Australian History

Prospecting Australia

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Roger Ramjet :)

River Facts

The Murray is the third longest navigable river in the world, after the Amazon and Nile
Total length - 2520 kilometres from its source in the Upper Murray and the Kosciusko National Park
The Murray is continuously navigable for 1986 kilometres from Goolwa to Yarrawonga
It spans three states - Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia
The river has 4 major dams, 16 storage weirs and 15 navigable locks
Is the major domestic water supply for over 1.5 million households
Along with its tributaries, the Murray is part of the third largest water catchment on earth
Aboriginal occupation goes back 40,000 years at Mungo National Park close by
For half a century from 1853, the Murray was a virtual water highway
The worlds largest canoe race is held each year on the Murray
Murray Cod can easily grow up to 1.8m in size
The Murray has the worlds largest redgum forest and ibis rookery on its banks
The Murray is a mecca for golfers with 37 golf courses along its banks

Your turn
 
During one of his 3 heroic attempts to cross Australia from south to north, John McDouall Stuart when in the center of Australia, somewhere between modern day Alice Springs and Daly Waters, He was astonished to find what?
I have 3 things in mind. I'll Accept 2 as correct ;)
 
Shoot, I read this the other day and my daughter had to take the book back to the school library :8

One of them was Ayres Rock ( named after the SA governor), can't remember another one 8.(

I do remember after he returned south ( he was the first to successfully return) the SA governor was convinced to invest in a telegraph line between Adelaide and Darwin. Two teams worked on the line, one from the north and one from the south and they met somewhere in the middle. Once the line was finally completed, Australia was linked to the rest of the world via a submersed sea cable.

Au
 
AU I believe you are referring to Giles, not Stuart....

It is impossible to say who endured the greater hardships, Stuart or Giles, but there is no question that Giles did it for less reward. No explorer was ever unluckier. In the same year that he lost Gibson in the desert and stumbled 120 miles through appalling heat, Giles also explored the central regions around the area known as Yulara. One day he struggled up a small rise and was confronted with a sight such as he could never have dreamed of finding. Before him, impossibly imposing, stood the most singular monolith on earth, the great red rock now known as Uluru. Hastening to Adelaide to report the find, he was informed that a man named William Christie Gosse had chanced upon it a few days ahead of him and had already named it Ayers Rock in honor of the South Australia governor.
 
You got me stumped on this one Ramjet :eek:

I have read from Alice to Daly & except for being attached at attack creek , I find nothing of significance
 
Thought it may be hard.
1 Met 3 Aboriginals, One of them gave the secret sign of the freemasons.
2 Found tracks of shod horses.
3 another Aboriginal who came into camp showed he could deftly tie shoe laces.
As they were the first white men to be in the area they were amazed.
No explanation has ever been found.

Take a turn Headbut.
 
Mate , they are amazing facts , but didn't find any of that , surprising :eek: .

I would assume that there was white man prior, or these Aboriginals had come from some other part of Australia, BUT the horse shoe prints don't to fit to that .

No your go again
 
I'm reading Bill Bryson's DOWNUNDER again.
Great book and he has the most amazing facts about our great country.
Don't know where he finds them.

One of our deserts was not named after an explorer or ruler as is the normal practice.
Who is it named for and why?
Easy one today.
 
The desert discovered in 1845 by the famous British explorer Charles Sturt was named as the Simpson Desert in 1939 by Cecil Madigan after Allen Simpson the President of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia
 
The name Simpson Desert was coined by Cecil Madigan, after Alfred Allen Simpson, an Australian industrialist, philanthropist, geographer, and president of the South Australian branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia. Mr Simpson was the owner of the Simpson washing machine company.

lol missed out by seconds
 

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