Successful Exploration

Successful Exploration

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Title: Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia
Author: William John Wills
Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5816] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 6,
2002]

Edition: 10
Language: English
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SUCCESSFUL EXPLORATION ***

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SUCCESSFUL EXPLORATION
THROUGH THE INTERIOR OF
AUSTRALIA,
FROM MELBOURNE TO THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA.
FROM THE JOURNALS AND LETTERS OF
WILLIAM JOHN WILLS.
EDITED BY HIS FATHER, WILLIAM WILLS.
LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
PUBLISHER IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY. 1863.
DEDICATED,
BY PERMISSION,
TO HIS GRACE
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, K.G., ETC., ETC., ETC.
BY HIS GRACE'S
FAITHFUL SERVANT,
WILLIAM WILLS. JANUARY, 1863.
PREFACE.
A life terminating before it had reached its meridian, can scarcely be
expected to furnish materials for an extended biography. But the
important position held by my late son, as second in command in what
is now so well-known as the Burke and Wills Exploring Expedition
across the Island Continent of Australia; the complicated duties he
undertook as Astronomer, Topographer, Journalist, and Surveyor; the
persevering skill with which he discharged them, suggesting and

regulating the march of the party through a waste of eighteen hundred
miles, previously untrodden by European feet; his courage, patience,
and heroic death; his self-denial in desiring to be left alone in the desert
with scarcely a hope of rescue, that his companions might find a chance
for themselves;--these claims on public attention demand that his name
should be handed down to posterity in something more than a mere
obituary record, or an official acknowledgment of services.
A truthful, though brief, memoir of my son's short career, may furnish a
stimulating example, by showing how much can be accomplished in a
few years, when habits of prudence and industry have been acquired in
early youth. He fell a victim to errors not originating with himself; but
he resigned his life without a murmur, having devoted it to science and
his country. His death, with the circumstances attending it, furnishes an
application of the lines of a favourite poet, which he often quoted with
admiration:
Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And
departing leave behind us Footsteps on the sands of time; Footprints
that perhaps another, Sailing o'er Life's solemn main, A forlorn and
shipwreck'd brother, Seeing, shall take heart again.
The following pages are the only tribute a fond and mourning father
can offer to the memory of one who, while living, merited and
reciprocated his warmest affections.
WILLIAM WILLS.
London, January, 1863.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1
. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
Birth.--Infancy.--Boyhood and Early Education.--Youthful Traits of
Character.
CHAPTER 2
.
My two Sons leave England for Australia.--Incidents of the Voyage.
--Extracts from Journal.--Arrival at Port Phillip.--Melbourne.
--Employed as Shepherds in the Interior.--Mode of Life.--Melbourne in
1853.--Advice to Immigrants.--Descriptive Letters from the Bush.

CHAPTER 3
.
I arrive in Australia.--Join my two Sons at their Sheep-station. --Return
to Melbourne and Remove to Ballaarat.--Visit to Mr. Skene. --My son
studies Surveying.--His Rapid Proficiency.--Appointed to take Charge
of a Party.--Letters on various Subjects to his Mother and Brother at
Home.
CHAPTER 4
.
My Son is appointed to the Magnetic Observatory at Melbourne, under
Professor Neumayer.--His Rapid Advance in the Study of Magnetism
and Mineralogy.--Letters to his Relatives at Home, descriptive of his
Pursuits, Wishes, and Sentiments.--First suggestions of his Probable
Employment on the Exploring Expedition.
CHAPTER 5
.
Postponement of the Exploring Expedition projected at the beginning
of 1860.--My Son's Letter to his Sister on going into Society.--Mr.
Birnie's Opinion of him, and Extract from his Lecture.--Letter from
William to his Mother on Religious Views and Definitions of Faith.
--His last Communications to his family at Home, before the Departure
of the