Australian Explorers

William Wills accompanied Robert O'Hara Burke on the attempt to cross Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north. Neither Wills nor Burke actually found anything of value on their arduous trek across Australia's inland. They found no new rivers and no new pasture land. Their greatest claim to fame is the unfortunate fact that they embarked upon the biggest, most expensive expedition in Australia's history, and due to Burke's impatience, it ended up the most disastrous, with the loss of three lives.

The Murray-Darling Basin is responsible for 72% of Australia's irrigated crops and pastures, and a significant amount of the country's grape production. A break-down of all foods grown in the Murray-Darling Basin is unavailable, but the region produces 53% of all cereals grown for Australian food production. This includes 100% of Australia's rice. Also, fruits include 95% of the country's oranges and 54% of Australia's apple production.

Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth departed South Creek, Sydney Cove, on 11 May 1813. On 31 May they reached Mount Blaxland, from where they could see the plains to the west. The journey took 21 days, not counting their return.

Ludwig Leichhardt made three expeditions to inland Australia. His first, and most important, was in October 1844, when he left from Jimbour on the Darling Downs, Queensland, on an expedition to find a new route to Port Essington, near Darwin. He was hoping to find a route which could be used for overlanding sheep and cattle, to speed up transportation of livestock and goods across inland Australia, instead of having to rely on shipping.

On 7 December 1846, Leichhardt departed from Jimbour Station on his second expedition. He planned to cross Australia from east to west, hoping to be the first to cross Australia in this fashion. However, the expedition was hard hit by sickness, paper-wasp bites, wet weather, malaria and discontent among his men after travelling only 800km. Thus, his final expedition which began in March 1848, was supposed to complete this journey, but ended with Leichhardt's disappearance.

Eyre wanted to be the first to drive cattle overland from Sydney to the new colony of South Australia. In 1837, he travelled from Limestone Plains (today's site of Canberra), droving sheep and cattle to Melbourne, from where he tried to head directly west to Adelaide. Conditions were difficult, as it was a drought year, so he could not get through the mallee country of western Victoria. Eyre had to retrace his steps to the Murray River, and his first explorations were not successful.

In 1839, Eyre left Adelaide to travel north. He discovered excellent countryside just north of Adelaide and around today's Hutt River. It was on this journey that he discovered and named Mount Remarkable. Eyre finally arrived at the head of Spencer Gulf on 15 May 1839, where he discovered and named Depot Creek.

Eyre left Adelaide in June 1840 to explore north towards the centre of Australia, hoping to cross the continent from south to north. He did not get very far as he was blocked by salt lake after salt lake: each time he attempted to go around a salt lake, he found his way barred by yet another. This led to Eyre's theory that Adelaide was surrounded by a vast horseshoe-shaped salt lake. By sheer bad luck, Eyre was unable to locate any of the breaks between the numerous salt-lakes which encircled the area. In September 1840, Eyre climbed and named "Mt Hopeless".

Following this unsuccessful attempt, Eyre returned to Streaky Bay, on the western coast of the Eyre Peninsula. From there he then travelled to past where Ceduna is today, reaching Fowler's Bay on 17 November 1840. At this point, he chose to go west, which no-one had ever tried before. He finally reached Albany in June 1841 in an amazing journey of courage and endurance across the Nullarbor Plain.

The journey of Burke and Wills from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria was a distance of 2,800 km or 1,750 miles. They made it back about halfway before dying of malnutrition and nardoo poisoning on the banks of Cooper Creek, so add another 1,400 km.

John McDouall Stuart was born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland, on 7 September 1815.

Early explorer of Australia, Gregory Blaxland, was 74 years old when he died. Always a turbulent and erratic-tempered man, he committed suicide by hanging himself.

Allan Cunningham was initially part of John Oxley's expeditions to follow the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers in 1817. However, he became an important explorer in his own right, making major discoveries such as the rich farming land of the Darling Downs (1827) which led to inland settlement of what is now southern Queensland, and Cunningham's Gap (1828). The discovery of Cunningham's Gap meant that landowners on the Darling Downs did not need to send their products overland to Sydney and markets, but could take the shorter and easier route of coastal shipping.

they had a distorted map

Thomas Mitchell, like all the early inland explorers, travelled by horse. He believed in being well equipped, and on his first expedition in 1831, he travelled with 17 men (almost all of them convicts), 2 carts, 3 drays and extra packhorses.

Ernest Giles made several expeditions in the Australian desert. The first, lasting four months, commenced in August 1872 and resulted in discoveries such as Palm Valley, Gosse's Bluff, Lake Amadeus, and the first sighting of Mount Olga.

Giles's next expedition departed in August 1873. On this expedition, Giles was able to approach closer to the Olgas, but his attempts to continue further west were thwarted by interminable sand, dust, biting ants, Aboriginal attack and lack of water. The loss of one of Giles's companions, Gibson, in April 1874 ended this second expedition, and the party arrived back at Charlotte Waters in July.

Giles was determined to explore the unknown country south of where Warburton and Forrest had explored, reaching Perth in the attempt. On 13 March 1875, Giles departed from Fowlers Bay, heading north first before crossing the western deserts. Although a short expedition, it was a difficult one, initially marked by severe water shortages until the discovery of permanent water holes.

Giles's fourth expedition departed from the homestead of his sponsor Thomas Elder at Beltana on 6 May 1875. On this journey, Giles was supplied with camels. From Ooldea on the northeastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain, he travelled west through the Great Victoria Desert, reaching Perth with no loss of life among his party. He then promptly turned around, re-crossing the desert back to the Overland Telegraph Line. Although he did not find good land, his main claim to fame was being the first to make the main western crossing from both directions.

The answer is Brisbane, but Oxley did not actually name the city.

The city of Brisbane was named after the Brisbane River, which John Oxley named after Sir Thomas Brisbane in 1823. He was the Governor of New South Wales at the time when Brisbane was founded. The river was named first, but Brisbane was not founded until the first settlement in Moreton Bay at Redcliffe failed due to the lack of fresh water, and had to be moved to the Brisbane River, in 1825.

Oxley is a name and may refer to number of things. Oxley is an English surname. Oxley may also refer to Oxley, a suburb of Wolverhampton. Oxley, a Village in New South Wales, Australia. Other places named Oxley in Australia can be found in Queensland and Victoria.

Edmund Kennedy was a young and promising explorer who was famous more for his death than for what he achieved in life.

Kennedy first joined Major Thomas Mitchell's 1845-46 expedition to the interior of Queensland, where he gained considerable exploration experience. In 1847, Kennedy led another 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.

Of more fame was Kennedy's ill-fated expedition to Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. In 1848 Kennedy departed Rockingham Bay near Townsville, for the purpose of mapping the eastern coast of north Queensland. A ship was to meet him at the Cape after his journey. By the time Kennedy's party reached Weymouth Bay in November, they were starving and exhausted from the difficult trek through dense rainforest and the difficulty of crossing the Great Dividing Range. Because of illness among the party, Kennedy continued on alone with a loyal Aborigine named Jackey-Jackey. He was close to reaching his rendezvous with the ship when he found himself surrounded by hostile aborigines. Despite Jackey-Jackey trying to hold off the Aborigines with gunfire, Kennedy was speared to death, dying in the arms of his Aboriginal companion.

Ludwig Leichhardt is known for being a famous scientist and explorer. It is reported that Leichhardt was born and grew up in the area of East Germany.

Eyre's major journey was between Streaky Bay, on the western coast of the Eyre Peninsula, and Albany, or King George's Sound, in Western Australia. Eyre was the first to travel across the Nullarbor Plain.

Thomas Mitchell explored on four different occasions.

His first expedition was to investigate rumours of a north-flowing river situated in northern New South Wales: a river that did not exist, but stories of which were spread by an escaped convict. He departed in November 1831.

Mitchell's second journey set out on 7 April 1835 from Boree Station, to follow and map the course of the Darling River which Sturt had discovered some years earlier.

On his third journey, Mitchell discovered the rich farming country of western Victoria, which he named "Australia Felix", or "Happy Australia". This journey was in 1836.

Mitchell departed on his fourth and final expedition on 16 December 1845, 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.

William Hovell was an English explorer who travelled to New South Wales in 1813.

Explorer Hamilton Hume was Australian-born, having been born near Parramatta in 1797. However, when he lived, there was no concept of Australian citizenship, as this is something that only came into being with the creation in 1901 of the nation of the Commonwealth of Australia.

There is no such river as the Murray Darling. The Murray River and the Darling River are two separate and distinct rivers, with their sources over two thousand kilometres apart. The Darling is a tributary of the Murray.

There are a few weirs and many locks, but no waterfalls along either Murray or the Darling.

John Batman explored in the Port Phillip Bay area, where the city of Melbourne now stands. He explored the region in 1835, even signing a "treaty" with the Aborigines to use their land. The treaty gave him free access to almost 250,000 hectares of land. Two months later, Governor Bourke declared Batman's treaties invalid, and issued a proclamation him off the crown land. However, despite the government's attempts to take control, the foundling settlement of Melbourne remained, and flourished.

Ludwig Leichhardt is famous for both his successes and his failures. his success was in the enormity of the first expedition he undertook, and for surviving when everyone thought he must have died. his failure was in his disappearance on his final expedition.

Leichhardt was one of Australia's early explorers. He came to Australia from Prussia, and he was an absolutely passionate botanist.

Leichhardt made a total of three expeditions. In October 1844, he left from Jimbour on the Darling Downs to find a new route to Port Essington, near Darwin. Leichhardt was not a good bushman, lacked skills of organising his party, and often became lost. One man was killed by aborigines on the marathon expedition, and numerous horses and supplies were lost. Leichhardt reluctantly discarded his extensive collection of botanical specimens, as there were too many to carry. His journey of nearly 5,000km took so much longer than expected that a friend of Leichhardt's composed a funeral dirge for him, expecting to never see him again. However, Leichhardt reached Port Essington in December 1845.

His second expedition, from the Darling Downs in Queensland to Perth in Western Australia, commenced in December 1846. However, wet weather and malaria forced the party to return after they had travelled only 800km.

Leichhardt's final expedition began in March 1848, picking up where his second expedition left off. However, somewhere in Australia's vast outback, Leichhardt, together with six other men, eight horses, fifty bullocks and twenty mules, vanished. Many theories have abounded as to what happened, and many claim to have found evidence of the remains of the expedition, but what really happened remains one of Australia's enduring mysteries.

Death ranks rather high on the list.

Burke and Wills faced extreme temperatures, exhaustion, lack of food and lack of water. If, by danger, one means aboriginal attack or wild animals, the answer is 'no'.