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Eventually they came upon more and more evidence of Aborigines who had had contact with Europeans.
Friendly associations were established whenever circumstances allowed and the party travelled on, living on flying
foxes and native fruits, and as they approached, Port Essington being given occasional guided assistance by the
Aborigines. On 2 December, they met an Aboriginal who could speak some English and fifteen days later, they
arrived at Port Essington.
Although Gilbert had died and two other men had been wounded, the majority of the geological and botanical
specimens had had to be discarded and all of the men had suffered privations, the expedition was hailed as a great
success. Leichhardt was feted upon his arrival back in Sydney in April 1846, for he and his party had all been
presumed to have perished. As might be expected, Leichhardt enjoyed the time of his ‘resurrection’: ‘[I] popped
out of my grave, successful in my undertaking, and my pockets full of fine discoveries and reports of new country.’
His name became ‘a password to young Australians’ and over 2 500 Pounds were granted to him and the other
members of the party.
In very short time, Leichhardt was planning another expedition. Sturt had failed in his 1844–46 attempt to
discover an inland sea and to reach Central Australia, so here was another challenge. The journey would take at
least two years, its objects being ‘to explore the Interior of Australia, to discover the extent of Sturt’s Desert and
the character of the Western and North West Coast, and to observe the gradual change in vegetation and animal life
from one side of the Continent to the other’.
In December 1846, Leichhardt and seven men set out from the Darling Downs. Heavy rains and straying animals
delayed them, then fever struck. They were forced to return after travelling only 800 kilometres. A fortnight later
Leichhardt travelled to the Condamine River, and during July–August 1847 studied the country from there to
Mitchell’s exploratory track of 1846.
The account of the Moreton Bay–Port Essington exploration was published as Journal of An Overland
Expedition In Australia in 1847, confirming Leichhardt as the ‘Doctor’ dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge of
the natural world. His re-grouped expedition, gathered on the Darling Downs in February 1848, promised even
more; and yet it is probable that his experiences in the Northern Territory on the first major expedition had created
an impression that was to contribute to the eventual mystery of this, his final major expedition. He believed that
he could very largely live off the land but, as is now known, the game and vegetable foods of the country skirting
Sturt’s Stony Desert and the Simpson Desert are not in the prolific abundance that he had found in the Top End of
the Territory.
Leichhardt and his six men (some references suggest seven men) travelled west, using pack-mules instead of the
more conventional horse-drawn wagons to carry their supplies and equipment. They travelled via the Condamine
River to McPherson’s station, Cogoon, then the farthest west station in the Darling Downs country. In April 1848,
they left Cogoon and totally disappeared. Despite numerous searches in Queensland, northern New South Wales,
the Northern Territory and Western Australia, conclusive evidence about the party’s eventual fate has never been
forthcoming. The majority of claims about the finding of long-lost diaries, a survivor of the party or pieces of
equipment have been at best very suspect, and generally false. However, the discovery in 1938 of coins of pre-1848
date and fragments of old equipment on the south-western edge of the Simpson Desert suggest the possibility that
some, if not all, of the party perished at the location.
Leichhardt’s reputation in 1846 was as the ‘Prince of Explorers’. Since that time the publication of books and
articles by companions of his expedition, other explorers and historians have tarnished the image. Some of the
criticisms have been fair but many have been unwarranted, and recently there have been studies that have begun
to restore his reputation. Whatever his personal frailties, there can be no doubt that he greatly contributed to
knowledge of the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. In his disappearance, together with all of
his men, animals and equipment, he created one of Australia’s greatest and most enduring mysteries.
Leichhardt published many articles and a book in his brief time in Australia before his disappearance.
In addition, many of his letters have been published in collected form. His name is commemorated in a suburb of
Sydney, a major highway, the Leichhardt River and Falls, and a mountain range in Queensland, Mount Leichhardt,
west of Central Mount Stuart in Central Australia, Leichhardt Terrace in Alice Springs, and in the Top End of the
Northern Territory in monuments in Darwin and at the Roper Bar crossing of the Roper River; and no doubt as he
would most have appreciated, in the botanical names of numerous plant species.
The few surviving portraits, sketches and the bust of Leichhardt depict a lean man with dark, slightly wavy hair
and a direct gaze. He suffered poor eyesight but his did not prevent him from making accurate observations of the
natural world. The sketch by Mann suggests that he allowed his shoulders to slump forward a little and favoured a
Chinese ‘coolie’ style of hat, possibly to shade his eyes.
In recognition of his leadership of the remarkable Moreton Bay–Port Essington journey Leichhardt received
the King’s pardon for not having returned to Prussia for compulsory military service, his contributions to science
and general knowledge of the world formerly unknown to Europeans outweighing his breach of law. In April 1847,
the Geographical Society, Paris, awarded a share of the annual prize for the most significant discoveries in
geographic knowledge to Leichhardt, and a month later, the Royal Geographical Society, London, awarded him
the Patron’s medal in recognition of the increased knowledge of Australia’s geography. Thus, very widely in
Europe and throughout Australia he was honoured for his great achievements.
M Aurousseau (ed), The Letters Of F W Ludwig Leichhardt, vols 1, 2, 3, 1968; D Bunce, Travels with Dr Leichhardt in Australia, 1979
[1859]; A H Chisholm, Strange Journey, the Adventures of Ludwig Leichhardt and John Gilbert, 1973; G Connell, The Mystery of Ludwig
Leichhardt, 1980; E Favenc, The History of Australian Exploration 1788–1888, 1967 [1888]; M Harris, The Unknown Great Australian
and other Psychobiographical Portraits, 1983; Dr L Leichhardt, Journal of An Overland Expedition In Australia, nd. [1848]; B Peach,