VENTURESOME WOMAN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 20 November 1924, Page 3

VENTURESOME WOMAN.

ALONG UNBEATEN TRACKS

JOSS BKIDGEs- CBOSSES

ALi.b'JL'JiiijLilA

SYDNEY, Nov. 5. The feat of crossing Australia from soutn- to norm with no. other company man two natives —a “boy.” and his tubra—and four camels, which has just oeen accomplished by Miss iriiilippa Bridges, sister of Sir Tom Bridges, Governor of South Australia, is nothing remarkable in so remarkable a woman. Earlier this year her thirst for first-hand knowledge of the remote places of the earth led her into the neart of Papua, and on her return to Government House, Adelaide, where ;She was staying with her .brother, she .immediately set- about arranging for :her trip tnrough the heart of Australia. The risks of such a trip are Very real, but the self-reliance of~ Miss Bridges refused to hear of any other escort than that which she had decided upon. All her life Miss Bridges has wandered over unbeaten paths in strange parts of the earthy filled- withcuriosity about the people and the places of the little-known regions of the globe. The wanderlust has led Miss Bridges on some strange journeys. She has travelled over China and other Eastern countries, and has seen a great, deal of the South- Sea Islands. .To see things is one of her chief aims' in. life, and. she cares little for hardship or danger if by enduring these she can get to know more about the wonderful things on this earth, about which one can learn, only partially from hooks., Her progress across “the dead heart of Australia” has been watched wtih interest, ancl before she departed Miss Bridges was subjected to a certain amount of chaff and quasi-serious warnings of what migth befall her m trackless wastes of the interior, where she would be at the mercy of the “boy” and his lubra, who might, with the fickleness of the aborigine, desert her if they thought it advisable'} but sherefused to be .intimidated,, and set off ' on her long journey in good spirits, confident that she would find many things of interest awaiting her. In the message from Darwin announcing her safe arrival it was mentioned that around Taylor’s well the little party came»upon about 1500 carcases of cattle that had been poisoned by indigo bush and sage bush.