Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia, and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound, in the Years 1840–1

by Eyre, Edward John

• ISBN13: 9781108038980
• ISBN10: 1108038980
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-15
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

In 1832, aged just seventeen, the future colonial governor Edward John Eyre (1815-1901) set sail from London for Australia. The farming life that awaited him laid the foundations of an enduring interest in the topography, anthropology and zoology of his adopted homeland. Following an initial expedition in 1839, in 1840 Eyre set out on his pioneering trek from Adelaide to Western Australia. The year-long adventure financially ruined the explorer, but won him the coveted gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society for discovering Lake Torrens. Published in 1845, this two-volume account of the expedition made Eyre a household name in Britain and fuelled popular interest in the former penal colony. Including eleven engravings, Volume 1 opens with the origins of the expedition, but quickly leads readers into the darkest moments experienced en route, including conflicts within the party, desperate searches for water, and the murder of an overseer.

Table of Contents

The camp plundered

Reflections upon situation

Heavy road

Go on board the Mississippi

Large watercourse

Concluding remarks

Manners and Customs of the Aborigines of Australia

Preliminary remarks

Physical appearance

Food

Property in land

Ceremonies and superstitions

Numbers

Language, dialects, customs, etc.

Effects of contact with Europeans

Suggestions for improvement of system adopted towards the natives

Explanation of the plates of native ornaments, weapons, implements, and works of industry

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