1915.

John Hunter Bladen, F. M. “Notes on the Life of John Hunter, Admiral, Governor of New South Wales.” JRAHS 1, no. 3 (1901): 21–27. Hunter, John. An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island, with the Discoveries Which Have Been Made in New South Wales and in the Southern Ocean, Since the Publication of Phillip’s Voyage. London: John Stockdale, 1793. ———. An Historical Journal of Events at Sydney and at Sea 1787–1792 with Further Accounts by Governor Arthur Phillip, Lieutenant P. G. King and Lieutenant H. L. Ball. Sydney: Angus & Robertson in association with the Royal Australian Historical Society, 1968.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 315

Review of John Hunter’s An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson (1793). Monthly Review 2nd ser., 12 (October 1793): 121–129 and (November 1793): 253–261.

James Kelly Bowden, Keith MacRae. Captain James Kelly of Hobart Town. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1964. Calder, James Erskine (ed.). The Circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land in 1815 by James Kelly and in 1824 by James Hobbs. Adelaide: Sullivan’s Cove, 1984. The Log of the Circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land by Captain James Kelly, 1814–1815 and Other Accounts of Exploration of the West and North Coasts of Tasmania Taken from Tasmanian Parliamentary Papers. Hobart: A.B. Candell, Government Printer, 1986.

Philip Parker King Hordern, Marsden. King of the Australian Coast: The Work of Philip Parker King in the Mermaid and Bathurst 1817–1822. Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, 1997. King, Philip Parker. Chart of the Intertropical Coasts of Australia. London: John Murray, 1825. ———. Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the Years 1818 and 1822. 2 vols. London: John Murray, 1827. Powell, Alan. “Explorers—Surveyors of Australia’s North Coast: 1. Phillip Parker King and the Men of ‘Mermaid’ and ‘Bathurst.’” JRAHS 65, no. 4 (March 1980): 217–229. Rupert-Jones, John A. “Early Australian Surveys Rear-Admiral Philip Parker King.” Notes and Queries 161 (19 September 1931): 201–203 and (26 September 1931): 221–224.

Owen Stanley Bassett, Marnie. Behind the Picture: HMS Rattlesnake’s Australia—New Guinea Cruise 1846 to 1850. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1966. Huxley, Julian (ed.). T. H. Huxley’s Diary of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake. London: Chatto & Windus, 1935. Lubbock, Adelaide. Owen Stanley R.N. 1811–1850, Captain of the ‘Rattlesnake.’ Melbourne: Heinemann, 1968. MacGillivray, John. Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake, Commanded by the Late Captain Owen Stanley RN FRS &c. during the Years 1846–1850 . . . To Which is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy’s Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. 2 vols. London: T. & W. Boone, 1852.

316 •

BIBLIOGRAPHY

John Lort Stokes and John Clements Wickham Christie, E. M. (ed.). The “Helpman” Journals. Being Extracts and Comments on the Manuscript Journals of Benjamin Francis Helpman of HM Sloop Beagle 1837–38–39–40. Adelaide: Royal Geographical Society of Australasia South Australian Branch, 1944. Hercock, Marion. “John Lort Stokes 1811–1885.” In Geographers Bibliographical Studies 18, ed. P. H. Armstrong and Geoffrey J. Martin, 82–93. London: Mansell, 1998. Hordern, Marsden. Mariners Are Warned! John Lort Stokes and HMS Beagle in Australia 1837–1843. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press at the Miegunyah Press, 1989. Powell, Alan. “Explorers-Surveyor of Australia’s North Coast: 2. John Lort Stokes and the Crew of Beagle.” JRAHS 66, no. 4 (March 1981): 225–236. ———. John Stokes and the Men of the Beagle—Discoverers of Port Darwin. Darwin: Library Services of the Northern Territory, 1986. Stokes, John Lort. Discoveries in Australia; with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed during the Voyage of HMS Beagle, in the Years 1837–38–39–40–41–42–43 . . . Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley’s Visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea. 2 vols. London: T. and W. Boone, 1846. Wickham, John Clements. “Outline of the Survey of Part of the N.W. Coast of Australia in HMS Beagle in 1838.” JRGS 8 (1838): 460–466.

Navigation Instruments Andrewes, William J. H. (ed.). The Quest for Longitude. Cambridge, Mass.: Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, 1996. Ereira, Alan. “Longitude: The Hidden Evidence.” History Today 50, no. 1 (January 2000): 4–5. Noble, John. “Seven Centuries of Direction Finding.” Globe 20 (1983): 1–10. Sobel, Dava. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. London: Fourth Estate, 1996. Williams, J. E. D. From Sails to Satellites: The Origin and Development of Navigational Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Appendixes to the Bibliography

APPENDIX 1 Australiana Facsimile Edition Series Published by the Libraries Board of South Australia 1962–1979, the facsimiles are reprinted texts of historical importance in various fields of Australian studies including many journals of exploration virtually unobtainable in their original editions. Printed in attractive bindings, suitable for the private collector or for private use, the facsimiles are exact reproductions of the original typesettings and are issued without editorial excisions or comment. An illustrated and annotated Rare Australiana Catalogue, with a foreword by Max Harris, was published in 1968. However, this must be used with care; many of the volumes announced as being in preparation were, in fact, never published. 1. McKinlay, John. McKinlay’s Journal of Exploration in the Interior of Australia (1962). 2. Sturt, Charles. Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, during the Years 1828, 1829, 1830 and 1831. 2 vols. (1963). 4. Sturt, Charles. Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia. 2 vols. (1965). 6. Oxley, John. Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales (1964). 7. Eyre, Edward John. Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia. 2 vols. (1964). 8. Grey, George Edward. Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, during the Years 1837, 38 and 39. 2 vols. (1964). 9. Carron, William. Narrative of an Expedition, Undertaken under the Direction of the Late Mr. Assistant Surveyor E. B. Kennedy, for the Exploration of the Country Lying between Rockingham Bay and Cape York (1965). 10. The Burke and Wills Exploring Expedition: An Account of the Crossing of the Continent of Australia (1963).

317

318 •

APPENDIXES TO THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

11. Warburton, Peter Egerton. Journey across the Western Interior of Australia (1968). 12. Bland, William. Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, New South Wales by Messrs. W. H. Hovell and Hamilton Hume (1965). 13. Giles, Ernest. Australia Twice Traversed: The Romance of Exploration, Being a Narrative Compiled from the Journals of Five Exploring Expeditions into and through Central South Australia, and Western Australia, from 1872 to 1876. 2 vols. (1964). 14. Gregory, Augustus Charles. Journals of Australian Exploration (1969). 15. Phillip, Arthur. Extracts of Letters from Arthur Phillip Esq., Governor of New South Wales, to Lord Sydney (1963). 16. Leichhardt, Friedrich Ludwig. Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia, from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, a Distance of Upwards of 3,000 Miles, during the Years 1844–1845 (1964). 17. Landsborough, William. Journal of Landsborough’s Expedition from Carpentaria, in Search of Burke & Wills (1963). 18. Mitchell, Thomas Livingstone. Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia. 2 vols. (1965). 19. Strzelecki, Paul Edmund de. Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land (1967). 20. Forrest, John. Explorations in Australia: I—Explorations in Search of Dr. Leichhardt and Party. II—From Perth to Adelaide, around the Great Australian Bight. II— From Champion Bay, across the Desert to the Telegraph and to Adelaide (1969). 28. Grant, James. The Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery, Performed in His Majesty’s Vessel the Lady Nelson, of Sixty Tons Burthen, with Sliding Keels, in the Years 1800, 1801, and 1802, to New South Wales (1973). 30. King, Philip Parker. Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia. Performed between the Years 1818 and 1822. 2 vols. (1969). 33. Stokes, John Lort. Discoveries in Australia; With an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed during a Voyage of HMS Beagle, in the Years 1837–38–39–40–41–42–43. 34. Parkinson, Sydney. A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, In His Majesty’s Ship, The Endeavour (1972). 35. West, John. The History of Tasmania. 2 vols. (1966). 37. Flinders, Matthew. A Voyage to Terra Australis; Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of That Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802 and 1803, In His Majesty’s Ship the Investigator, and Subsequently in the Armed Vessel Porpoise and Cumberland Schooner. 2 vols. (1966). 118. MacGillivray, John. Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake, Commanded by the Late Captain Owen Stanley R.N., FRS, etc during the Years 1846–1850 . . . To Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E. B. Kennedy’s Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. 2 vols. (1967).

APPENDIXES TO THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 319

121. Bligh, William. A Voyage to the South Sea . . . For the Purpose of Conveying the Bread-Fruit Tree to the West Indies, In His Majesty’s Ship the Bounty . . . Including an Account of the Mutiny on Board the Said Ship and the Subsequent Voyage of Part of the Crew, in the Ship’s Boat, from Tofoa, One of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch Settlement in the East Indies (1969). 148. Hunter, John. An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island, with the Discoveries Which Have Been Made in New South Wales, Since the Publication of Phillip’s Voyage (1968). 185. Phillip, Arthur. The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay: With an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island (1968). 188. Cook, James. Captain Cook’s Journal during His First Voyage around the World Made in HM Bark “Endeavour” 1768–71 (1968). 190. Richardson, Norman A. The Pioneers of the North-West of South Australia 1856 to 1914 (1969). 191. Cook, James. A Voyage to the South Pole, and around the World. Performed in His Majesty’s Ships the Resolution and Adventure, in the Year 1772, 1773, 1774 and 1775. 2 vols. (1970). 198. Stuart, John McDouall. Explorations in Australia. The Journals of John McDouall Stuart during the Years 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, & 1862, When He Fixed the Centre of the Continent and Successfully Crossed It from Sea to Sea (1975). In 1995 The Friends of the State Library of South Australia resurrected the series with each title now having a specially written introduction: Giles, Alfred. Exploring in the ’Seventies and the Construction of the Overland Telegraph Line (1995). Stuart, John McDouall. J. McDouall Stuart’s Explorations across the Continent of Australia: With Charts 1861–62 (1996). Wills, William John. A Successful Exploration through the Interior of Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria (1996). Davis, John. Tracks of McKinlay across Australia (1996). Eyre, Edward John. Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George’s Sound (1997). Forrest, John. Explorations in Australia (1997). Mitchell, Thomas Livingstone. Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia (1999).

Bibliography Reade, Barry W. A Checklist of Facsimile Editions of the Library Board of South Australia. Adelaide: The Library Board of South Australia, 1992.

320 •

APPENDIXES TO THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX 2 Bibliotheca Australiana “Bibliotheca Australiana” is the collective title of a series of facsimile editions of the most significant journals and histories relating to Pacific exploration, from Magellan’s circumnavigation at the beginning of the 16th century to the meticulously prepared scientific expeditions at the end of the 19th, written in many cases by the mariners themselves. In each case the most important edition is reproduced; English-language editions predominate, although some works are written in other languages. Published by Nico Israel (Amsterdam) and Da Capo Press (New York), titles include: 1–2. Brosses, Charles de. Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes (1756). 3–7. Burney, James. A Chronological History of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Seas, or Pacific Ocean (1803–1817). 8–10. Callender, John. Terra Australis Cognita; or Voyages to the Terra Australis or Southern Hemisphere, during the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries (1766–1768). 11. Dalrymple, Alexander. An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean (1770–1771). Bougainville, Louis de. A Voyage Round the World . . . 1766–9 (1772). 14. A Journal of a Voyage Round the World in HMS Endeavour, in the Years 1768–1771. Containing All the Various Occurrences of the Voyage with Descriptions of Several New Discovered Countries in the Southern Hemisphere (1771). 15. Marra, John. Journal of the Resolution’s Voyage, in 1771–1775. On Discovery to the Southern Hemisphere, by Which the Non-existence of an Undiscovered Continent, between the Equator and the 50th Degree of Southern Latitude, Is Demonstratively Proved (1775). 16. Rickman, John. Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, on Discovery; Performed in the Years 1776–1779 (1781). 27–29. Perousse, Jean de la. A Voyage Round the World, Performed in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787 and 1788, by the Boussole and Astrolabe (1799). 30–33. Vancouver, George. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World (1798). 45. Arago, James. Narrative of a Voyage Round the World, in the Uranie and Physicienne Corvettes, Commanded by Captain Freycinet, during the Years 1817–1820 (1823).

About the Author

Alan Day was born in Maidstone, in the County of Kent, England, in 1932. His interest in the discovery and exploration of Australia stems from reading Cooper’s Creek, Alan Moorehead’s graphic history of the Burke and Wills south-to-north crossing of the Australian continent. Some years later, this interest was rekindled after he bought a facsimile edition of George Collingridge’s The Discovery of Australia in a Brisbane remainder bookstore. In July and August 2001, Day set off in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, with a small Anglo-Australian family party, from Brisbane northwest into the Queensland outback, along the Plenty Highway in the Northern Territory, down the Stuart Highway to Alice Springs, to Ayers Rock (Uluru), down the Oodnadatta Track, to the Flinders Ranges, in South Australia, and so to Adelaide. Along the way he was allowed to refine his research and to update his bibliography in whatever research centers he might encounter. Day is a graduate of the University of Cambridge (MA), the University of Leeds (M.Phil), and the Victoria University of Manchester (Ph.D.). He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. When he retired in 1990 he was head of the Department of Library and Information Studies in Manchester Polytechnic. His publications include Search for the Northwest Passage. An Annotated Bibliography (1986); three books on The British Library (1988, 1994, and 1998); and three volumes in the World Bibliographical Series, England (1993), The Falkland Islands (1996), and St. Helena (1997).

321