Walker Brothers Prospecting Expedition 1913
EDITED AND ANNOTATED BY Jeremy Long & David Nash
Published 2022.
READ EXCERPTS FROM THIS VOLUME
The annals of Australian land exploration include many expeditions remembered for misfortune, inexperience or poor bushcraft. None of this applies to the eight months in 1913 when Chris Walker (1861–1930) led his brother Arthur, Arthur Crofts and Andy Everett prospecting by camel from Ryans Well (north of Alice Springs) west and southwest to Wiluna.
Their aim was to investigate ‘unknown country’ between the routes of previous desert explorers. The party proceeded carefully, by scouting ahead for water before moving all the camels and equipment on from a known water source. They had no serious misadventures, and Chris Walker sent his diary and map to Canberra with its negative findings of any ‘mining or pastoral worth’. Apart from their own funds their only backers were the Commonwealth Government, and both apparently had no interest in self-promotion. The report was eclipsed by WWI and although the WA section was serialised in a Perth newspaper in 1934, it has been largely overlooked.
Walker’s journal includes numerous geological and natural history observations, and several interesting notes relating to aborigines. Walker’s records are the earliest of what was later called Lake Mackay, well before the 1930 sighting by Mackay’s aerial survey.
This Volume of Western Australia Exploration includes maps, and photographs illustrating the route and the people. There are seven appendixes, with biographies of the expedition members, a history of the recognition of Lake Mackay, a summary of the flora mentioned, and three indexes.
ISBN 978-0-85905-727-1
Hard Cover, Case Bound, Dust Jacket, 180 pp, colour and black & white illustrations, maps, indexed, 600 grams.
$90.00 plus postage.
Order this Volume from Hesperian Press.