LANDSBOROUGH, William (c. 1825-1886)

explorer

was the third son of the Rev. David Landsborough, naturalist and writer. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, about the year 1825, came to Australia when a young man, and took up land in the New England district of New South Wales. The country was unsuitable for sheep and Landsborough was obliged to abandon it and find employment. When gold was discovered in 1851, Landsborough went to the diggings and had some success. He was on the land again in 1853 in Queensland, and in 1856 going farther north found fine pastoral country at the head of the Thomson River. Bad seasons, however, resulted in his losing all his pastoral interests in 1860. He did some exploring, and traced the Gregory and Herbert rivers to their sources, and in August 1861 was placed in charge of an expedition to search for Burke (q.v.) and Wills (q.v.), starting from the Gulf of Carpentaria. His vessel went ashore on the way but was refloated, and on 1 October the party of four whites and four aborigines arrived at the mouth of the Albert River with 25 out of their 30 horses. Landsborough started on 16 November in the direction of Central Mount Stuart, but little water could be found and, deciding to return, he arrived at his depot towards the end of January 1862. On 10 February he started his journey to the south and was fortunate in finding well-grassed country. In the middle of March he was following the Flinders, but finding he was getting too far to the east, struck south to the Barcoo, known lower down as Cooper's Creek. Stores began to run short and had Landsborough known that Howitt (q.v.) had reserve stores at Burke's depot on Cooper's Creek he would have made for it. He decided to go to the south and on 21 May arrived at the Messrs Williams' station about 800 miles north of Melbourne. Obtaining provisions the party set out for the Darling some 200 miles distant, from it they went to Menindie and thence to Melbourne. In the following November Landsborough was presented with a service of plate valued at £500, and subsequently visiting India and Europe the Royal Geographical Society presented him with a gold watch for finding a practicable route from the north to the south of Australia.

After an absence of two years Landsborough returned to Australia and in 1865 became a member of the Queensland legislative council for one session. Towards the end of that year he was appointed police magistrate for the district of Burke. Finding Burketown extremely unhealthy he made Sweers Island his headquarters and from there did much local exploring. In June 1872, he was made inspector of brands for the Moreton district and held this position for the remainder of his life. A few years before his death the Queensland parliament voted him £2000 for his services as an explorer, and with this he purchased a pastoral property at Caloundra where he spent any time he could spare from his duties. He died there on 16 March 1886. He married a daughter of Captain Rennie who died from fever contracted at Burketown.

Landsborough, who was survived by a family of children, was a brave and capable pioneer and explorer. It has been suggested that he gave up his search for Burke and Wills too early, but some members of his party had fallen sick and he was running short of food.

The Brisbane Courier, 17 March 1886; J. H. Heaton, Australian Dictionary of Dates; Ed. by J. S. Laurie, Landsborough's Exploration of Australia; Journal of Landsborough's Expedition; William Howitt, The History of Discovery in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand, vol. II.