Account of Expedition in Search of Missing Members of Calvert's Exploring Party
W.F. Rudall
When Larry Wells reported that two of his men were missing, the Western Australian Government sent William Rudall out to search for them, in addition to Larry Wells leading his own search party. Rudall left Roebourne in December 1896 with two men and an aboriginal tracker named Cherry. By May 1897 his search expedition was on the brink of abandoning their equipment and camels as they suffered extreme heat and other privations. They however were successful in finding Larry Wells' Separation Well where in addition to water they also found the tins of meat he had cached there.
William Rudall was an experienced South Australian surveyor when he moved to Western Australia. He was asked to search for Charles Wells and George Jones, the lost men of the Calvert Scientific Expedition, and during his time in the field Rudall explored some 60,000 square kilometres of country. The Rudall River National Park is named for him. Larry Wells, however, was the man who found the bodies of his men.
Typed, A4 loose sheets in binder.
Copied from William Rudall's original diaries.
A Land of Opportunities
E.J. Stuart
Being an Account of the Author's Recent Expedition to Explore the Northern Territories of Australia.
John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd, London, 1923
See also
Australia's Wild Wonderland by M.P. Greenwood Adams.
In National Geographic Magazine, Volume 45, No. 3, March 1924, p. 329-356
Australia Twice Traversed
Ernest Giles
A classic of Australian exploration.
First published: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington Ltd 1889
Hesperian Press Facsimile 1995
ISBN 0 85905 206 0
Beckoning West : The story of H.S. Trotman and the Canning Stock Route, The
Eleanor Smith
Trotman was a member of five major expeditions into the interior, including the search for lost members of the Calvert Expedition, the survey of the Rabbit Proof Fence, and, most notably, Alf Canning's arduous journeys to establish a track and series of wells for stock to travel 1400 kilometres through the desert from Halls Creek to Wiluna.
St George Books, 1966, Reprinted 1986.
ISBN 0 86778 024 X
Beginning : European Discovery and Early Settlement of Swan River Western Australia, The
R.T. Appleyard and Toby Manford
This book outlines European exploration of the western coast of Australia since the early 17th century, especially the area surrounding the Swan River.
UWA Press, 1979
ISBN 0 85564 146 0
Blue Peaks and Red Ridges
Peter Muir
Peter Muir's 1965-66 campfire field notes of desert explorations in Western Australia.
Western Desert Guides, 1996
ISBN 0 9586715 0 8
Busselton : Outstation on the Vasse 1830-1850
Rodger Jennings
A detailed study of most of the early Busselton families, their relationships with each other and with their environment.
Page 48 In November 1831 John Bussell explored from Augusta and discovered Geographe Bay and The Vasse.
Page 49 In October 1832 Bussell made a second trip to the Vasse.
Page 85 Frederick Ludlow journeyed overland from The Vasse to Fremantle to pick up Mrs Bussell.
Page 96 Lt Bunbury crossed from Pinjarra to The Vasse.
Page 107 In March/April 1834 J.W. Turner and his party walked from Augusta to Perth in order to arrange for a ship to freight provisions to Augusta.
Shire of Busselton/ R.J. Jennings, 1983
The Caroline - 150 years in Western Australia of the Gee and Truslove families 1829-1979
Iris Aamot
Page 8-13 Frederick Walter Gee travels to Camden Harbour with Sholl's official party and is murdered by natives while exploring away from the settlement.
Published by the Author, 1978.
C.C. Hunt's 1864 Koolyanobbing Expedition
Kim Epton (Ed.)
Charles Cooke Hunt was one of Western Australia's greatest explorers. However, he died young and his exploits were never fully acclaimed. Hunt's trip from York to the Koolyanobbing area and return is his 'forgotten expedition'. Nearly all published information on Hunt erroneously claim that he made 'three expeditions to the eastwards', neglecting this one, his first of four.
This work provides never-before-published biographical information on Hunt. Short biographies of each of his four fellow explorers, R.D. Hardey, Edward Robinson, Cowitch and Tommy Windich, are also included.
Hunt recorded details of his expedition from York to the Koolyanobbing area and return in his Field Book No. 2. An exact transcription of this Field Book is included. Importantly, a "translation" to modern maps, including modern-day rendering of place names and features, allows today's explorers and adventurers to follow Hunt's tracks.
Mentions C.C. Hunt, exploration, Tommy Windich, R.D. Hardey, Edward Robinson, Cowitch, J.T. Cooke, Lefroy, J.H. Monger.
Hesperian Press, 1995.
ISBN 978-0-85905-306-8
A5 Comb Bound
Desert Coast, The
Edward Stokes
Edward John Eyre's Expedition 1840-41
"...one of the greatest and most courageous expeditions in Australia's history ..."
The Five Mile Press, Knoxfield, Victoria, 1993
ISBN 978-0-86788-691-7
Desert Journeys : An Account of the Arduous Exploration of the Interior of the Continent of Australia by Rival Expeditions in 1873-4
Geoffrey Rawson
The expeditions of W.C. Gosse, Ernest Giles, John Forrest and P.E. Warburton.
The Australasian Publishing Company/Jonathon Cape Ltd 1948.
Diary of Bishop Torres, The
Fr Eugene Perez
Diaries of Dom Fulgentius Torres Y Mayans, Abbott Nullius of New Norcia.
Translated from the original Spanish with complementary biographical notes by Dom Eugene Perez. Edited by Rosemary Pratt and Dr John Millington.
This books gives accounts of exploration of the northern coast and the country around what was to be the Drysdale Mission.
Artlook Books Perth, 1987
ISBN 0 86445 081 8
Discoveries in Australia : Volume 1
John Lort Stokes
Volume 1 covers Stokes' time exploring north-west Australia.
Bibliolife, 2008.
ISBN 978-0-554-24142-5
Discoveries in Australia : Volume 2
John Lort Stokes
Provides a detailed account of the exploration of Australian coasts and rivers during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle.
"Early on the morning of the 4 September 1839 the Beagle was once more slipping out of Port Essington before a light land wind. We had taken a hearty farewell of our friends at Victoria in whose prosperity we felt all the interest that is due to those who pioneer the way for others in the formation of a new settlement."
Bibliolife, 2008.
ISBN 978-0-554-24148-7
Do Not Yield to Despair
Frank Hugh Hann
Compiled and edited by Mike Donaldson and Ian Elliot
The bush diaries of Frank Hann 1895-1908. They detail his journeys from Townsville, Queensland to the Kimberley, in the eastern Pilbara, Parkers Range south and Laverton-Wituna area to Oodnadatta.
Hesperian Press, 1998.
ISBN 0 85905 226 5
Early Memories of the Great Nor-West and A Chapter in History of W.A.
A.R. Richardson
Biographical notes by Cathie Clement.
Roebuck Bay settlement
Notes on the Gascoyne by J. Brockmam, C. Brockman and G.J. Gooch.
Upper Murchison
Kimberley - Forrest, page 39
Derby
Kimberley early days by L.B. Jupp
Old northern pioners by J.S. Durlacher
First published in 1914. Facsimile edition in 1978.
This edition 2008.
Hesperian Press
ISBN 978-0-85905-079-1
E.T. Hooley, Pioneer Bushman
Eloise I. Sharp
Stock Route pionered by E.T. Hooley from Geraldine Mine to Nicol Bay in 1866, and 1905 Government Wells.
Lots of good information presented in an extremely haphazard fashion.
Page 20 Camden Harbour Pastoral Association 1864.
Page 21 Timothy Hooley and others explored the Prince Regent area in 1864.
Page 21 Hooley and others explored the Hardey and Sherlock Rivers in 1865.
Page 21 Hooley and others explored to the Ashburton River in 1865.
Page 21-22 Hooley and others tried to discover a stock route along the coast from Perth to the NW.
Page 23 Frank Gregory explored the Murchison River in 1857.
Page 23-24 Hooley and others opened a stock route by droving sheep to the NW.
Page 25 Hooley rode from Fortescue River to Albany.
Page 26 Hooley rode from Urandy Creek to Geraldton and return in 1869.
Page 27 Edward Roberts drove stock from De Grey River to Berkshire Valley (Moora).
Page 60 Hooley, Viveash, Wilkerson leave Newcastle (Toodyay).
Page 79 Hooley opened up a stock route from Perth to Port Walcott in 1866.
Published by the Author.
ISBN 978-0-9588829-0-3
Expedition Eastward from Northam by the Dempster Brothers, Clarkson, Harper and Correll, July-August 1861
Lesley Brooker
Edward and Andrew Dempster, Barnard Clarkson and Charles Harper, four young farmers’ sons, who with their Aboriginal guide, Correll, travelled east from Northam in 1861, with no financial or any other assistance from the Colonial Government, to search for new grazing lands. The expedition has since been largely forgotten in the annuls of Western Australian history, overshadowed by the later, official journeys of Charles Cooke Hunt. All four young farmers later became prominent members of the West Australian community.
The account is annotated and illustrated with respect to the course that the explorers must have taken, and the flora and fauna they encountered en route.
A4, Softcover.
Hesperian Press, 2006
ISBN 978-0-85905-390-7
Expedition to the North West coast of Australia
George Grey and Franklin Lushington
A brief outline of an expedition to the north-west coast of Australia in 1838 by Lt George Grey (1812-1898 ) and Lt Franklin Lushington (1811-1890), prepared from documents furnished to the Royal Geographical Society of London by the Colonial Office and the Admiralty.
Extracted from Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol 8 (1838), pp 454-459.
Expeditions in Western Australia 1837-1839
George Grey
This classic of Western Australian exploration in two volumes details the dicoveries of Lt George Grey (1812-1898). It contains extensive details of natural history, aboriginal life, culture, language, and more. Grey's party suffered shipwreck, starvation and thirst in their long travels from Gantheaume Bay to Perth.
Expeditions in Western Australia, 1837-1839. v. 1 published 1983, v. 2 published 1984. Facsimile of the 1841 edition published London by T. & W. Boone published by Hesperian Press, 1982. Previously published in Adelaide in 1964 by the Libraries Board of South Australia.
ISBN 978-0-85905-046-3
Experiences & Adventures in Western Australia
Nathaniel William Cooke
Includes Nathaniel and Lewin Cooke's North West diaries
Nat Cooke was a prolific explorer.
It is reputed that John Forrest said of Nat Cooke:
"Will I ever find a place this man has not been before me"
Hesperian Press, 2021.
ISBN 978-0-85905-749-3
Explorers Routes Revisited : Clarkson Expedition 1864
Lesley Brooker
This volume Explorers Routes Revisited examines the expeditions made by B.D. Clarkson, Charles Harper, Lionel Lukin and Gyngnitch in 1864.
Hesperian Press, 2011.
A4, Softcover
ISBN 978-0-85905-546-8
Explorers Routes Revisited : Moore Expeditions 1836 : Drummond Expeditions 1841-1842
Lesley Brooker
This volume of Explorer Routes Revisited examines the expeditions made by George Fletcher Moore in 1836 and James Drummond in 1841-42.
Hesperian Press, 2011.
A4, Softcover
ISBN 978-0-85905-516-1
Explorers Routes Revisited : Roe Expedition 1836
Lesley Brooker
This volume of Explorers Routes Revisited examines the expeditions made by Surveyor General J.S. Roe in 1836.
Hesperian Press, 2011
A4, Softcover
ISBN 978-0-85905-504-8
Exploring in Western Australia
Hazel Biggs
Covers a wide range of the better known explorers and exploration. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Written in a style suitable for upper primary and lower secondary students.
Western Australian Museum, 1997.
Softcover
ISBN 978-0-7309-8395-8
Forgotten Explorers : pioneer geologists of Western Australia, The.
John Glover with Jenny Bevan
This book is the first to give brief histories of all the main geologists such as H.Y.L. Brown, A. Gibb Maitland, and H.W. Talbot and mentions many others who had connections with the vital work of investigating the geology, landforms, soils and resources of Australia’s largest State.
Hesperian Press, 2010.
ISBN 978-0-85905-473-7
From Another View
State Library of Western Australia/Minderoo Foundation
The shared histories of aboriginal country and colonial exploration of Western Australia.
Exhibition Catalogue, 2019.
A4, Soft Cover
"Helpman" Journals, The
E.M. Christie
Benjamin Francis Helpman participated in the surveying and exploring of the coast between Roebuck Bay and the Prince Regent River, and later, in the discovery and exploration of the Adelaide and Victoria Rivers accompanying Captain Wickham to the navigable head of the Adelaide River. His journal provides a very full account of the expedition.
His name has been perpetuated in Helpman Islets, Point Helpman and Mount Helpman.
Extract from Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia 1943-1944.
In the Northwest of the Australian Desert
Frederick G. Clapp
Mentions L.A. Wells, Broome, Great Sandy Desert, pindan, Kimberley, Warburton, and Carnegie.
Extracted from the Geographical Review, Volume 16, No. 2 (April 1926), pp206-231.
Journal of the Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition, 1896-7 : Equipped at the Request and Expense of Albert F. Calvert for the Purpose of exploring the Remaining Blanks of Australia
L.A. Wells
The expedition was fitted out to explore the remaining unknown regions of Australia on similar lines to the Elder expedition. Lawrence Allen Wells, third in command on the ill-fated Elder expedition of 1891-92, was leader. The party set out from Mullewa, east of Geraldton, on 13 June 1896. Lack of water and the gruelling conditions brought the official expedition to an end on 6 November at Noonkanbah Station on the Fitzroy River, with two men unaccounted for.
It was not until late May of the following year that Wells located the bodies of the missing men (his cousin Charles Wells and George Lindsay Jones, nephew of the explorer David Lindsay). The detailed accounts of the three search expeditions undertaken by Wells (accompanied by Nat Buchanan, George Keartland and Sub-Inspector Ord respectively) are included.
Hesperian Press, 1992.
Facsimile edition of Western Australian Parliamentary Paper Number 46 of 1902.
ISBN 0 85905 184 6
Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia During the Years 1829, 1830, 1831 and 1832 Under the Sanction of the Governor, Sir James Stirling
Joseph Cross
This volume is the earliest work relating to the inland exploration of Western Australia. It comprises 23 journals and reports of exploratory expeditions into the country around the Swan River settlement.
First published 1833.
Facsimile edition 1980 by UWA Press on behalf of RWAHS (Inc).
ISBN 978-0-85564-185-6.
Journey Across the Western Interior of Australia
Colonel Peter Egerton Warburton, C.M.G.
Peter Egerton Warburton (1813-1889) left Alice Springs for Western Australia in April 1873 with six men and seventeen camels. The party endured long periods of extreme heat with little water, and survived only by killing the camels for meat. They reached the Oakover River with Warburton strapped to a camel.
On 11 January 1874 they reached de Grey station in northern Western Australia. They had conquered the formidable Great Sandy Desert to become the first to cross the continent from the centre to the west. Warburton was emaciated and blind in one eye. At a public banquet held in Adelaide after his return, he attributed their survival to his aboriginal companion Charley.
Originally published by Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle, London, 1875.
Hesperian Press, Facsimile Edition, 1981.
ISBN 0859050319
Journey Across the Western Interior of Australia
Colonel Peter Egerton Warburton, C.M.G.
An Address given to the Royal Geographical Society of London by Colonel P. Egerton Warburton on his Journey across the Western Interior of Australia.
Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 23 November 1874, Page 41-51.
Journey from Western Australia to Warina, in South Australia
W. Carr-Boyd
In The Geographical Journal, Vol 9, No. 1, January 1897, pp 61-62.
Knights and Theodolites : A Saga of Surveyors
F.M. Johnston
A classic book about pioneering surveyors in Western Australia.
Edwards and Shaw, Hardcover.
No ISBN
Last Coach, The
John Bird
A brief history of the Albany Road up until 1890. Mentions explorer Thomas Bannister, Surveyor Smythe, John Gringer, John Galway.
Then James Stirling and J.S. Roe.
Later Alfred Hillman, then Joseph Harris and Dr Harris, then E.J. Eyre.
Published by the Author, 1979
No ISBN
Letter from Halls Creek, A
David Wynford Carnegie
A previously unknown letter from Carnegie written at the end of the first stage of his historic expedition to Halls Creek and before his return to Coolgardie.
Contained in the publication:
Watever happened to Kangaroo Kate?
David Carnegie at Hals Creek
Moondyne Joe his Early Life
by Peter Bridge
with
Gail Dreezens
Drew Devereaux
I. Kangaroo Kate and her namesakes intrigued bush people for many years. She disappeared in 1930.
II. A letter from Carnegie to Forrest from Halls Creek in 1897.
III. The real facts on Moondyne Joe’s origins and early life.
Hesperian Press, 2007.
Penetration of the Western Deserts of Australia, The
J.S. Beard
A short history of the exploration of the Western Deserts.
In:
The Geographical Journal, Vol 136, Part 4, December 1970, pp 557-568.
Mentions John Forrest, Stuart, Warburton, Gosse, Carnegie, Lindsay, Wells, Giles, Augustus Gregory,
Reports of the Expedition to King George's Sound 1841 and the Death of Baxter
Edward John Eyre
These reports concerns the details of an exploratory voyage to King George Sound in Western Australia starting at Adelaide and focus particularly upon an incident when the expedition’s 2IC John Baxter was shot and killed. Eyre claimed Baxter wasmurdered by Joey and Yarry, two of the aboriginal members of the party, so they could get possession of expedition's fireatms. There is conjecture that Eyre killed Baxter because of his (Baxter's) drunkeness or perhaps because concerns there was insufficient food and water for the entire party. This is his account of that episode.
See also The Hero As Murderer by Geoffrey Dutton.
Sam Hazlett : An Explorer/Prospector in the News
Gary Arcus (Ed.)
Sam Hazlett explored the central desert during the 1890s until 1904 when he was speared and incapacitated. Several decades later he coughed up the spearhead. He then commenced many expeditions in the 1930s searching for pastoral lands and gold. He was famous for his camels. Sam Hazlett died in 1942.
This book is published as part of the Historical Records of Western Australia.
Hesperian Press 2024
ISBN 978-1-875778-35-5
Secret Agenda of Western Australian Explorer, Robert Dale, The
Karen Severud Cook
A Paper presented to the 2002 Australian Map Circle meeting in Cairns, Queensland.
Article in The Globe, Issue number 54, pp 23-34
Spinifex and Sand
David W. Carnegie
A narrative of five years' pioneering and exploration in Western Australia.
In 1896 – 1897, the Hon David Wynford Carnegie led one of the last great expeditions in the exploration of Australia. His route from Lake Darlot to Halls Creek and return took thirteen months and covered over 4800 kilometres. Carnegie financed his expedition from the results of a successful gold strike at Lake Darlot.
Arriving in Australia in 1892 with his friend, Lord Percy Douglas, he learnt the ways of the bush as a miner, prospector and engine driver, taking several small expeditions into unknown areas in search of gold.
Carnegie gives a first hand account of the Coolgardie gold rush, the suffering of the prospectors, great gold discoveries, his own long march with typhoid fever, the desert tribes, the constant search for water, the death of one of his men and the vastness of the surrounding desert. All are woven together in one of the most readable accounts of exploration in Australia.
David Carnegie returned to England in 1898, was awarded a medal by the Royal Geographic Society and in 1899 was appointed Assistant Resident and Magistrate in Northern Nigeria. On 27 November 1900 while on an expedition to capture a brigand he was shot in the thigh with a poisoned arrow and died minutes later. He is buried in Lokaja, Nigeria and a memorial to his memory is in St George’s Cathedral, Perth.
Spread of the Cat in Australia, The
Ian Abbott
Extensive references to exploration.
Tommy Dower and the Perth Newspapers
G.C. Bolton
Extract from Aboriginal History, Volume 12 (1988), Part 1, pp79-83.
Untold Miles : Three Gold-hunting Expeditions amongst the Picturesque Borderland Ranges of Central Australia
Michael Terry
Terry's great 1930s expeditions into the Central Australian wilds. He led many expeditions with camels and early desert vehicles and recorded the land and the lives, black and white, of the inhabitants. His works are classics of the bush.
Hesperian Press 2023
Facsimile of 1932 Edition
ISBN 978-0-85905-995-4
Walker in the Wilderness
Judith Anketell.
The biography of Richard John Anketell, 1862-1928.
Walker in the Wilderness traces the exploits of engineer/surveyor Anketell as he opened up large tracts of Australia. He is one of a band of intrepid public servants who lived and worked in inhospitable country beyond the bounds of civilisation.
A true pioneer explorer, he lived and worked in inhospitable country. His life work is an important part of Western Australian history and in the broader context, of the nation's history.
Walker in the Wilderness brings to life the dangers, harshness and fascination of the lonely Nullarbor, the Sandy Desert and the Tasmanian wilderness.
W.C. Gosse's Explorations 1873
W.C. Gosse
Report and Diary of Mr W.C. Gosse's Central and Western Exploring Expedition, 1873.
West Australian Expedition in December 1829, A
John Kent
John Kent's diary of an expedition around Albany in 1829.
Published by Peter Moore, Cambridge, UK, 1985
ISBN 0 9510344 1 3
William F. Rudall: Surveyor and Explorer
Peter Bridge, Phil Bianchi, Alan Zweck and Gail Dreezens
The biography and expeditions of Rudall and the details of the death of Aubrey Newman.
This long awaited biography contains much previously unknown information from Rudall's family papers. His surveys and explorations are treated in detail and are of especial interest due to his being the 2IC to Surveyor Newman who died on their expedition. Rudall named Mt Newman. His work in the desert searching for the lost Calvert explorers brought his name to the public.
Hesperian Press, 2019
ISBN 9780859056724
