Australia Twice Traversed

Giles, Ernest, 1835-1897Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.7
Word count
34K words
Chapters
4

Tags

English Originals Documentary LiteratureTravel Geographic ExplorationTravelogueAustralian OutbackSurvival ChallengeDesert CrossingPioneering SpiritExpeditionExpedition JournalOutback Interior19th Century

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Australia Twice Traversed by Ernest GilesAuthor: Giles, Ernest, 1835-1897,Language: English, Class: DU: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: History of Oceania (South Seas), Release Date: Aug 26, 2004

Editor's review

This is explorer Ernest Giles's account of his two journeys across the Australian interior, a classic public-domain text in the literature of Oceanian history and geographical exploration. Taking the itinerary as its thread and observations as its weave, the book records desert terrain, the search for water, supply difficulties, and encounters along the way. It is at once an exploration journal and an on-the-ground record of the natural environment of the nineteenth-century Australian interior. Its readability comes from the urgency and density of detail in the first-person narration, letting readers feel directly the hardship of exploration conditions at the time and the weight of decisions. As a historical source it carries a pronounced period perspective and habits of expression; readers should distinguish on-the-spot observation from the author's judgments. It suits readers interested in the history of exploration, the history of geographical discovery, and Australian regional history, who may read it closely section by section along the route.

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Reading tips

  1. Start with the table of contents and route overview, mark the approximate bearings of the two crossings on a map, then read chapter by chapter.
  2. Keep separate notes on three kinds of information—water sources, supplies, and terrain judgments—to better understand the logic of exploration decisions.
  3. The book's period perspective is pronounced; when reading its evaluations of local peoples and environments, compare them with later scholarship.
  4. The book is long; proceed in sections by each crossing, and write a few lines of itinerary summary after each section.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4

FAQ

What do the “two crossings” in the title refer to? They refer to the two expeditions into the Australian interior recorded by the author, Giles. The book unfolds in itinerary order, describing route choices, the search for water, supply difficulties, and observations along the way. Readers can understand it as a continuous journal of the same explorer's two inland crossings, not two entirely independent short trips.
Does the book include maps or illustrations? The illustrations and maps in public-domain electronic texts vary by edition; before reading, check the table of contents and list of figures in your edition. If the edition lacks maps, it is advisable to prepare an Australian topographic map and mark routes and water points as you read, which significantly reduces the effort of understanding.
Is it suitable as a primary source for historical research? It can be used as a primary narrative source, offering the explorer's on-the-ground records of terrain, water sources, and itinerary decisions. But the book carries the period perspective of nineteenth-century exploration writing, and its statements about local environments and peoples should be treated with caution; research should cross-check it against findings in archaeology, environmental history, and Indigenous history.

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About the author

Giles, Ernest, 1835-1897 Author · British · 1835–1897

Ernest Giles (1835–1897) was a British explorer whose life is chiefly associated with inland exploration in Australia. He ventured repeatedly into the desert regions of the Australian interior and was one of the notable figures in nineteenth-century inland exploration there. One work by him is held in this collection, Australia Twice Traversed, which records his two journeys across the Australian interior and stands as an important first-hand document of desert expedition routes, geographical observations and the hardships of travel. Public information on Giles's early life, education and later years is limited, so no conjecture is offered here. His writing is mainly a plain, factual record of journeys and geography, and it provides valuable material for later study of inland Australian geography and exploration history, giving him a place in Australian exploration literature.