William Landsborough

William Landsborough
William Landsborough
Member of the Queensland Legislative Council
	In office; 20 December 1862 – 11 May 1865
	In office; 17 May 1865 – 23 September 1865
Personal details
Born	21 February 1825; Stevenston, Ayrshire, Scotland
Died	16 March 1886 (aged 61); Caloundra, Queensland, Australia
Resting place	Toowong Cemetery
Spouse(s)	Caroline Hollingworth Raine (m.1862 d.1869), Maria Theresa Carr (m.1873 d.1921)
Relations	David Landsborough (father)
Children	6
Occupation	Explorer, Public servant

William Landsborough (21 February 1825 – 16 March 1886) was an explorer of Australia. He was notable for being the first explorer to complete a North-to-South crossing of Australia. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council.^[2]

Biography

Landsborough was born on 21 February 1825, in Stevenston, Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of David Landsborough and his wife Margaret (née McLeish). Landsborough was educated in Irvine and migrated to Australia in 1842, several years after his brothers James and John.^[2]

At that time, this was the most northerly coastal settlement along the eastern seaboard of Australia and it was here that Landsborough began his career as an explorer. Between 1856 and 1861, each year when the shearing season was over, he explored north and west, each time deeper into unknown territory. He preferred to travel in a small group usually with one or two friends and an Aboriginal tracker. As Thomas Welsby later wrote, "A sequel to Landsborough's expeditions was the race for the magnificent, pastoral country described by him".^[3]

In August 1861, he was placed in charge of one of the four parties sent out to search for the lost explorers, Burke and Wills.^[4]

William and his wife Caroline returned to Australia in late 1864 to discover that while they were away their property in Broad Sound, Glen Prairie, had been sold under mysterious circumstances. The Landsborough River Company was also experiencing financial difficulties. In 1869, after years of drought and with facing increasing debt, Landsborough finally handed over his shareholdings in the company to Morehead and Young.^[5]

Landsborough was made a Life Member of the Queensland Legislative Council in 1865 but served for only one session. Looking for employment, towards the end of 1865 he was appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands, Police Magistrate and Sub Collector of Customs for the district of Burke in the Gulf country. Finding the township of Burketown riddled with fever, he made Sweers Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria his headquarters. His wife and two children joined him soon afterwards, living on Sweers Island, and from there he did much local exploring.^[6]

In 1882, the Queensland parliament voted Landsborough £2000 for his services as an explorer, and with this he purchased a pastoral property near present-day Caloundra which he named Loch Lamerough. He died and was buried there in March 1886. On 13 June 1913, his widow had him reburied at Toowong Cemetery in Brisbane.^[7]^[8]

Legacy

Landsborough was in the vanguard of exploration in northern and eastern Queensland in the middle of the 19th century, his explorations resulting in the opening up of vast areas of northern and north-eastern Australia to settlement. As a result, there are numerous places named after Landsborough, including:

County of Landsborough, New South Wales
County of Landsborough, Queensland in Shire of Cloncurry^[9]
Town of Landsborough in Sunshine Coast Region^[10]
Town and parish of Landsborough, Victoria
Parish of Landsborough in Flinders Shire^[11]
Landsborough Highway, stretching between Morven and Cloncurry

as well as a number of streets, creeks and mountains in Australia and also in New Zealand.

The William Landsborough Diaries (1856-1886),^[12] held by the State Library of Queensland, were ranked #39 in the "Top 150: Documenting Queensland" exhibition which toured taround Queensland from February 2009 to April 2010, as part of the Q150 celebrations, marking the 150th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales.^[13] The exhibition was part of Queensland State Archives' events and exhibition program.^[14]

In 1957, a memorial stone was erected in the Nebo Shire to honour Landsborough.^[15]^[16]

A number of heritage-listed sites are associated with Landsborough's explorations, including:

Landsborough Tree in Burketown, Queensland^[17]
Landsborough's Blazed Tree (Camp 67) on Mitchell Highway, Charleville, Queensland^[18]
Landsborough's Blazed Tree (Camp 69), 29 km south of Charleville off the Mitchell Highway near Bakers Bend^[19]

References

^ "DEATH OF WILLIAM LANDSBOROUGH, THE EXPLORER". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 12, 396. Victoria, Australia. 17 March 1886. p. 6. Retrieved 30 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ^a ^b Trundle, Gwen. "William Landsborough (1825–1886)". Landsborough, William (1825–1886). Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
^ Welsby,Thomas, William Landsborough – Explorer, The Historical Society of Queensland, Vol 2, 1935, pages 296-303.
^ "RETURN OF MR. LANDSBOROUGH'S PARTY". Bendigo Advertiser. Vol. IX, no. 2254. Victoria, Australia. 14 August 1862. p. 2. Retrieved 30 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ Landsborough, Gordon (2015). In Search of Burke and Wills: The Story of William Landsborough, Queensland's Forgotten Explorer. pp. 145–153.
^ This Wikipedia article incorporates text from The letters of Caroline Landsborough (12 August 2021) published by the State Library of Queensland under CC BY licence, accessed on 30 September 2021.
^ Landsborough William Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search
^ "Landsborough, the Explorer". Queensland Times (Ipswich) (Qld. : 1909 - 1954). Ipswich, Qld.: National Library of Australia. 14 June 1913. p. 3 Edition: Daily. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
^ "Landsborough (county) (entry 18917)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
^ "Landborough (town) (entry 18919)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
^ "Landsborough (parish) (entry 18920)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
^ Landsborough, William (1856), "William Landsborough Papers, 1856-1908", State Library of Queensland, retrieved 11 August 2020
^ corporateName=Queensland State Archives (6 April 2015). "Number 39 - William Landsborough Diaries (1856-1886)". Number 39 - William Landsborough Diaries (1856-1886). Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
^ Queensland State Archives (2014), "Annual report", Queensland State Archives Annual Report, Queensland State Archives: 6, 9, ISSN 1448-8426, retrieved 4 August 2020
^ Monument Australia, (issuing body.) (2010), Monument Australia, Monument Australia, retrieved 11 August 2020, William Landsborough
^ Memorial stone erected in the Nebo Shire to honour William Landsborough, 2005, retrieved 11 August 2020
^ "Landsborough Tree (entry 600374)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
^ "Landsborough's Blazed Tree, Camp 67 (entry 602716)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
^ "Landsborough's Blazed Tree, Camp 69 (entry 602715)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 11 July 2013.