QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

“The dreaming wanderers of the wilderness”

“ As the night advances, the Blackfellows’ songs die away; the chatting tongue of Murphy ceases, after having lulled Mr. Gilbert to sleep; and at last even Mr. Calvert is silent, as Roper’s short answers became few and far between. The neighing of the tethered horse, the distant tinkling of the bell, or the occasional cry of night birds, alone interrupt the silence of our camp. The fire, which was bright as long as the corroborri songster kept it stirred, gradually gets dull, and smoulders slowly under the large pot in which our meat is simmering; and the bright constellations of heaven pass unheeded over the heads of the dreaming wanderers of the wilderness, until the summons of the laughing jackass recalls them to the business of the coming day.’

Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia: From Moreton Bay to Port Essington, a Distance of Upwards of 3000 Miles, During the Years 1844 - 1845 – by Ludwig Leichhardt (1813 - 1848)

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