Although an after knowledge may have now
enabled us to see the mistakes he made, and to regard his descriptions of
the uninhabitable nature of the interior as exaggerated, it must be
admitted that others in the same place and circumstances would have made
similar errors, and drawn equally false conclusions.
In taking leave of this explorer, another short extract from his journal
will best show the character of the man of whom Australians should be so
justly proud.
"Circumstances may yet arise to give a value to my recent labours, and my
name may be remembered by after generations in Australia, as the first
who tried to penetrate to its centre. If I failed in that great object, I
have one consolation in the retrospect of my past services. My path
amongst savage tribes has been a bloodless one, not but that I have
often been placed in situations of risk and danger, when I might have
been justified in shedding blood, but I trust I have ever made allowances
for human timidity, and respected the customs of the rudest people."
The next prominent figure in the history of this time is Leichhardt,
whose unknown fate has been the cause of so much sentiment clinging about
his name.
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