An Expedition to Explore the Interior of Western Australia

Robert Austin (1825-1905), explorer, surveyor and engineer, arrived in Western Australia in 1840 and joined the surveyor-general's department in 1847: over the next fifteen years Austin carried out extensive fieldwork. This book recounts his expedition to explore the interior of Western Australia in 1854. Starting out from Northam on 10th July 1854, the party was dogged by disaster: several horses ate poisonous native plants and died; more were found dead a week later; Austin was compelled to discard equipment; one of the men accidentally shot himself! Austin had no option but to retreat and to return to Port Gregory. Nevertheless, in the course of the journey he had found and named Mount Magnet. He also reported indications of gold in the Murchison region, but his claim for recognition of its discovery was never acknowledged.