OLD EXPLORER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 21 September 1938, Page 6

OLD EXPLORER.

BONES DISCOVERED?

NINETY YEARS' MYSTERY.

WHAT HAPPENED TO PARTY?

<Frora Our Own Correspondent.)

ADELAIDE, September 15.

Interest in the fate of Ludwig Leichhnrdt, famous inland explorer, who disappeared with his party in the Simpson DcHcrt, Northern Australia, 90 years a«ro, was rearoused by the recent aniioiiiicement that oijtht skeletons had IH<on found cast of Charlotte Waters. Hopinj: that a stockman's chance discovery had forced « link '" thc chain of history, the South Australian y>ovorninont equipped a scientific expedition, which penetrated fne northern desert by motor truck, horse and camel. But the investigations have had no conclusive result. It has not been established that the crumbling, white objects found in the sand are the remains of human bones. Sifted From Sand. The expedition has, however, come across a i'ow old coins (including a threepence, dated 1S41), a corroded pack saddle, rinjr. an iron tent pejr, end the crown and roots of a broken human tooth. These were lifted from thc sand after members of the expedition had laboured with shovel*.

Klilil Luilwig Leirkhardt, horn in Germany in IHl.'i, initiated to Australia to avoid compulsory military training in his nntive land. He was a doctor of medicine and a trained botanist, and had a considerable knowledge of geology.

J n Sydney ho was befriended by Walter Scott, a wealthy Newcastle grazier, and became a guest at Scott's station. Here he served his apprenticeship to the bush.

, He soon drew attention to himeelf by a (iOO-mile trek north to Moreton Bay. Alone, and relying largely for sustenance on the hospitality of settlers, he

safely accomplished an arduous journey. Leichhardt's appetite for achievement and his desire to earn distinction were whetted by this feat. Ambitious Attempt. - The first of h'u main expeditions was a hazardous trek of ten months' dnration into Arnhem Land in 1844. He covered 3000 miles, from the Darling Downs in Queensland to Port Essingtou. Leiehhardt's next expedition, in December. 184fi, was an ambitious attempt to cross the continent from east to west. . But the party, ill and halfstarved, were driven back in July, 1847. Then, in 184S, Leichhardt began another attempt to cross the continent from the east. He started from Moreton Bay. in Queensland. All went well for 11 "days, and the explorers reached Fitzroy Downs. That is all that is known* of the fate of Leichhardt's last expedition, unless the South Australian party can eventually throw light on the mystery.