Who explored Queensland and when?

Answer 1

There were numerous significant explorers of the Queensland region during Australia's colonial years.

Queensland was first explored when James Cook sailed up the eastern coast, charting it as he went. This was part of Cook's secret mission - to discover and chart Terra Australis Incognita.

Some time after the First Fleet arrived and established the colony in New South Wales, Matthew Flinders sailed up the coast, mapping more inlets and bays than Cook had time to chart in 1770.

The English sought to claim as much of the east coast as they could before French interests took hold of any part of the continent, so John Oxley was sent to explore north, in order to find a suitable site for another penal settlement. The colony of the Moreton Bay District was founded in 1824 when explorer John Oxley arrived at Redcliffe with a crew and 29 convicts.

The next significant exploration of Queensland was undertaken by Ludwig Leichhardt in 1844-45. Leichhardt departed from the Darling Downs and traced a route up to Port Essington, in the far north, near where Darwin now stands.

Sir Thomas Mitchell journeyed with Edmund Kennedy as his second in command, in search of a great river that he believed must flow from southern Queensland to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He left from Orange in central New South Wales, and headed into what is now western Queensland. Mitchell discovered and named the Balonne, Warrego, Culgoa, Barcoo and Belyando rivers, which mostly flowed south-west into the Darling.

In 1847, Edmund Kennedy led an expedition to follow the Barcoo River in south-western Queensland to see if it would lead to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Although Kennedy discovered this was not the case, he did continue southwest, discovering the Thomson River. Later, in 1848, Kennedy departed Rockingham Bay near Townsville, for the purpose of mapping the eastern coast of north Queensland, heading up to Cape York Peninsula. He was unfortunately speared to death by Aborigines.

The last explorers to make a significant exploration venture through Queensland were Burke and Wills, who departed from Mebourne in 1860, heading north to the gulf of Carpentaria. They died from malnutrition.