The first attempt was made by Ernest Giles, in 1872. He explored the MacDonnell range, but lack of water forced him to turn back to Charlotte Waters. Although he didn't reach the coast, he did discover Mount Olga and the Finke River, as well as the palm Livistona Mariae. He set out another expedition for the next year, but by that time Peter Warburton and William Gosse had already started their attempts to do the same.
Colonel Peter Egerton Warburton, already 60 years old, and a veteran of the Indian Army, and John W. Lewis left from Alice Springs on 15 April, 1873. He would leave his expedition at a drinking hole until guides had found the next one, and in one case this meant staying in place for 6 weeks. Three of his camels died in the heat and drought, and were eaten, including head, tail, legs and hide. Although he intended to cross to Perth, lack of drinking water forced him to choose a much more northerly course, and he crossed the Great Sandy Desert to the Oakover River. Lewis and some of the stronger men rode ahead to an outstation to get some food for the weaker members of the expedition, among which Warburton himself, who was ill and dying. The group that had remained back had already killed and eaten their last camel when Lewis came back with the valuable extra provisions. The expedition then followed the Oakover to the coast and reached Roeburne.
William Gosse left from Alice Springs in July. He was the first European to see Ayer's Rock, but gave up in the Townsend Range. His horses were reduced to walking carcasses.
Giles left for his second attempt on 4 August on the same year. His companion was Alfred Gibson, a strange choice, as he had no experience in the outback. He got further than Gosse, and in the Summer made a base camp in Fort Muller. In April, Giles and Gibson went into the desert alone in a last attempt to cross it. They had gone for three days, and got into sight of the Alfred and Mary mountains, when Gibson's horse died from the hardship. As they had already sent the other two horses back to the camp (from a place where they also had left some food and water behind), this meant that now they only had one horse left. For some time they went back together, each taking the horse in turn, but because this was too slow, Gibson was sent on the horse to the camp, to try and get help for Giles, who would return by foot.
Gibson got lost in the desert, and was never found. Giles named the desert after him. Giles himself did reach the camp, after an unbelievable trek through the desert, 60 miles walking, carrying a 45 pound keg of water. At the end of his trek he found a small, dying wallaby and "the instant I saw it, I pounced upon it and ate it, living, raw, dying - fur, skin, bones, skull and all."
After a fruitless search for his companion, Giles returned to Charlotte Waters. The desert was named Gibson Desert, after its first white victim. Giles heared that he had been beaten, not just by Warburton and Lewis, but also by the competent explorer John Forrest, who that same year had crossed Western Australia, through the Gibson Desert, from west to east.
In 1875-6 Giles again struggled against the deserts of West Australia. He crossed the Great Victoria Desert from Beltana. Near Ularring his men allowed a number of aboriginals to join the group for some days. A ten year old girl became the favorite of the Europeans. But, suddenly, while they were having dinner the third day, the aboriginals gave a sign to the hidden rest of their tribe, and the group was attacked. Giles was nearly killed in the resulting struggle. Afterwards Giles remembered the signs the girl had given him that afternoon. She had tried to warn him for the attack, but he did not understand her.
He returned through -again- the Gibson desert. He hoped to find some trace of his friend, but found none. They were plagued by flies and ants, and Giles turned blind, but he managed to beat the desert and reached the telegraph line.
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This page was made for Discoverers Web by Andre Engels
