"He is a fine fellow, he will either accomplish his object, or leave his bones in the bush!"
- Comment made of Edmund Kennedy before he left for his 1848 Cape York expedition.
Edmund Kennedy's 1848 Expedition into Cape York
Following the success of the earlier Leichhardt expedition, the Governor of New South Wales commissioned Edmund Kennedy to explore Cape York in 1848. A committee comprising mostly naval explorers determined his objectives and the parameters of his proposed journey. Kennedy had recently returned from an exhausting exploration into the Barcoo and Coopers Creek regions of Western NSW and commenced his preparations for Cape York with no time for he, or his party, to recover from the exertions of 18 months of privation.
Kennedy's party of 13 was landed on the North Queensland coast on 24 May 1848 at Rockingham Bay. His equipment included 27 horses, three spring carts and a small herd of sheep and supplies calculated to maintain the party for a journey to Port Albany, just south of the tip of Cape York. Here Kennedy was to rendezvous with the brig Ariel, resupply and augment his party before returning to Sydney via the west Coast of Cape York and investigating the river systems south of the Gulf of Carpentaria on the way.
The party very quickly ran foul of the country finding themselves trapped between mangrove and freshwater swamps. After the party had battled through rainforest and steep gullies for six weeks, the carts and much heavy equipment were abandoned. Remaining supplies were loaded on the horses using makeshift packsaddles. The party crawled to the top of the coastal range by 8th August. Well behind schedule, they struggled on to Princess Charlotte Bay, where an opportunity for rescue by the Rattlesnake had expired. The ship had sailed.
On 13 November, Kennedy was forced to divide his party, leaving eight men at Weymouth Bay in the charge of the botanist, Carron. Kennedy and four others, including the Aborigine, Jackey Jackey, pushed on to meet the Ariel at Port Albany. A further tragedy occurred; Costigan was severely wounded in the chest, when his gun accidentally discharged. This required that he be left at Shelburne Bay with two others. Kennedy and Jackey Jackey then commenced a race to Port Albany to seek help.
Kennedy was speared when attempting to skirt around the mangroves of the Escape River and died in Jackey Jackey's arms. Jackey Jackey hid Kennedy's papers in a hollow tree and continued to Port Albany despite pursuit by the hostile local tribes people. He was recognised by Dr Vallack from the Ariel and taken aboard to tell the tragic story. The Ariel departed on an urgent rescue mission, firstly to Shelburne Bay.
Guided by Jackey Jackey the rescue party judged that Costigan and his carers had perished, and the threat from the hostile Aborigines made searching for their remains too dangerous. The Ariel continued to Weymouth bay to rescue the two only survivors, Carron and Goddard. The six others had starved to death.
Captain Beckford Simpson of the brig Freak visited the scenes in May 1849, again guided by Jackey Jackey. Remains of two the party, articles of equipment and documents including some of Kennedy's journals and notebooks were recovered. The corpses were buried on Albany Island. Kennedy's body was never found.
(Tim Daniel)
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