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Leichhardt's 1844-45 route
VIII
BRIGHTEST HOPE…DEEPEST MISERY
May 1845
Leichhardt may have been a bipolar depressive. He diarised that he suffered from 'melancholy' and
often wrote about his intense highs and lows. His companions remarked about his intense moods.
On 24th May, just after the party began their north-west trail of the Lynd River, he wrote
“…often
I found myself in these different states of the brightest hope and the deepest misery…[yet] the
Almighty God protects the wanderer on his journey…”
. They soon reached the Mitchell River, part of
their long‑awaited link to the Gulf of Carpentaria, yet their miseries and disappointments continued
as they came to the end of their salt, tobacco and damper supplies.
80 x 120 cm
oil on board
2013
