Walker Brothers

Diary. Walker Brothers Prospecting Expedition 1913.
Edited and annotated by by Jeremy Long and David Nash
The Western Australian Explorers’ Diaries Project Inc.
Hesperian Press http://www.hesperianpress.com/
ISBN 978-0-85905-727-1
165 x 240, casebound, 180 pages, well illustrated in colour, with maps, indexed, 600 grams

The annals of Australian land exploration include many expeditions remembered for misfortune, inexperience, or poor bushcraft. None of this applies to the eight months in 1913 when Chris Walker (1861–1930) led his brother Arthur and two other men (Crofts and Everett) prospecting by camel from Ryan’s Well (north of Alice Springs) west and southwest to Wiluna. The aim was to investigate ‘unknown country’ between the routes of previous desert explorers.  The party proceeded carefully, by scouting ahead for water before moving all the camels and equipment on from a known water source. They had no serious misadventures, and Chris Walker sent his diary and map to Canberra with its negative findings of any ‘mining or pastoral worth’. Their only backers were themselves and the Commonwealth Government, and both apparently had no interest in self-promotion. The report was eclipsed by the Great War (WWI), and although the WA section was serialised in a Perth newspaper in 1934, it has been largely overlooked.

Yet Walker’s competent journal includes numerous geological and natural history observations, and several interesting particular notes relating to Aborigines. Walker’s records are the earliest of what was later called Lake Mackay, well before the 1930 sighting by Mackay’s aerial survey.

The book includes maps, and photographs illustrating the route and the people. There are seven appendices, with biographies of the expedition members, a history of the recognition of Lake Mackay, a summary of the flora mentioned, and three indexes.

The two brothers Christopher Henry and Arthur Charles Walker (see below for life dates) travelled with Commonwealth Government camels from Alice Springs to Meekatharra (Ryan's Well to Wiluna) in 1913, assisted by Arthur Edward Crofts (3 Jul 1883, Peckham UK – 1 Jan 1949, Perth) and Andy Everett (17 Jan 1899, Alice Springs – 8 November 1978, Meekatharra).

We studied Walker's journal and his maps, and we travelled (with local Aboriginal people) along parts of their route, in the NT-WA border areas and a section of the Gibson Desert, and are putting together a book about the expedition. We've tried to contact the family of the people involved. We don't know of any living Walker family; the younger brother Arthur Charles Walker died at Nedlands (Perth) in May 1951. The Walkers' only descendant was Christopher's son Roy Albert Bailey Walker (3 Nov 1892, Hobart – 6 July 1952, Ingham, Qld), who had no children.

Map of Walker Bros route  © 2012 Education and Multimedia Services, CAP, Australian National University


Map 2  © 2012 Education and Multimedia Services, CAP, Australian National University

Main references

1912

National Archives of Australia. ACT Branch. CRS A1 1934/9205. Walker Bros. Prospecting Expedition, N.T. (Jun)1912-1934(Sep). 4.5 cm * scans of documents can be viewed via RecordSearch * includes two maps:

(a) chart apparently in hand of Christopher Walker: [Sketch map of the route taken by Walker Bros prospecting party 1913 with notes on vegetation, topography and well locations.] Linen. [Relief shown by hachures. Handwritten blank ink, pencil annotations on NT section of route, blue colouring on Salt Lake] ‘Scale. 16. m. to an inch’ [1:1 013 760]

(b) Information in Red from Walker Bros. Prospecting Expedition 1913-14. [on base NT Pastoral map c1905].  N.T. 10760/13. ‘Scale 1 Inch = 16 Miles’ [1:1 013 760]. [Showing route of prospecting party from Ryan’s Well to WA border with notes on vegetation, topography and well locations. Relief shown by hachures.]

1913

Walker, Christopher Henry. 1913. Sketch map of the route taken by Walker Bros prospecting party 1913 Scale [ca. 1:1 020 000]. National Library of Australia MAP RM 2926. 1 ms map : mounted on linen ; 67.5 x 128 cm.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm2926
NLA note: Map showing route of prospecting party from Alice Springs to Wiluna with notes on vegetation, topography and well locations. Relief shown by hachures.

1914

'Unknown country. The far north. Without water for 13 days.' Melbourne Herald, 20 March 1914, page 9 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242149773

1934

[Journal; from Camp 30, 27 May 1913]. Daily News (Perth), 1 December 1934 – 23 February 1935. * serialised under varying headings, every Saturday in Goldfields Section * heading varies, e.g.
1/12/34    Epic Trek in Search of Gold. Prospectors Tell Their Own Story http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article86016864
5/1/35    Diary of Exploring Party
23/2/35 A prospector's diary http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article84000610

1992

Long, Jeremy. 1992. Christopher Henry Walker, pp.220-2, in Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2. Darwin: NTU Press.

Some background references

1967

Alexander, [Wing Commander] C.R. et al. 1967. Joint Services Expedition to west central Australia. 27th February 1967 - 19th May 1967. Roneod typescript, with map, annexures A-O. * copy in WA Museum library, with 59pp. ms. Zoologist's report by Harry Butler. 2 copies in the library of the Royal Geographical Society, London.

1991

Carment, David. 1991. History and the Landscape in Central Australia. Darwin: NARU, ANU. ISBN 0731512952 xi+81pp. * Chapter 7, pp. 35-38, Wells on the North-South stock route.

2008

Fitch, Mike. 2008. '29 i. Arthur Edward Crofts' in FIFTH GENERATION at Fitch Family History website.  Accessed 9 January 2009.

1975

Ford, B.M. 1975. Among the last of the camel men. Northern Times, 20 November 1975. * with thanks to Mark Chambers (Feb 1996)

1986

Gibson, D[avid] F. 1986. A Biological Survey of the Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory Technical Report - Number 30. Alice Springs: Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory. ISBN 07245 0836 8 ISSN 0729 9990 xiii+258pp.

1989

Long, Jeremy. 1989. Leaving the desert: actors and sufferers in the Aboriginal exodus from the Western Desert.  Aboriginal History 13.1,9-43. https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p72111/pdf/book.pdf * page 15 summarises Walker expedition through Pintupi country

1997

Strong, Bruce W. 1997. The history of Wallis Fogarty Limited in Alice Springs. Alice Springs, N.T.: B.W. Strong. v+38pp. ISBN 0646313118 * pp.28,32 -- facsmilie of 1912 receipts

Melbourne Herald, 20 March 1914, page 9 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242149773	Memorial at Walker grave, Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth Christopher Henry Walker (31/3/1861-12/3/1930) Arthur Charles Walker (13/8/1873-14/5/1951) Ethel May Walker née Grimshaw (c1880~5-12/12/1966)

© 2022  David Nash

Created 5 April 2002
Last changed 30 September 2023

URL http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/ca/walker.html