The Explorers
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Average rating3.5
The explorers of Australia tell their stories of courage and suffering, of dispossession and conquest, of a moving frontier between European invaders and the Aborigines who had been living on the continent for thousands of years. The stories in Tim Flannery's compelling anthology document almost four centuries of exploration. Many beggar belief: Charles Sturt weathering grotesque desert heat, the Maori chief Te Pahi saving the lives of condemned thieves in Sydney in 1805, the ruthless massacre of aborigines by the Jardine brothers in North Queensland. Brilliantly edited and introduced by Tim Flannery this is the most remarkable body of non-fiction writing ever produced in Australia.
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Tim Flannery writes a compelling introduction to this collection of many tales of the exploration of Australia. In it he praises the massive contribution the Aboriginal guides and trackers made to keeping the Europeans alive - the Europeans who took the glory of being named discoverers and those first to complete various routes and circuits. Of course there was little achieved that the Aborigines had not already done.
They were not all willing guides, and not all of them helped. There were some men murdered by their assistant's, and some were abandoned to their fate. Some were unhelpful in all aspects of travel, unwilling to engage with other tribes, unwilling to carry another persons equipment, and unwilling to contribute to hunting. But in the main part though, these guides were the reason the Europeans stayed alive - they would select the route, find water and food, negotiate with other tribes and provide warnings of conditions and other dangers.
As to the stories of the explorers, there are just over sixty stories from Willem Jansz in 1606 to WJ Peasley in 1977. For each there is an introduction (by Flannery) to set the scene a small key map showing the approximate location, then an excerpt. The excerpts range from a page in length to 10 or 15 pages, and are taken from the explorers writing - books, diaries or letters.
Like many books of this ilk, the excerpts whet the appetite and don't always satisfy. Some are slightly dull, but most have something to offer. Many are familiar to those with any pervious reading of exploration in Australia, and equally as many are obscure.
There were ups and downs, at 385 pages it is a bit of a slog, but pretty easy to dip in and out of. I have read some of the source material, some of the books, and some books about the explorers, but was interested enough in more of these stories to want to read more.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
