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Title: The Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition (Australia, 1896.) Author: [compiled by] J.G. Hill. * A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook * eBook No.: 1305301h.html Language: English Date first posted: September 2013 Date most recently: September 2013 Produced by: Ned Overton. Project Gutenberg Australia eBooks are created from printed editions which are in the public domain in Australia, unless a copyright notice is included. We do NOT keep any eBooks in compliance with a particular paper edition. Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this file. This eBook is made available at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg Australia Licence which may be viewed online.GO TO Project Gutenberg Australia HOME PAGE
Map of Australia Showing the Unexplored Portions
to be Traversed.
[Click on the map to enlarge it.]
| 1. |
Australian Exploration |
| 2. |
Elder Expedition |
| 3. |
David Lindsay |
| 4. |
Elder Expedition Abandoned |
| 5. |
Projected Expeditions |
| 6. |
The Calvert Expedition |
| 7. |
Appointment of Leader |
| 8. |
L. A. AND C. F. Wells |
| 9. |
Departure of the Expedition |
| 10. |
Arrival at the Fitzroy |
| 11. |
C. F. Wells and Jones Missing |
| 12. |
Effects Abandoned |
| 13. |
The Leader's Report |
| 14. |
The Flying Trip |
| 15. |
Loyalty of the Party |
| 16. |
Keartland's Report |
| 17. |
The Expedition in Difficulties |
| 18. |
A Close Shave |
| 19. |
Anxiety for Missing Men |
| 20. |
Search Parties Despatched |
| 21. |
W. Australian Government Search Party |
| 22. |
Mr. L. A. Wells' Third Attempt |
| 23. |
Traces of Missing Men Discovered |
| 24. |
Mr. Rudall's Second Expedition |
| 25. |
Lost Explorers Reported Murdered |
| 26. |
Discovery of Dead Bodies |
| 27. |
Remains Described |
| 28. |
Suspicious Conduct of Natives |
| 29. |
The Murder Described |
| 30. |
Remains Unidentified |
| 31. |
Search Renewed |
| 32. |
The Law of the Bush |
| 33. |
Wells' and Rudall's Renewed Efforts |
| 34. |
Wells Partly Successful |
| 35. |
Missing Men Tracked |
| 36. |
Further Traces |
| 37. |
Treachery of Natives |
| 38. |
The Last Attempt |
| 39. |
Finding the Bodies |
| 40. |
The Mystery Solved |
| 41. |
How they Died |
| 42. |
The Explorers' Lot |
| 43. |
Australia's Tribute |
| 44. |
The Last Sad Scene |
[Maps] |
|
| A. |
Map of Australia Showing the Unexplored Portions to be Traversed. |
| B. |
The Calvert Exploring expedition. |
| C. |
Map Showing the Route and Discoveries of the Calvert Expedition—1 [SROWA]. |
| D. |
Map Showing the Route and Discoveries of the Calvert Expedition—2 [Wells, NLA]. |
[Page
1]
The Calvert Scientific
Exploring
Expedition.
Little by little, laboriously but
without surcease, from the 26th June, 1789—when Captain
Trench, of His Majesty's Penal Settlement, Botany Bay, left Rose
Hill at daybreak, and journeyed into the "trackless immeasurable
desert", lying in "awful silence" between the South Pacific Ocean
and the Blue Mountains—down to the present day, the
exploration of Australia has engaged the best intellects, the
best hearts, and the best energies that have ever been enlisted
in the struggle of man against the fastnesses of nature. Mile by
mile, and acre by acre, the great work of traversing, mapping,
and revealing the secret places of a continent, in dimension only
one-fourth less than that of Europe, has been steadily proceeded
with for 115 years. Sturt and Mitchel, Grey, Eyre, and
[Page
2] Leichardt, E. T. and A. C. Gregory, Kennedy, Warburton
and Stuart, Burke and Wills, Sir John Forrest, Giles, Hodgkinson
and Winnecke—these are only a few of the bright particular
stars whose rays have been reflected in the field of Australian
exploration. These men have led the van, and scores and hundreds
of lesser adventurers have followed them, filling in the details
and supplying the minor facts that now illuminate the once blank
page which the earliest cartographers had styled "Terra
Incognita". The "high emprise" has taken time and infinite
labour; it has cost money and human life; and it has for long
seemed on the point of completion.
In 1890, when Sir Thomas Elder conceived the patriotic idea of
fitting out an expedition to explore and make known the remaining
blank spaces on the map of Australia, some 340,000 square miles
of country was still unmapped. The area sounds enormous, but one
has only to remember the total area of Australia—2,954,417
square miles—to realise what had been accomplished in a
little over a century. Although the Elder Expedition was an
unfortunate and ill-fated undertaking, which ended in the
resignation of the scientific members of the party, and the
abandonment of the project at the moment when the great drought
had broken up all over Western Australia, and the continuation of
the work would have been comparatively easy, it nevertheless
succeeded in travelling some 2,745 miles, [Page 3] and
mapping over 80,000 square miles of unexplored country.
Mr. David Lindsay, the leader of the Elder Expedition,
summarises the work accomplished by the explorers as follows:
"From May 2nd to June 2nd, 1891, we travelled to
reach starting point (Mount Illbillie, the highest point in the
Everard Range), 255 miles. From June 6th to October 3rd we
travelled through unexplored country, 1,813 miles; through
unexplored country searching for water, etc., 306 miles; flying
trips same routes, afterwards travelled by caravan, 336 miles.
From October 4th to November 2nd, in depôt at Fraser's Range.
From November 2nd to November 26th, through new country, 98
miles; looking for water in unexplored country, 225 miles. From
November 27th to December 7th, resting camels near Golden Valley.
From December 7th to January 3rd, 1892, travelling through mapped
country, 412 miles. From January 4th to February 22nd, resting
camels, taking stores from Moorowie to Murchison, and shifting
depôt. From February 23rd to April 4th, flying trip (by Mr.
Wells) through unexplored country, 834 miles. Total, 4,279 miles,
which gives an average rate of travel for eleven months,
including all stoppages, of nearly 15 miles per
day."
Most of the work of the expedition was done in block A on the
map. In January, 1892, Mr. Lindsay left his party in camp, some
fourteen miles from the Murchison Goldfields, and proceeded to
Geraldton to get into telegraphic communication with the
Geographical Society in Adelaide. The Council of the Society
summoned him to South Australia, and, as the result of
[Page
4] their deliberations, he returned to the Murchison, and
disbanded the expedition. In a final report, dated Adelaide,
October 4th, 1892, Mr. Lindsay said:
"The abandonment of the expedition was a terrible
disappointment to me. That men who had so little sense of their
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, causing the opportunity of
completing in such a thorough manner the exploration of those
extensive unknown regions in Australia to be lost, is a matter
that not only those intimately associated with the expedition,
but geographers throughout the world must ever regret. I desire
again to place on record my full appreciation of the splendid
loyalty and assistance of Mr. L. A. Wells, the surveyor, and
afterwards second officer; and also of the loyalty, good
behaviour, and willing attention to his duties shown by Alfred
Warren."
During the succeeding five years the gradual expansion of the
limits of civilisation added to our knowledge of much of the
country that was traversed by the Elder Expedition. In the search
for gold the adventurers, taking their lives in their hands,
ventured further and further afield, until the spaces marked A
and B on the map were added to the Survey Department's catalogue
of known territory. But spaces C, D, E, F, H and I, comprising an
aggregate area of 260,000 square miles, remained unmapped and
practically unexplored. Many projected expeditions to continue
and complete the unfinished work which Sir Thomas Elder's party
had [Page
5] failed to accomplish were discussed, but they were
unproductive of practical results.
Meantime Mr. Albert F. Calvert had published the first volume
of his exhaustive and invaluable history of "The Exploration of
Australia", and he was enthused with the ambition to be
associated with such an enterprise. He had himself penetrated
three times into the interior of North-west Australia, and in
1891 he had accepted a proposal to form an expedition to traverse
the region which is situated south of Lake Amadeus in South
Australia to the outlaying auriferous parallel connected with the
Upper Murchison River in Western Australia. But the delays and
postponements caused by the responsible managers of the
undertaking in London interfered with every detail of Mr.
Calvert's plans; and when he arrived in Adelaide, and put himself
into communication with Messrs. Main, Sells and Co., who were to
have supplied the camels, he learned that they had been taken up
for other work. In the same year the Elder party made their
futile attempt to exhaust the blank spaces on the map of
Australia.
This failure only added zest to Mr. Calvert's desire to be
connected even, as he himself has expressed it,﹃as a
non-combatant in this warfare against the hostility of the
wilderness,﹄and in the late Autumn of 1895 he sailed from London
on his fourth visit to Australia with the determination to give
practical effect to his public-spirited aspirations. In the first
place he [Page
6] submitted his scheme, and his offer to pay all the
expenses, to the Government of Western Australia, and invited
them to undertake the control and management of the enterprise.
But the Ministry, in view of their many obligatory liabilities,
did not see their way to accept the responsibility entailed, and
Mr. Calvert went on to Adelaide in January, 1896, and placed his
proposal before the South Australian Council of the Royal
Geographical Society. The Council warmly welcomed the idea, and
readily agreed to undertake the preliminary and working
arrangements. Beyond appointing the leader of the expedition, and
stipulating that the undertaking should be conducted on the lines
of the Elder Expedition, Mr. Calvert gave the South Australian
Council a free hand.
In their letter confirming the general arrangements agreed
with Mr. Calvert in Adelaide, the Council thus set forth the
proposed route:
"It is generally recognised that space C is the part
of unexplored Australia round which the interest chiefly centres.
Geographically, because of the existence of a string of salt
lakes trending away to the north-west of Lake Macdonald; because,
too, possibly high ranges of hills may be found in the
north-easterly part of its area. You yourself have traversed its
north-west area, and, therefore, know what exists there.
"Historically, because Baron Sir F. Von Mueller is of opinion
that possibly traces of the long-lost Leichardt may be found
there; and should your expedition unravel the mystery of his
fate, it would be a good deed.
"Commercially, because, through the eastern part of space C
[Page
7] will probably be found a stock route, if there is to be
one, opening communication between our Northern Territory and
North-west Queensland with the goldfields to the south-west of
Western Australia.
"Spaces D, F and H remain for examination, but, doubtless, you
would be again in Australia before the expedition arrives at that
stage of its work. Spaces F, G and H could, perhaps, be mapped
en route for the head of the South Australian railway
line, if it be decided that they should be filled up on the
map."
Mr. Lawrence Allen Wells, of the South Australian Survey
Department, who, as second in command of the Elder Expedition,
had won the warmest praise and thanks of Mr. David Lindsay, had
already been approached by Mr. Calvert with an invitation to
captain his party; and subsequently, when the consent of the
Government had been obtained, he accepted the position. In
consultation with the South Australian Council of the Royal
Geographical Society and Mr. A. T. Magarey, Mr. Calvert's
Australian representative, Mr. Wells appointed his cousin, Mr. C.
F. Wells, second in command; Mr. George A. Keartland,
ornithologist and taxidermist; Mr. George L. Jones, photographer
and collector; Mr. James Trainer, cook; Mr. Welbourne, assistant;
and Bejah, an Afghan, to have charge of the camels.
Mr. L. A. Wells, whose valuable exploration work includes the
discoveries of Lake Darlot, Lake Way, Mount St. Samuel, and other
country where goldfields were subsequently opened up, is a South
Australian, [Page 8] having been born at Yallum in 1860. He
entered the South Australian Survey service in 1878, and for
three years he was engaged as one of the surveyors who fixed the
boundary line between South Australia and Queensland. He was
reporting on pastoral leases before he joined the Elder
Expedition, and subsequently was associated with the work of the
Pastoral Board.
Mr. C. F. Wells, was born at Lake Colac, Victoria, in 1849,
and was appointed a cadet in the Survey Department of South
Australia in 1866. Two years later he was made a member of the
Survey Expedition which was sent to the Northern Territory.
During a portion of the time he was in the Territory he was with
the late McLachlan's party, that discovered at Kekwick Springs,
and on the Mary River, trees marked by McDouall Stuart, which
proved that that explorer had gone through to the coast. After
nearly three years in the Northern Territory, Mr. Wells returned
to Adelaide in 1871, and was re-appointed to the Survey staff of
the Surveyor-General's Department. In 1889, he again went to the
Northern Territory to take up the duties of surveyor in the Land
Office, and on returning to Adelaide, after two years' service,
he was appointed to a position in the Lands Titles Office.
Mr. Keartland, who went with the Horn Expedition to the
MacDonnell Ranges in 1894, and Mr. G. L. Jones, a son of the
Conservator of Water for South Australia, joined the party in
Adelaide; while Mr. [Page 9] Wellbourne, a nephew of the Hon. Roman
Playford, met them in Western Australia.
All the arrangements were forwarded as rapidly as possible
with a view to despatching the expedition while yet the winter
season was before them, and by the end of May everything was in
readiness for the start. On May 23rd, 1896, the officers of the
South Australian Survey Department gave Messrs. L. A. and C. F.
Wells a farewell dinner, at which the Surveyor-General, Mr. W.
Strawbridge, presided. A second farewell gathering was held a
week later, when Mr. Simpson Newland, the President of the South
Australian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society, Sir Charles
Todd, and a number of other prominent South Australians, bade the
little party of adventurers good-bye and God-speed, and they left
on May 23rd for Geraldton with the best wishes of all who admire
the exhibition of skill and courage in the attempt to solve the
mysteries of the great Australian interior.
The expedition proceeded to Mullewa, the terminus of the
railway from Geraldton, where the camels required for the journey
and the balance of the outfit and scientific apparatus awaited
them. Mr. Calvert received from Mr. Magarey, on the day of their
departure from Adelaide, the following telegram:
"Everything conceivable has been done. We may claim,
I believe, that a more perfectly selected and equipped expedition
to do Australian exploration has never been sent away. All that
[Page
10] experience and foresight could dictate has received
the most careful attention."
A further telegram was received by Mr. Calvert from Cue,
announcing "Expedition started on June 19th;" and with that
laconic message the first chapter of the history of the Calvert
Scientific Exploring Expedition closes.
Nearly five months elapsed before the expedition was again
heard of, and then a Renter's telegram, despatched from Perth on
November 13th, 1896, contained the following:
"The Australian Expedition, which left Adelaide in
May last, under the leadership of Mr. L. A. Wells, to explore the
regions in the interior of Southern and Western Australia, has
arrived at Fitzroy River in the north of Western Australia. Two
members of the party are missing, and fears are entertained for
their safety."
Two days later a further telegram brought the news that Mr. L.
A. Wells had had a hard journey from the Mount Bates Depôt, 500
miles distant from Fitzroy, owing to lack of water; and an
official telegram from the Government of South Australia
announced that all effects and the collections of the scientists
had been abandoned, and that Charles Wells and Jones were
missing. Reuter, in a later cablegram, reported that no fears
were entertained for the missing men.
The hardships endured by Mr. L. A. Wells and the main party
began when they were unable to find Johanna [Page 11] Springs,
which were either dry or else wrongly marked on the chart.
Failing to locate this water, Mr. Wells pushed on to a small
native well, where, in the course of two days, he obtained some
360 gallons of water to supply the needs of the camels. As the
animals were in a bad way he was compelled to abandon five of
them, together with all his surplus gear, firearms, ammunition,
specimens, photographic camera, and survey plant. These effects
included Mr. Keartland's collection of about 3,000 specimens,
including the Princess of Wales parrot and other prizes of great
rarity. Some four buckets of water were reserved for the journey,
and with them, which proved the means of saving the party, they
made their way northward through the red sand desert. Owing to
the intensity of the heat and the terrible condition of the
camels they had to traverse the last 170 miles by night.
Mr. C. F. Wells and Mr. G. L. Jones had left the main party
some 360 miles back to make a flying trip eighty miles west of
the line of route, and rejoin the leader at a fixed point about
thirty or forty miles south of Johanna Springs. They took with
them three camels, sixty gallons of water, and flour and
provisions for a month's journey, although they were expected to
come up with the main party in about twelve days. Failing the
leader's arrival at the appointed spot, they were to proceed to
Johanna Springs; and when Mr. Wells arrived six days late at the
neighbourhood of the [Page 12] springs, he expected to find his
cousin and Mr. Jones awaiting him. The weakness of the party and
the scarcity of water did not allow Mr. Wells to spend any time
in searching for the Johanna Spring. His only alternatives were
to make for the Oakover waters to the west, or to push rapidly
northwards and strike the Fitzroy. He adopted the latter, and
concluded that the two missing members were taking the Oakover
direction, or were following in his track. In either case the
utmost confidence was felt in the ability of Mr. C. F. Wells to
reach a place of safety. He was regarded as one of the best
bushmen in Australia; determined, resourceful; possessing the
nerve to attempt the impossible, and capable of achieving success
if mortal man could command it. Vigorous efforts were at once
made to despatch search parties to encounter and render
assistance to the absent men, but so little real anxiety was felt
as to their safety that the leader formed a depôt to recruit the
surviving twelve camels preparatory to proceeding to Lake Amadeus
in the Northern Territory and thence to Mount Bates.
It is advisable to insert here Mr. L. A. Wells' telegraphic
account of the journey, which he despatched from Fitzroy
Crossing, November 15th, to Mr. Magarey, and then proceed to
recount the sad story of the brave and arduous searches for the
missing men, which resulted in the revelation of their tragic
fate.
Mr. Wells' communication is as follows:
[Page
13]
"Detained coming up river with weak camels. Arrived
Quandbren 12th, with Keartland, Trainer, and two Afghans, twelve
camels. Had most trying time crossing sand ridges at right angles
since August 10th. Left Lake Way July 16th, north-easterly,
forming depôt, latitude 25 degrees 54', longitude 122 degrees
20'. Excellent waterholes; fair country. Flying trip, August 10th
to September 8th, north-east Mount Bates, and north-north-east
200 miles without water. Found good spring well, latitude 23
degrees 23', longitude 124 degrees. Returning south-westerly
found cave, native drawings, and human skeleton, probably native;
latitude 23 degrees 58', longitude 123 degrees 25'(?). South-west
to Giles's route, south to depôt. Left depôt September 14th,
whole party reaching good well on September 29th. Discovered
another splendid well latitude 22 degrees 51', longitude 123
degrees 53'. Travelled northerly from here, latitude Johanna
Springs, and north-north-east to Fitzroy River.
"From Mount Bates to within twenty-five miles Fitzroy, distance
500 miles, wilderness of continuous sand ridges and spinifex; few
low ridges and ranges of clay, rock, and sandstone, partly
covered with drift. Last 300 miles almost destitute of camel
feed; little water; sand ridges more numerous, steep,
high-crowned with red drift. Owing to this, and intense heat from
sand, camels collapsed 170 miles from Fitzroy. Latter distance
traversed 50 miles by moonlight, 120 by starlight; unable work
camels after nine a.m. On three occasions found ourselves in most
critical position for want of water. Five camels abandoned dead
and dying, thirst and want.
"Obliged abandon Keartland's and Jones's collections, all
equipment, provisions, personal effects, at 160 and 170 miles
back, only taking absolute necessaries carry through to Fitzroy.
Arrived river 6th inst., daylight with one bucket water in kegs,
and but two camels able to carry light packs whilst travelling.
Obliged look for water on foot, tracking native sandhills on
[Page
14] short allowance, walking from ten to fourteen miles
day. Had to discontinue, exhausted from intense heat and thirst.
Only able spend one day looking Johanna Springs, and unable find.
Believe considerably east my track. Reached Fitzroy River at
nearest point, which we thought near Mount Tuckfield, and midway
Derbu and crossing."
Mr. G. A. Keartland added a few details to this concise
report. All went well, he declared, till July 28th, when two of
the camels ate the poison plant near Lake Augusta, but recovered
under treatment. A depôt was formed on good water and feed, and
Mr. Wells and two companions then made a flying trip of 500
miles, returning to the depôt on August 8th. On August 14th a
start was made across the desert. The Forrest track was passed on
September 16th, and that of Giles at a late date. When near
Warburton's line the camels commenced to collapse, owing to the
privations they had undergone, the intense heat, and the number
of sandhills. Six were abandoned on October 21st, when the party
had sufficient water for ten days. They obtained a little more at
a native well, but everything except good water for themselves
was abandoned, and all speed was made for the Fitzroy River.
The rumour that gained currency at the time, that there was
trouble and unpleasantness among the members of the expedition,
was indignantly denied by Mr. G. A. Keartland, who, on his return
to Adelaide, declared that throughout the whole journey the best
of [Page
15] fellowship prevailed. "There was," he said, "no
discord of any kind. Every one was fired with the desire to do
his best for the expedition, and if any one erred it was in
trying to do too much."
As Mr. L. A. Wells's judgment was also called into question at
the time for allowing his cousin and Jones to take this flying
trip, the following account of the separation, the reasons that
governed it, and the necessity for the main party pushing on
instead of waiting longer in the neighbourhood of Johanna
Springs, must also have a place in any pamphlet dealing with the
expedition. In the early stages of the journey Mr. L. A. Wells
made two flying trips, and Mr. Keartland says that Mr. Charles
Wells frequently importuned his cousin to allow him to undertake
one of these auxiliary expeditions. The leader consented, and it
was at first arranged that Mr. Keartland should accompany the
second in command on such a trip. But Mr. Keartland's lameness
would have made it necessary to send an Afghan to assist in the
heavy duties, which would have meant their taking a larger supply
of water. When they reached Separation Well Mr. L. A. Wells
decided that only two men should go, and he asked Keartland if he
would give place to Mr. Jones.
Let me continue the narrative in the words of Mr. Keartland's
report, which was published on his return to Adelaide in June,
1897:—
"I knew it was beyond my strength to lift a 290 lb.
cask of [Page
16] water; and as it was necessary for only two to go, I
consented to be left behind. Mr. Jones was delighted at the
chance, as he and Mr. Charles Wells had been personal friends for
a long time. When we parted on the 11th October, Mr. Jones came
to me and said, 'I hope you don't feel disappointed. . . .' He
seemed sympathetic with me because I was not going. These men
were not ordered away; I want to emphasise that. It is quite
possible that if they had not been so eager Mr. Wells would have
gone himself, for he was always prepared to do the lion's share
of the work, and on some occasions I think he overtaxed
himself.
"Mr. L. A. Wells considered that the frying party should go to
the westward of the direct line of march for a distance of from
80 to 100 miles, then turn north-east and cut our track about
thirty miles south of the latitude of Johanna Springs. We
expected to meet again in twelve or fourteen days. They had
provisions that would have lasted them for a month, and they had
sixty gallons of water. We reckoned they had sufficient water to
see the men and camels right into the Fitzroy River if they used
it with economy, as they were advised to do. Mr. Lawry Wells was
emphatic about exercising economy, and told them how much they
could use. He worked out a calculation, showing how much water
they should use, and how far it would take them. The main party
were amply supplied with provisions, and could have gone for two
months, but the other two had a greater proportion of water per
man than we had.
"Up to this we had good weather, but the very day we parted at
Separation Well it became hot. On the 17th, Mr. Lawry Wells went
out to find water, and he returned in a terrible state of
exhaustion at one o'clock in the morning, with blisters on his
feet the size of a penny. He had found native tracks at a soakage
well about 100 miles north of the latter place. We reached this
well on the 18th, and had to spend thirty-six hours in baling
fifty-five buckets of water with a pannikin. It was very
dangerous [Page 17] work, on account of the probability
of the sand-bank falling in. Mr. Wells insisted that either he or
I should do the work, as it was too dangerous to send the men
down. All that water was given to the seventeen camels, which
were all in a state of collapse.
"We pushed on from there until the 23rd of October, when we
reached another native well, and the camels were again in a state
of collapse, due to the intense heat and the scarcity of feed. At
one time they were four days without getting a good feed. We had
to put in thirty-six hours there and got about 180 gallons, all
baled with a pannikin. Five buckets of this were put into the
casks for our own use, and the rest was given to the camels. At
this well we had to be particularly alert, on account of the
natives. We left there at eleven o'clock at night, and had not
gone more than three miles when one of the picked camels, which
Mr. Charles Wells had been particularly desirous of taking, fell
down dead. The flying party, I may remark, took with them the
three very best camels we had. . . . The next camel to fall down
was Mahdi, which had formerly been Mr. Charles Wells's camel. At
the native well at which we got the 180 gallons, we had to
abandon all surplus stores which could be replaced afterwards. On
the 26th October everything had to be abandoned except the bare
necessaries of life—all our clothing, tools, guns, etc. We
were then close to where we expected to meet the others. We were
some eight days later than we had arranged, owing to the time
spent in procuring water. This delay had been unavoidable, as our
supply would not have taken us to the meeting place. It is my
opinion that C. F. Wells and Jones crossed ahead of us before we
reached that point, but we reckoned that we were ahead of them.
Even if they had crossed before us we could not have noticed
their tracks because from the 18th October we were travelling
only at night. As soon as they reached the line which they knew
we should follow they were to keep to it. It was [Page 18] arranged
that both parties should send up smoke signals at ten and twelve
o'clock in the day; but when we commenced making these signals
three days before we reached the meeting point, the natives, who
were out hunting, were burning spinifex to drive the game out,
and the consequence was that there were half-a-dozen fires.
"We all knew the finding of Johanna Springs was very doubtful, as
Warburton was so much out in his reckoning when he reached the
Oakover that he said the position of this spot must be uncertain,
and what did it matter in such country. The instructions which
Mr. Charles Wells had were that if he had any difficulty in
finding Johanna Springs he was to push on at once to the Fitzroy,
as though no such thing as an imperative meeting at the Springs
had been arranged. When we got to this locality we could find no
trace of the Springs, and Mr. Laurence Wells suffered great
hardships in trying to locate it. He then asked me what I thought
it was best to do. I said, 'As we have enough water with economy
on allowance, we had better push' straight for the river and lose
no more time.' Our camels were dying, and we had to abandon five
altogether. He afterwards consulted the others, and found that
their views coincided with my own.
"My suggestion was agreed to and we pushed on. We gave the two
best camels a bucket of water each, and the others had none from
the 24th October to the 6th November, and during that period we
covered 140 miles. The weather was intensely hot. We could not
move from under the tarpaulin in daylight, and the camels would
not move from under the trees half-an-hour after daybreak. We
pushed on to the river, hoping and expecting that as we were
behind time the others were ahead of us. On arriving at Quandbren
Station, Mr. Rose, the proprietor, informed us that our comrades
could not have passed that track without him seeing them, as they
must pass his house. To make sure he sent a boy on horseback to
the telegraph station on the Fitzroy. [Page 19] The boy
returned with the news that no tidings could be ascertained at
the telegraph station, or even at other likely places to which
the station-master had telegraphed. Mr. Wells immediately decided
that he would start back with the six best camels and a supply of
water to try and pick up their tracks and follow
them."
As soon as the first news of the arrival of the incomplete
party at Fitzroy River reached Adelaide, Mr. Calvert's
representative put himself at once into communication with the
nearest source of information, and adopted immediate measures to
secure the despatch of rescue parties either from the north or
west. He requested Sir John Forrest, the Premier of Western
Australia, and Mr. David Lindsay to lend what aid they could, and
telegraphed to Mr. Wells for all particulars as to number and
condition of camels and men that were with him, with the object
of sending out a search party from the Fitzroy. Sir John Forrest
promised to do everything possible to afford relief, and on
November 16th Mr. Keartland telegraphed:
"Wells and two Afghans, with six best camels, four
casks of water, have started to retrace tracks and see what can
be done."
On November 19th the West Australian Government sent out a
police party, consisting of two mounted men and four native
trackers, to proceed along the south of the Fitzroy River to the
end of the St. George's Range, and then out into the desert to
try to cut the tracks of the missing men.
[Page
20]
Mr. A. T. Magarey, who was indefatigable in his efforts to
secure all the available assistance in the search for the
missing, next approached the West Australian Government with the
request that they would send out a rescue party under the
leadership of Mr. Rudall, the Government Surveyor, with the
camels which he had recently used in a survey trip in the
North-west, and the whole of the stock and equipment was placed
at the disposal of Mr. Calvert's representative. Mr. Rudall
consented to return to Roebourne, where the camels had been left,
and head a relief party. Instructions were wired to Roebourne to
proceed with preparations, and Mr. Rudall, accompanied by a
reliable assistant, proceeded to Cossack.
On November 25th a telegram from Fitzroy announced the return
of Mr. Wells, who had been unable to proceed with his search for
the missing men on account of the extreme weakness of the camels.
He had left water and rations on the track, and without waiting
to rest after his tiring vigil, he secured the assistance of a
police constable and a native who knew the country and the water
holes, and with six of the best police horses made a second
journey in the direction of Johanna Springs, in the hope that the
explorers might be camping at the water to rest their camels.
Meantime, on November 24th, a local squatter, named Buchanan,
who was reputed one of the best horsemen and ablest bushmen in
Australia, left Hall's [Page 21] Creek, Kimberley, with two black boys
and four camels, in search of the missing men of Wells'
party.
Mr. Magarey also received offers from two well-known
surveyors, Mr. Geyer and Mr. Hourigan, who were at Nullagine with
camels, to join Mr. Rudall's search party. Mr. Rudall decided not
to increase his party, and on December 1st, with two Europeans, a
native tracker, and twelve camels, he left Roebourne for the
upper Oakover, via Mallina and Marble Bar.
Mr. Wells and Trooper Palmer returned to Fitzroy on December
3rd, after a ten days' trip on the back track. They had proceeded
in a south-west direction for sixty miles, and were then turned
back by the condition of the horses, which could not be
persevered with through the endless tracts of spinifex and
sandhills, that yielded neither water nor feed.
Mr. Buchanan, on his return to Hall's Creek early in December,
reported having seen on November 4th the tracks of a large train
of camels sixty miles west of Salt Sea, the westernmost lake into
which Stuart's Creek empties, latitude 20'20. The tracks he
estimated to be about a week old, but he was unable to follow
them up, owing to the badness of the camel feed and the intensity
of the heat.
The gravest fears were now entertained for the safety of the
lost explorers, and the prospect of the Calvert Expedition having
a tragic termination was [Page 22] everywhere discussed. Mr. Ernest
Giles, who was interviewed on the subject, said:
"The country where the missing men separated from the
main body is open desert, with shifting dry sand constantly being
whirled about by varying winds, so that a track made to-day is
obliterated a few days after. I think it will be almost
impossible to follow these men with anything like certainty, and
it is more than probable that they will have to fight their own
way out or perish in attempting to do so."
On December 5th Mr. Wells and Mr. Buchanan set out again from
Fitzroy, with the intention of penetrating, if necessary, fifty
miles south of Johanna to the locality of the abandoned stores.
They took Bejah, Mr. Wells' Afghan camel driver, and Mr.
Buchanan's black tracker, and were prepared to be out for three
months.
Meanwhile, the Hon. David Carnegie's party reached Hall's
Creek, but had seen no tracks of the missing men.
A native tracker, sent out by Messrs. Warburton and Rogers,
returned with a report that the desert natives declared that they
had seen two men on a creek in the vicinity of Mount McPherson
heading westward, and within four days' journey of Nullagine
township. Mr. Magarey telegraphed to obtain further particulars
as to the appearance of the men. He also communicated to Sir John
Forrest his opinion that instead of going on to Nullagine the
stragglers would probably travel in another direction towards
Marble Bar, and asked that the Government Officers at the latter
township [Page
23] might be instructed to arrange for a camel party to go
out from Nullagine in search of them.
On January 12th, 1897, Mr. L. A. Wells telegraphed from
Fitzroy reporting that his third expedition after the lost men
had resulted in failure. The intense heat, steep sand ridges, and
almost total absence of food, had told so terribly upon the
camels that it was necessary to find water for them every third
day. Three camels were poisoned, and after accomplishing a
journey of a hundred miles he was forced to abandon the attempt.
Mr. Buchanan described the desert as the worst he had ever seen
in any part of Australia.
Mr. Rudall returned to the Oakover River, and from thence
despatched a telegram from Bamboo Creek, dated January 17th, with
the information that he had come upon tracks of the missing men
at 130 miles out from Braeside Station, but had lost them again
in the shifting sand. He had also heard from some natives that
two white men and three camels had gone west, and he was
preparing to go up the river and search for the tracks. Mr.
Magarey telegraphed in reply that the explorers were evidently in
the vicinity of Mount McPherson, or between that place and the
head of the Oakover. He added:
"Institute a thorough search, and let us know the
result in the fullest detail, with full distances and bearings.
We are relying on you not to leave the search until the men are
found, and this should not be difficult as water is now
abundant."
[Page
24]
Mr. Rudall started out again on January 19th to make a careful
examination of the country where he previously found the tracks
of missing men. Although three organised rescue parties and
several independent adventurers were now in the desert braving
the heat and hardships of one of the most terrible summers ever
known in this waterless and shadeless land—when the water
in the infrequent oases registered 121 degrees, and the
thermometer stood at 120 in the shade—more volunteers were
still forthcoming. Mr. Hodgson, the manager of Messrs. Warburton
and Rodger's station at Braeside, organised a fourth party,
consisting of Mr. John Connaughton and Mr. Henty, two experienced
bushmen, who, with a black boy and five horses, made a dash for
Mount McPherson through the burning desert. At the same time Mr.
Hodgson arranged with Mr. Rudall's assistant, Mr. Crofton, to
take the spare camels and two months' rations and search the
country in the neighbourhood of Running Water, while he sent
Messrs. Osborne and Trotman, with three camels and a good supply
of rations, to camp at Running Water, and keep a sharp look out
for the missing men. Even at this far advanced stage of the
search all hope of rescue had not been given up, and we find so
astute a bushman as Mr. Hodgson telegraphing to Mr. Magarey:
"In my opinion there is a probability of the men
being found alive. I think that their camels knocked up, and that
they had to abandon them, and they may have had the good fortune
when [Page
25] continuing the journey on foot to have found a
permanent water hole. Wells, being an experienced bushman, and
knowing the danger of leaving such a place, would stay there so
long as fish and game could be procured, and in the hope of a
rescue party being sent in search of them."
On February 8th the first forecast of the fate of the
explorers was received in Perth from Mr. Rudall, at Bamboo Creek,
in the following telegram:
"A messenger arrived to-night with news from
Connaughton, at Running Water. Connaughton has travelled up the
western branch beyond Skull Springs, and in the locality of Bee
Hill found natives, who told him that the natives on the edge of
the desert, at a pool called Wadararee, had killed two men and
one camel; also that the two remaining camels were at a pool
called Taratara, on Woodie Woodie Creek. This is the name of the
eastern branch of the Oakover. Connaughton cut across to Woodie
Woodie Creek, and, seeing my tracks, concluded that I had
followed the camels, and heard of the men's deaths. He
accordingly returned to Running Water.... I shall proceed to
Running Water with Trotman, Crofton, and a native, where we shall
join Connaughton and Henty. With their horses we shall have a
better chance of catching the natives, as the country is too
rough for camels."
This news was regarded in Adelaide as "an absurd rumour;" but
in reply to Mr. Magarey's urgent request for fuller information,
Mr. Hodgson telegraphed from Braeside on February 17th:
"There is no error. Mr. Rudall is satisfied the
tracks are those of the missing men. One track is that of a heavy
man, the other that of a lighter man. Rudall believes the heavy
one is that of Wells. The natives saw the men at the well, but
[Page
26] Rudall thinks they did not stay long, as the water
made too slowly to give the camels a drink. The men did not camp
there at night, but he is convinced that the well was visited by
two white men and three camels. The camels' tracks showed no
signs of weakness on account of the men having to lead them. The
natives could not describe the men, but Rudall failed to pick up
the tracks. There is now a probability of the mystery being
solved. I would suggest waiting Rudall's return before sending
other parties. There has been no rain, and water is scarce in the
direction of Johanna Springs."
On March 8th a brief telegram was received from Nullagine,
stating that the remains of two men, supposed to be Wells and
Jones, had been discovered. It was followed by a long telegraphic
message from Rudall, dated from Roy Hill Station via
Nullagine. Apart from its interest as a page in the history of
this remarkable search, the despatch is highly instructive as
disclosing the difficulty that the rescuers experienced in
obtaining information or assistance from the Aborigines, and no
apology need be made for reproducing it in full:
"Have found the remains of two men murdered by the
natives about 80 miles south-south-east of Roy Hill, in longitude
120 deg. 10 min. and latitude 23 deg. 35 min., but we could find
nothing by which to identify them, the natives having taken
everything away. We could not continue the search for we arrived
to-day at Roy Hill Station with only one day's provisions left.
The friends of the deceased men may be able to identify them by
their teeth. The younger man's skeleton was dry, and had no hair
about it. From the lower right jaw the third molar from the back
is missing, and one is decayed. From the lower left jaw two teeth
are missing; the third molar from the back and [Page 27] the
fourth from the front. The skull measures 20¾ inches, and has a
very prominent forehead. The older man's skeleton had a quantity
of decomposed matter about it, with black hair and beard, but we
could see no grey hairs. On the right top jaw, the third molar
from the back is broken, and from the right lower jaw the first
molar from the front is missing. From the left lower jaw the
first molar from the front is also missing, and on the left top
jaw one molar is slightly decayed, and the two front teeth on the
lower jaw are slightly decayed. The skull measures 20¼ inches.
The older man was tall, and the younger man of medium height, and
the natives said he had only a few hairs on the chin. The skulls
should be examined by a doctor to see if they are those of white
men.
"I left Toongoonarragee Pool, longitude 121 deg. 12 min.
(longitudes all approximate), latitude 21 deg. 40 min., with
Messrs. Trotman, Crofton, Connaughton and Henty, and natives
Cherry, George and Charley. We travelled up Woodie Woodie Creek,
an eastern branch of the Oakover, for twenty miles, to where I
had seen camel tracks on my previous trip, thence south-easterly
to the rock holes, called Wanjarlong—longitude 121 deg. 30
min., latitude 22 deg. 16 min. Here we caught a native who had
heard of two white men with two camels being murdered further
south. Took him to show us the water. He took us through some
rough stony ranges in a south-east direction for two days. We saw
a few tracks of a single camel going north near rock hole, called
Marloo Marloo—longitude 121 deg. 30 min., latitude 22 deg.
26 min. Then we went west for a few miles, where we surprised a
camp, and caught a native man and youth. Connaughton here had a
narrow escape; a spear entered his shirt. These natives had heard
of two white men and two camels being murdered at a place called
Wadera, further south. We left our other natives, and took these
two to show us the place.
[Page
28] "Travelled south-west for fourteen miles, and cut the
eastern branch of the Oakover River, again following it up for
sixteen miles, and on south for eight miles, to a large clay
hole, called Talawana, about four miles east of the river, in
longitude 121 deg. 15 min., and latitude 22 deg. 53 min. Wadera
is the name of a low range of hills seven miles south of
Talawana. We searched the locality for two days, but could find
no trace of the men. Saw tracks of a single camel there, and
about a mile east of Talawana found, and followed north for ten
miles, tracks of a single camel loose, coming south-south-east.
The native youth volunteered to show us some more natives, so we
went about twelve miles south-east, and caught three splendid
men. They also had heard of two white men being murdered further
south, but no camels. Released the other natives and took these,
having promised to release them on finding the men.
"Travelled south-westerly for three and a-half days a distance of
seventy miles, where we surprised a camp of six men and twelve
women. One of these, a bandy man, evidently a chief, was very
communicative, and said the white men were murdered near there;
picked out two of their number as amongst the murderers, and they
offered to show us the place. They took us about south by west
for the remainder of the day and till mid-day of the next, a
distance of twenty miles. I suspected treachery on the first
night, so secured all the men with ropes and watched them all
night, as we were among some of the worst natives of Western
Australia. Several made determined efforts to escape, but failed.
I thought they were leading us astray to give their friends, who
must be very numerous from the tracks seen, a chance to muster
and attack us.
"On the following morning I let the men understand that they
would get neither food nor water till we found the remains. In
the afternoon of that day they began to feel the pangs of thirst,
and some of them began to talk. They then turned west for
[Page
29] seven miles and then north-west for four miles, when
we camped for the night, Saturday, 27th February. I gave the men
each one quart of water that night, and next morning they took us
direct north-west for ten miles to a large gum creek running
north past the eastern end of the Opthalmia Ranges, showed us the
scene of the murder, and the grave of the older man, then a mile
and a-half further up the creek the grave of the younger man.
They could have taken us west of the place of where we caught
them on the same day in about ten miles.
"The distance we travelled from Toongoonarragee Pool to place of
murder was 250 miles. When the natives began to suffer from
thirst they spoke out and said the chief and another man, two
different from those first given, were amongst the murderers, but
I believe the lot were concerned. I had promised to release them,
so did so next day. The natives said they attacked the men while
asleep at night; that the old man fought desperately and shot one
native in the shoulder, and he got speared in the side and under
the left ear. I have the two spear heads. The younger man ran
away with a spear in his side, but some of the natives followed
him and killed him at the place we found him buried. They had
buried the younger man roughly in some dry sand, but the old man
was wrapped in grass and leaves. From the broken spears we
collected it must have been a hard fight.
"The natives said these men had come from a long way north-east,
following some old horse-tracks; that one was a much older man
than the other, with black hair and beard; but the younger man
only had a few hairs on his chin. Two camels went away west and
one back north-east. The natives further up said one camel had
been wandering about, going west, south, and then back north. I
tried to find out what equipment they had, but our native could
not speak nor understand their language very well, so I could not
vouch for their answers. According to them the [Page 30] men had
two wooden tanks, two galvanised iron tanks, two quart pots, two
billies, and other things I could not understand. They took
everything away into the hills and destroyed them. The
unfortunate men got among a most dangerous tribe of natives, and
a number of murders committed by them never having been
discovered has made them very daring.
"The party are all well, and I cannot speak too highly of the
courage and zeal shown by the whole party, everyone doing his
utmost to forward the search. I am sending this on to Nullagine,
sixty miles away. As camels and horses knocked up shall rest two
days, and reach Nullagine about Wednesday next. I have brought
the two skeletons, so please send instructions to Nullagine as to
their disposal. Should the remains not be those of the missing
men my camels are quite unfit to undertake another journey,
having travelled over some very rough country, making them very
footsore, and they are too low in condition."
This telegram was repeated to Mr. L. A. Wells and to Mr.
Magarey; and the Government, in reply to specific enquiries as to
the possibility of discovering any of the equipment or articles
belonging to the murdered men, received the following additional
information from Mr. Rudall:
"The chance of finding any equipment or articles is
remote, as the natives would destroy or bury everything. Every
native's camp has tomahawks, billies, quarts, and articles of
clothing, taken from mining towns or stations and distributed, so
that it is difficult to determine what belonged to the murdered
men; and the natives are such liars that it is almost impossible
to obtain the truth. Their cunning is unequalled in the whites.
Isdell examined the remains this morning, and states that they
are those of white men. I have received copy of description sent
by Mr. [Page
31] Magarey, saying Jones was 6 ft. 2 ins. tall. The
remains of what appears to be the younger man cannot be more than
5 ft. 8 ins. I find that there is a hole indented in the top of
the younger man's skull, large enough to hold a pea; this was
evidently made in early childhood. . . . The hair I described as
black appears to be brown, and rather fine."
Mr. L. A. Wells wired that the heights of the remains
discovered did not agree with those of the missing men, his
cousin being fully six feet tall, and his companion two inches
taller. Mr. Magarey, at the same time, telegraphed from Adelaide
to the Surveyor-General of Western Australia:
"Confident remains found not of Calvert men. Can you
inform us yet whether Rudall available and prepared to continue
search at once? We consider tracks found on Oakover are those of
missing men, who probably headed thence towards Johanna Springs
in search of locality of Running Water and thence
onward."
The receipt of these telegrams, giving the respective heights
of Wells and Jones, convinced Mr. Rudall that the remains they
had rescued were not the object of their prolonged efforts, and
preparations were hurried forward for further search parties to
be despatched, under the leadership of Mr. Rudall and Mr. L. A.
Wells respectively, the former to go via Braeside and
Christmas Pool to Johanna Springs, and the latter to proceed
direct from the Fitzroy River.
The mystery surrounding the fate of the two men whose murdered
bodies were discovered by Mr. Rudall [Page 32] was never
cleared up. A police officer in Perth, who was for a considerable
time at Mount Clara Station on the Upper Murchison, believes the
bodies to be those of two miners, who, with a companion, had set
out on a prospecting tour in the direction of the Opthalmia
Ranges. One man, named Michael Morrissey, returned to the
Murchison and explained that he had left his companions, as they
were bent on going into a country where he said he knew there was
no water. Morrissey's career was afterwards a chequered one; and
as he had committed suicide at Lawlers some nine months before
the bodies were found, all possibility of getting them identified
was lost.
Many surmises that were made as to the identity of the
remains, and the inquiries received from persons who had known of
the departure of friends into the interior and had not since
heard of them, showed clearly that the tale of victims claimed by
the drought, the sand, and the spears of the great Australian
desert will never be accurately determined.
It also disclosed the unwritten and little-known law among the
whole corps of adventurous miners, that should the body of an
unfortunate man be "happened upon" no mention is to be made of
the fact. This seemingly curious indifference is explained by the
fact that to make a report of such a discovery would necessitate
a return to the nearest police station, and no remuneration is
paid for the loss of time thus entailed.
[Page
33]
On March 17th Mr. L. A. Wells, with Mr. Keartland, Mr.
Trainer, Bejah his Afghan, a black tracker belonging to the
Fitzroy police, and two natives set out with camels. They
expected to reach Johanna Springs in three weeks, and to arrive
at the spot where Mr. Rudall had first discovered the tracks of
men and camels about three weeks later. On April 9th Mr. Rudall
left Braeside with eleven camels. He proceeded, in the first
place, to Wadera Creek, to verify a native report of the murder
of two whites in that locality. The result of his investigation
was to convince him that although a murder had been committed
there, the men he was in search of had not come so far south. He
accordingly made for Separation Well, and then northward as far
as latitude twenty-one degrees. His intention was to push on to
Johanna Springs, but his provisions were now almost exhausted,
and he was compelled to strike across the desert to Braeside,
where he arrived on June 21st, after a journey of goo miles,
during which the lives of his party were several times in
jeopardy, owing to scarcity of water and the treachery of the
natives.
Mr. Wells' melancholy mission was attended with more success,
and it was left for him, the brave leader of a devoted
expedition, to ultimately rescue the bodies of his lost
companions from an unknown resting-place. On the first of May he
returned to Derby (West Australia) with the news that he had
discovered traces of the missing men, and the following telegram,
dated Perth, [Page 34] June 10th, 1897, lifted the veil
which for seven long months had shrouded in mystery the fate of
the two hapless explorers:
"The bodies of Charles Wells and George Jones, the
two missing members of the Calvert Exploring Expedition, have
been recovered in the desert. The men had evidently died of
thirst. Jones had been keeping a diary as long as he was able to
do so; in it he speaks of the terrible heat experienced, the loss
of the camels of the expedition, and the final and unsuccessful
search of the men for water."
The details of the last stages of the anxious and arduous
research, which culminated in the recovery of the remains, is
told in Mr. Wells' two graphic telegrams to Mr. Magarey. The
first, despatched from Derby, is as follows:
"I have just arrived here. The party is all well. The
search has been partly successful, but unsatisfactory. We left
Gregory Station on March 30th, with Keartland, Trainer, Bejah,
and two natives, Wandy and Dick. We also had the native, Peter.
We travelled up the Nerine Creek to Mount Arthur, and thence
south-easterly for fifty miles. Peter here got some natives and
questioned them regarding the report of Gregory. They denied the
truth of it, and declared that they only knew of my previous
trips through this country. I arranged for two of these natives
to come on with me to the next tribe, the Kammara. We then
travelled in a south-south-easterly direction to a poor soakage
well—the furthest one these natives knew of. They then
offered to go westerly. I pointed to smoke almost due south, and
told them I was going to that point. Next morning we saw the
smoke in front of us, and shortly afterwards cut the fresh track
of a black fellow going north-west. I sent the natives to track
him, [Page
35] and continued on. Wandy caught a gin, who took us to a
poor soakage well. I encountered two old gins there, and
explained that I wanted water for the camels. They pointed in
several other directions for other water. The camels, after
further travelling south, were knocking up, when we reached good
spring water; and the natives told us that there was another well
to the south-east, not very far distant. I found, on thorough
examination around the spring, that there was nothing to indicate
that whites had ever been there, except that on a shady leichardt
there I saw a distinct mark on the bark in the shape of a large
diamond. Keartland and I endeavoured to remove the bark and young
wood, but found that the old wood was decayed by dry rot.
"I was obliged to spell the camels at the spring, and four more
natives arrived. I saw that one of them had round his waist a
piece of cloth, which I recognised as being from a pair of my
cousin's trousers. I took hold of the cloth, without asking any
questions, and one of the other natives said, 'Dead man,' 'dead
white fellow,' pointing at the same time a little south of west.
I asked them if there was one man dead, and they corrected me by
saying two were dead. This they repeated often, and pointed
always in the same direction. They also repeatedly tried to
explain that there were only bones—that there was nothing
left of the bodies. Keartland gave a handkerchief in exchange for
the cloth. None of the natives knew a word of English. During the
evening two of the Kammara men signified their willingness to
take us to the dead men. As usual, we sent all the natives,
excepting our own boys, out of the camp to sleep, telling the two
who were to accompany us to come back early.
"Next morning, April 11th, I found all the natives had cleared
out during the night. I then suspected foul play, and that the
natives were afraid to show me the spot. Following the directions
given by the natives on April 12th, I travelled nearly due west
seventeen miles, and next day nine miles further, crossing my
[Page
36] track of last October without seeing anything of it. I
then altered my course south-easterly for the smoke, and eight
miles further on this bearing bore a fresh track of a native
going our way. I ran the track for one mile and camped, sending
Nandy on along the track to ascertain if the natives were close
to us. On returning, he reported four or five natives camped
about one mile further on, and he said there were some gins and
children. Anticipating no trouble in taking one of these, and
afraid that they would discover our presence before morning, I
left Keartland and Trainer in charge of the camp, and started on
foot with Bejah and two boys with their clothes off.
"On arriving at the last sand-ridge I picked up an old summer
wurley geological map of West Australia, which I had supplied my
cousin with. I saw no tracks of natives near it, but on the flat,
about fifteen chains distant, I saw two black fellows standing up
with other natives under a tree. I made the boys show themselves,
and called out. Seven armed natives, with spears, boomerangs, and
waddies immediately came out and challenged us. Bejah became
excited, and wanted to fire at them, and the boys got behind and
said, 'Look out, boss, him sulky.' Leaving Bejah and the boys, I
advanced, calling to them to come up, and giving them a sign to
put their weapons down. This they refused to do till I walked up
to them and took hold of their spears. They then kept close to
their weapons, and tried to get hold of my rifle several times.
Bejah had to deal with three of them, and was pushing them off
with the end of his gun.
"In the camp I saw two enamel plates, a quart pot, my cousin's
tomahawk, with his initial 'F', which we all saw him burn on the
handle at the depôt, and other articles. I questioned the natives
about these things, and also about the two whites, but they
refused to say a word, and wanted me to clear out. I tried to
coax them over to the camp for food, but they kept too close to
their spears, and refused the invitation made by the boys. I
[Page
37] picked up the property of my cousin which we saw, at
which the natives demurred. They were especially unwilling to
part with the tomahawk. We returned to camp before dark, and on
the following morning went over to the well and made a thorough
search, and found a pack-bag in a tree, and a set of spare hobble
rings, a quantity of hoop iron from water cask, some pieces of
camel riding saddle rope, some kapok from pillows, some pieces of
clothing, and part of a blue blanket.
"I saw no signs of camels having been about the well, no tree was
marked, and there was nothing to show that my cousin and Jones
were at this well. There were no instruments, no journal, and
nothing on the plan found to give any information. The natives
had all cleared, and I had lost the opportunity of getting one. I
could not have taken one of the seven without a struggle, or
shooting some of the others. Had I known there were so many of
them I should have taken Keartland and Trainer as well. I also
recognised one of the natives as one of the eleven who were lying
in wait for my party last October.
"Another native showed a wound in his arm like a bullet hole, and
said that the white fellow had done it. The goods recovered have
evidently been in the possession of the natives for some time;
and the natives at this well, and at Johanna Springs, had only
been in either locality for a day or two, as all the other tracks
seen in either neighbourhood were too old to follow. On April
15th, I reached Johanna Springs to water the camels, but saw no
more smokes. On April 16th we travelled west seventeen miles, and
on the next day examined the country north and south of the camp.
I found no more waters, and was unable to run down the old tracks
of natives. During the afternoon Wandy found a poor-soakage well
seven miles north-east of the camp, but there was no sign here of
a camp. We camped three miles further north, travelled north-west
again, and crossed my old track without seeing it, following
during the day the same course.
[Page
38] Two camels knocked up during the morning, but,
fortunately, we came upon some old natives' camp, and found a
good well of water.
"On April 20th we spelled camels at the well, and next day
started for Gilligulli Creek, and reached the river on April
26th. We here met a native, who told me that Peter had gone west
after leaving me in the desert, and had met other natives who had
told him there was one dead man and two dead camels with a pack
saddle, three pack bags, blankets, and papers, about thirty-five
miles south-east of Mount Arthur. I asked the native how all were
dead at one spot, and he said Peter told him the natives had
speared the camels and the man, and they had lied to me when
being questioned before. Peter did not return to Gregory, but
stayed on at Nearima Creek.
"There is no doubt in my mind that one or two men are dead near
the well where I found the goods in possession of the natives,
and that murder has been committed by the natives. I saw that
another search must be made south-east of Mount Arthur, and I
wish to return there. The party should consist of camels and
horses, and, say, four white men, including two police officers
and two natives. Power should be given to arrest the natives and
make them show where the dead man is. Keartland and Trainer can
return by the next boat. During this last trip the camels have
travelled over 500 miles. We found it intensely hot in the
sandhills, and the rainfall has been very light."
On May 10th, Mr. L. A. Wells, accompanied by Sub-inspector
Ord, Trooper Nicholson, two trackers and the faithful Afghan
Bejah, set out from Derby with camels and horses to recover and
bring back the remains which they now felt so confident of
locating. They left Gregory's on the 14th May, and travelled
via Mount [Page 39] Arthur to the spot where the white
men and camels were reported, but found the report groundless.
The following description is taken from Mr. Wells's next telegram
to Mr. Magarey, dated June 10th, 1897:—
"Cutting a new pad from there, we travelled to
Ngoaaddapa and Kullga Agunum to a point about fourteen miles
north-north-east of Johanna Springs. On May 24th we sent Bejah
and a tracker along the pad to Johanna. Ord, Nicholson and
myself, with the other tracker, pushed on in the direction of
smoke seen the previous day, and after going fourteen miles we
ran some natives down in their camp. Here we found a large piece
of the iron bow of a camel riding saddle. The natives said it was
taken from dead white men, and added that the sun had killed
them. The natives were bold, and refused to go with us until the
handcuffs were used. They tried many devices to avoid going to
Johanna Springs, Ord and Nicholson having to drive them.
"After that we spelled a day at Johanna, and tried to induce the
natives to point out the direction of the dead men, but without
success. The following day we travelled the pad, going westerly
twelve miles, when we reached a high point from which we obtained
a good view of the surrounding country. Here again we tried the
natives, but they would eagerly point in any direction except
that in which they knew the dead men to be. It was found
necessary to resort to stronger measures, and they then took us
south-east for five miles, and south-west for two miles, to the
spot for which we had so long been seeking. It is only six miles
from the well where I found the stolen goods last April, on a
true bearing of fifty-seven degrees, and only twenty chains
north-east of my track between the well and Johanna Springs.
"I at once recognised Charles by his beard and features, the skin
having dried on his face and body. He lay under a desert gum
tree, where he had been erecting a fly for a shade. On the
[Page
40] top of a sand ridge, about one chain westerly, the
remains of George Jones were found. The body had evidently been
covered with sand by Charles, who had then gone to the other tree
to wait death itself. The natives had carried off everything of
any use to themselves. The woodwork of both kegs, portions of the
camel pack-saddle and one riding saddle, one leather pack-bag, a
leather satchel, Jones's compass, a Prayer Book, a leather pouch,
a tin box with medicines, a journal, and a note to his parents
were close by him. We could find no plan or any letter left by
Charles. All the firearms had been carried off by the
natives.
"Jones's journal was kept up to the time of returning to
Separation Well, nine days after we left it, and there was no
entry after that time. From the journal and the note I gather
that they travelled on a bearing from 290 deg. to 300 deg. for
four and a-half days, a distance of eighty-one miles; then
north-east for thirteen miles; then, without giving any bearing
or distance, travelling south-easterly to the outgoing track,
which they followed to Separation Well. The journal of Jones
speaks of intense heat and the absence of camel feed; of having
searched for water without success, and of the fact that both he
and Charles were feeling unwell.
"In his letter he says that after resting five days at Separation
Well, they started following the tracks. Soon after one camel
died. They then had to walk until they became exhausted. He also
speaks of the terrible heat. After arriving at the spot where we
found the bodies, they lost their remaining camels, and were both
too weak to follow them. Jones tried, two days before writing his
letter, to go after them; but after travelling half-a-mile he
became unwell and had to return. At the time of writing there
were but two quarts of water left, and he said they did not
expect to live much longer.
"There was no date to this letter, but from his statement they
must have left Separation Well on October 23rd. They probably
[Page
41] travelled by night and lost my track. Allowing fifteen
days, they would have reached the spot where we found them about
November 8th. From what we saw of the spot where the equipment
was, it would appear that my cousin's riding camel had died, and
that they had left his saddle, bringing everything else on. The
remains are sewn up in canvas and will be placed in coffins here,
ready for removal to Adelaide by the next boat."
The result of the long search thus brought to light one of the
most pathetic stories in the history of Australian exploration.
Lying within a few yards of each other, among the sand ridges of
a country described as "a scene of awful desolation", were the
bodies of Charles F. Wells and his boy companion—for Jones
was a lad under twenty years of age, who had not long finished
his college course at Adelaide. Looking at the dates, it is
probable that the ill-fated pair reached their last camp just
about the time when Mr. L. A. Wells, with the main body of the
expedition, in the last stages of exhaustion, struck the Fitzroy
River.
This was on November 6th, and guess-work brings the two
victims to the spot where their remains were found—not more
than a march from Johanna Springs—about November 8th. Thus
they were past all hope of help before news of their peril
arrived. They were dead when they were first reported missing;
and they died, not mercifully by the spear of the blacks, but
were doomed to face a lingering death from thirst and weakness,
with the pitiless sun above them and the scorched desert on every
side. It is possible—since Jones's letter [Page 42] was
undated—that the wanderers, exhausted and half dazed, had
lost count of time in the last stages of their sufferings. With
camels gone, water and provisions spent, despair must have
gripped them long before the end came. There was nothing for it
but to lie down and die, and the lot of the man who lived longest
was the worst.
Dr. Jefferies, in the course of his funeral address in
Adelaide, pictured the scene with vivid, impressive eloquence;
the death of Jones, the solitary, awful, digging of the grave by
his friend Charles Wells, and then—"was it hours after, or
days? he too lay down to die. To die! When death comes to us in
our own home, with our beloved to minister to our last wants, we
resign ourselves to the common lot. But when the sensitive,
shrinking human spirit is conscious that the pitiless forces of
Nature are advancing to destroy, when the dread angel of Death
comes on the wings of the desert air, ah! then death is terrible
indeed. To die, cut off in the midst of days, overpowered by the
material energies that God intended to be our servants, to die in
a Sahara of sand, blinded by the glare of the sun, suffocated by
heat, parched by thirst; to die, never more to look on green
fields and the many-tinted flowers, never more to walk the
streets of the city, or to join with the multitude that keeps
holiday; never more to see father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters far away, but just to die!"
The Calvert Exploring expedition.
[Click on the map to enlarge it.]
[Page
43]
But, as Dr. Jefferies testified in the peroration of his
Australia's address, "This sad calamity, for which all Australia
Tribute mourns, is the old, old story of the advance guard of the
race, toiling with bleeding feet in the desert ways, and toiling
often to death in order that the millions might safely follow.
These men were true sons of Britain—eager, adventurous,
bold. Britain is what she is to-day, mistress of the seas. Queen
ruler of one-fourth of the children of men, because of the noble
army of martyrs who have laid down their lives for their
country.
"'Never the lotus closes, never the wild fowl
wake,
But a soul goes out to the east wind that died
for England's sake;
Man, or woman, or suckling, mother, or bride,
or maid;
Because on the flag of the English the English
flag is stayed.'"
Success in exploration is as much an inspiring, national, and
individual object in Australia as victory in war ever was in the
old world; and when men, who have accepted the risk for the love
of the work, and in the spirit of adventure which characterises
the race, fall victims to untoward circumstances, their friends
and fellow-countrymen should honour their bravery, as well as
lament their fate:
"They never fail who die in a great cause!"
In the dusk of the twilight, on a peaceful Sabbath Day, July
18th, 1897, the last sad scene in the tragedy of the Calvert
Expedition was performed in the North Road Cemetery, Adelaide. In
this beautiful burial ground the remains of Charles Frederick
Wells and [Page 44] George Lindsay Jones were committed
to their last resting-place, in the presence of a mourning
multitude. The tragic and pathetic circumstances surrounding the
dying hours of these two brave fellows, who died facing fearful
odds in the stern and awful solitude of the Austral wastes,
touched the tender chord of the public heart and attuned it to
intense sympathy. A preliminary service, held in the Exhibition
building, was attended by some five thousand persons, and the
funeral procession, which was arranged by the Government, was
over a mile long. It was headed by the military, followed by
representatives of Masonic and other societies, civil servants,
and members of former exploring expeditions. The coffins were
borne on a gun carriage, surmounted by the Union Jack, which had
been presented to the party by Lady Victoria Buxton. The
pallbearers included Mr. L. A. Wells, Mr. David Lindsay, Mr. J.
A. Keartland, Mr. A. T. Magarey (representing Mr. Albert F.
Calvert), and representatives of the Royal Geographical
Society.
Map Showing the Route and Discoveries of the
Calvert Exploring Expedition—1. (Northern Sheet only).
[State Records Office of Western Australia,
Plan Series 50 Cons. 3423 Item 097A]
[Click on the map to enlarge it.]
Map Showing the Route and Discoveries of the
Calvert Exploring Expedition—2. L.A.Wells's maps.
[National Library of Australia,
Maps rm2892-a1-sd-cd and rm2892-b1-sd-cd]
[Click on the map to enlarge it.]
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