Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Letter not found. The text given here is from ‘Remarks about Leichhardt’s expedition, and the search after him’, South Australian, 5 August 1851, p. 4 (B51.08.01). It was said to be ‘From the Deutsche Zeitung, 23rd July’. The letter was republished elsewhere, for example, in the Geelong advertiser, 4 September 1851, p. 2 (B51.09.01).

Simultaneously with the news so discouraging that the veteran Sir John Franklin has been released only from his icy prison to be slain by the Esquimaux,

2

Sir John Frankin’s expedition in search of a north-west passage in the Arctic from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific in 1845-7 became beset by ice and the entire company died — not, however, at the hands of the native people of the region, as M alleges, but from exposure and food poisoning.

fears were entertained that another bold discoverer, our countryman Dr Ludwig Leichhardt, had likewise perished. A year ago he should have reached his destination, Swan River, as the duration of his journey was calculated to be only two years and a half:

3

Leichhardt and his companions set out from the settled area of south-eastern Queensland in March 1848, intending to travel overland to the Swan River settlement in WA, but were never seen again.

and as his return is daily becoming more improbable, the more so as it seems he is to be left to his fate, so the fears that he will become a victim to his courage and a martyr to science appear only too well founded.

The small number of his companions and his meagre equipment were ill-fitted to encounter the numberless dangers which beset his path. A single attack of the natives, whose tribes seldom bear friendly feeling towards an intruder, a sickness among his cattle or their dispersing, and the doom of the whole expedition would be sealed.

I certainly do not believe that the party has perished within the boundaries of New South Wales, otherwise a few of their cattle would have returned; that news is only founded on reports of natives and we know that they often circulate rumours about the fate of Australian travellers; less, perhaps out of natural spite than in the hope of deterring other comers; they even invent, to accomplish such an end, tales, as happened to Capt. Sturt on the Darling. Such a rumour found no credit in New South Wales, and a sum of £2000 was voted by the Legislative Council, to attempt his recovery; but this, as well as the encouraging reports from the Indian Governments, fail to inspire sufficient courage for an undertaking of such an hazardous nature.

Many, perhaps, are, with me, wondering why the Government of India and Australia have not joined long ago in their endeavours to accomplish such an object, the more so, as Captain Sturt tried years ago to raise public sympathy for “the wanderer in the desert,”

4

Sturt (1849), vol. 2, p. 307.

and even now it might not be too late! The fact that the country becomes more arid towards the west warrants the supposition that Dr. L. has not penetrated to the interior, but followed the rivers on the coast; if this is true, then that way, recommended by Captain Stokes (in his work regarding the survey of the Australian coasts), as the least dangerous, the shortest, and the cheapest to discover the interior,

5

Stokes (1846), vol. 2, pp. 320-1.

would be the most promising one in this case also. This plan, doubly deserving the public attention, because recommended by Capt. Flinders,

6

Flinders (1814), vol. 2, p. 147.

leads directly into the interior of the continent, from the southern part of the Gulf of Carpentaria, along the Albert River.

The course of this river, as far as ascertained, being to the south, and the plains along it being fine pastoral country, a decrease in fertility towards the south, would be expected, and the travellers would do well, therefore, to provide themselves with camels, which the Indian Government would willingly grant for such a humane purpose, or they might be purchased at Kutch

7

A district in north-western India, now part of Gujarat state.

for £5 a-piece, where also drivers could be obtained at a cheap rate. Captain Sturt, too, whose experiences ought to be highly valued, thinks that camels would form the best means of transport for future discoveries,

8

Sturt (1849), vol. 2, p. 123.

and the stony desert, like the Zahara,

9

i.e. Sahara.

could only be traversed by such animals, not only as bearing hunger and thirst better than any other, but as making most speed over a sandy ground.

The Gulf of Carpentaria enters very deep into the main land, shortens, therefore, the way to the interior very materially, and the route of the travellers along the same meridian to the south which Captain Sturt followed to the north, would doubtless cross Leichhardt’s track, in case he had not perished in the beginning of his journey, and his fate could then be easily ascertained. This route has besides the advantage of a good anchorage at the mouth of the Albert River, and an abundance of provisions at the neighbouring islets; the shortest way to the interior of Australia would by that route be opened, its centre discovered, and the long expected light thrown over its productions, the aim, therefore, of the greatest geographers accomplished.

The only obstacle in the way of such an undertaking, would be the attacks of natives, but they did not obstruct Captain Stokes. Moreover, Captain Sturt remarks the interesting fact that the flight of the birds of passage coming from the southern and eastern parts of Australia, always take the same northerly direction, and therefore concludes, a better country with plenty of water would be found in the direction in which the birds were going, and considering that the large rivers, flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria, traverse a wide tract of country, besides receiving numerous tributaries, to arrive at such a magnitude at their mouth, we must expect a well watered country and mountain ranges, and cannot think that the stony desert reaches higher than the Capricorn in this longitude.

I cannot conclude these few remarks without alluding to the comparatively meagre results of the many polar expeditions, compared to the magnificent results which would follow such expeditions in more temperate zones. We see courageous mariners traversing the arctic and antarctic regions, discovering new snow-covered continents, but without animal life, and we thank them for it: for in science the smallest gift is gain. But how much more profitable would the millions spent in such researches have been applied, if given for discoveries in habitable regions, which might furnish a happy abode to numberless human beings.