Big John: The Extraordinary Adventures of John McKinlay 1819-1872 by Kim Lockwood

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Interior and binding are still excellent.

Scottish-born John McKinlay (1819-1872) was the first European to lead a team across the Australian continent from the south coast to the north and return safely, yet his story is little known.

The journey led to McKinlay's being chosen to lead the South Australian Burke Relief Expedition. It was a harrowing trip, complete with intense heat, floods, flies and starvation, relieved near the end of the trip by camels' feet soup.

On a second expedition, McKinlay was stranded by the wet season in Western Arnhem Land. He saved his party of fifteen by building a punt from saplings and sailing for six days and nights down the swollen West Alligator River into the Arafura Sea and back to the settlement they had left six months previously.

It is one of the most amazing stories of survival in the history of Australian exploration. (book flap)