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Leichhardt's 1844-45 route
XIV
BUT I AM ALMOST DEAD
November 1845
It was towards the end of the dry season and they were crossing very rough and often barren
ground as they travelled along Flying Fox Creek under unrelenting heat. Dissention within the
group was rife. Leichhardt wrote
"…everyone is against me…"
. He and his companions suffered
painfully from heat boils and prickly heat sores. Melancholy and dread hit Leichhardt. They had yet
to descend the steep and treacherous walls of the Arnhem Land plateau down to the flats of today’s
Kakadu National Park. Leichhardt lost interest in his scientific researches and for a while found it
hard to continue, declaring in scratchy writing on his map of Flying Fox Creek on 13th November
“…but I am almost dead.”
80 x 120 cm
oil on board
2013
