To Australia’s Lonely Heart

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31724, 6 July 1968, Page 4

To Australia’s Lonely Heart

The Heroic Journey of John McDoull Stuart By lan Mudie. Angus and Robertson. 297 pp.

In the 1860 s when the seaboards were defined and dotted with settlements, central Australia on any map was a vast blank of unknowns. Speculation on tiie physical or biological nature of the interior extended beyond idle curiosity, for commercial interests in the young British colony of South Australia had several reasons to desire northward expansion. Further, an overland telegraph was envisaged so long as someone could define a route. Who could find answers to the questions? Australian history, now aided by the further researches of Mr Mudie, records

that the pathfinder was a puny but tough Scot who defied the hazards of one of the most difficult and dangerous regions on the earth’s surface. Sustained by a diet of jerked beef, conveyed by splendid horses to which Stuart and his men were devoted, financed by Government funds, and encouraged by the additional financial patronage of James Chambers (possibly the largest land-holder of all time)— this book deals with the interrelation of these and other relevant factors in the expeditions.

Three journeys were made. On the first two the small parties were driven back to Adelaide by lack of water or suitable horse-feed, by crippling stony desert or impenetrable scrublands. Then in

1862, 11 men and 70 horses won through to the northern coast and still managed to come back over the same trail after an absence of one year. Stuart himself over all expeditions had completed a marathon of over 10,000 miles on horse—on the third and successful expedition coming back, broken in health and carried on a horse-drawn Utter.

One can marvel at this story of fortitude, aided by skilled direction-finding, of those who found their way across AustraUa before mechanised transport was available and in the absence of known sources of water. Initial acclaim of the effort was soon followed by discredit when Stuart's overoptimistic appraisal of land potentiality was not realised by those who followed to try and settle. Stuart died in obscurity after returning to England.

There is much of Interest and value in this book on the terrain as it was and supposedly still is, on the plant cover and the Aborigines. There is a lack of detail of a scientific nature. It was said on occasions how hot and debiUtating was the day—one would like to have recorded just what were the temperature levels and other facts of the kind. But the explorers were not scientists, although Waterhouse who went on the third journey had some such background. Unfortunately his plant and rock specimens had to be dumped to enable the weakened horses to complete the journey. The author’s work is based on Stuart’s journals since published, but extensive quotations throughout most pages are not identified with original sources and this will annoy some scholars. As a whole the book la a well-written account of the achievement of a heroic man who opened ths lonely heart of Australia.

Theodore H. White’s THE MAKING OF A PRESIDENT 1964 is published as a thick paperback by Jonathan Gape. No American presidential elections is now said to be complete without Mr White’s chronicle of it His first one, on John F. Kennedy's campaign in 1960, became a classic. The second, recording Lyndon B. Johnson’s campaign and Barry Goldwater’s, does not reach the level of the first, chiefly because it deals with an altogether more muted campaign. There was no razor-edge decision as in 1960; Johnson was a winner from the outset Nevertheless, Mr White’s sketch of the American political landscape in 1964 la well worth reading.