Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound in the Years 1840-1;

This is a rare or used book from the Berkelouw Rare Books Department.

Sent by the Colonists of South Australia with the Sanction and Support of the Government: Including an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines and the State of their Relations with Europeans. London: T. and W. Boone 1845. Two octavo volumes handsomely bound in contemporary full prize calf with gilt borders to front and rear boards (some spotting to boards). Spines decoratively gilt with contrasting red and brown morocco title-labels. Dentelles. Marbled endpapers and all edges marbled. Complete with 22 plates including frontispieces; plus a folding facsimile map (in 2 sections coloured in outline) of Eyre's routes by John Arrowsmith loosely inserted. Bookplates on front endpapers and some foxing and offsetting. In 1840 Edward John Eyre (1815-1901) set out from Adelaide on an expedition to explore the interior of Australia. The plan had been to open up an overland stock route between South and Western Australia though Eyre had convincingly argued that the northern interior held out greater promise. Unfortunately he found his path blocked by the vast salt lakes of Torrens and Eyre (Eyre believed Lake Eyre to be a continuation of Lake Torrens) and so decided to change tack? He would head west overland to King George's Sound even if he should perish in the process. Eyre along with Wylie his Aboriginal companion arrived in Albany on 7 July 1841 completing what was a death-defying journey. Another of the party the overseer John Baxter was not so lucky. He was murdered en route by the only other two members of the small party who subsequently made off with the supplies. Eyre's Journals is perhaps the scarcest of the interior exploration accounts.