A SEARCH BEGUN

Grey River Argus, 13 August 1937, Page 4

A SEARCH BEGUN

FOR VANISHED EXPEDITION. FATE OF LEICHHARDT. A party of men has gone into the Simpson Desert in the hope of finding some remains ..of the tragic expedition of Leichhardt in 1848, well nigh .a century ago, writes Gwen Burington in the “Adelaide Chronicle.” From an outlying sheep station near the Condamine (a north-east-erly tributary of the Darling) came a message dated April 3, 1848, saying: All well and in excellent spirits.” The rest is the silence of the wild Australian bush, where only the wind and sun, or perchance the menacing hand of a hostile tribe, know anything of the fate of that gallant company of four whites and two black hoys who had set out on their vast trek only a month before. A sad end indeed for those whose hearts were big enough to attempt, such a tremendous task, to cross the continenl from east to west, a distance roughly of 3000 miles. For years after the sudden tragic disappearance of Leichhardt and hi. - men, expeditions were sent in scare! of them, while every boundary ride 1 in that grim section of thd outback kent a lookout tor traces wlii' 1 ' might yield a clue to their fate. Yo< never by one leather rein or iron rod has the bush given away the secret of, their end. The whole episode has an Arabian Nights flavour of the miraculous. Now, after ninety yeais summer sun and winter cold, there are those who hope to wrest from a' unwilling Nature the secret she ha« guarded so jealously and so long. His previous explorations had given Leichhardt a taste for still greater deeds. His trip four years before from the eastern coast to the settle ment at Port Essington, Northern Territory, is still regarded as one of the most successful in the annals of Australian exploration. Clever and impetuous, but no,leader of men. such was Ludwig Leichhardt. Skilled in the study of the native flo»a of the land of his adoption. and the rock formations of its geological contours, he had a strange ignorance in the management of man and beast. Plants could be classified put in a box, and labelled; men, alas, were another thing altogether, and even bullocks have moods.

With the first suggestion of an expedition to reach out from Brisbane through hitherto unexplored country to Port Essington, Leichhardt was enthusiastic. When chosen to accompany it under Sir Thomas .Mitchell’s leadership, he was delighted. But as official delay ran into months, Leichhardt grew more and more impatient. At length he persuaded friends of the venture to subscribe for the outfitting of an expedition, and in tlr middle of August, 1884, Leichhardt himself, in charge of five companions and thirteen horses, embarked al Sydney for Brisbane. Here the party grew, and finally went ahead ten strong, and the expedition moved off in high hope. There was early trouble with the management of the bullocks, but September found the party at the edge of settlement, and henceforth Inc planned route lay through the unknown. Travelling roughly N.N.W.. following the contour of the coast but 100 miles inland, they passed through excellent country. Keeping thus within almost certain reach o! water the party crossed and named rivers and ranges in this fertile coaststrip. One creek indeed received the unromantic title of Dried Beef, as it was there that one of the* bullocks was killed, its meat cut mto strips and died in the sun. Members of th party were greatly elated with the the success of the experiment which, in Leichhardt’s own words, “inspired ns with confidence for the future.’’ FIRST BRUSH WITH NATIVES So far naught of the blacks had been seen, but smoke spirals rising in the distance betokened their presence. One December day, however, they speared a horse, wounding one before answering shots from the party frightened and dispersed them. Further north they came gradually into more tropical vegetation. The Mitchell River was followed for some distance on its northly journey towards the sea. Palms, grass trees, and bamboos were frequent. Leichhardt and his fellow naturalist, Gilbert, particularly delighted in the change of vegetation and the opportunity of gathering . further specimens for the greenhide cases. They had their first acquaintance too with the crocodiles which swarm in north-* ern waters. The green tree ant made its appearance to add to their discomforts. The natives seemed numerous, and, when they appeared, friendly. The party had already been on the way—almost ten months since they left Sydney— and provisions were pathetically low. Leichhardt was unfortunately no bushman. An entry in his diary shows that, although they were “most willing to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo” on June 16, they had nothing better to mark the occasion than “the saturated rags o our sugar bags.. . which we now boiled with our tea.” June wore on and Leichhardt decided to leave the Mitchell and make west towards the Gulf. They now came across a different tril.-e or natives who seemed from the first to be antagonistic. A FATAL ATTACK. Leichhardt refused to take warning when a native was discovered by their own black boys in the act ol driving the bullocks away, and the very next night he foolishly pitched camp amongst the trees. When darkness fell, the blacks attacked, sending a shower of spears in the direction of the tents, outlined as they were in the light of the camp fire. One of the spears found , a fatal mark in the throat of the unoffending Gilbert... It was a sobered party which took up the track once more. The next river crossed they called Gilbert, after him who had so unfortunately lost his life. Early in July they reachthe waters of the Gulf with joy, thinking the worst of their were over. But by now their clothes were in shreds, their tea was all gone by September, nnd only a few wornout bullocks were left. The precious specimens had to be cast away, and the greenhide used for flavouring the soup! On the Roper they killed ducks and geese, but passing the rocky tableland to the west their plight grew steadily worse. Men and beasts' were steadily failing... What was their joy on December 2 to be greeted by a blackfellow, say- | ins. “Come here,” "Very good,” and

“What’s your name?” They must now be near the Port Essington settlement, for these natives had many words of English. In a fortnight they were trailing into the little settlement after their 3000-mile trek, which had taken them nearly fifteen months.

When a ship had taken them home again to Sydney they were hailed with delight. Hope for their safety had heen almost abandoned, and their return evoked a most generous response both in money and admiration. The “Prince of Explorers”- was granted £lOOO by Parliament, to which an enthusiastic public added £l5OO. Leichhardt was feted everywhere.

But he could not rest. In each of the following years he was off again, though doing nothing of value, as the land had already been covered by the long-delayed Mitchell expedition. But his faults of organisation and

bushcraft must have become more and more apparent to his contemporaries. He had exhausted most of his resources, and found difficulty in getting together the equipment for the last expedition, from which he never returned, while those who went with him were inexperienced men. Thus they came to the Darling Downs, and then on—into the unknown ...