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passed. Perhaps one of the contributing causes of jealousy by the geologist was the naming of the Baines River, a
major tributary of the Victoria, which Wilson insisted should be called the Norton Shaw River, after the secretary
of the Royal Geographical Society.
Gregory’s main thrust into the interior, seeking the long hoped for inland sea (one of the principal objects of the
expedition), began in January 1856, and lasted three and a half months. The river led the explorers not to an inland
sea but to the barren emptiness of the Great Sandy Desert. Baines travelled half the distance with Gregory, and was
then left to form a depot, near Mt Sanford, to which Gregory would return after penetrating the interior.
Although much of the country around Depot Creek, as it was subsequently named, was difficult to explore,
it was nevertheless fascinating for Baines. Indeed, working conditions were not radically different from those he
had known in Africa. The light intensity was the same, much of the country ruggedly similar, and camp life was
comparable with what he had known in the African bush. The importance of his work, and his compelling desire to
record as many of the explorers’ discoveries and activities as possible, gave Baines a great feeling of exhilaration
which showed through strongly in his work.
On returning, the explorers found the base camp in a deplorable state. Most of the schooner’s crew were
down with scurvy, supplies were scarce due to mismanagement and salt-water damage, and morale was low.
Gregory instructed Baines to take the Tom Tough, only partially repaired after it had grounded on a shoal in the
Victoria River, to Kupang, in Dutch Timor, to obtain food. He was then told to rendezvous with the overland party,
attempting to cross the continent to the east coast at the Albert River in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Baines’ problems were compounded by the presence and provocations of Wilson (who by this time had resigned
from the expedition), inadequate cooking facilities on board for the crew as well as for the captain’s large family,
insubordination, general disrepair of the schooner and scurvy. After minor repairs were undertaken in the fetid
little settlement of Kupang, Wilson had the majority of the men successfully petition the Government Resident
into declaring the Tom Tough unsafe for travel to the Albert River. Thus, on travelling a further 1300 kilometres
to Surabaya, where repair facilities existed, Baines determined it more expedient to engage another vessel, the
brigantine Messenger, than to wait for the repairs demanded by the Dutch authorities. Baines’ impatience resulted
from his knowing that Gregory would be waiting for supplies at the Albert River.
The return journey proved to be intolerably slow; so slow, in fact, that Baines decided to take the brig’s
longboat and try to rendezvous even sooner, for he believed that he could reach his destination, the Albert—
a little less than 1600 kilometres away—in three weeks or so. The three-man crew in the longboat journeyed for
20 days—from Croker Island, roughly north of Darwin, to Sweet Island, north of Burketown. The hardships and
dangers encountered were incredible. On one occasion Aborigines attacked the crew, and several times the boat
was almost wrecked. Worst of all was the fact that Baines arrived too late to rendezvous with Gregory, who had
passed through two months earlier. The Messenger, however, was waiting, ‘flying her burgee and firing her guns
to welcome the adventurers’. She had taken advantage of favourable winds further out to sea, and so passed the
hapless trio unnoticed.
Thomas Baines and his men arrived in Port Jackson on 1 April 1857, almost two years after their departure
from Sydney, with one of the most complete collections of sketches and canvasses ever made on an expedition.
Gregory, in praise of Baines, wrote in his official report to Sir William Denison: ‘I consider it my duty in this
place to recommend his conduct throughout the expedition for the approval of His Excellency, as he has shown
considerable energy and judgement in carrying out his instructions, and a constant desire to carry out the object of
the Expedition.’ The Governor, in turn, reported ‘in almost identical language’ to the Colonial Secretary.
Leaving Australia, Baines returned to the African bush—to painting, some exploring and, in later life, to
politics. His first, and apparently only, love was his painting. He died a bachelor near Durban on 8 May 1875, of
dysentery. His portrayal of northern Australia, through his sketches, watercolours and oils, can only be regarded as
unique, as he was the first man to visually record the inland of the Northern Territory.
T Baines & W B Lord, Shifts and Expedints of Camp Life, Travel and Exploration, 1871; W Birman Gregory of Rainworth, 1979; J H L Cumpston,
Augustus Gregory and the Inland Sea, 1972; A C Gregory, Papers relating to an Expedition recently undertaken for the Purpose of Exploring
the Northern Portion of Australia, 1857; A C & F T Gregory, Journals of Australian Explorations, 1884; H J Hillen, ‘Thomas Baines of King’s
Lynn’, Lynn News, 1898; J Makin, ‘Forgotten Artist: Thomas Baines’, Parade, July 1972; J Makin, The Big Run, (2nd ed) 1983; J P R Wallis,
Thomas Baines, 1976; T Baines, ‘Additional Notes on the North Australian Expedition under Mr A C Gregory’, RGS Procs, vol 2, 1857–58;
T Baines, ‘The Explorer’s Christmas in Australia’, Leisure Hour, 1 December 1868; T Baines, Journal 30 January to 3 April 1857, Mitchell
Library, Sydney, ‘Sketches relating to the countries visited by the Northern Australian Expedition, A C Gregory—Commander’, M397, Royal
Geographical Society, London.
JOCK MAKIN, Vol 1.BALDOCK, DAVID ROY (DAVE) (1913– ), driver, road train operator, was born on 10 January 1913 at Mount
Cooper, South Australia, the son of Walter Robert Baldock and his wife Elizabeth Thomas, nee Boyd.
Baldock arrived in Alice Springs from South Australia by road in 1934 looking for work. Upon being told that
there were jobs in Tennant Creek, he travelled there but found that none of the numerous small mines offered him
employment. For six weeks he had to exist on the small amount of money he had saved. He eventually obtained
some casual work around the mines and later was employed by Harold Williams, helping in a store and driving
Williams’ truck to Alice Springs to pick up supplies from the fortnightly train.
In mid-1936 he moved to Alice Springs, where he drove for Charlie Simounds on his mail run to Huckitta
and various stations. The mail run was monthly, so in between trips he drove for Eric Miller on the weekly run
to Tennant Creek. He next drove trucks between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek for a couple of carriers but by