History
Discovered by Edward John Eyre in 1839, for the following twenty years it was believed that Lake Torrens was an enormous horseshoe-shaped saltpan encircling the northern Flinders Ranges and blocking any path to the interior. The first European to penetrate the mythical barrier was A. C. Gregory from the north in March 1858; later the same year, an expedition under B. H. Babbage and Major Warburton in the north-west also crossed the non-existent barrier near modern Marree. Eyre's horseshoe lake was actually composed of Lake Frome, Lake Callabonna, Lake Blanche, Lake Gregory, Lake Eyre South, and Lake Torrens itself.
Read more about this topic: Lake Torrens National Park
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–117)
“Look through the whole history of countries professing the Romish religion, and you will uniformly find the leaven of this besetting and accursed principle of action—that the end will sanction any means.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)