Peter Warburton - Expeditions

Expeditions

• In 1857 Warburton visited the Gawler Ranges and Lake Gairdner.

• In 1858 he travelled through Lake Eyre and south Lake Torrens during which he named the Davenport Range, after Sir Samuel Davenport (a related ancient Cheshire family). The expedition found good grazing land and water sources and he was granted £100 from the Government for the achievement.

• In 1860 he explored Streaky Bay with three mounted police, reporting back that the area was unfavourable for farm use.

• In 1864 Warburton examined the area around the north-west of Mount Margaret.

• In 1866 he examined the area around the north shore of Lake Eyre searching unsuccessfully for Cooper Creek but found a large river which was subsequently named the Warburton River. He traced this to the Queensland border.

• On 21 September 1872, Warburton departed Adelaide, leading an expedition of seven men and seventeen camels with the aim of finding an overland route to Perth and determine the nature of the country in between. The expedition included his son Richard; J. W. Lewis, a well known and experienced bushman; two Afghan camel drivers, Sahleh and Halleem; Dennis White, the expedition cook and assistant camel man; and Charley, an Indigenous Australian tracker. The expedition arrived in Alice Springs in early 1873 before heading westward on 15 April 1873. They endured long periods of extreme heat with little water and survived only by killing the camels for their meat. After finally crossing the Great Sandy Desert, they arrived at the Oakover River, 800 miles north of Perth with Warburton strapped to one of the two remaining camels and near death themselves. They were eventually brought to the De Grey station in a perilous condition. The men were all suffering from scurvy, and Warburton had lost his sight in one eye. They finally reached Roebourne on 26 January 1874 before returning to Adelaide by ship. Warburton received a grant of £1000 and his party received £500 from the South Australian Parliament for the expedition. All of the men recovered from their ordeal, with Warburton later attributing their survival to the bushcraft skills of Charley.

Egerton Warburton returned to England in 1874, but finding the climate not to his liking, returned to Australia after a stay of only six weeks, after receiving the Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal. In 1875 Warburton's account of the expedition, Journey across the Western Interior of Australia was published in London, and he was appointed CMG.

He died in 1889 at his estate (including a vineyard), Norley Bank, Beaumont, near Adelaide.