author
William Landsborough
1825–1886
A Scottish-born explorer who made his name in Australia, he is best remembered for completing the first north-to-south crossing of the continent. His journeys helped map inland Queensland and made him a well-known figure in the great age of Australian exploration.
1 Audiobook
Journal of Landsborough's expedition from Carpentaria, in search of Burke & Wills
by William Landsborough
About the author
Born in Stevenston, Ayrshire, on 21 February 1825, he moved to Australia as a teenager and spent his early years in New South Wales and Queensland working in pastoral country. Over time he became deeply familiar with the landscape, which prepared him for a series of expeditions into parts of inland Australia that were still little known to colonial settlers.
He explored widely in Queensland during the 1850s and early 1860s, and he became especially famous after leading a search expedition connected with the Burke and Wills tragedy. In 1862, starting from the Gulf of Carpentaria, he completed a journey south that made him the first explorer to cross Australia from north to south.
Later in life he held public roles in Queensland and remained a recognized name in Australian exploration. He died in Queensland on 16 March 1886, remembered for practical bush skills, endurance, and for helping expand European knowledge of the Australian interior.