Portrait of Wylie, the Aboriginal man who faithfully accompanied Eyre across to Albany, in Western Australia. Wylie was a member of the King George Sound Aboriginal people, and joined Eyre in 1840. The crossing with Eyre in 1841 would enable him to return home. After the two other Aboriginal men who accompanied Eyre had deserted, Wylie remained and was able to find native foods to eke out their rapidly diminishing rations. Following their arrival in Albany, Eyre arranged for Wylie to receive a weekly ration of food for the rest of his life, as a reward for his faithful services.

Edward Eyre had left Adelaide in June 1840 to explore to the north of the colony. Defeated by the salt lakes and the barren lands in the north, he decided in January 1841, to travel across to King George Sound in Western Australia, hoping he would find water and pasturage for a stock route. He set out to the west accompanied by John Baxter, and three Aboriginal men. Three months into the journey, in late April, two of the Aboriginal men killed Baxter and fled, taking with them most of the remaining food and two of the guns. Only Wylie now remained with Eyre.

The Aboriginal people had thoroughly explored Australia at the time of European settlement in 1788 - they knew intimately the character of the country, its resources and its climate. They marked their clan boundaries and navigated using the landmarks of their Dreaming trails. (A fuller explanation of this can be read in The History of Cartography 1987, Book 3, Cartography in the traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific societies. Chapters 9 & 10: Icons of Country: Topographic Representations in Classical Aboriginal Traditions and Aboriginal Maps and Plans).

Wylie (Aboriginal man)

Eyre, Edward John, 1815-1901

Eyre, Edward John, Journals of expeditions of discovery into Central Australia, and overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound, in the years 1840-1 ... Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia, 1964

Uren, Malcolm, Waterless horizons: the first full-length study of the extraordinary life-story of Edward John Eyre, explorer, overlander and pastoralist in Australia Melbourne: Robertson and Mullens, 1941

The History of Cartography Book 3, Cartography in the traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific societies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987-

Pope, Alan Resistance and retaliation: Aboriginal-European relations in early colonial South Australia, Bridgewater, SA: Heritage Action, c1989.

Mattingley, Christobel and Hampton, Ken (eds.) Survival in our own land: 'Aboriginal' experiences in 'South Australia' since 1836 Adelaide, S. Aust.: Wakefield Press, 1988.

Jones, Philip Ochre and Rust: artefacts and encounters on Australian frontiers Kent Town, S. Aust.: Wakefield Press, 2007

Australian dictionary of biography online: Wylie 

University of Adelaide Online Books: Journals of expeditions of discovery into Central Australia, and overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound, in the years 1840-1 sent by the colonists of South Australia, with the sanction and support of the government by Edward John Eyre.

SA Memory, Taking it to the edge - exploration in South Australia See Role of Aboriginal people in the exploration of Australia

Atlas of South Australia Eyre Peninsula

Edward John Eyre Gutenberg

Edward John Eyre Wikipedia

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing. Taking it to the edge. August 2004-