A duplicate typescript manuscript, 'The First Pastoral Settlement in the Northern Territory'
Quarto, [i] (title), 131 numbered leaves (including 79 and 79a; all typed rectos only).
Unbound loose leaves (as originally produced), folded as one across the middle, with minor chips and creases to the edges (not well-aligned); in very good condition.
The catalogue of the State Library of South Australia indicates that the original manuscript is in its collection ('202, 5 leaves; 30 cm ... Compiled principally from his own experiences as an overlander and pioneer pastoralist, with special reference to the foundation of the Springvale, Delamere and Newcastle Waters runs'). The manuscript has not been published; there are a few other library holdings, and where information is available, they are either microform or CD versions. Alfred Giles (1846-1931), an explorer and pioneer of the Northern Territory, was engaged in 1870 'as second-in-command of John Ross's expedition to fix the course of the overland telegraph line' ('Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography'). In 1926, he published 'Exploring in the 'Seventies and the Construction of the Overland Telegraph Line', compiled from his contemporary notebooks. The present manuscript is the continuation of that volume, which concludes with the completion of the overland telegraph line. 'Although I had only been back in Adelaide two or three months I was quite ready to get back to the open spaces and the Northern Territory, consequently I was very pleased to know that my offer to overland 5000 sheep to the Northern Territory had been accepted by Mr. Todd'. This important autobiographical memoir concludes in early 1885. This typescript (with typos regularly corrected in pencil) may have been produced around the time 'Exploring in the 'Seventies' was published. It has the look and feel of a work prepared for possible publication, and it's surely not too late to complete the project.
Item #109137
Sold