In 1904 Henry Vere Barclay teamed up with Ronald H Macpherson, who was largely responsible for financing the expedition, to explore the poorly known region of central Australia now known as the Simpson Desert. The expedition would also examine the possibility of a stock route from western Queensland to Central Australia. In a report Barclay gave to the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (SA Branch) in 1914 he summarised the findings of the expedition. Anacoora Bore was a free flowing deep bore discharging 700,000 gallons a day; the water was fresh, and its temperature was 135 degrees fahrenheit. However the disposition of the adjacent sand hills prevented the bore from being seen at any great distance, and also contained the benefit of the bore's water within the narrow valley between the dunes. Barclay saw this as a limiting feature. He believed however that there was a viable stock route by drilling another bore 40 miles east of Anacoora, and a further series north north westerly to connect with the Hale River.

Henry Vere Barclay first arrived in Australia in 1872 and undertook private survey work in Tasmania. After a brief return to England he joined the Surveyor-General's office in Adelaide and was appointed to conduct a survey from Alice Springs to the Queensland border. Charles Winnecke was his second-in-command and took over the expedition when Barclay returned to Adelaide following an injury sustained in a fall from his horse. On this expedition the Plenty River was discovered, and the Jervois Range.

Barclay resumed survey work in Adelaide and in 1878 left for New Zealand, but returned to Australia sometime in 1887 using an alias, HV Barclay Strathallan, and led a private expedition in central Australia. He also worked in New South Wales as a surveyor, and in 1894 was back in Adelaide and by 1896 had taken up some pastoral leases. Barclay was an advocate of the Northern Territory and considered it to have a good future with pastoral and mineral resources. In 1904 he led the first of three expeditions funded by Ronald H Macpherson.