Lasseter's last ride, an epic of Central Australian gold discovery
Type
Classification
2
Contributor
1
Subject
6
Content
1
Label
Lasseter's last ride, an epic of Central Australian gold discovery
Language
eng
Index
no index present
Literary form
non fiction
Main title
Lasseter's last ride
Medium
electronic resource
Nature of contents
dictionaries
Sub title
an epic of Central Australian gold discovery
Summary
The reader will agree with this, and wonder why he has not heard of Mr. Idriess before. He is well known in Australia, but this is his first book to be published in England. It will not be his last, if the present one meets with the success it deserves. Having himself been a prospector, the story he has constructed out of the fragments of documentary evidence - a few reports, the barely legible diary and letters found buried near Lasseter's last camps - is probably very close to what actually happened. Harry Lasseter had once discovered a rich gold reef in unexplored west Central Australia. Owing to a faulty watch, the bearings he took were useless. An expedition was fitted out to locate it. From the first, misfortune dogged the steps of the party. Food ran short and they returned to the base-camp - all except Lasseter, who went on alone. When his two camels bolted he was left waterless in the desert. Blinded by sand and tortured by dysentery, he found the reef, but died shortly afterwards, deserted by a tribe of aborigines with whom he had tried to make friends. Mr. Idriess tells this story in a simple, virile style which is, in its intense economy, comparable to Hemingway at his best
Target audience
adult
Incoming Resources
- Has instance1