John McKinlay

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John McKinlay (born August 26, 1819 in Sandbank in Scotland , † December 31, 1872 in Gawler in South Australia ) was a researcher in Australia . McKinlay led one of the expeditions to the rescue of missing Australian explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills . He carried out a total of only two expeditions, which made him well known in Australia.

Life

John McKinlay was born in as the third son of the merchant Dugald McKinlay and his wife Catherine McKellar. McKinlay went to Dalinlongart School and emigrated to New South Wales , Australia with his brother Alexander in 1836 . He and his brother later came to South Australia and bought land on the Darling River . John McKinlay studied Aboriginal customs there , which helped him on his expeditions. On January 17, 1863, he married Jane Pile.

Expeditions

When Wills and Bourke went missing, u. a. McKinlay hires to look for them. He left Adelaide on August 16, 1861 with nine men, 70 sheep, two horses and four Australian camels . On October 20, 1861, near Cooper Creek, he found the grave of Charles Gray, a participant in the Burke and Wills expedition, and suspected that Burke and Wills had also died.

Thereupon McKinlay decided to look for the direct route to Mount Stuart . Heavy rains and floods, however, forced him to turn back. McKinlay then turned towards the Gulf of Carpentaria and hoped to meet the ship HMVS Victoria , which was waiting there to take any survivors of the expedition of Wills and Burke on board. On May 20, 1862, he reached the Gulf Coast a few miles from the meeting point, where he did not arrive in time because of the rough terrain. He decided to go to Port Denison near Bowen in Queensland , where he arrived in early August and took a ship back to Adelaide.

For his expedition he received a sum of £ 1,000 from the government and a gold watch from the Royal Geographical Society of England.

In September 1865 he was commissioned to explore the Northern Territory for settlement sites. Exceptionally heavy rain and flooding prevented the expedition on the eastern Alligator River from advancing , and McKinlay returned to the coast in difficult conditions. Nevertheless, the expedition was successful, as there were reports of settlement land at Port Darwin and Anson Bay .

After his two expeditions, he retired near the town of Gawler in South Australia, where he died. A monument was erected there in his honor in 1875.

literature

  • Kim Lockwood: Big John: The Extraordinary Adventures of John McKinlay. 1819-1872 p. 194. State Library of Victoria. 1995.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b John McKinlay: (1819 - 1872), Australian Dictionary of Biography. Pp. 174-176. Melbourne University Press 1974 , accessed February 12, 2010
  2. ^ John McKinlay on gutenberg.net.au , accessed February 12, 2010
personal data
SURNAME McKinlay, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Naturalist and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Sandbar , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1872
Place of death Gawler , South Australia