Last changed 8 March 2022

L J Stark

Cadigan (2008:33-5) mentions LJ Stark and Brain's 1925 landing at Banka Banka.

Lester Brain 'flew American mining engineer, L.J. Stark, into an area some 150 miles south of Newcastle Waters, inhabited only by tribal Aboriginals, on a pioneering aerial survey that, while hazardous, proved the worth of this new role for aviation. Brain actually landed in this remote and rough terrain to allow his intrepid passenger to assess conditions on the ground. The Aboriginals helped them clear a path for take-off. Later in 1925 … ’. Gunn 1985:88

Bohning 1990:21, 18 March, 1926

... The American prospector and party are out west of here looking for an eldorado. The party consists of Messrs Starke, Ambrose, Ryan and Wallace and two black boys. They have two camels for carrying water, also saddle horses. We wish them luck.

NT Times July 16 1926 [bottom left of (right-hand?) page]

Exploring the Desert.
----
Prospecting by Aeroplane.
---o---
An aeroplane in charge of Captain Blain, accompanied by John Stark, an eminent American mining engineer, and James Ambrose, of Banka Banka Station, returned to Newcastle Waters on Tuesday morning, after exploring for five days in the desert country west of the overland telegraph line. In the afternoon the plane flew south to Banka Banka. It is said that after leaving Newcastle Waters they crossed desert to Victoria River leases near Wave Hill and in the course of their explorations collected sketches and details of thirty thousand square miles of practically unknown country. The aeroplane left for Cloncurry on Wednesday. The trip may be regarded as among the most important explorations in Australia in recent years.

"Blain" is Lester Brain who piloted American Jim Stark in 1925 or 1925/26 in an aerial survey towards Tanami.

Anon. 1929 reproduces map, with caption

WHERE ANDERSON'S MACHINE WAS FOUND.— In the vicinity
of Stark Rango, west by north of Powell's Creek, Mr. L J. Brain,
pilot of the Qantas aeroplane, Atlanta [sc. Atalanta], discovered Keith Anderson's
missing monoplane. The country is well known to Mr. Brain, who
drew the above map a few days before he left Brisbane to join the
search.

The 'Stark Range' is roughly where the Renehan Ridges are marked on modern maps. South of it, at the Latitude of Winnecke Ck, is marked 'Brain's water holes', presumably the salt pans unnamed on modern maps. Brain's sketch was in the context of the Kookaburra search.

"In 1925-26 Brain helped the American L.J. Stark prospect by air for a gold-reef in the Tanami Desert, Northern Territory." (ADB)
Source: Daily Guardian (Sydney), Vol. 6, No.252, Monday April 22, 1929, page 1, rightmost column; reproduced on Davis 1980:63; and

In a letter written to Mr Max Morris of Adelaide in 1973 Brain said "Details of where I flew with Jim Stark have never been published. The latitude and longitude point where he expected to rediscover a reputed rich gold-reef was very close to where the Kookaburra went down. But in our search--1925/6--we were unable to find anything which looked like a gold-reef. Whilst on the first of two trips with me, Jim Stark was definite that the area was the locality of his legendary gold-reef. He returned to America and later came back to Australia and continued his search with ground parties some hundreds of miles further south! As far as I am aware, he never did find what he was looking for." (Davis 1980:112)

References

Anon. 1929. THE KOOKABURRA. Ground party sets out. PILOT BRAIN'S STORY OF ATLANTA FLIGHT. Townsville Daily Bulletin Thursday 25 April 1929, page 6 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61177098

Bohning, Elsie. 1990. Elsie Bohning, the Little Bush Maid / compiled by Barbara James (1943-) Occasional papers, no. 13 viii, 50 p. : ill. ; 30 cm. ISBN 0724505652 Darwin : Northern Territory Library Service.

Cadigan, Neil. 2008. A man among mavericks. Lester Brain: Australia's greatest aviator. Sydney: ABC Books.

Davis, Pedr. 1980. Kookaburra. The most compelling story in Australia's aviation history. Research by Dick Smith. Story by Pedr Davis. [Cataloguing-in-Publication Data has different subtitle: Australian aviation's most compelling story.] Sydney, Auckland, London, New York: Landsdowne Press.

Gunn, John. 1985, 1988. The defeat of distance, Qantas 1919-1939, Volume 1. St. Lucia, Qld. : University of Queensland Press. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=dO_z29s9YigC&lpg=PA88

NT Times July 16 1926
Northern Standard July 23 1926 'Twelve months saved. On 2000 miles tour.'
Northern Standard 10-9-1926 'Exploration by aeroplane. Wave Hill country visited.'
(Thanks to Darrell Lewis for the last two clippings, p.c. May 2007)
(Thanks to Valerie Sitters, SLSA, for discussion.)

Related expedition:

NT Times, 17-2-1925:

TANAMI GOLDFIELD
American Captalists Blocked by the Desert
Powel Creek, Fiday.

The party consisting of Americans Messrs W Taylor and Jas Strake, Robert Sharpe, mining expert from Cloncurry, Jim Massie, drover, and Eric Conway, drover, which left Powell Creek on Feburary 5 for Tanami, returned to Powell Creek today. They only penetrated a little over 50 miles of the desert country west of Powell Creek, being forced back by absence of water. The party now propose tackling the journey per camels.

(Thanks to Darrell Lewis for this reference, p.c. 10 Feb 2000)

To Karlantijpa page

URL http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/kt/1926-stark.html