In 1800 the vast interior of Australia lay undiscovered. By 1874 its lands
had been all but won. Derek Parker's book gathers together the stories of those
intrepid explorers who, often against great odds, beat starvation, inadequate
information, disease and loss to open the county for development.
Throughout the eighteenth and much of the nineteenth centuries, it was
believed that a great 'inland sea' was hidden in the outback. In 1828, Charles
Sturt set off with a party of convicts and Aboriginals to find it. He was one of
the first to seek this elusive goal and was perhaps more successful that others
as he did discover the Murray River/Darling River system, which opened up New
South Wales for colonisation. Sixteen years later, Sturt made another
attempt. This time he reached the torrid, sweltering, uninhabitable desert at
Australia's centre and, unable to move from illness and weakness, lived for five
months in an underground chamber dug in the earth.
From the lad-tempered Leichhardt, who led the greatest overland expedition in
Australian history but disappeared with his entire party on his third trip, to
the iconic journey of Burke and Wills, in which inexperience and poor planning
played as much a part in their failure as the awful terrain, 'Outback' is packed
with tales of courage and determination against overwhelming odds. It includes
the stories of Sir Thomas Mitchell, whose difficult journey culminated in his
party shooting Aboriginals; your Edward John Eyre, who was sympathetic to the
Aboriginals and was one of the first to record their culture; and Ernest Giles,
called 'the last Australian explorer'.
Illustrated with maps, portraits, documents and contemporary sketches by
artists who accompanied the expeditions, 'Outback' brings to life the 'golden
age' of exploration.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Metric Conversion Table
List of Illustrations
Introduction
1. In the Beginning
2. The Great Inland Sea
3. Mapping the Rivers
4. Australian Morning
5. The Heroic Heart
6. 'What for do you walk?'
7. 'The Heart of the Dark Continent'
8. Seven Months Underground
9. To the Very Centre
10. 'Unburied as I Lie'
11. The Last Australian Explorer
Envoi
Maps
Notes
Bibliography
Index
