Despatches from Northern Territory. From Government Resident to Hon. Chief Secretary
Adelaide, Government Printer, 1866.
Foolscap folio, 16 pages.
Recent cloth with titling on the front cover; a fine copy.
South Australian Parliamentary Paper Number 83 of 1866. Very detailed letters from Government Resident Boyle Travers Finniss to Chief Secretary Henry Ayers, written at Escape Cliffs between 19 June and 16 October 1865 (but before he had received Ayers' letter of 21 September recalling him to Adelaide), plus the journals of two expeditions under Frederick Litchfield. These accounts are of expeditions to the head of the Adelaide River (13 May to 6 June) and to the Daly River (14 September to 16 October); eight days in to the latter trip, he reports on finding gold in the Finniss River - reputedly the first recorded such instance in the Northern Territory. Shortly after his return to Escape Cliffs, he was also recalled to Adelaide to face the Royal Commission; he came in for some criticism and effectively disappeared from public life, with every likelihood that he met his death before the end of 1866 (Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1).
Item #58319
Price (AUD):
$1,100.00