author
John McKinlay
1819–1872
A tough, little-known explorer of colonial Australia, he led one of the major expeditions sent to look for Burke and Wills and left behind a vivid firsthand journal of travel through the interior. His life combined hard bush experience, pastoral work, and the restless drive of nineteenth-century exploration.
1 Audiobook
McKinlay's Journal of Exploration in the Interior of Australia
by John McKinlay
About the author
Born in Scotland on 26 August 1819, he migrated to New South Wales as a teenager and learned the practical skills of station life that would shape the rest of his career. He became known as an able bushman and cattle grazier, with experience across the inland country of New South Wales and South Australia.
He is best remembered as the leader of the South Australian Burke Relief Expedition in 1861-62, one of the major search parties sent out after Burke and Wills. Although his party did not rescue the missing explorers, the journey added important knowledge about Australia's interior, and his published journal remains a valuable record of the expedition.
He had earlier taken part in Charles Sturt's Central Exploring Expedition, and his name stayed linked with Australian exploration after his death at Gawler, South Australia, on 31 December 1872. Today he is remembered not just for endurance in harsh country, but also for the detailed written account he left behind.