Explorations WA

Among Wild Animals and People in Australia

From October 1910 to August 1911 biologist Erik Mjoberg and his seven man Swedish team travelled by bullock wagon through the West Kimberley collecting invertebrates, birds, mammals, and ethnographic research material.

Their ten month journey took them from Derby, along the Fitzroy River upstream to Mount Anderson Station. Some members then went on to Noonkanbah, the St George Ranges and Fitzroy Crossing, while others went south to Mowla Bluff. After the return to Derby two members went to Sunday Island and then followed the stock route across the Leopold Ranges to Mount Barnett. Extensive collections were also made around Derby and Meda Station. Finally the expedition re-convened in Broome where side trips included a coastal trip by pearling lugger collecting marine specimens and another trip to Beagle Bay, collecting birds.

Eric Mjöberg’s idiosyncratic text remained in the Swedish language until this long-awaited English translation.

Now, for the first time, this unique perspective on biota and people is brought to a new generation of readers with an interest in Kimberley history and geography.…

Work Completed, Canning

A Comprehensive History of the Canning Stock Route

The Canning Stock Route was one of the longest Stock Routes in the world, and certainly the most remote. It crosses two thousand kilometres of the Great Sandy Desert, the Little Sandy Desert and large portions of the Gibson Desert from Halls Creek in the Kimberley, south to the goldfields. Between 1906 and 1910 Surveyor A.W. Canning and his party surveyed the route and constructed a series of wells, one day’s travel apart for a mob of cattle.

Work Completed, Canning is the story of Alfred W. Canning and the development and subsequent use of the stock route.

Original historical documents are combined with oral history in a narrative that covers the origins of the stock route, surveying, construction of the wells, droving, deaths and murders, exploration and prospecting, well restoration, identities and adventurers, place name origins and tourism.

This new volume features photographs, maps, exploration and droving journals that have never been published before. Mysteries of the stock route are solved, and long held beliefs and myths corrected. Phil Bianchi’s research is complemented by Appendixes on flora, fauna and pasture.

This heavily referenced and comprehensively indexed book is destined to become the definitive history of the Canning Stock Route and will appeal to general and professional readers, historians, anthropologists, scientists, family history researchers, local shires, tour companies, tourists and CSR travellers.…

The Western Australian Explorations of John Septimus Roe 1829-1849

Get Involved

We are always looking for people to help as part of the Editorial Team.

The underlying philosophy of the Project is to recognise all those who have contributed, unlike many publishing efforts where the ‘author’ is really only a collator of other people’s efforts.

Typists and Proofreaders are valued members of our Team – the backbone of it. The emphasis is far from elitist. Indeed, eminently qualified members of our Team are not too proud to share the all important task of proofreading.

So, if you have an interest in Western Australian history and exploration and wish to make a positive contribution to the knowledge base of our State’s heritage, get involved.

Objectives of the Project

Membership Benefits

Contact the Project Coordinator today.…

What We Do and How We Do It

The Western Australian Explorers’ Diaries Project is a bold initiative by a dedicated band of volunteers to make available the reports and journals of all Western Australian exploration from 1826 through to the present.

These reports and journals are compiled, checked and then published in a masterful series titled Western Australia Exploration.

Each volume of Western Australia Exploration comprises exact transcriptions of explorers’ diaries, fieldbooks or journals.

Each diary is preceded by a summary of the exploration and includes appendixes on flora, fauna, firearms, mode of transport, and navigation. Interspersed among the diaries in each volume is a great variety of maps, illustrations and photographs.

The transcript of each diary is been taken from source documents, ensuring accuracy and validity.

The first volume covers exploration from the time of first settlement in Western Australia at King Georges Sound in 1826 through to 1835. Coupled with the next chronological volume, Western Australian Exploration 1836-1845, they cover the initial exploration in the Swan River Colony, driven by the settlers’ need for agricultural land and the desire to find out what was around them.

Western Australian Exploration 1846-1859 and the discrete volume of Surveyor General John Septimus Roe’s explorations record the unveiling of the rich agricultural lands to the north, south and south east of Perth. The diaries of Exploring Eastward show the search for pastoral land to the east of the settled districts, and for a possible route through to the eastern colonies.

The exploration of the Kimberley, the epic desert journeys and the discovery of goldfields follow. Exploration by horse, by camel and by motor vehicle continued until well into the 20th century.

As part of the Western Australian Exploration series but discrete in themselves are the journals of major expeditions (Robert Austin, Herbert Basedow, H.W. Hill, Erik Mjoberg, …