2006
They entered a grassy plain interspersed with thick scrub and completely bare of features or watercourses. They were back in the Tanami Desert. ‘I can see nothing, the scrub being so thick; it is of a nasty, tough, wiry description, and has torn our hands and saddle-bags to pieces.’ For three days, without finding a drop of water, Stuart kept his nerve. The horses suffered dreadfully, especially Polly, whom Stuart used as a lead horse. ‘I got up a tree to look over the top of this scrub, which is about twelve feet [four metres] high, and I could see our course for a long distance; it appears to be the same terrible scrub, with no sign of creeks.’
Stuart was forced to retreat, but instead of heading directly back to Bishop Creek he took a roundabout way in the hope of discovering something to drink in a grassy plain he had seen. It was a decision he regretted, for at the end of the day his horses were still unwatered and they were two days away from Bishop Creek.
Stuart’s party set out for the creek at the first glow of sunrise the next morning. He was particularly worried about three of his horses that could hardly lift their feet, and although he distributed their loads to others, one of them suddenly collapsed. It was a good horse and they did all they could to encourage it to get up. Finally, they accepted that it would never stand again. They left it. Stuart cursed the bad luck of it – if the horse had broken down near water they would have been able to stop and carve out its meat.
Before they had time to proceed, Stuart’s own Polly, normally such an even-tempered animal, suddenly began to run crazily around the camp, frothing at the mouth and kicking out at both the men and the other horses. They ran at her, and after grasping her reins brought her under control. She stood heaving and shivering for many minutes before calming down. It was a disturbing, inexplicable moment for Stuart.
Later that day he abandoned another horse which ‘has given in’. He was left with seven packhorses. There was a brief shower during the night, to tantalise them – barely enough to ‘wet a pocket-handkerchief’.
The following morning, Polly gave Stuart more concern. She was wobbling at the knees and looking around with dazed eyes. Stuart lifted the saddle off her back. He would ride another horse for the day. Despite his urging during the morning’s journey, Polly found it difficult to keep up. She repeatedly sank to the ground, and although she rose readily enough when he urged her to do so, it was not long before she was down again. Reluctantly Stuart made the dreadful decision to leave her. He consoled himself with the thin hope that ‘from the number of birds about here, I think there must be water near; I hope she may find it, although I am afraid she is too far gone even to try it’.
An hour before sundown Stuart, Kekwick and Head arrived back at Bishop Creek. They were so exhausted they scarcely rejoiced at arriving safely. Stuart wrote that his horses had been 101 hours without water and during that time had travelled 180 kilometres. He added that one of the animals was ‘very lame from a kick the little mare gave him in her madness’.
The party stayed at Bishop Creek for a week. Both men and animals sorely needed time at rest. The three explorers were now haggard stick figures, fatigued and stricken with pains in their joints and muscles. They found native cucumbers growing wild, so they added them to their regular gruel of dried beef and flour. After several days, Stuart began to notice that the pains in his limbs were ‘not so constant’. He began to sleep at night. With his strength slowly recovering, Stuart retraced his path to look for Polly. He found her where he had left her, still alive, lying under the shade of a tree. He hollowed out a basin in the sand, lined it with canvas and poured several canteens of water into it. To his relief she lifted her head and drank. He coaxed her to her feet and then, over the best part of a day, he led her back to the camp at Bishop Creek.
Mr Stuart’s Track: The Forgotten Life of Australia’s Greatest Explorer,
Pan Macmillan, Melbourne, 2006