Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt (1813-c. 1848) went to school and university in Germany but the range of his interests was such that he never actually graduated (he was later called Dr Leichhardt in recognition of his broad scholarship). From 1837 he lived with a fellow student, William Nicholson, in England. Nicholson paid for him to come to study natural sciences in Australia. Arriving in early 1842 he commenced studying and lecturing on geology and botany around Sydney. Over the next two years he made some overland journeys between Newcastle and Moreton Bay. He was in Sydney arranging his specimens when he heard about a proposed expedition from Sydney to Port Essington (on the Cobourg Peninsula, 300km north of modern Darwin) with surveyor-general Sir Thomas Mitchell at the helm. Governor Gipps stalled on approving the trip, so Leichhardt proposed to make it with volunteers, funded by private subscription. They sailed from Sydney in August 1844, and a party of ten left Darling Downs on 1 October. Two turned back, and Aborigines killed one, but seven reached Port Essington on 17 December 1845 - about 4800km overland from Moreton Bay. They sailed home to Sydney, where Leichhardt, who had been thought lost, was greeted warmly and dubbed the Prince of Explorers. Just on a year later, having prepared his journal for publication, he set out again, aiming to cross from the Darling Downs to the Swan River settlement in WA, but he was thwarted by fever and misadventure. In 1847 he explored around southern Queensland before returning to Sydney to plan another attempt on the west. In March 1848 he again set out from the Condamine River in southern Queensland for Swan River; his party was last seen on 3 April 1848. For his Moreton Bay- Port Essington journey, which disclosed much prime pastoral land, Leichhardt won the prize for the most important geographical discovery from the Geographical Society of Paris, and the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. He collected many useful specimens and the records of his observations, in manuscript diaries, notebooks, sketchbooks, letters, and published works are notable for their absence of exaggeration.
