AustLit

Clune explains how the majority of Australians did not appreciate the extraordinary nature and beauty of 'Centralia' until the demands of World War II saw thousands of defence personnel posted to the area. He predicts that there will one day be a book written that will do justice to the beauty and history of the area.

Clune recalls a time when he was in Broken Hill and was fortunate enough to be invited to accompany the Royal Flying Doctor Service on a call to attend a stockman on an outback station. Unfortunately, they were too late to save the sixteen-year-old and, as Clune assisted in packing up the boy's belongings, he was overwhelmed to find that the boy had been reading a poignant poem just before he left his hut.

Although 'Henry' Lasseter died in 1931, taking with him the secret of his purported 'reef' of gold, rumours of him having staged his death persisted. Clune's interest was so piqued that he eagerly accepted an invitation to join a prospecting party to the region where Lasseter had worked. Clune meets several locals, including Koorin-Jaminny, a 'Luritcha' Aboriginal man whose tribe had nursed Lasseter through his last days and buried him, and Bob Buck, the Station owner who searched for Lasseter, learned of his fate from the Luritcha people, and recovered his few personal effects.

Clune tells of receiving a letter from a woman whose nephew had died in the deserts of Central Australia a few years earlier, and she wished to know if Clune might have come across his grave. Clune had indeed, and he relates the details of the young adventurer's tragic misadventure.

Clune writes about the harshness of the Simpson Desert and the many explorers who endeavoured to cross it, without success. However, in 1936, it rained in the desert, which then flourished with greenery and wildflowers. An enterprising outback resident, Ted Colson, saddled up his camels, enlisted the assistance of an Aboriginal youth, and ventured in to explore the desert taking advantage of its brief, but sufficient, supply of water and vegetation. Clune draws upon Colson's journals, and recollections, to tell of his adventure.

Clune sketches the unusual life of Andrew Hume, also known as 'The Black Prince', who searched for Leichhardt and claimed to have found the explorer's remains.