Of Leichhardt’s sad fate in the interior of Australia no tidings have ever been heard.  On this fatal journey, which occurred in 1848, he undertook the too gigantic task of crossing Australia from east to west, that is to say, from Moreton Bay to Swan River.  Even at that period, however, the eastern interior was not all entirely unknown, as Mitchell’s Victoria River or Barcoo, and the Cooper’s and Eyre’s Creeks of Sturt had already been discovered.  The last-named watercourse lay nearly 1000 miles from the eastern coast, in latitude 25 degrees south, and it is reasonable to suppose that to such a point Leichhardt would naturally direct his course—­indeed in what was probably his last letter, addressed to a friend, he mentions this watercourse as a desirable point to make for upon his new attempt.  But where his wanderings ended, and where the catastrophe that closed his own and his companions’ lives occurred, no tongue can tell.  After he finally left the furthest outlying settlements at the Mount Abundance station, he, like the lost Pleiad, was seen on earth no more.  How could he have died and where? ah, where indeed?  I who have wandered into and returned alive from the curious regions he attempted and died to explore, have unfortunately never come across a single record or any remains or traces of those long lost but unforgotten braves.  Leichhardt originally started on his last sad venture with a party of eight, including one if not two native black boys.  Owing, however, to some disagreement, the whole party returned to the starting point, but being reorganised it started again with the same number of members.  There were about twenty head of bullocks broken in to carry pack-loads; this was an ordinary custom in those early days of Australian settlement.  Leichhardt also had two horses and five or six mules:  this outfit was mostly contributed by the settlers who gave, some flour, some bullocks, some money, firearms, gear, etc., and some gave sheep and goats; he had about a hundred of the latter.  The packed bullocks were taken to supply the party with beef, in the meantime carrying the expedition stores.  The bullocks’ pack-saddles were huge, ungainly frames of wood fastened with iron-work, rings, etc.

Shortly after the expedition made a second start, two or three of the members again seceded, and returned to the settlements, while Leichhardt and his remaining band pushed farther and farther to the west.

Although the eastern half of the continent is now inhabited, though thinly, no traces of any kind, except two or three branded trees in the valley of the Cooper, have ever been found.  My belief is that the only cause to be assigned for their destruction is summed up in the dread word “flood.”  They were so far traced into the valley of the Cooper; this creek, which has a very lengthy course, ends in Lake Eyre, one of the salt depressions which baffled that explorer.  A point on the southern shore is now known as Eyre’s Lookout.