Henry Turnbull - account of a journey of exploration with Leichhardt's second expedition of 1846-47, being the text of a lecture he delivered in Launceston in 1857

MLMSS 7363/Box 1X

fonds

1857

441608

Microfilm : CY 4411 (MLMSS 7363)

0.16 metres of textual material (1 outsize box)
Textual Records - (manuscript)
Textual Records - (printed)

Henry Turnbull worked for the Australian Agricultural Company as assistant-superintendent of stock at Avon Station near Stroud. In August 1846 he met Ludwig Leichhardt and later left his employment to join Leichhardt's second expedition. The explorers left the Darling Downs in December 1846 with the intention of crossing the northern part of Australia and ultimately reaching Perth. They travelled north for about 800 miles until many difficulties forced them to return.

Manuscript, in Turnbull's hand, of a lecture given by him; 101 pages written in a small quarto exercise book. The front endpaper is inscribed: 'Lecture delivered by the late Henry M. Turnbull in Launceston 1855' (amended in another hand to 1857), and further inscribed 'Transferred by Ferd. von Mueller to Mrs. Turnbull' (inscriptions not in Von Mueller's hand). Turnbull describes the progress of the expedition including encounters with Aborigines, observations on landscape and wildlife, and accounts of the physical hardships suffered by the expedition members. Accompanied by a copy of the book: Leichhardt's second journey: a first-hand account by Henry Turnbull, Sydney, Halstead Press, 1983

Part of the text of the lecture was printed in the Melbourne Age, 25 Oct. 1881
The Library has two earlier drafts of the lecture, also in Turnbull's hand, held at MLMSS 4494. A typed transcript of this volume was the source for the text of the printed book version of the lecture published as: Leichhardt's second journey: a first-hand account by Henry Turnbull, Sydney, Halstead Press, 1983. A note by A.H. Chisholm (1890-1977) in the printed book states that the volume was once owned by the Rev. H.A.G. Clark of Box Hill, Victoria, who acquired it in Albury.