Remote call from Darlsen Pinnacle

G'day Rick,

Myself, and everyone else I talk to pronounces it Roo-Dool; However I think SA's way it the correct way.

We covered the south east Gibson; Only a handful of Camels, 4 roos max. There was a dead cat at Patience Well and a frog in the nearby rockhole. No dogs. A few goannas, all found when breaking off dead wood for the fire. I think the rains a few months ago must have hit a huge area. Green shoots abound, next year will be really green I think. Some burnt areas, nice to see but hell on the tyres.

Birds at every camp chirping away - Oh how I wish I knew where they drank from.

I'm off tomorrow hopefully to visit the area between Well 33 and Halls Creek - will report when I get back.

Quiet year in the bush indeed - you have to get out more lol....I hope the celebrations went Ok.

Regards
Alan

Alan ,

Time out there thinking in detail as you cover that country can at times exercise the mind. All sorts of possibilities can emerge that are not obvious to the armchair traveller. Why did "he" do this or that - why turn this way and not that?.....you get the drift, I'm sure.

So here's one for an evening's discussion:

What is your opinion (and that of your desert explorers group, which could understandably be different) of the proposition that Giles did away with Gibson? It could explain many other things. It can be a well argued & supported perspective, albeit not popular.

Looking forward to your response - no hurry.

Cheers for easy miles in the desert.

Rick

Hi again Rick,

I will have to dwell on that one...I'm just driving past Telfer and on a very faint signal.

First thoughts are that it would be a big conspiracy for sure.

Also Tietkens would have to be in on it too, as he helped search for Gibson in the days that followed and would have seen his and the Fair Maids footprints disappear towards the Bedfords...

Cheers for now.

Alan

No probs. Was watching your movement on Spot. You appear right now to be in the middle of Rudall R Nat park.

I think there is a possibility Giles could have thought through the potential Teitkins issue and that there was no conspiracy, just a sole action.

Giles has written form against Gibson. Was the Fair Maid ever sighted again? Was he willing to further risk his own life by contriving a cover up?? Would Teitkins solidarity & loyalty protect him in the event of being exposed as being responsible for Gibson's death? Maybe Giles coerced Gibson to his death?

HMMMmmmm.......

safe travels till you get back in touch

Rick

Apologies to Mr Tietkens for misspelling his name

back again

I have followed your route with the SPOT. SPOT is quite interesting from a spectator's point of view. A mob of us just gave one to a techno-head mate for his milestone birthday.

That's two great big loops you've done, for sure - and not too many bitumen miles, all things considered?

And the three trip highlights were............................................??

Cheers

Hi Rick,

Yes Spot is an interesting product. Originally I got it just for friends and family, but EO put the interface on here so I linked to it. Having said that I tried to save the trip and now it has disappeared into cyberspace.

The highlights, having a couple of days home now to think about them would be:

Geographically speaking:

1. Identifying an ancient and almost covered rockhole in the Gibson more than 75 kilometres from the nearest publicly known rockhole and getting access to one possibly more litres of water
2. Partial exploration of the Southesk Tablelands
3. Crossing a substantial section of the Gibson Desert offroad (from ABGH to GaryH)

Generally Speaking:

1. Having a combined wealth of information between other group members (1st stage) and being able to draw from that for future trips etc.
2. Proving the ute can cross multiple high sandridges perpendicularly for long periods of time
3. Going into the bush several kilo's overweight and coming out looking like a greyhound

Cheers
Alan

Thanks for the reply

Did you get a chance to consider the question Giles/Gibson question I posed?

Cheers

Rick

Hi Rick

Yes I have considered it and do not believe there is such a conspiracy.

Giles needed every one of the 3 men on his team. The loss of Gibson drew an immediate end to the expedition. Giles wanted so much to continue on. To meaningfully coerce Gibson to his death or murder him is a fanciful idea and question, and one that had been asked before. Tietkens was a loyal servant however to consider that he, who went on to lead his own expeditions was an accessory to murder is drawing a rather long bow in my opinion.

Ray Ericksen in his book Ernest Giles describes the idea as "preposterous"; I copy the relevant pages here.

Image Could Not Be Found

I could be persuaded to alter my opinion however it will need to be a pretty good hypothesis.

Cheers
Alan

G'day again Alan,

- Yes, I concur with you. I had forgotten Eriksen's contribution to the argument and it is interesting to note that he does acknowledge the questions and then answers them.

Interesting stuff, how men work in adverse conditions. Giles had long been a critic of Gibson, and in a remote locations never ceasing contact with others can breed discontent. Discontent was a feature of Sturt's 1844-45 attempt to find an inland sea.

Giles' recruitment of Gibson was poor; Stuart repeatedly choose poorly, and so did Sturt. I think their choices were dictated by the limited number of available personnel.

here's a light hearted quote for you of what makes an explorer. Unfortunately I do not know the source.

An explorer is a man who, among his many qualifications must be able to make a pie, shoe himself or his horse, jerk a doggerel verse or two, not for himself, but simply for the benefit or annoyance of others and not necessarily for publication, nor as a guarantee of good faith; ……….to take and make an observation now and again, mend a watch, kill or cure a horse, make a packsaddle, and understand something of astronomy, surveying, geography, geology and mineralogy.

Cheers
RM