40 "EARLY DAYS"-JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS

Western Australian Explorations

By Mr. fI. J. S. WISE, M.L.A. (Read before the Historical Society, 31/7/42)

I fully appreciate the honour and privilege heroes are made to appear nothing less of addressing the Western Australian Histori­ than demigods. It seems because the tales cal Society on this occasion. I make no 01 Australian travel and self-devotion are claim to address you as an authority, and true, that they attract but little notice, lor can speak to you only as a student over a were the narratives 01 the explorers not number of years 01 the many explorations true we might become the most renowned which have contributed to the establishmenl novelists the world has ever known. Again, of what we now regard as Auslralian geo­ Australian geography, as explained in the graphy. works of Australian exploration, might be called an unlearned study. Let me ask Among my very earliest recollections as a how many boys out 01 a hundred in Aus­ child, I have the memory of Sir A. C. Gregory tralia, or England either, have ever react who was such a tremendous contributor to Sturt or Mitchell, Eyre, Leichhardt, Grey or our knowledge 01 this country and who for Stuart It is possible a few may have read years prior to his death, lived at Toowong, Cook's voyages, because they appear Brisbane. This may have been the founda­ more national, but who has read Flinders, tion of a strong interest in such matters and Kfng or Stokes? Is it because these nar­ prompted the reading 01 much of our history. ratives are Australian and true that they In a record of his exploring expeditions, are not worthy of attention ?" Ernest Giles makes a striking comment:- I do not intend in this briel review to deal "No works of fiction can excel, or indeed with the original discovery 01 the coastline equal, in romantic and heart-stirring in­ 01 this land or to endeavour to assign a de­ terest the volumes, worthy to be written in linite date lor its discovery. The early letters of gold, which record the deeds and navigators had to encounter much difficulty the sullerings of these noble toilers in the and many dangers in their tasks, and many dim and distant field of discovery afforded 01 their names are justifiably held in great by the Auslralian continent and its vasl esteem-but alter the discovery lrom the sea islands. It would be well if those works another kind 01 exploration had to be de­ were read by the present· generation as veloped-the investigation and search of eagerly as the imaginary tales of adventure what lay inside the shore. which, while they appeal to no real senti­ It is my intention to deal mainly with this ment, and convey no solid information, aspect in regard to Western Australia and cannot compete for a moment with those part of its adjoining colony to the east. sublime records of what has been dared, done, and suffered, at the call 01 duly, and We know that in the 300 years intervening lor the sake of human interests by men between the early part 01 the 16th Century who have really lived and died. I do not and the time 01 Captain Stirling's arrival in say that all works of Iiction are entirely this country, the greater part 01 our know­ without interest to the human imagination, ledge 01 Australia was confined to the areas or that writers of some of these works are in close proximity to the coast The great not clever, lor in one sense they certainly knowledge which we now possess 01 the in­ are, and that is, in only writing of horrors land of this continent has been assembled that never occurred, without going through during the last 120 years. the preliminary agony of a practical real­ isation of the dangers they so graphically The lives and achievements 01 Sturl, Oxley describe, and from which, perhaps, they and others belore and since have been might be the very first to flee, though their worthily recorded, and while I would not pass W EST ERN AUSTRALIAN HIS TOR I CAL SOC lET Y 41

.Iiqhtly over the heroic deeds and remarkable on the arid interior, Eyre was the pioneer -ochievements of all those who made contri­ explorer. butions to our fields of discovery in this State before the days of Roe and Grey, time will Some of our historians regarded Eyre as a nol permit of much review prior to the year man of no stature because he found nothing. 1841. They were mainly concerned with material­ istic gains. Sir George Grey's efforts in 1837-39 have been recorded in many works. His exper­ If one has the time and inclination to read iences and escapes from death by spear­ what other explorers have said of this man, wounds, shipwreck, starvation, thirst and it will be very quickly realized that his ex­ fatigue fill such works with incidents of the ploits threw a very importanl light across the deepest interest. He made some remarkable development of Australia. An attempt re­ contributions to our fields of discovery along cenlly made to justify and extol him resulted the coastline in our near North. in the production of that thrilling narrative "Waterless Horizons," written by two West In 1839 Roe (who was our first Surveyor­ Australians. Although some historians did General) distinguished himself by rescuing not do him justice and perhaps he did not Grey's party. Roe was perhaps the father of do justice to himself, the best line on his Western Australian exploration. achievements can be obtained from the state­ ment of those who suffered similarly, who The explorers of the richer parts 01 our had comradeship in experiences, and who country have some great monuments lelt to have recorded some of his exploits. them in the subsequent development of and production from beautiful fertile lands dis­ In the writing of Giles and Warburton, very covered by them, but the pioneer of our kindly comment is made of the importance poorer regions who suflered even greater 01 Eyre's exploits. hardship, is too often apt to be passed over. He did not seek to avoid the bazardous Tremendous monuments and expressions of undertaking-he elected to accept the task appreciation are due to those remarkable and his memory will always be preserved men who had endeavoured to penetrate the by the retention of that colourful picture of unknown with little prospect of pleasure in the "Walk around the Bight." A review of the attempts and, alter dreadful experiences his life history which included a period as from hunger, thirst, and attacks by natives, Lieutenant-Governor of SI Vincent in the engaged still further in hazardous undertak­ West Indies. ings and made repeated efforts to solve the mysteries of our interior. A review of his life I leave to those who have published in detail some of his achieve­ Many of these men were unsuccessful. if ments prior to that epic, and of his life his­ success were to be measured by the pro­ tory which included a period as Lieutenant­ ductive value of the areas they traversed, Governor 01 SI. Vincent in the West Indies. but if they could be called unsuccesslul they were really splendid lailures. In threading The nature of this man is clearly shown in their way through unknown areas on foot, on a paragraph of his own in which he explain­ horseback and on camel, the terrors of this ed his motives for the change in destination harsh land were always connected with the when he decided to undertake the journey difficulties associated with the procuring of to Western Australia. With only one white water. companion, he had determined to traverse that fearful wilderness firmly determined Edward John Eyre. never to return unsuccessful but either to ac­ complish the object he had in view or to This meeting is in some way 10 form a con­ perish in the attempt. nection with that famous explorer Edward John Eyre, who arrived at Albany lOI years His own words are: "I considered myself in ago, after completing one 01 the most hazar­ duty and honour bound, not to turn back dous expeditions in the history of Australia. from this attempt as long as there was the On this remarkable journey of Eyre's, his remotest possibility of success, without any horses on one occasion travelled for seven regard to considerations of a personal or days and nights without water. In the attack private nature." 42 "E ARLY DAY S" - J 0 URN A LAN D PRO CEE DIN GS

He knew the dangers of the enterprise and desert. The horrors of my situation glared ordered the whites in the party-who had upon me in such startling reality as lor an been with him in the desolate country to instant almost to paralyse the mind. At the north-to return by the cutter "Hero" the dead hour of night, in the wildest and Irom Fowler's Bay to Adelaide. The overseer most inhospitable wastes in Australia. Baxter elected to remain. with the fierce wind raging in unison with the scene of violence before me, I was left Private Irierids entreated this explorer to with a single native, whose fidelity I could desist from his terrible venture, but no argu­ not reply upon." ment could shake his resolution, and on Feb­ ruary 25, 1841, the party set out, consisting in He was then 550 miles from Albany 1 Eyre all of two Europeans, three black boys, nine and his native boy Wylie pushed on in a horses, one Timor pony, one foal and six starving condition; living on dead fish and sheep. The flour was calculated for nine anything they could find for several weeks. weeks, with a proportionate quantity 01 tea I would ask my listeners to particularly and sugar. note the dates. Baxter was murdered on the He had previously made an attempt to night of April 29, 1841. pierce the centre 01 Australia and now he The terrible experiences of the journey was attempting to open up communication [rom Fowler's Bay, the state of chronic mal­ between the East and the West. The ac­ nutrition brought on by the starvation diet of count from beginning to end relates to the past months, al last began to exact their nothing but a miserable, arid, desolate region inevitable result as entry under date May -even natives perished from thirst and star­ 17 bears testimony:- vation. For the most part throughout the whole length of the great Bight, only the "On the march we felt generally weak most paltry rivulets discharge themselves and languid; it was an effort to put one into the sea, and along the 1,000 miles there loot before the other and there was an in­ is hardly a reliable enduring stream until disposition to exertion that was very often the Kalgan is reached, almost within sight difficult to overcome. After sitting for a of Albany. lew moments to rest it was always with the greatest unwillingness we ever moved on Eyre and party quenched their thirst Irorn again." water obtained from mall ee roots; consider­ able restraint was necessary to avoid drink­ On June 2, without breakfast-as the quan­ ing the waters of the ocean, about two quarts tity of flour remaining was so small-a course of water were obtained at one stage by col­ was set for Thistle Cove marked on Flinders' lecting dew from the leaves of shrubs with chari and where a fresh water lake was a sponge. Whether along the beach or shown. Here they intended to kill a horse lor through waterless sandy ridges covered with food. scrub, they pressed onwards. During the whole of the period of the latter stages 01 Hungry and weary on that June morning, the journey, the party suffered most acutely Eyre and Wylie moved slowly along the from the cold of the approaching winter sandhills gazing betimes out over the waters through lack of clothing, all reserves 01 which of the Southern Ocean until suddenly Eyre had been discarded en route to save the was aroused from lethargy. He fancied there horses. was a boat on Ihe crest of a wave. It was no mirage, it was a boat belonging to the His sole white companion Baxter, was mur­ barque lying at anchor nearby. The atten­ dered by two natives of the party, The tion of those on board was soon attracted by natives plundered the camp. Four gallons of means of a lire lit upon the cliff. A boat in­ water, 40 pounds ol Ilour, and a little tea and stantly put off and in a short time Eyre sugar was all that was left. In commenting shook hands with Captain Rossiter, master of upon his position following the murder 01 the French whaler Mississippi from Le Havre, Baxter, Eyre told his tale in the following an Englishman and the only English-speak­ words ;- ing member of the crew,

"The frightful, the appalling truth now One other side-light on the character of burst upon me, that I was alone in the Eyre is furnished by his decision-following WESTERN AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 43 the relief afforded by Captain Rossiter at a Augustus Gregory is also famous for his time when their rations were completely ex­ search for Dr, Leichhardt, but all brothers hausled and there seemed little hope for contributed much to the fixed points which them-not to take the easy way by whaling have helped in the development of Western vessel but to continue his journey as he had Australia's mapping, started it. Frank Gregory discovered and named With 350 miles to go he headed westward, many mountains and water-courses in our He finished the journey on foot. With his North-West. His exploits. discoveries and journal and his charts on his shoulders, he privations in 1861 are an important part of forded lhe last river, He entered the Lown our history. of Albany with ils 50 or 60 dwellings, drench­ ed in rain, Behind him lay waterless wastes, Sturt and Stuart. "waterless horizons," but he had succeeded in achieving his objective and deserves much The efforts of Sturt and Stuart in South honour for that achievement. Australia should be blazoned forth by every Australian. They were among the men who Eyre, by his indomitable pluck, self-posses­ "found much." One chronicler writes of sion and iron nerve, cleared up one point Stuart :-"From 1859 to 1862 the stage was most satisfactorily-that if the pastoral in­ entirely occupied by McDouall Stuart. The terests of South and Western Australia were persistence of this man, his tenacity of pur­ to make land communication absolutely pose, his journey after journey into the in­ necessary, it was in vain to look for it on terior, with intervals of only the barest time the borders of the Bight. to relit, his hardships and privations, ending with his crowning success in 1862, mark the In July, 1841. at the age of 25, he finished his historic walk from South Auslralia to greatest achievement of Australian explora­ tion." Western Australia, In July, 1941. work was begun on the construclion of a road connect­ In 1872, ten years after Stuart last crossed ing the two States, and whether the highway the continent, the North-South overland tele­ is known as the "Great Western," "Forrest graph line was completed. National," or "Eyre's" Highway, Lhe passage Between the telegraph line and the settled of time cannot efface the valuable contribu­ coastal district of Western Australia there tion to our annals made by this intrepid man, still remained a thousand miles of unknown country and one of the last greal tasks of The Gregorys. the Australian explorers was to cross from the telegraph line somewhere near the cen­ This opportunity will not permit of dealing tre of the Continent to the Western Austra­ with the wonderful works of the Gregorys lian coast. Giles, Forrest and Warburton are before and after the journey of the "Tom three oulstanding names connected with this Tough," the little vessel in which they left undertaking Forrest made one crossing and Brisbane in August 1855, to their continuing Giles two, Warburton accomplished the feat' work in this State until 1861. I have seen the from further North. baobab tree on Lhe Baines River on which now in massive letlers appears "Gregory 12th June, 1856," Giles. Giles was one' of our greatest explorers. Giles in the introduction to his splendid Unhappily much of his work too, was in use­ volumes "Australia Twice Traversed" said less country. He attacked his problem un­ of the Gregorys :-"I/ any modern explorers ceasingly, his feats of endurance were un­ are correctly to be classed with the ancients, rivalled-he was a leader and an inspiration. the brothers Gregory are best fitted to head a secondary list." Giles made several altempts to obtain more definite knowledge of the unknown in­ It is not generally known LhaL we are in­ terior. Being provided only with horses, he debted to Augustus Gregory for our modern failed in his first attempt in 1872 even to pack saddle and also for a compass un­ reach the border from the East, and in his equalled for steering on horseback or camel­ second only succeeded in penetrating a lit­ back and through dense scrubs where an or­ tle beyond it being driven back by want of dinary compass would be about useless. water. 44 "E.ABLY DAYS"-]OURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS

One outstanding happening during his at­ thirsty at each step I took, that I longed to tempt to cross to the West was the occasion drink up every drop of water I had in the of the dash in November, 187.3. The story keg, but it was the elixir of death I was bur­ is an epic and has a place in these notes. dened with, and to drink it was to die, so I restrained myself. By next morning, I had Left with one emaciated horse between the only got about three miles away from the two men, a few strips of smoked horseflesh to Kegs, and to do that I travelled mostly in the eat, with a pint of water between them, 110 moonlight. The next few days I can only miles Irorn food, Giles elected to walk and pass over as they seemed to pass with me, his companion to ride .oheod. He returned for I was quite unconscious half the time, and alive-his companion (Gibson) perished, with I only got over about live miles a day." the horse, in the desert. He was 20 miles from the next water when After walking 30 miles wifh no water, he he emptied the keg. Nine days after Gibson reached the Water Kegs, which previously left him he reached camp, however, and had been lelt behind. soon set out to search for his lost mate. Of this incident he wrote :-"After quench­ ing my thirst a little I felt ravenously hun­ There is much one could write of Giles. gry, and on searching among the bags, all He was not the first to cross from the centre the lood I could find was eleven sticks of to the west coast, but he was the first to dirty, sandy, smoked horse, averaging about try. II he could not be first, he would be an ounce and a hall each, at the boltom of second. a pack-bag. I was rather staggered to lind In 1875, he set out with camels and ran an that I had little more than a pound weight almosl straight line from Port Augusta to of meat to last me until assistance carne. Perth. He might well have returned by sea However, I was compelled to eat some at covered with glory, but he insisted on trek­ once, and devoured two sticks raw, as I had king back and he succeeded in completing no water to spare to boil them in. the route he had to abandon on his horse expedition when Gibson was lost. "After this I sat in what shade the trees afforded, and reflected, on the precariousness Giles, born in Bristol, England, in 1836, of my position. I was sixty miles from water, died in Coolgardie, Western Australia, in and eighty from food, my messenger could November, 1897. At the time of his death he hardly return before six days, and I began was employed as a clerk in the Mines De­ to think it highly probable that I should be parlment. An extract from the Coolgardie dead of hunger and thirst long belore any­ Minor" dated November 15, 1897, reads:- body could possibly arrive. 1 looked at the keg; it was an awkward thing to carry empty. "Upon Ernest Giles in the declining years There was nothing else to carry water in, as 01 his arduous and eventful life a grateful Gibson had taken all the smaller water-bags, province conferred a Junior Clerkship in the and the large ones would require several office 01 the Coolgardie Mining Warden. gallons of water to soak the canvas before There he was permitLed to work obscure they began to tighten enough to 'hold water. and un-noticed, The man whose work The keg when empty, with its rings and practically enabled the discovery of these straps, weighed fifLeen pounds, and now it goldfields and made the fortunes of the had twenty pounds 01 water in it I could Perth aristocracy, was allowed to fill up not carry it without a blanket for a pad for forms connected with the working 01 the my shoulder, so that with my revolver and goldmines and wear out his soul in the en­ cartridge pouch, knife, and one or two other ervating rouline 01 a Government Depart­ small things on my belt, I staggered under a ment with a bare existence by way of re­ weight of about lifty pounds when I put the ward. keg on my back. "He has received the Patron's Gold medal "After I had thoroughly digested all points 01 the Geographical Society of London, and of my situation, I concluded that il I did not from the late King Victor Emanuel a decor­ help myself Providence wouldn't help me. I ation and diploma 01 Knighthood of the started, bent double by the keg. and could Order of the Crown of Italy. From the only travel so slowly thct I thought it scarce­ country for which he has done so much, he ly worth while to travel at aIL I became so has received 2,000 acres 01 land sold lor W EST ERN AUSTR ALl AN HIS TOR I CAL SOC lET Y 45

£800, and for some time before and at the ter was addressed to the Hen, T. Elder who time of his death was filling a temporary had sponsored the expedition. It read:- clerkship in the Mines Department at a salary less than the wages of a horse "Dear Mr. Elder-We are all alive, and driver." that is all. We have lost everything, and have only two camels left out of seventeen. Giles, Gosse and Warburton (all English­ Our journey has been difficult beyond all I men) were in the field at the same time in had supposed possible. Weare reduced 1873. Gosse gave up the attempt quite near to such a state by famine that we can Giles's then farthest west point. scarcely crawl 100 yards, and are quite in­ capable of hard work, or in~eed any work Egerton Warburton. et all.

Warburton with three white men (one his "I send two men with two camels to Iry son). two Afghans and 17 camels, set out 10 to ger some help from the station on the travel west from 'the centre of the continent. De Grey, and this goes by them ... I may He was a man of 60 at the time. safely say that no exploring party ever endured such protracted sufJering as we A record of terrible suffering more nobly have done; nor did anyone ever cross, borne has rarely been given to the world with their lives, so vast an extent of con. than in the journey of Coionel Egerton War­ linuous bad' country. A man gets great burton published in 1875. credit for explorinq such a country as we The country traversed was in the main are now in; it is mere child's play; whilst barren and inhospitable---a dreary waste, a we unfortunates, I suppose, shall be called howling wilderness. No glimpses of gorgeous fools for fighting for months against mis­ scenery, no noble rivers flowing through fer­ lor tunes and difficulties which have turned tile plains, gladdened the hearts of the gal­ back others in two or three days . . . We lant band as they fought their way westward. are gaunt pictures of suffering and have Yet though pleasing landscapes may have nothing but the few rags we stand up in." been absent, the impress of a stern deter­ mination that no suffering could quell and Lewis, the gallant and tireless spirit, by a no hardships daunt is apparent in every line remarkable effort, pulled Warburton through. of the narrative. They were ullimately rescued and succoured by the efforts of Messrs. Grant, Harper and He started with 17 camels and ended with Anderson of the De Grey Station. two. Seven of them were eaten for food. His route was varied because of the lack John Forrest. of water. He was continually forced north­ wards into the region of higher rainlall. He A couple 01 months after Warburton had ultimately aimed for and reached the head arrived at Roebourne and while Giles was 01 the Oakover, a river previously discovered still making his desperate efforts. a young and named by Frank Gregory in July, 1861. surveyor in the W.A. Government employ started out from Perth to attempt the crossing After eight months 01 great hardships and in the opposite direction. That young sur­ privations, during which no lives were lost, veyor was John Forrest. the party were lucky lo get through at all. They experienced terrific difficulties and ulti­ H. W. Bates in his preface to' Wbrburton's mately reached the head 01 the River with book, wrote :-The numerous efforts on the water holes and cajeput trees. The porty part of the Government and colonists of were in a sorry plight-the only food avail­ Western Australia to penetrate from their able (and which they referred to as a side of the desert interior have at length been delicacy) was a camel's foot. Can anything crowned with success in the brilliant exploit less like a delicacy be imagined? Lewis, a 01 Mr. John Forrest who, starting at about the young Surveyor with the parly and who had time of the completion of Colonel Warburton's been a tower of strength throughout, pushed traverse, struck across the terra incognita at on to the coast for help, and Warburton a part where it is much wider than where handed him a note written at this camp on crossed by Warburton and arrived safely on the Oakover on December 13, 187'3. His let- the line of the overland telegraph.." -46 "E ARLY DAY S" - j 0 URN A LAN D PRO CEE DIN GS

Another historian has written :-"For this It was on this journey he discovered and expedition he had government and private named the Weld Springs, an important point support, and started with his brother as on the Canning Stock Route. second in command, two other while men, two natives, and twenty horses, and he suc­ The party had walked in turns the whole ceeded where Giles and Gosse had failed. way-about 2,000 miles-and there is scarce­ After all the ellorts of Melbourne and Ade­ ly a day's proceedings recorded in his laide, the men from the little Swan River graphic journal wherein the word "wcter" settlement got in first. The expedition was is not mentioned. At times with cheerless remarkable for good organization, harmony, prospects-water enough for hal! a dey-a lack of trouble with the blacks, and steady, scouting party would return with news of sound methods. Success was due to these water further on.' features, coupled with good fortune, for rain fell at the most critical time. The greatness The spirit of this brave man is shown in his of the achievement was enhanced by the fact. diary entry of August 2, 1874. This is what that the party had no camels, but depended is written:- entirely on horses, "My brother and Pierre went on a flying trip to the S.E. in search of water " 1 "Forrest left Geraldton on the coast, on now began to be much troubled about our March 18, l874, and proceeded north-east to position, although I did not communicate the headwaters of the Murchison, and thence my fears to any but my brother. We felt due east over unknown country along the confident we could return if the worst 26th parallel, finally reaching the telegraph came, although we were over 1.000 miles line on September 27, at about the position from the settled district of Western Auslra­ of Oodnadatta. He came across on tc Giles's lia. The water at our Camp was fast dry­ track, the more southerly 01 Giles two wester­ ing up, and would not last more than a ly routes, west of the Warburton Ranges, fortnight. The next water was 60 miles where Giles had turned back 9 months before, back, and there seemed no probability of His greatest troubles were met at this point. getting Eastward, 1 knew I was now in Giles's last permanent water was at his the very country that had driven Mr. Gosse Shoeing Camp, which Forrest named Barlee back (I have since found it did the same Springs, and Forrest, approaching Irom the for Mr. Giles). No time was to be losl. 1 west, arrived at a temporary waterhole 120 was determined to make the best use of miles west of this water, beyond which it the time that the water would last, and to seemed he would be quite unable to pro­ keep on searching. just when the goal 01 ceed. He camped for seventeen days at this my ambition and my hopes lor years past waterhole, while scouting ahead for water was almost within my reach, it oppeorad was carried out. just when the position be­ that 1 might not even now be able to grasp came desperate, owing to the waterhole giv­ it. The thought of having to return, how­ ing out, the next behind being sixty miles ever, brought every leeling of energy and away, showers of rain filled rockholes, and determination to my rescue, and I lelt lhor the party was able to move lorward by the with God's help 1 would even now succeed. act of Providence. Giles, scouting out from 1 gave instructions to allowance the party his last water, had come within thirty-five 10 make our stores last at least four months, miles of the water Forrest was camped on; and make every preparation lor an almost but he did not find the intermediate tem­ desperate struggle." porary waters. It was at this stage that showers of rain "This rain and advance were the most helped them on and they ulLimately succeed­ dramatic incidents 01 Forrest's expedition. ed in reaching the telegraph line. He found Giles's tracks and followed them. He was then sale. Wells. "Thus the first crossing was made along The Calvert Scientific Expedition of 1986­ middle latitudes from Western Australia to 97, equipped at the request and expense of the telegraph line, and the last spectacular Albert F. Calvert, F.R.G.S., London, was for undertaking of the Australian explorers sue­ the purpose of exploring the remaining cesslully accomplished." blanks of Australia. The expedition was W EST ERN AUSTRALIAN HIS TOR I CAL SOC lET Y 47

commanded by Surveyor L. A. Wells who To penetrate into this great unknown, it had previously engaged in exploration work would be necessary to pass over the inhos­ sponsored by Sir Thomas Elder, pitable regions then described by Wells, Forrest, Warburton and Giles, and the un­ On July 16, 1896, Wells started from Lake mapped expanses between their several Way to examine the country between the routes. East Murchison and Fitzroy Rivers. After many trying experiences which are lucidly II would mean crossing their tracks almost given in the diary of Wells, they reached a at right angles and deriving no benefit from point known as Midway Well. A little fur­ their experiences except a compcrison in ther to the North, at Separation Well, the positions on the chart, should the point of party divided, Wells (a cousin of the leader) intersection occur at any recognisable fea­ and Jones intending to travel for about 80 ture such as a noticeable hill or lake. miles in a North-West direction to examine the country and then to return on a North­ Should the unexplored parts between Gile.:' East course to join the caravan at Joanna and Warburton's routes be successfully cross­ Springs which had relieved Warburton in his ed, there would still remain an unexplored extremity. About 30 miles from Joanna tract 450 miles long before settlement in the Springs the leader expected the two men to Kimberley could be reached, 1,000 miles in a cut his tracks. His camels were suffering bee-line from Coolgardie. terribly. Three were abandoned, and much of their equipment, excepting actual neces­ This was the expedition young Carnegie sities, was left behind as they pushed on had mapped out for his undertaking, and it towards the Fitzroy. II was evident that the took him four years to raise sufficient means longitude of the Springs as given by War­ to carry it through. burton was wrong and it appears that they were charted by him about 10 miles to the He fully realised its hazardous nature. He Westward of their true position. sought no recompense. He claimed that his curiosity, joined to a desire to be doing The cousin Wells and Jones perished and something useful to his fellow men, was the there is a very sad story surrounding their chief incentive. He left Coolgardie on July experiences. 20, 1896, four days after Wells left Lake Way, both heading Northwards. Wells on this expedition encountered the same difficulties that confronted Warburton In his work "Spinifex and Sand" will be while exploring this region, Travel during found a remarkable story of endeavour and the day was almost impossible on account suflering, and of achievement. of the intense heat from the sun and its radiation from the red sand-ridges, and while He was the first to cross the desert of the travelling at night very often the slight in­ parallel sand ridges, as he travelled from dications which eventually lead to water South to North, He comments upon the sand would not be perceivable. Not only would ridges thus: the natural physical features be dillicul! to "The southern part from latitude 22°40' discern, but the birds, those water-guides of to latitude 20°45' presents nothing to the the desert, would be sleeping. eye but ridge upon ridge of sand, running with the regularity of the drills in a plough­ There are others of whom I would like to ed field - a vast, howling wilderness of write but the nature of this paper precludes high, spinifex-clad ridges of red sand, so the mention of many. close together that in a day's march we crossed from 60 to 80 ridges, so steep that Carnegie. often the camels had to crest them on their knees, and so barren and destitute of Without depriving those I do not mention vegetation that one marvels how even of any glory or right, I pass on to one other camels could pick up a living. Their aver­ who contributed much - the Hon. David age vertical height from trough to crest Carnegie, one of the last of the explorers was 50 to 60 feet. Sometimes they would who in 1896 and 1897, without hope of re­ be a quarter of a mile apart, sometimes ward, traversed the great unknown from ridge succeeded ridge like the waves of Coolgardie to Hall's Creek and return. the sea. On October 3, for instance, we 48 "EARLY DAYS"-jOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS

were crossing them at the rate of ten in 50 forth, the more mercenary side of the, 40 minutes. Words can give no concep­ Australian's character pointed out to them. tion of the ghastly desolation and hopeless A common subject 0.1 speculction is whether­ dreariness of the scene." or no Australians wo.uld make good sol­ The Canning Stock Route, equipped with diers; as to that my- belief is, that once wells, now crosses this country. they felt confidence in their officers none could make more loyal or willing troops; Water was also Carnegie's main problem. without that confidence- they would be ill For many miles only by using a captured to manage, lor the Australian is not the native was he at one stage able to find man to obey another merely because he is water. in authority - first he must prove him­ self fit to have that cuthority." He reached his objective, however, and once more we lind something very much These words were written by a young alike in the make-up of Eyre, and Giles, For­ Englishman, before any Australians had been rest, Warburton and Carnegie. They all hated tested in war. turning back. Carnegie died from a poisoned arrow in On reaching Hall's Creek, he planned to Nigeria on the West Coast' of Africa in 1900; return to Coolgardie. He dismissed as too his epic journey having been completed at simple and feeble taking the road to Derby the age of 25. and travelling South by steamer. He elected to return overland by a new route. This is what he said:- There are many points of particular inter­ est in the lives and work of such men as "We had four routes open to us: (1) Hann, Brockman and Canning; who followed either the road to Derby and thence by on, but a recounting of them I must at pre­ steamer; (2) the road to Derby and thence sent pass over. I have dealt cursorily with along the coastal telegraph line; (3) the the exploits of outstanding men, some of way we had come; (4) and an entirely new them finding nothing but useless country, but route, taking our chances of the desert. nevertheless being of great benefit to man­ The first was dismissed as feeble, the kind if no better result was achieved than second as useless, and the third as idiotic. to demonstrate to others tllat part of the in­ Therefore the fourth remained, and though terior that may best be- avoided. it was natural enough for me to wish to win distinction in the world of travel, sure­ They avoided no anticipated hardship. The ly it speaks well for them, indeed, that unbroken monotony of arid, uninteresting my men were willing to accompany me. country was faced. They had the impulses and courage to go on, never the desire to "Without the slightest hesitation, though turn back, although they could find nothing knowing full well what lay before us, that very oHen in their surroundings to act as an we might even encounter worse difficulties incentive to tempt them further. than before, without any thought of pros­ pective gain, they signified their readiness I leave my brief review of these heroes to return by whatever route I proposed. here, believing that the results to civilisation This is a point that I should like to make have been vast and purchased with much clear to all who may read this, for it is in­ suffering, and the names of these brave men dicative of a trait often lost sight of by have by their own deeds· been placed in the those accustomed to having, in novels and front rank of the benefactors of mankind.

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