Australian Explorers

Australian Explorers

• The first European settlement in Australia began at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788, with little knowledge of the vast land, which Aboriginal people had inhabited for thousands of years.

Exploration Begins

• Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the continent between 1801 and 1803, drawing precise maps of the coastline and becoming one of the first people to call the continent 'Australia'.

Crossing the Blue Mountains

• In 1813, Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson, and William Charles Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains, which blocked the way to the west, using a new approach of following the ridges instead of the valleys.

Hume and Hovell

• In 1824, Hamilton Hume and William Hovell led an expedition to explore the country between Lake George and Port Phillip Bay, crossing a large river they named the Hume (later renamed the Murray).

Exploring the Rivers

• Charles Sturt and Hamilton Hume explored the rivers in 1828, discovering the Darling River and thinking they were close to an inland sea due to the salty water.
• In 1829, Sturt led an expedition to row down the Murrumbidgee River to its mouth, proving that the rivers didn't flow into an inland sea, but ran to the ocean.

Later Explorers

• In the 1830s, Major Thomas Mitchell led several expeditions along the rivers of western New South Wales, although he was criticized for fighting with Aboriginal owners of some areas.
• John McDouall Stuart traveled from Adelaide to Australia's north coast in 1862.

Eyre and Wylie

• In 1841, Edward John Eyre and Wylie traveled across the Nullarbor Plain, surviving only because Wylie found waterholes and bush food after their supplies were stolen.

Sturt's Journey into Central Australia

• In 1844, Charles Sturt led an expedition from Adelaide, aiming to reach the center of Australia, where he thought there might be fertile land; however, the expedition was affected by scurvy.

What Explorers Did for Australia

• Explorers opened up the land to the west, enabled the expansion of farming, and helped to create new towns and settlements, but also led to conflicts with Aboriginal owners and the loss of their land.### Explorers in Australia

• Many explorers, including Sturt, Leichhardt, Kennedy, Burke and Wills, and Stuart, traveled across Australia, discovering new lands, deserts, and rivers.

Sturt's Journey

• Sturt traveled through sandy deserts and a great plain covered in small pebbles, known as Sturt's Stony Desert.
• He gave up after 19 months due to hunger and illness, but proved that Australia was a land of huge deserts.

Leichhardt's Expedition

• Leichhardt led an expedition from southern Queensland to Port Essington, but didn't plan well and often lost his way.
• One of the explorers was killed in a fight with Aboriginal warriors, and Leichhardt and his companions disappeared on their journey.

Kennedy's Terrible Journey

• Kennedy led an expedition to Cape York Peninsula, but it became a nightmare due to thick rainforest and hostile Aboriginal warriors.
• Most of the men were too sick to continue, and Kennedy was killed by Aboriginal warriors, leaving only Jackey Jackey to continue the journey.

Burke and Wills

• Burke and Wills led an expedition from Melbourne to the north coast of Australia, but Burke made mistakes, including not taking enough supplies and not including Aboriginal people in the expedition.
• They reached the Gulf of Carpentaria, but the journey back was terrible, and Gray died on the way.
• Burke, Wills, and King reached Cooper Creek, but Brahe had left only a few hours before, and they had to find their own food.

Burke's Mistakes

• Burke didn't know how to catch fish and made nardoo flour, which made them weak due to the presence of chemicals.
• The Yantruwanta people gave them fish and flour, but when they moved camp, the explorers had to find their own food again.

Stuart's Journey

• Stuart led an expedition from Adelaide to reach the north coast of Australia, but turned back due to dense scrub, lack of water, and hostile Aboriginal people.
• He tried twice more and finally reached the sea near where Darwin now stands in July 1862.

Later Explorers

• John Forrest became the first Premier of Western Australia and helped bring about Federation.
• In the 1870s, several expeditions set out to explore the centre and west of Australia, including William Gosse and Ernest Giles.

What Explorers Did for Australia

• By the 1880s, colonial explorers had mapped almost every part of Australia, opening up huge areas for farming and mining.
• However, the coming of explorers often led to hunger, disease, and the loss of land for Aboriginal people.

Learn about the early European explorers of Australia, including Matthew Flinders and others who mapped the coastline and ventured into the unknown.