Swinden's diary |
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Title : | Swinden's diary |
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Source : | South Australian Register, 24 August 1857, p. 2, col. e-f | ||
Place Of Creation : | Adelaide, S. Aust. | ||
Publisher : | Robert Thomas and Co. | ||
Date of creation : | 1857 | ||
Format : | Newspaper | ||
Catalogue record | |||
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Description : |
View a "zoomable" version. Charles Swinden along with Murdoch Campbell and D Thompson explored west of Lake Torrens and found good pastoral lands. The men were lightly equipped with riding horses and several pack horses which gave them speed and ease of movement but did limit the length of time they could remain out exploring. They left on 31 March 1857 from Saltia station, crossed beyond the top of Spencer Gulf and after an initial encounter with the salt water of Beda Creek and several other billabongs reached Pernatty Creek, about 75 miles north-west of Port Augusta. Pernatty contained excellent water and Swinden gave it the Aboriginal name. From Pernatty they found Yarraberry waterhole, the Yallatta waterhole on Elizabeth Creek and Perrialta waterhole among others. Swinden considered the land similar to that at Bundaleer and Booboorowie Stations, salt bush country but with good grass and other herbage between. He also considered the waterholes they found to be superior to those on the Light, Wakefield and Broughton Rivers. The expedition returned 9 August, but Swinden was confident that they had found good pastoral lands, which with the sinking of several wells could be easily reached from the east. For a number of years this region was named on maps of South Australia as 'Swinden's country'. The newspaper editor concurred with Swinden's analysis of the country and urged the wells to be sunk so that the lands found could be used for pastoralism. He believed that at last the hypothesis of the interior as an unmitigated and dreadful desert had been disproven. |
Subjects | |
Related names : | Swinden, Charles Thompson, D. Campbell, Murdoch |
Coverage year : | 1857 |
Region : | Flinders Ranges and Far North - Outback |
Further reading : | Threadgill, Bessie South Australian land exploration, 1856 to 1880 Adelaide: Board of Governors of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of South Australia, 1922 Gee, Philip A history of pastoralism in the Lake Eyre South drainage basin Adelaide: Royal Geographical Society of South Australia, 2000 Donovan, P. F. In the interest of the country: a history of the Pastoral Board of South Australia, 1893-1993 [Adelaide]: Pastoral Management Branch of the South Australian Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources, 1995 Symes, G.W. 'The exploration and development of the northern part of South Australia between 1850 and 1869 and the early life of John Ross', Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (South Australian Branch), vol. 58, 1956/57, pp. 1-20 |
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