This is another Corkwood Press
facsimile reproduction - of the contemporary records
of the 1864/1865 expedition lead by the Jardine brothers
taking cattle to the fledgling outpost at the tip of Cape York.
This was the first successful European Australian overland trip
to that point.
reviewed: 4wd.sofcom.com/Books/Books.html
The Queensland Government contracted
the Jardine brothers to take cattle overland
to the newly founded settlement of Somerset,
just established by their father.
They left Carpentaria Downs with 250 cattle, 42 horses, and 10 men
in October 1864.
The tone of the book is very "gung ho" even aggressive,
particularly when compared with that of the
Kennedy
expedition.
Whether the members of the expedition felt truly confident
at all times, or whether the story improved with the telling,
we'll not know now.
The trip was not without difficulty:
horses sickened and died, probably from eating poisonous plants,
a large part of the supplies was lost through carelessness in a grass fire,
and there were running battles with groups of aborigines
(imagine your own reaction if a large group of strangers
wandered through your back-yard with free-food on the hoof).
For example (p48) "seeing 8 or 9 of their companions drop"
the attackers departed.
And (p50) "About 30 being killed [...] let the rest escape".
The pattern was for a small party to ride ahead,
seeking easy going, grazing and water,
to plot a course for the cattle to follow.
Their path followed the Staaten River
to near the west coast,
north to the Kendall River,
then inland, finally following what is now
the Jardine River to the north-west until
a crossing could be found.
The book is a soft-back of 178 pages,
with three black and white reproductions.
There is a 13 page preface by
Les Hiddins.
An excellent fold-out map
gives the positions of the camps marked with latitude and longitude
and also includes Kennedy's 1848 path.
pp1-130 are based on Jardine's journal.
pp1-178 is the account of Richardson, the surveyor.
There is evidence of "disagreements" between Richardson
and the Jardines over navigation.
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