4. HISTORICAL PRECIS: 4.1. Leichhardt's journey The trek from Queensland to Victoria Settlement at Port Essington in 1844-45 by the Prussian naturalist, Dr. Frederich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt, was a great feat of endurance and put paid to any hopes of overland trade with India by the Australian colonies. Australian interest in the north coast of New South Wales (later Queensland) first took prominence when the settlement at Port Essington was established by the British. The Governor, Sir George Gipps put forward a plan of exploration aiming to find a land route for this most northerly port in his jurisdiction in 1840, however the expense involved ruled it out. In 1843 the Legislative Council took up the idea, as did the Sydney Morning Herald, arguing that such a route would avoid the dangerous sea passage through the Torres Strait and provide a land route for the cheap Asian labour southern squatters were demanding — in the reverse direction, such a route would allow the export of cattle and horses to India. Alan Powell, in his work A Far Country writes that: This interest led to an expedition in 1845, funded by the New South Wales Treasury and led by Surveyor-General Sir Thomas Mitchell 'at the head... of a small army' as a later explorer remarked sarcastically. Mitchell found some useful cattle country in central Queensland and returned without ever getting near the borders of the future Northern Territory. A small private expedition (by Leichhardt) succeeded where Mitchell's private army could not. 19 The route taken by Leichhardt is generally followed today by the much of the alignment of the road from Wollogorang to Borroloola and on to Roper Bar. The Queensland Road stock route later followed much the same route as Leichhardt, with the exception of a section from Redbank to Seven Emus that has been bypassed by higher ground, and these overlapping themes of pioneering feats in adversity have provided a track that is considered an adventure by tourists, and European visitors in particular. The following precis has been drawn from the 1888 work of Ernest Favenc, himself an explorer, writer and artist, entitled The History of Australian Exploration From 1788 to 1888. The precis, though purportedly containing a number of unwarranted criticisms and innuendo, (see McLaren, Beyond Leichhardt) is provided complementary to the accompanying extract of the map (see Map 3) from Leichhardt's original 1847 work, 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. This map is included to provide reference to the number of landmarks identified and named or described by him for the purposes of the Savannah Way project. Figure 4 is also provided for reference. The trek by Leichhardt and his party has been widely documented. Indeed the Northern Australia Collection of the Northern Territory Library lists some 31 items in its bibliography, and it is known that many more exist. Interestingly, a number of these analyse previous documentation (refer Simpson, In Leichhardt's Footsteps, McLaren, Beyond Leichhardt, et al.) in answering a century and a half of criticism where the explorer himself cannot. `Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt arrived in the colony in 1842, and travelled to Moreton Bay overland, where he occupied himself for two years in short excursions in the neighborhood, pursuing his favourite study of physical science. Leichhardt was born in Beskow, near Berlin and studied in Berlin. Through a neglect, he was excluded from the one-year military service, and thereby induced to escape from the three-yearly service. The consequence was, that he was pursued as a deserter and sentenced in contumaciam. 19. Powell, Alan. A Far Country. A Short History of the Northern Territory. Melbourne University Press. 1982. Page 63. A Desktop Survey of the Proposed Savannah Way 17 .