Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia, from Moreton Bay to Port Essington
A Distance of Upwards of 3000 Miles, during the Years 1844–1845

A fascinating record of the Prussian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt's expedition across Australia from 1844 to 1846.

Ludwig Leichhardt (Author)

9781108039178, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 November 2011

586 pages, 19 b/w illus. 3 maps
21.6 x 14 x 3.3 cm, 0.74 kg

Published in 1847, this is a fascinating account by the Prussian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt of his 3,000-mile expedition from north to south across Australia, from 1844 to 1846. One of the most authoritative early recorders of Australia's environment, Leichhardt was also the best trained naturalist to explore Australia during this time. The expedition departed on 1 October 1844 from Jimbour, the farthest outpost of settlement on the Queensland Darling Downs. Leichhhardt describes in detail the difficulties his party encountered from the very start, the extreme weather conditions they battled, the kindness of the people they met and his close observations of the habits of the aborigines. He also presents detailed analysis of his findings of natural phenomena. After travelling nearly 3,000 miles, Leichhardt arrived in Sydney on 25 March 1846 to a hero's welcome. Engaging and historically revealing, the volume will capture the imagination of the modern reader.

Preface
Introduction
1. Leave the last station
2. Party reduced by the return of Mr. Hodgson and Caleb
3. Ruined Castle Creek
4. Swarms of cockatoos
5. Difference of soil as to moisture
6. Heads of the Isaacs
7. The Burdekin
8. Brown and Charley quarrel
9. The starry heavens
10. Indications of the neighbourhood of the sea
11. Systematic grass burnings of the natives
12. Heaps of oyster-shells
13. Cape Maria
14. Interview with a native
15. Joy at meeting natives speaking some English
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Australasian & Pacific history [HBJM]