Edward John Eyre Edward John Eyre (5 August 181530 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and Governor of Jamaica. Early life Eyre was born in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, shortly before his family moved t ...

made two expeditions into the interior of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

in 1839. At the time nobody had been any further than the head of

Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe a ...

. The first expedition, in May, set out from Adelaide. It is not exactly clear how far north he reached before turning back, but somewhere in the

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabit ...

. The second expedition, in August, sailed to Port Lincoln, and struck out west following the coast to

Streaky Bay Streaky the Supercat is a fictional superhero cat that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #261 (February 1960) and was created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. He is Supergirl's pet cat who g ...

. Forced back again by inhospitable conditions, he went east and then further north than the previous attempt, eventually finding the lake that is now called

Lake Torrens Lake Torrens ( Kuyani: ''Ngarndamukia'') is a large ephemeral, normally endorheic salt lake in central South Australia. After sufficiently extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the Spencer Gulf. Is ...

. Eyre made a third trip north in June 1840, this time reaching what is now known as

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains ...

. A fourth trip began in February 1841, this time determined to reach

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

. The trek began at Fowlers Bay and reached Albany in July, a trip of 1600 km (1000 miles).

North

Having made a tidy profit of several thousand pounds from his second overlanding trip, the young Eyre (then only twenty-three years old) turned his attention to the interior, and the speculation surrounding the possibility of an inland sea. Planning a three-month expedition to the head of the

, he left

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

with five other men on May 1, 1839, taking two drays and travelling north for the coastal plain west of the

. He named the Broughton River after William Broughton, the Anglican Bishop of Australia, and proceeded northward past the head of the gulf to establish camp halfway between The Dutchmans Stern and

Mount Arden Mount Arden is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located about north of the state capital of Adelaide city centre, Adelaide and about north of the municipal seat in Port Augusta. Mount Arden's boundaries were created on ...

at a small creek with permanent springs in it: he named this Depot Creek and was to return to it several times in future years. From this camp he espied a low range of hills to the west, and sent his companion John Baxter to investigate - this range he later named the

Baxter Range Baxter may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * Baxter Building, in the Marvel Comics universe * Baxter Stockman, in ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' * Baxter, a character in the animated web series ''Hazbin Hotel'' * Mr Baxter ...

; it lies north of the town of Iron Knob. Eyre himself set off north along the margin of the Flinders. Finding little water (the pools of water in Willochra Creek were salty), he made for a hill some 30 km north-west of the later town of Hawker. From the summit he had his first view of

; he later wrote that it "seemed to be water", but he realised it was merely the "dry and glazed bed of where water had lodged" - a

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre) ...

. To the north-east he noted that the ranges continued; "tier behind tier of very rocky appearance as far as the eye could reach". This was almost certainly the first time that a European had glimpsed the peaks of Wilpena Pound. After returning to camp and a brief foray 50 km down the western side of Spencer Gulf with Baxter, Eyre decided to return southwards. He was dissatisfied with the

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to ''Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

country (as he described it, "sandy desert interspersed with scrub"), not realising the grazing potential of the saltbush. On his return trip he turned east after leaving the Flinders behind and instead travelled back to Adelaide down the River Murray, reaching home on June 29. The Governor soon named his northernmost point

Mount Eyre E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plu ...

West and north again

Restless, Eyre dallied little before setting sail for Port Lincoln on his 24th birthday, 5 August 1839. His small party travelled along the coast to the vicinity of

before Eyre struck out alone with an Aboriginal companion. They reached their farthest point some west of the modern site of Ceduna, forced back by lack of water. It was during this trip that they passed

Lake Newland A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

, which Eyre named after his friend

Richard Francis Newland Richard Francis Newland (died 1 August 1873) was a banker and politician in the colony of South Australia, appointed as an acting non-official member of the Legislative Council of South Australia, serving from January 1847 to July 1847. History ...

. Eyre then led his party across country back to the head of Spencer Gulf and their old campsite at Depot Creek, visiting and naming the Gawler Ranges (for the Governor) on the way. Determined to explore farther, he travelled north alone, this time going about farther than Mount Eyre, reaching a peak a little south-west of modern-day Leigh Creek. From here he saw that Lake Torrens was now filled with water, but it still blocked his path. He was compelled to return, being without any support. Back at camp he conferred with Baxter, whom he had sent east. Baxter is assumed to have crossed the

Willochra Plain The Willochra Plain is a wide plain situated east of Port Augusta, South Australia. The area falls in the view from Mount Brown Lookout and from walking trails in The Dutchmans Stern Conservation Park. History The traditional owners of the area ...

, and after traveling some , he had seen what he called nothing but a "low flat sea of scrub". Eyre returned to Adelaide directly, visiting and giving glowing reports of what was to become the

Clare Valley The Clare Valley is a valley located in South Australia about north of Adelaide in the Clare and Gilbert Valleys council area. It is the river valley formed by the Hutt River but is also strongly associated with the roughly parallel Hill Riv ...

Notes

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References

* Mincham, Hans (1964), ''The Story of the Flinders Ranges'', Adelaide: Rigby Publishers. * '' Historical Records of Australia'', Series I, Volume XX, p. 875: Note 151. Australian expeditions Exploration of Australia History of South Australia Lake Eyre basin 1839 in Australia