Giles staggers on with a water keg |
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| Title : | Giles staggers on with a water keg |
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| Creator : | Giles, Ernest, 1835-1897 | ||
| Source : | Geographic travels in Central Australia from 1872 to 1874, p. 191 | ||
| Place Of Creation : | Melbourne | ||
| Publisher : | Printed for the author by M'Carron, Bird | ||
| Date of creation : | 1875 | ||
| Format : | Book | ||
| Contributor : | State Library catalogue | ||
| Catalogue record | |||
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| Description : |
Giles reached the cache of water kegs on the 24 April. Gibson had reached this point in safety and had watered the horse before continuing. He had left Giles with about 2 and a half gallons (20 pints). He drank sparingly, not knowing how long it would be before help arrived. He found some dried horse meat among the cache, and ate some of this, and considered his predicament. He concluded that it would be some six days at least before help came and decided to continue on, carrying a keg with the remaining water on his back. This weighed some 35 pounds, and together with his other meagre supplies of matches, his revolver and a pound of smoked horse meat, he set out for the depot. Giles travelled mostly by moonlight to avoid the heat of the day, which was some 90 degrees in the shade. He was also without his compass as Gibson had wanted to take that. He averaged about 5 miles a day, and by the second day had eaten his scanty supply of food. He also noted that Gibson had turned off the main track about 15 miles from the casks and had followed the path of the two loosened horses. |
| Subjects | |
| Related names : | Giles, Ernest, 1835-1897 Gibson, Alfred, d. 1874 Tietkens, William Henry, 1844-1933 |
| Coverage year : | 1874 |
| Place : | Gibson Desert (WA) |
| Further reading : | McLaren, Glen Beyond Leichhardt: bushcraft and the exploration of Australia South Fremantle, W.A.: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1996 Ernest Giles's explorations, 1872-76: South Australian parliamentary papers 1872-76 Adelaide: Friends of the State Library of South Australia, 2000 Ericksen, Ray, Ernest Giles, explorer and traveller, 1835-1897 Melbourne: Heinemann Australia, 1978 |
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