ALADDIN CAVE OF COLD

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11404, 3 January 1931, Page 9

ALADDIN CAVE OF COLD

GUARDED BY ABORIGINES

The departure of. two expeditions into Central Australia in search of gold is largely clue to the persistent belief among prospectors that somewhere in th.e heart of the country there exists an ' Aladdin’s cave of gold closely guarded by aborigines. One party, leaving Sydney and travelling by way of Alice Springs, includes Captain Blakiston-Houston, aide-de-camp to the Governor-Gener-al. It lias taken along with it an airplane to assist in the survey work and "if necessary to drop food supplies if tho men get too far from their base. '

The other expedition,' from .Adelaide, is led by Michael Terry, explorer and author, being financed by a group of some 50 leading citizens. Both, parties recently readied their base's in the Alice Springs country about tjie same' time. . . ■ The Terry expedition is prepared to remain for 12 months, being one of. the best organised expeditions sent •into the inferior for many years.

Australian authority, puts the object Dr. Herbtrt Basedow, a Central of the quest at the southwest corner of the Northern Territory, between 250 and 300 miles from Alice Springs. Thirty years ago an explarer named Earle penetrated the . wilds, and brought hack dazzling specimen.'! of a bottle quartz. Since ' then parties have endeavored to trace the locality and have failed. Earle’s rough sketch of the country showed a. cave where invisible wealth rivalling Aladdin’s was supposed to be hidden. The natives are said to know, but are unwilling to give the information.

The natives have travelled in from the far interior to the.west coast of South Australia with fine specimens from the ■ mysterious field, and men have gone after it, without success. It is" said that since tl.ie country is subject to long periods of drought, sometimes extending over nine years, the natives think that expeditions visiting the locality with camel .teams will use up the. small resources, of water and, consequently, are hostile when whites put in an appearance. .

Dr. Basedow, however, has not found the natives so alarming.aSHheyhave been painted.

The South Australian Government has already sent three expeditions to Central Australia--ro search -of the deposits. Dr. Basedow, then deputy Government Geologist, accompanied one of them. They obtained some of the green-looking quartz, hut there was no gold in it. "When Dr. Basedow led the McKay expedition- in 1926 he met some natives of the tribes inhabiting the elusive goldbearing country,- but they divulged nothing. Dr. Basedow is convinced of the presence of gold deposits. The country, he says, has striking auriferous tendencies.