The Complete Jardine Expedition Journals

This is another Corkwood Press facsimile reproduction - of the contemporary records of the 1864/1865 expedition lead by the Jardine brothers taking cattle to the fledgling outpost at the tip of Cape York. This was the first successful European Australian overland trip to that point.
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The Queensland Government contracted the Jardine brothers to take cattle overland to the newly founded settlement of Somerset, just established by their father.

They left Carpentaria Downs with 250 cattle, 42 horses, and 10 men in October 1864. The tone of the book is very "gung ho" even aggressive, particularly when compared with that of the Kennedy expedition. Whether the members of the expedition felt truly confident at all times, or whether the story improved with the telling, we'll not know now. The trip was not without difficulty: horses sickened and died, probably from eating poisonous plants, a large part of the supplies was lost through carelessness in a grass fire, and there were running battles with groups of aborigines (imagine your own reaction if a large group of strangers wandered through your back-yard with free-food on the hoof). For example (p48) "seeing 8 or 9 of their companions drop" the attackers departed. And (p50) "About 30 being killed [...] let the rest escape".

The pattern was for a small party to ride ahead, seeking easy going, grazing and water, to plot a course for the cattle to follow. Their path followed the Staaten River to near the west coast, north to the Kendall River, then inland, finally following what is now the Jardine River to the north-west until a crossing could be found.

The book is a soft-back of 178 pages, with three black and white reproductions. There is a 13 page preface by Les Hiddins. An excellent fold-out map gives the positions of the camps marked with latitude and longitude and also includes Kennedy's 1848 path. pp1-130 are based on Jardine's journal. pp1-178 is the account of Richardson, the surveyor. There is evidence of "disagreements" between Richardson and the Jardines over navigation.

- Larry Stanley

Go to the Kennedy, Book and Queensland pages