'We none of us ate any salt meat, or anything that would tend to give us a thirst. We are now on what is called the "Table-land", a flat piece of country on the top of a very high mountain. We are now in unexplored country where no white man has been before, so it is uncertain when we may see water again.'
So reads part of the entry in Caroline Creaghe's diary for Monday 23 April 1883. By that time, as the sole female member of an exploring party, she was already well acquainted with the privations and harshness of travel in Australia's north. Ahead lay territory unknown to Europeans, as well as numerous tests of endurance, strength and courage. Creaghe's diary, published here in full for the first time, is one of the most remarkable documents of Australian exploration, written by one of the rarest of explorers - a woman.
Italian edition:
Il Diario Di Emily Caroline Creaghe. Esploratrice, La vita felice, Milan, 2013
New Australian Edition:
Published: April 2021
Publisher: Wakefield Press
Peter Monteath must be congratulated for so carefully presenting the diary for publication and setting it in an appropriate context. A fascinating first hand description of Australian exploration, it deserves a wide readership.