INDEX

• Introduction
• Maps
• Significant Places in Australia's Maritime History
• Naming Australia
• Naming Australia's Coastal Features

WHO DID DISCOVER AUSTRALIA?

• The Phoenecians & Egyptians
• The Greeks & Romans
• The Chinese
• The Muslims
• The Portuguese
• The Dutch
• The British
• The French

COLONIAL EXPLORATION

• Index
• The French
• The British
• Other
• Inland explorers

Colonial Exploration: 1874 - William C. Gosse and Col. Peter Egerton Warburton (1813 - 1889)

The expeditions under Col. Warburton, the South Australian Commissioner of Police, and William Gosse (right) and started almost together, and both from Alice Springs, in 1874. That of the former penetrated six hundred miles westward across the boundary line of the colony, and explored sixty thousand square miles of Country no white man had ever seen before. Colonel Warburton's line was farther north, and his objective point the De Grey River on the west coast. He succeeded after one of the most gallant struggles ever made.

The route led through seventeen hundred miles of desert, but counting experimental trips and return journeys, when they had to fall back on the nearest water, the distance travelled was at least four thousand miles. Scarcity of water and the scantiness of such supplies as were found in the native wells formed the chief difficulty. Camel after camel was sacrificed and eaten "right through," even to the viscera and skin &emdash;the latter after thirty-six hours boiling to make it soft enough to chew! At length the Oakover was reached, the last camel slain and two of the party were sent on to the nearest station for relief. It was one hundred and seventy miles away, and, while waiting, those left behind were on the verge of death. There were fish in the river, but they could not catch them; wild ducks flew near, but they had no strength to crawl after them.

Hope was almost gone when the rescue came, but Colonel Warburton had permanently lost the sight of one eye, and it was long before his strength returned. The tracks of McKinlay and Stuart are across the continent from south to north, and those of these western explorers from different points on the line traced by the latter to the western coast. Thus a number of lines have been drawn across the great blank which the map of the interior used to show, and the general characteristics and the main features of the topography of the country have been ascertained.