Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition

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Illustration before the start of the expedition, from left: Frederick William Leech (deputy expedition leader), Lawrence Allen Wells (explorer), Alfred Warren (cook), David Lindsay (expedition leader), Victor Franz Paul Streich ( geologist ), Frederick John Elliot ( surgeon ) , Richard Helms ( botanist ) and Aubray Paul Gwynne (assistant)

The Elder Expedition ( Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition ) was a 6886 kilometer long expedition to explore the north of Australia , which took place from 1891 to 1892 in the then unpopulated outback .

Although the expedition reached its destination, it was threatened with failure several times, not only because of the lack of drinking water and food for the camels, but also because of numerous leadership problems that led to the resignation of several expedition members. The psychological and psychological stresses were great because of the adverse conditions. In addition, the leader of the expedition, David Lindsay, maintained an authoritarian style of leadership and, because of several complaints about his decisions, had to face a parliamentary committee of inquiry at the end of the expedition, which, however, came to no conclusion.

aims

The expedition began on May 2, 1891 in Oodnadatta and ended on March 14, 1892. It was to lead from the then sparsely populated northern border of South Australia via Western Australia to the Murchisan River . In addition to mapping, the expedition was also supposed to look for traces of Alfred Gibson , who was lost on Ernest Giles' expedition in 1873. Sir Thomas Elder , a Scottish- Australian businessman, dairy farmer and philanthropist, was the financier and promoter of the expedition, with organizational support from the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia of South Australia.

Involved

A eucalyptus tree marked by David Lindsay

The explorer Thomas Lindsay was appointed expedition leader because he had already successfully carried out numerous expeditions in the outback and thus had a great deal of experience with expeditions. The expedition team consisted of 14 men, including three scientists. In addition to Thomas Lindsay, Frederick W. Leech, Lawrence A. Wells, Frederick J. Elliott, Victor Victor Franz P. Streich, Richard Helms, Alfred Warren, RG Ramsay, Aubray P. Gwynne and four Afghan cameleers Hadji Shah Mahomet, Mahyedin, Alumgool, Mahmoud Azim and Abdul. The expedition was adequately equipped with 44 camels, including 10 riding camels.

course

The expedition got off to a bad start, as Bowden, a highly experienced tracker in the outback and deputy expedition leader, injured his knee and died shortly afterwards. Thereupon Abdul was chosen as his successor, which Lindsay did not like because he preferred Leech, whom he knew from their joint expeditions. On June 2, they reached the Everard Ranges. At first the expedition went without any problems, until it turned out that the leading camel driver Hadji had little knowledge of the English language, did not treat the camels appropriately and had no knowledge of the methods of healing sick camels. In addition, all camel drivers had great difficulty in collecting camels grazing at night again in the morning, which meant a time delay.

Map of the expedition with explored area

Although the expedition is considered to be one of the best-equipped Australian expeditions of the time, it ran into trouble after entering an area that had not seen rain in years. The drinking water had to be rationed and the food for the camels was no longer enough. Furthermore, the search for the traces of Gibson was unsuccessful. The expedition found the last drinking water in August. Then Lindsay changed the planned direction, but it turned out that the spring had almost dried up and did not provide enough water. Then Lindsay changes direction again to take drinking water in the Fraser Range Station. Due to the scarcity of water, the rations of the Afghans were reduced to the level of the other expedition participants, there was a dispute about this and Hadji left the expedition. In other sources it is reported that all cameleers left the expedition. Another decision by Lindsay was that the naturalist Richard Helms now had to look after his own camel due to the situation and did not have enough time for his plant collection. This led to further resentment. On October 2, the expedition reached Fraser Range Station, but only mutton and month-old newspapers were deposited there for them. There they were given four sacks of flour and as many sheep as they wanted. They then headed northeast when they learned of a good water supply where the camels could drink enough water. The expedition stayed in this location for a month and Lindsay traveled to Esperance Bay , where he cabled a report on the expedition to the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia . He also arranged for the natural history collections to be brought to Adelaide .

The expedition continued their voyage to the Murchison River on November 2, although the water was still scarce because the drought persisted. But they did arrive at the Yilgarn gold fields, where they could replenish their supplies and get additional supplies. The differences of opinion in the expedition team continued, this time between Lindsay and Leech, who stepped back from the expedition when they reached the Murchison River. But that's not all, on December 31st, the scientific expedition members Elliott, Streich and Helms also resigned. Lindsay was recalled to Adelaide , South Australia, where he faced an investigation into his actions as expedition leader. He was relieved by Lawrence Wells and Alfred Warren when they returned to South Australia.

Meanwhile, Lawrence Wells had been exploring with the rest of the expedition and discovered Lake Wells, a salt lake. Traces of gold were found on Lake Way, later the Wiluna gold field. Sir Thomas Elder declared the expedition ended on March 14, 1892.

  • Expedition member (presumably Lawrence A. Wells) with riding camel

  • Camels laden with firewood

  • An expedition camp

  • View of the Everard Ranges in the background

rating

This expedition almost failed due to physical and psychological problems of the participants. The expedition did not discover water or good grazing and arable land, but about 200,000 square kilometers of unknown land had been mapped. Nevertheless, one achievement remained remarkable: the expedition carried out the longest waterless march in the history of Australian voyages of discovery, with each camel only having 36 liters available for a 869 km long section.

literature

  • David Lindsay: Journal of the Elder Exploring Expedition, 1891 . Edited by the Assembly of the South Australian Parliament, October 3, 1893, available from Projekt Gutenberg

Web links

Commons : Photos of the expedition  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Fayette Gosse: Elder, Sir Thomas (1818-1897) . In: Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1972
  2. ^ A b c Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition . In: Monoment Australia undated, Retrieved April 5, 2010
  3. ↑ a b c d Raking it to the edge: Land: David Lindsay - Elder Expedition Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition . In: State Library South Australia undated