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In the meantime, Winnecke had explored 205 kilometres to the northeast as far as Mount Ultim. The discoveries
of the Hale and Bundey Rivers with good pastoral country, as well as ‘rubies’ (actually garnets) in the Harts Range,
were to be of later significance. He also travelled to the north-west to Central Mount Stuart, the Lander River and
Reynolds Ranges, returning via the Stuart Bluff and MacDonnell Ranges to the west of Alice Springs. Including
Mount Polhill (50 kilometres south of Alice Springs), he established approximately 50 trigonometrical stations
throughout the afore-said area and named many predominant landmarks.
After receiving command, Winnecke set out with three men and a ‘black boy’ to follow his previous north east
route along the Waite and Sandover Rivers to the north of the Jervois Range. Lack of water and scurvy forced their
return to Alice Springs without reaching the border.
Following the surveyor-general’s instruction, Winnecke reprovisioned in Alice Springs prior to travelling to
Tennant Creek (April 1879), from where they easily made it to the Herbert (Georgina) River. In May 1880,
after completing his survey work, they headed southwest from Lake Nash to the Jervois Range and then south
to the Plenty River to form a ‘connection with Barclay’s work’. Lack of water and scurvy again afflicted them
and instead of proceeding west to Alice Springs, they retraced their steps, reaching Barrow Creek in November.
En route to Adelaide he carried out a check survey of the Overland Telegraph.
In 1883, Winnecke was leader of the South Australian government’s Northern Exploration Party. The party
entered the Territory on 24 July via the Northern Territory/South Australia/Queensland (Peoppel’s) Corner but then
continued to the north-east through Queensland ‘encountering difficulty with the sand dunes and general lack of
water’ until they reached Sandringham Station where he was to have received some horses. The horses were not
there and to avoid any further delay he decided to complete the work with camels alone. Heading north-northwest
they re-entered the Northern Territory of South Australia almost due east of Alice Springs on 13 September.
Travelling northwest up the (dry) Field River to Adam Range, they then went northwest until reaching the
Hay River and following it north toward the Jervois Range until they reached the Goyder Pillars on Tarlton
Range. Winnecke was now back in the country he and Barclay had previously reached from the opposite direction.
To the north was ‘the Central Mount Hawker of my former explorations. This mountain is exactly in the centre
of Australia, a spot which many explorers have vainly tried to discover’. The last time he was in this country,
Winnecke had ‘lost his horse with his boots, requiring him to walk nearly 500 kilometres ‘without any boots to
protect my feet’. This time a wild dog carried off one of his boots that was ‘a most unfortunate occurrence... as the
grounds, bushes etc are literally covered in burrs’.
Winnecke followed the Hay River south to its flood-out country. After investigating the grazing potential of
these plains, his party completed the third side of a triangle, returning northeast to a previous, and well-watered,
campsite on the headwaters of the Field River. From there, they returned to Sandringham Station on 12 October.
After several days repairing equipment, Winnecke then went to Palparara Station (12 days to the south-east).
He spent a week there with Adam Hay, who was to have supplied the horses and after whom he named the
Adam Ranges and Hay River, ‘plotting up and writting [sic] up my diary from notes taken in the field’.
In November, he made a hurried journey down the Strzelecki track to Beltana to catch the train to Adelaide,
arriving on 2 December.
In 1894, a scientific and photographic expedition was organised and promoted by W A Horn of Adelaide.
The party included four scientists representing the universities of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide [E Stirling,
W Baldwin Spencer, J Watt and R Tate] as well as two naturalists and two government prospectors in addition to
four camel drivers, a cook and various Aborigines.
After departing from Oodnadatta on 4 May, the expedition followed the transcontinental telegraph line as far
as Crown Point. They then went up the Finke River to Idracowra Station, from which an excursion was made
to Chambers Pillar. They continued up the river to Henbury Station from where several local excursions were
made.
The river was followed as far as the James Range, at which stage they headed west, skirting the range, to
the Palmer River and Tempe Downs. Several days were spent in this area, and on the Levi Range to the south,
undertaking their various scientific studies. They also received stores ordered from Stuart (Alice Springs).
Their departure took them up the Petermann Creek between these two ranges until they reached the Gill Range
and Kings Creek. After examining Carmichael Crag (Kings Canyon) the party split into two.
While four of the party went to photograph Ayers Rock and Mount Olga to the southwest, the rest of the party
undertook a more detailed examination of the country to the north. The main party first moved west to examine
the fossiliferous deposits at Laurie Creek where ‘some perfect specimens of rare fossils were obtained’; then north
on to the Vale of Tempe and the Tarn of Auber at Glen Edith. They then went northeast through the MacDonnell
Ranges, along the Mereenie Valley. Here the prospectors diligently examined the metalliferous rocks—the first
found on the expedition. Mount Sonder, Mount Zeil, Haasts Bluff and some lesser features were correctly charted
and their exact heights determined.
In this area, Winnecke and Stirling located and removed a large number of Aboriginal ceremonial objects
including wooden and stone tablets. They left behind ‘a number of tomahawks, large knives and other things in
their place, sufficient commercially to make the transaction an equitable exchange’.
The complete party was reunited at nearby Glen Helen with the return of the Ayers Rock photographers.
Proceeding down the Finke River to Hermannsburg, several days were spent visiting the ‘Glen of Palms’. While a
small contingent detoured via Paisley’s and Brinkley’s Bluffs, the rest took a direct course to Alice Springs,
arriving on 15 July.
Three days later most of the expedition left on their return journey following the Telegraph Line south.
Those members who had gone east to inspect the ruby fields joined them en route. The whole party arrived back at