Australia's Last Explorer: Ernest Giles. by Dutton, Geoffrey - 1974

Adelaide: Rigby Limited, 1974. 1st p//b ed.. Paperback small trade, good condition, maps, few black & white photos, minor creasing corner tips few pages,, tiny tear fore-edge of first few pages, minor edgewear. 175 pp. Geoffrey Dutton relates the story of Ernest Giles who in the 1870s tried again and again to find out if rich country or desert lay in the 2000 miles west of the newly installed Overland Telegraph Line, which ran north and south across Australia. He travelled across the enormous, searing distances of Central and Western Australia. He succeeded and despite the harsh difficulties he faced, went right back east again by another route to the Telegraph Line. Giles was a poetic and humorous man, and his own observations of both humans and animals were always original. He was never afraid of adversity, and capable of responding to the wonders of the world he discovered.