As I’ve stacked up a few years under my belt, I’ve become amazed at just how Australian history seems to remember those
explorers whose biggest achievements have often been the fact that they expired (or nearly did so) during their exploratory pursuits. The more I’ve researched the more I’ve come to realise that buried away in dusty archives are some truly inspirational feats of exploration that have gone largely unheralded simply because they were so successful. The paths taken on these journeys were often more difficult than those where other men perished yet because there was no drama involved, or they haven’t sought notoriety, we know very little of them. Thanks to the efforts of quite a few EO members over the years, we’re made aware of many of the ‘lesser known’
explorers like
Gregory, Lindsay,
Carnegie, Davidson, Kidson and Terry.
Thanks to a bit of inside information from EO member Stephen L, I was very pleased to find that a new book has recently been published about explorer Richard Thelwell Maurice, a pioneer of South Australia and another of our ‘lesser known’
explorers and a particular favourite of
mine. Between 1896 and 1903 Maurice explored much of South Australia and the Northern Territory from his base at
Fowlers Bay SA. In 1902, with Surveyor William Murray, Maurice crossed the continent from
Fowlers Bay to
Wyndham writing a remarkable anthropological and exploratory record. He discovered and named
places that are still significant to many of we outback travellers today. Tallaringa
Well on the Anne Beadell Hwy is one such location.
Neville Collins from
Adelaide has researched the life, times and travels of Maurice and has recently (self) published “The Unknown Explorer”. It’s a great read and gives a great insight into the man, the times and the outback. It’s one more for the reading list.
Some background here;
RT Maurice - SA Memory Entry
Cheers
Mick