Scientific exploration of Central Australia

Abstract

If we look on a map of the Australian continent published ten years ago, we are struck by the immense expause of land then unexplored; we perceive at a glance that the south-eastern sea-board only of this great continent had then been examined with any degree ot accuracy, and that very little was known to us respecting the character of its shores on the west and north-west. In two quarters only had the zeal and daring of tire explorer succeeded in forcing a path towards the central portions of this vast territory, Sturt having penetrated as far as 24° South and 138° East, and Gregory as far as 21° South and 128° East. The nature of the country traversed by these two eminent explorers was such as to countenance the supposition, that the interior of Australia was little better than one vast desert, offering almost insurmountable obstacles to exploration. The idea, originally advanced by Oxley, that the greater part of the interim was occupied by vast inland lakes, was then abandoned; and the theory just mentioned took its place. In such a state of utter uncertainty as to the nature of the interior of a vast continent, it is but natural that various theories should be started; and no doubt they will, in the end, help to keep up the spirit for rigorous examination and exploration, yet care must be taken that they do not, by the unfavourable nature of their suppositions, tend to discourage enterprise. From such a danger we had a narrow escape during the years following A. C. Gregory’s exploration of the interior, and his expedition in search of Dr. Leichhardt, as at that time it was generally believed that the arid plains and stony deserts met with in the east and south, and the sandy desert in the north-west, were but the outskirts of a desert country unparalleled on our globe.