Scene in Carpentaria-Tom Jackson’s…

Rare colonial engraving of Tom Jackson’s grave who

Contemporary description: The year 1869 will be remembered by all who remain of the inhabitants of that remote region, Carpentaria, as a period in which starvation and sickness were rampant amongst them. The banks of the Leichhardt, Albert, and Norman Rivers were daily crowded by numbers of fever-stricken wretches, who looked, and looked in vain, for the arrival of a vessel laden with provisions to relieve them. Many will ask : Had they no cattle, no sheep to provide them with meat ? Yes, both were plentiful ; but something more than animal food was required by men weakened by repeated attacks of fever in its most malignant form-to say nothing of the privations and hardships inseparable from their position as pioneers of civilisation.

From the original edition of the Town and Country Journal.

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 41861
State Library New South Wales: 1870-1919 TN83A
State Library Victoria: RARENSL N.S.W. 1870-1919