At 70 he made his last big expedition, exploring land between Tennant's Creek and Sturt Creek in an effort to find a route from the Barkly Tableland to Western Australia. The South Australian government provided him with camels, and his only assistant was a native driver who showed signs of deserting and at night had to be handcuffed to the leading camel. No practicable route was found. Nat made other shorter trips, searching for mica east of Tanami and exploring south of Hooker's Creek until in 1899 … (O'Neill ADB)His account of the journey was submitted to the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia:
Mr. Gill, hon. treasurer, suggested that Mr. Buchanan's 'Journey Across the Interior' be handed to the press for publication. Approved. (Proc Roy Geog Soc of A/asia (SA branch) Vol. 3 p.103: Council Meetings. October 1st, 1896)His route is shown on 'West Australian Border from Tennant Creek to Sturts Creek - Exploration 9' available through the NT Historic Map Index http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/imfPublic/historicMapImf.jsp specifically http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/imfPublic/sites/historic_map_index/displayMap.jsp?mapId=03543
© 2021
David
Nash
Created 17 January 2021
Modified 17 January 2021
URL http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/kt/1896-Buchanan.html