Tuesday, April 15, 1873. : Colonel Warburton sets out to cross the continent from central Australia to Perth.
Peter Egerton Warburton was born on 15 August 1813, at Northwich, Cheshire. He joined the navy at the tender age of 12, initially serving as a midshipman on the HMS Windsor Castle. He then served for many years in India before retiring in 1853. He then came to Australia, whereupon he was appointed to command the Police Forces of the Colony of South Australia, an office he held until 1867. It was during this time that he developed his love of exploring.
Warburton undertook numerous smaller expeditions, but his goal was to complete the first crossing of the central Australian continent from east to west. In 1872, he was selected by Sir Thomas Elder, a Member of the Legislative Council to lead an expedition in an attempt to find a route from central Australia to Perth, and to report on what sort of country lay in between. On 21 September 1872, Warburton departed Adelaide with his son Richard, two white men with bush knowledge, two Afghan camel drivers and a black-tracker. His purpose was to attempt to find an overland route from Alice Springs to Perth and determine the nature of the country in between. Warburton’s expedition departed Alice Springs on 15 April 1873.
The expedition was particularly hard-going. The men endured long periods of extreme heat with little water and survived only by killing the camels for their meat. After finally crossing the Great Sandy Desert, they arrived at the Oakover River, 800 miles north of Perth with Warburton strapped to one of the two remaining camels. Warburton received a grant of £1000 and his party received £500 from the South Australian parliament for the expedition.
Moya Sharp
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