William Landsborough
William Landsborough (born February 21, 1825 in Saltcoats , † March 16, 1886 in Caloundra ) was a Scottish explorer.
Life
William Landsborough was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, as the son of clergyman Dr. David Landsborough and his wife Margaret (nee McLeish) were born. He attended school in Irvine . In 1841, following two older brothers, he emigrated to Australia . After gold was found in 1851, he participated in the excavations with some success. He had to give up the land he cultivated in New South Wales due to a lack of profitability and in 1853 moved to a farm on the Kolan River near Bundaberg in Queensland , at that time on the border of the populated area. Three years later he was exploring new lands further north.
In the following years he undertook some private research trips in offshore Queensland. Together with Nathaniel Buchanan he explored the tributaries of the Fitzroy River in 1859 , the source of the Thomson River in 1860 and in 1861 also followed the rivers later known as the Gregory River and Herbert River to their sources.
Find Burke and Wills
In August 1861 he was in fourth place, to conduct an expedition that aimed, starting from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Burke and Wills to search. The first expedition, which started from Melbourne and led by Alfred William Howitt , was able to clarify the fate of Burke and Wills as early as September 1861, but not to inform the remaining three expeditions of John McKinlay , Frederick Walker and Landsborough.
With the brig Firefly , Landsborough's expedition set out on August 24, 1861 from Brisbane to the Gulf of Carpentaria. On September 4th, however, the Firefly ran aground on a reef off the Sir Charles Hardy Islands. A few days later, the expedition members were rescued by the escort ship, HMCS Victoria , commanded by William Henry Norman , and were able to continue their search. On October 1, the team of four Australian Aborigines ( Charlie , Jemmy , Fisherman and Jackey ) and four men of European descent reached the mouth of the Albert River near what is now Burketown .
On February 10, 1862, Landsborough set off south with two of his European and three of his native companions, followed the Flinders River for some time , but found himself pushed too far to the east and oriented towards Cooper's Creek (now Cooper Called Creek ). There he hoped to find supplies in a depot set up by Howitt. On May 21, he reached a farm near Cunnamulla , about 1300 km north of Melbourne , and thus finally learned of the fate of Burkes and Wills. Two days later, Landsborough set out again with new supplies to finally reach Melbourne in October 1862 via the Darling River and Menindee, 300 km away .
No human expedition member was killed during the journey, only some of the original 30 horses did not survive.
Further life
After the end of his expedition, Landsborough married in Sydney and went on a two-year trip abroad, which took him to India and England, among other places. From 1865 until the end of his life he held various positions in the Australian public service.
Among other things, Landsborough worked from 1866 to 1871 in the newly created settlement of Burketown as a police officer, the place that was the starting point of his search for Burke and Wills. During this time, his wife, like many other Burketown residents, contracted the disease then known as Gulf Fever and later died in Sydney. To this day it has not been clarified which illness it was; it is thought to be typhoid or malaria.
In 1873 Landsborough married the musician and teacher Maria Theresa Carr (* approx. 1845, † 1921) in Brisbane.
Several years before his death, the Queensland Parliament awarded him an amount of £ 2,000 for his services as a researcher, which enabled him to acquire a farm at Caloundra, on which he spent as much time as possible from then on.
death
Landsborough died in 1886 of falling from his horse. After he was initially buried on his property, his widow had the remains transferred to Toowong Cemetery in 1913 . There, both have now their final resting place ( location ).
Services
William Landsborough was the first to discover a practicable route through Australia in a north-south direction and was rewarded with a gold watch by the Royal Geographical Society .
Naming
William Landsborough was eponymous for the city of Landsborough , the Landsborough Highway , Landsborough County , the Landsborough River and the Landsborough constituency in Queensland. In Golden Beach, a southern suburb of Caloundra, the main street is named after Landsborough.
Web links
- Report of Landsborough about his search for Burke and Wills (English)
- The Firefly Boat Site (Engl.)
- Articles focusing on the estate at Caloundra (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ chapelhill.homeip.net
- ↑ Landsborough . In: Dictionary of National Biography ( DjVu ). Volume 32, p. 63 (sheet 67)
- ↑ Landsborough's tenth letter
- ↑ biography at gutenberg.net.au
- ↑ Brief information about Maria Landsborough at abitofhistory.net
- ↑ Grave site ( Memento of the original from June 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Landsborough, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish explorer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 21, 1825 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Saltcoats |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 16, 1886 |
| Place of death | Caloundra |