Expedition from Leichhardt (1846–1847)
The Leichhardt expedition from 1846 to 1847 was the second such project of the Prussian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt in Australia . It was supposed to lead from east to west of Australia to the Swan River . At that time, the interior of Australia had not yet been crossed by Europeans. The expedition failed after five months due to lack of food, extreme weather conditions, illnesses and disagreements between Leichhardt and his team.
prehistory
With his first expedition to Australia in the years 1844 to 1845, which was successful as a result, Ludwig Leichhardt had proven that there is agriculturally usable land and coal deposits in northwest Australia between Jimbour and Port Essington . These findings were the prerequisite for further exploration and settlement of these areas.
When Leichhardt returned to Sydney on March 29, 1846 after this expedition , he was ceremoniously received. There he planned his second expedition. Although the project was of great importance for exploring Australia, he received no financial support from the British colonial government - despite an interview with Governor Charles FitzRoy . He himself had received £ 600 in recognition of the success of the first expedition. A privately organized collection in Sydney brought in another £ 600 which he used to buy cattle. The time to prepare for the voyage of discovery was short, as Leichhardt was busy preparing a publication about his expedition until August 1846.
Travel planning
According to the experience of Leichhardt's first expedition, the expedition route was to take place primarily along the courses of the river, because it had turned out that the procurement of drinking water was the greatest problem. Grazing areas for the cattle, which were to be used for food, also had to be taken into account. As pack animals, oxen were no longer possible , but mules . Leichhardt had also thought of camels , but at that time there were only two camels in Australia and there was not enough time to procure them from India. In order not to lose too much time with the hunt for food, this time not only oxen, but goats and sheep should be taken and slaughtered if necessary. It had also been shown that loading the oxen was too time-consuming and that they dropped their load frequently. In the course of the first expedition, Leichhardt had to realize that the loads that were attached to carrying animals with leather straps often broke and the saddles were worn out. Therefore, James Harry, a saddler , was accepted as a member of the expedition. Flour and sugar supplies were set too low at six to eight months for the planned duration of the trip of around two to three years. Leichhardt nevertheless considered it sufficient.
Research trip
team
The expedition team consisted of nine people with Leichhardt: Heinrich Böcking, a German who was employed as a cook, Daniel Bunce , a botanist , Hovenden Hely and John Frederick Mann , a surveyor who had worked on the Trigonometrical Survey of Britain . James Perry, Henry Turnbull and the Aborigines Harry Brown and Woommai (Jimmy) were also crew members. The Aborigines were used as trackers . Hely had experience with horses and cattle, as did Turnbull. Only Leichhardt, Bunce and Brown had expedition experience in the outback of Australia. The latter was also a participant in Leichhardt's first expedition from 1845 to 1846.
Equipment and food
For protection from the weather, two calico tents were used, eight feet (2.44 m) long, six feet (1.83 m) wide and four feet (1.22 m) high. When oiled, Kaliko is water-repellent. The clothing available to the team consisted of two moleskin trousers, two calico ponchos, wool shirts, two pairs of shoes and socks. Each had a blanket, a saddle and saddlebags, cutlery and drinking vessels. A total of 50 pounds of gunpowder, eight rifles, two swords and axes were carried. 1000 pounds of flour, 200 pounds of tea, sugar and salt, 6 bars of soap, around 20 pounds of gelatine , tapioca, etc. were transported for food .
Itinerary
On October 1, 1846, the expedition began with the departure from Sydney for Port Stephens . From there the men traveled overland to the Darling Downs , where Hely joined them on December 6, 1846 in Jimbour . With that the team was complete.
On December 10, 1846, the expedition set out from the Gogg sheep station, at the end of civilization, with 14 horses, 16 mules, 40 cattle, 270 goats, 90 sheep and 4 dogs.
Already at the beginning of the expedition there was a disagreement between Leichhardt and Mann because of a runaway bull. Different views between Leichhardt and his team continued in the course of the expedition.
Progress was difficult and often escaped cattle and inadequately guarded horses had to be recaptured. All participants in the expedition suffered from a mosquito and sand fly infestation. A hornet plague was added later. At the beginning of the trip there was great heat, which was up to 34 ° C. The participants often had diarrhea and painful eye infections from the insect bites. Heavy downpours often set in and progress was very difficult because of marshy soils and swollen rivers. Participants also had to camp out on the wet ground and tear the tents. Because of the damp weather and living conditions, most of the team members had a fever and were weak. This resulted in delays. The Mackenzie River could only be crossed with the last effort in March. Since the expedition members were weakened by attacks of fever, they had to pause on the bank for three weeks. Leichhardt pushed for advancement, the members of his team wanted to turn back. They criticized Leichhardt for the lack of medical precaution against febrile illnesses. On April 5, Leichhardt sent the sick to the heights of the Peak Range so that they could recover under the influence of mountain air. When they reunited, all the sheep and goats had fled for lack of adequate security and could no longer be found. They only had 38 oxen left for food. More oxen were lost in the wild and could no longer be found. When only nine oxen were left, Leichhardt slaughtered oxen for the production of dried meat, but the drying did not succeed due to the damp weather. In addition, the dogs attacked part of the slaughtered meat at night. Leichhardt gave up on June 7th. When the expedition returned to Darling Downs on July 23, Leichhardt was just as weak as the participants. He was sick with rheumatism and was only able to mount a horse with the help of strangers. However, he recovered within two weeks and immediately started thinking about how he could achieve the missed goal with another expedition and other participants. On the ship Tamar he finally returned to Sydney on October 9th. There he planned to repeat the failed expedition in 1848.
Travel reports
There is only one letter from Leichhardt to his brother-in-law in which he explained the reasons for the failure from his point of view. The reasons he gave are: Most of the participants would have been too young and had no expedition experience. They would have experienced the cheers on the occasion of his arrival after the successful expedition in Sydney and above all hoped for similar recognition and money from the colonial government. The one-sided diet with fatty meat would have led to the symptoms of weakness and illness. The expedition participants would not have made any effort in the course of the expedition and would not have wanted to support him and his two Aborigines or not enough.
In 1850, Bunce published a report on the unsuccessful expedition in a Melbourne newspaper. He criticized Leichhardt cautiously, because Leichhardt had behaved wrongly in certain aspects. Leichhardt was no longer able to counter these allegations, since he was missing on his third expedition in 1848.
More than 40 years after the expedition, in 1888 John Mann published his work Eight Months with Dr. Leichhardt in the Years 1846-47 . In this work, which is strongly characterized by animosity, he explained extensively that Leichhardt's leadership and personal behavior in the course of the expedition would have led to the failure of the expedition.
literature
- Heinz Haufe: The voyages of discovery in Australia. Ludwig Leichhardt. The fate of a German researcher . Publishing House of the Nation. Berlin 1972
- John F. Mann: Eight Months with Dr. Leichhardt in the Years 1846-47 . Turner Henderson, Sydney 1888 (English)
- Dietmar Felden: Through the fifth continent. Life and achievement of Ludwig Leichhardt . Gotha 1976. Justus Perthes Verlag. ISBN 3-623-00844-3
- Ludwig Leichhardt, Franz Braumann (ed.): The first crossing of Australia 1844–1846. Revised according to his diaries, with an introduction and evidence. Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-522-60230-7
Individual evidence
- ^ Heinz Haufe: The voyages of discovery in Australia. Ludwig Leichhardt . Pp. 237/238
- ↑ Dietmar Felden: Through the fifth continent. Life and achievement of Ludwig Leichhardt , p. 32/33
- ↑ John F. Mann: Eight Months with Dr. Leichhardt in the Years 1846-47 . P. 9
- ^ Heinz Haufe: The voyages of discovery in Australia. Ludwig Leichhardt . P. 238
- ↑ John F. Mann: Eight Months with Dr. Leichhardt in the Years 1846-47 . P. 8
- ↑ John F. Mann: Eight Months with Dr. Leichhardt in the Years 1846-47 . P. 10
- ↑ John F. Mann: Eight Months with Dr. Leichhardt in the Years 1846-47 . P. 12
- ^ Heinz Haufe: The voyages of discovery in Australia. Ludwig Leichhardt . P. 239
- ↑ a b Ernst Amandus Zulold: Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt. A biographical sketch. In addition to a report on the second journey in the interior of the Austral-Continent according to the diary of his companion, the botanist Daniel Bunce . P. 36 ff. Online on Googlebooks , accessed on May 17, 2013
- ^ Heinz Haufe: The voyages of discovery in Australia. Ludwig Leichhardt . P. 238 ff.
- ^ Heinz Haufe: The voyages of discovery in Australia. Ludwig Leichhardt . P. 247
- ↑ leichhardt.sub.uni-goettingen.de (PDF; 125 kB): Biographical overview , accessed on May 26, 2013