Bejah searched for water |
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| Title : | Bejah searched for water |
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| Creator : | Wells, L. A. (Lawrence Allen), 1860-1938 | ||
| Source : | Lawrence Allen Wells, PRG 315/4 | ||
| Date of creation : | 1896 | ||
| Format : | Diary | ||
| Contributor : | State Library catalogue | ||
| Catalogue record | |||
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| Copyright : | This item is reproduced courtesy of Colonel David Davies. It may be printed or saved for research or study. Use for any other purpose requires written permission from Colonel David Davies and the State Library of South Australia. To request approval, complete the Permission to publish form. |
| Description : |
In his diary entry for 28 October 1896 Lawrence Wells records how he and Bejah, the cameleer, searched for water after camping for the day. The country continued the same as on previous days, broken sandstone outcrops, rubble, some wattle. Finding a good water supply was becoming increasingly difficult, and was vital to the Calvert Expedition's success or failure. Already one camel had died, and the others were in desperate need of water. The Great Sandy Desert was uncompromising. The Calvert Scientific Expedition had set out in June 1896 to explore central Western Australia. With Larry Wells, an experienced surveyor and bushman as leader it had advanced across the Great Sandy Desert in the hope of finding mineral resources and pastoral lands. The desert conditions were severe that year and water was proving extremely difficult to find. Bejah Dervish was the cameleer to the expedition and an extremely competent bushman. |
| Subjects | |
| Related names : | Wells, L. A. (Lawrence Allen), 1860-1938 Bejah, Dervish, 1862?-1957 Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition, 1896-1897 |
| Coverage year : | 1896 |
| Place : | Great Sandy Desert (WA) |
| Further reading : | The explorers Penola, S. Aust.: Penola Branch, National Trust of South Australia, 1996 Steele, Wilfred To the great gulf: the surveys and explorations of L.A. Wells, last Australian explorer 1860-1938 Blackwood, S.A.: Lynton, [1978] Mudie, Ian Larry Wells: last of the explorers 1970 Jones, Philip G., Australia's Muslim cameleers: pioneers of the inland, 1860s-1930s Kent Town, S. Aust.: Wakefield Press, 2007 |
| Internet links : | Wells, Lawrence Allen [Bright Sparcs] |
| Exhibitions and events : | State Library of South Australia. Mortlock Wing. Taking it to the edge. August 2004- |
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