LOST IN THE WILLS

Hokitika Guardian, 1 April 1925, Page 1

LOST IN THE WILLS

NORTH A U3TR ALAIAX TR AGEDY. SYDNEY. A!arch 11. All Mild and empty spaces send forth an unceasing call to the adventurous, and the call of North Australia must he very loud and clear, if one may judge by the number of people Mho go plunging into that dangerous interior. apparently for no other reason than to be able to say that they survived the journey. Hardy men have ridden through the North, cycled through it, motored through it, “ camelled ” through it, flown over it and not a few optimistic souls have started out to Mall; over it. Alost of them have survived, told their colourful stories to the newspapers, accepted philosophically the Government’s refusal to pay them, a couple of hundred pounds for a report on the railway possjhiljtics as they saw them, and have disappeared into obscurity. .‘-'onid have not returned from the adventure.

To the latter category bclofig Im'o young men who set off into, the trackless interior from Queensland in 3f)i?2. They were returned soldiers and they could not settle down to the uneventful farm life in the northern state. Eventually, they decided to Malic to Darwin, and perhaps on down towards the south-west, into the cattle country about the Kimberley ranges, where there is now considerable settlement. They took with them only as much as thev could carry, including a rille for each.

The two men uvre hoard ol Irom the isolated settlements at ihe hack of Queensland. They Mere plodding steadilv M'Cstwards and northwards and they had planned a route by u’hioh they hoped to encounter a string of M'aterholes and small streams. T rom the time they left the last watorhole. until recently, they completely disappeared. As the months went past mid ie) Mord came Irom them, their relations concluded that disaster had overtaken them. Eventually a search was organised in the region where they had disappeared, hut no trace Mas found.

A hlackfellow has non- n'portod to the police that he found human hones, a couple of rides, and returned soldiers’ badges in the bed of Aforell Greek, in the far North. The numbers on The badges showed that the remains were those of the two ex-soldiers who disappeared in 1922. There is- not much doubt about what happened to them. That year Mas a year ol drought in many parts of Australia, and the two uv.-ii. trying to strike across the upland's of'the interior found that the usual waterholes had disappeared. Still, thev must have fought on pluckily, for AI orel I Greek shows them well on their journey. AYhen they reached the creek, however, they were desperately in need of water, and they found the bed of the creek qmle dry. Probable, they followed it some distance before they gave up the struggle and died there in the wilderness. A man who seems to cross these great wastes with impunity is Francis Dirties. Tn the past six months he has driven a Dean car through them, and has motor-cycled right across. Last week he plunged in again, this time with another type of motor vehicle. He is now hound for Arnhe.m Land, in the extreme north, which he sn\s he is going to explore.