Here is a collection of books about, featuring, or including, Ludwig Leichhardt. This list is not exhaustive and will grow over time, with your suggestions. Reviewer comments - if any have been offered - are included as personal opinions only, for your guidance.
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From Jimba to Dried Beef Creek Eight chapters covering a range of topics relating to Ludwig Leichhardt's exploration throughout the Chinchilla area. Includes appendices of flora and fauna noted by Leichhardt and his party, Gilbert's bird list and a pull-out map. Available by post (AU cheque or money order only) to: |
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IN LEICHHARDT’S FOOTSTEPS This bloke knows what he is writing about. Even 'city-slickers' might almost feel the red dust and flies of far western Queensland in their faces as they read this book, so real and down-to-earth (no pun intended) are Simpson's first-hand experiences across the Outback, and so vividly does he describe his own investigations and insights. Highly recommended. |
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INTO THE UNKNOWN The tormented life and expeditions of Ludwig Leichhardt Bailey, John Pan McMillan Australia, Sydney 2011 ISBN 9781742610450 (pbk) 396pp, 235 x 155 mm AVAILABLE FROM QBD & OTHERS About as definitive a biography as it's possible to get, and a well-written easy read, which covers the life of the explorer, including his formative years, family relations and European travels before his departure for Australia. Highly recommended. |
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LUDWIG LEICHHARDT Lost in the Outback Finger, Hans Wilhelm Rosenberg Publishing, Sydney, February 2013 ISBN 9781921719608 (pbk) 272pp, 285 x 210 mm, 75 b&W and 13 maps AVAILABLE FROM Rosenberg Publishing and retailers This is the next book on the reading list, and comments will be posted in due course. (If you have read Finger, why not use the Contact form to share your review thoughts?) |
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LEICHHARDT Die ganze Geschichte von F. W. Ludwig Leichhardt - Traeumer, Forscher und Entdeckungs¬reisender in Australien, erzaehlt von ihm selbst und seinem Chronisten nach seinen hinterlassenen Tagebuechern, Briefen und Reiseaufzeichnungen. Finger, Hans Wilhelm 578pp, size 22.5 x 15.5 cm, 105 illustrations/maps ISBN 3-930457-13-X (hbk) More info at Goettingen University's website sub-page. The work was republished in September 2000, after a 1999 second edition, as an enlarged and limited special edition by the Goettingen State and University Library, amended October 2001 in Munich. The book is currently out of print, but might be available from second-hand booksellers. |
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NATIVE REGION OF LUDWIG LEICHHARDT AVAILABLE FROM REGIA Verlag Dr Trunschke is a local farmer and teacher with a keen interest in both sport (of all kinds) and his native Schwielochsee region in the Oberspreewald. This colourful book, available in both German and English, introduces the reader to the history, local customs and festivals, sporting events (summer and winter), landmarks and places of interest in this picturesque district to the southeast of Berlin. A fascinating mix of local tales, poems, song lyrics, flora, fauna and legends, this little book is a gem to read. |
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WHERE IS DR LEICHHARDT? The greatest mystery in Australian history Lewis, Darrell ISBN 978 1 921867 76 7 (pbk) Monash University Publishing, Melbourne 2013 AVAILABLE FROM Monash University Publishing Read the full review here. |
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JOURNAL OF AN OVERLAND EXPEDITION IN AUSTRALIA |
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EARLY EXPLORERS Amazing Facts series Parish, Steve & Cox, Karin Pascal Press, Sydney 2008 (reprint 2012) ISBN 9781741932959 (pbk) 80pp, 225 x 292 mm Available from STEVE PARISH & Pascal Press Excellent 'primer' for students and anyone wanting a colourful overview of the individuals and expeditions who uncovered Australia. Terrific presentation, full of information, marred by a minor error or two, but worth the modest price for Parish's trademark quality imagery. |
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Explorers of Australia Favenc, Ernest Senate (Tiger Books International), London, 1998 edition (First pub. Whitcombe & Tombs, Melbourne, Christchurch, London, 1908) Explorer John Forrest, in his Introduction to the 1908 edition, is kinder in his paragraph given over to Leichhardt than the author in the 14 pages he allocated to the missing Prussian at the end of Part Eight “The Early Forties”. Leichhardt’s shortcomings are to the fore, with grudging concessions to his few accomplishments. As a work compiled over a century ago, however, and within the first few decades of Leichhardt’s disappearance, this book is written in the tenor of the times, bringing the feel of the last of the 19th century to light. Recommended for context. |
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The German Presence in Queensland This collection of 23 papers was presented at a UQ Department of German symposium in August 1987. Among the fascinating range of topics, Manfred Jurgensen analysed the literary aspects of Leichhardt's journal of the Port Essington expedition, and Irmtraud Petersson compared history and fiction in a study of Leichhardt and Voss. Only 3 hardbacks (AU$35) and 2 paperbacks (AU$25) still available (Feb.2014) for sale.
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Port Essington: The historical archaeology of a north Australian nineteenth-century military outpost A fascinating archaeological examination of the ruins of Victoria was undertaken by Jim Allen in 1966, republished as part of a series of monographs in 2008. Broad appeal as a reference book to students and practitioners of historical archaeology and to people interested in Australian colonial history. |
Our thanks to Darrell Lewis for adding to our growing bibliography with these titles:
- The Mystery of Ludwig Leichhardt
~ Connell, G., Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1980 - Strange New World
~ Chisholm, A., Sydney 1941 - A nomad was our guide
~ Grayden, W., N.H. Holdings Publications, Perth, 2002 - Eight Months with Dr. Leichhardt in the years 1846–1848
~ Mann, J.F., Turner and Henderson, Sydney, 1888 - Leichhardt the Dauntless Explorer
~ Roderick, C., Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1988 - Proud Intrepid Heart
~ Sprod, D. , Blubber Head Press, Hobart, 1989 - Leichhardt’s Expeditioners in the Australian wilderness
~ Sprod, D., Blubberhead Press, Hobart, 2006 - Whirlwinds in the Plain: Ludwig Leichhardt – friends, foes and history
~ Webster, E., Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1980 - An Explorer at Rest: Ludwig Leichhardt’s at Port Essington and on the homeward voyage 1845-46
~ Webster, E., Melbourne University Press, Melbourne 1986
