LINDSAY, David

Journal of the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition, 1891.

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House of Assembly, Adelaide, 1893. Folio, with two large colour folding maps; a very good copy, uncut in recent cloth. One of only 750 copies published: this rare printing is not recorded by Ferguson.

Sir Thomas Elder, who had earlier financed the first great desert journey of Ernest Giles, in 1891 fitted out the expedition of David Lindsay, the celebrated Northern Territory explorer and surveyor general.

In 1883 Lindsay had led an expedition into Arnhem Land, travelling to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He went on to explore extensively in the MacDonnell Ranges region before his last and most important work, this scientifically equipped expedition made possible by the sole support of Sir Thomas Elder. The object of the expedition was to explore the unknown interior of Western Australia between the routes laid out by Forrest in 1874 and Giles in 1875 'for the purpose of completing the exploration of Australia'.

Lindsay's expedition arrived in Geraldton in January 1892, besieged by internal conflict: the entire scientific team, except for Lawrence Allen Wells, resigned. This marked an abrupt end to David Lindsay's career as an explorer and closed down an expensive expedition that produced very few new discoveries.

This is the official report by the leader of the expedition, complete with maps. It predates the first public edition printed by C.E. Bristow. Published by order of the South Australian House of Assembly on 3 October 3 1893 at a cost of ninety seven pounds, four shillings and seven pence plus over thirty-three pounds for the lithography of the large folding maps. In the summary of the work Lindsay states that the expedition travelled 2,745 miles through unexplored country, whilst 80,000 square miles was explored and mapped. 'The abandoment of the expedition was a terrible disappointment to me. That men had so little sense of duty to their leader and to their generous employer should have been the primary cause of the break up of such a splendidly-equipped expedition...'.

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