AustLit

'Bill Peasley and his associates travelled to the Great Sandy Desert in 1976. They brought into civilisation the last of the ‘wild’ aboriginals who had, because of tribal laws, chosen to live a free life in the desert. This is the story of the expedition, the family, and earlier travels in that area.'

'A Foreword by Mark Chambers and Peter Bridge correlates the confusing nomenclature of the family used over the decades by the various expeditions that had encountered them. The family were to become the ‘Browns’ and Georgina (Dadina) Brown’s story has been told as Born in the Desert.'

'In 1896 a little-known Scot, David Carnegie, set out from Coolgardie to cross some of the most inhospitable country in the world - Western Australia's forbidding Gibson and Great Sandy deserts.

Armed with an abundance of youthful energy and faith, and a modicum of navigational skills, he succeeded not only in conquering those tractless wastes, but, after a short lay-up in Halls Creek, in repeating the journey from north to south.

This fresh examination of David Carnegie's life and achievements seeks to put the record straight and place him firmly among that select band of truly great Australian explorers. Working with new material from the Carnegie family archives at Kinnaird Castle, Montrose, author William Peasley offers a fascinating profile of ambition and courage, and a rewarding glimpse into the rambunctious eastern goldfields and the compelling solitude of the desert.

He highlights Carnegie's great respect for the Aboriginal nomads he encountered, the desperate race to survive as water ran out, and the enormous camaraderie of the expedition, even in the face of personal tragedy.' (Publisher's blurb)