Lonely Lands. Through the Heart of Australia
Sydney, N.S.W. Bookstall Co., 1909.
Octavo, xvi, 224, [2] (blank), 16 (publisher's advertisements), [8] (miscellaneous advertisements) pages with 'Portrait, Map, and 84 Photographic Illustrations by the Author'. Three of the miscellaneous advertisements (for bicycles, tyres, and grape-nuts) carry endorsements from Birtles.
Original flush-cut three-colour pictorial cloth a little marked and unevenly discoloured; corners a little bumped, with slight impact on the top corners of the second half of the text block; minor signs of age and use; a very good copy.
'Why the idea should ever have occurred to me to risk a ride on a bicycle over eight thousand miles of territory, much of which was practically pathless, it would be difficult to explain' (page 3). Fortunately, over the following 220-odd pages, he does a fine job of it. Francis Edwin Birtles (1881-1941) is described by the 'Australian Dictionary of Biography' in one word - overlander. In 1907-08 he cycled from Melbourne 'to Sydney and then, via Brisbane, Normanton, Darwin, Alice Springs and Adelaide back to Sydney, where he was thereafter based. In 1909 he published the story of his feat ... By 1912 he had cycled around Australia twice and had crossed the continent seven times. Birtles next turned to the motor car and in 1912 completed the first west-to-east crossing of the continent.... By mid-1927 he had completed more than seventy transcontinental crossings. Impecunious, he depended on manufacturers to sponsor his expeditions and wrote about many of his journeys for newspapers and periodicals. In July 1928 Birtles became the first person to drive from London to Melbourne, a nine-month part-solo journey'. A newspaper clipping of the map of that epic drive is attached to the front free endpaper of this book with a couple of small pieces of stamp selvedge. Provenance: 'E. Laverack, "Rokewood", West Australia 1911' is written in ink on the front pastedown. The Laveracks were pioneers in the orchard industry in the Kalamunda district in WA.
Item #138100
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