caliban books

Edward Eyre's Autobiographical Narrativeorder this book
Edward Eyre
Price £40.00

Edward Eyre is one of the most well-known explorers of Australia and later in life became famous and notorious as the Governor of Jamaica. The present book is the first time his manuscript autobiography, covering his life in Australia during the 1830's, has ever been published. It begins with a detailed description of his sea journey from England to Australia in 1832/33 and goes on to give a fascinating account of his experiences as a sheep farmer and explorer. All aspects of economic and social life of early Australia are covered, and the book should be of interest not only to the specialist historian, but also to the general reader. It is a vivid and evocative account of the life of one of the most interesting figures of the nineteenth century. The book is edited and introduced by Jill Waterhouse a leading authority on early Australian exploration.

From Chapter 14, "Late May - 23 July 1838":

"On the 17th June we passed Lake Victoria, crossing the Rufus (the outlet of the lake) at its junction with the Murray. The lake itself lay about three miles to the nor-east under some rather high bare hills. Large numbers of natives had been continually about and with us ever since we left the Darling, and as we neared the Rufus they had increased to many hundreds. They were, however, exceedingly well behaved, aiding us greatly in driving the cattle (which seemed to amuse them very much) and offering to barter anything they had for tommy hawks, upon which they seemed to place great value and for one of which they would readily give one of their large kangaroo nets that must have cost so much time and labor to make. They appeared to have large numbers of these nets, as well as fishing nets of various descriptions - amongst others the seine, weighted with stone and floated with reeds instead of lead and cork. None of the natives had clothing on of any kind. As we had to kill a bullock every week for meat for the men we usually made a short stage on that killing day, so as to give plenty of time for the butchering operations afterwards. One part of the preliminary process was getting up a tree to fix a block thro' which to haul up the animal when killed, and it used to amuse the natives amazingly to see the white man's awkward attempts in climbing. There was always an immense amount of talking and laughing amongst the assembled natives who were looking on.

"Upon leaving the Rufus we again crossed the same kind of high sandy plains and were still often obliged to encamp at the lagoons instead of the river. On one of these occasions, about twenty-four miles from the Rufus, we fell in with a numerous and very troublesome tribe of natives who were most impertinent and pertinacious in crowding around us and the drays and in handling everything they could get near, so that our whole time and attention was taken up in watching them and in trying to keep them off. We were, moreover, so small a party, only six Europeans (Baxter away, looking for a lost cow) amongst hundreds of blacks, all of whom were well armed, and I could not but feel anxious at such overbearing conduct and at once took measures to check it. I insisted upon their leaving the drays and going to a little distance - upon which they formed a semicircle around us a few yards off, making little fires in front and most having their spears, all looking very sulky. They kept pushing the little fires in front of them little by little and thus gradually closing in nearer and nearer to us. I was then obliged to go over to them and intimate that they must remove further off - upon which they made gestures of defiance and shook their spears at us. It was now high time to take some decisive measures and I at once called the men together under arms, under shelter of the drays. I then again went over to the natives and, drawing a line on the ground between them and my party, intimated very plainly that if they crossed it the men would fire upon them. They well knew the power of firearms - even during the day they had seen me shoot five crows at a single shot. My threat, therefore, was not without effect. For a long time they remained doggedly around us with their little fires in front of them, but without coming any nearer until at last, about sundown, they all crossed over to the other side of the lagoon and formed their encampment for the night."