n, near Stafford, and educated at the
Grammar School, Rugby. He had come out to Sydney in 1834, as clerk to Sir
William Westbrooks Burton; but the love of adventure prevailed over his
other inclinations, and in 1837, he joined Ebden in squatting pursuits,
and eventually distinguished himself as one of the leading Overlanders.
He subsequently settled in South Australia. From 1842 to 1857 he was
Commissioner for Crown Lands, and he afterwards served the State as
manager for railways, and in other capacities. Subsequently he returned
to Sydney, where he died.

11.2. EYRE'S CHIEF JOURNEYS.

[Illustration. Edward John Eyre.]

Edward John Eyre was the son of the Reverend Anthony Eyre, vicar of
Hornsea and Long Riston, Yorkshire, and was born on August 14th, 1815. He
was educated at Louth and Sedburgh Grammar Schools. He came to Australia
in 1833, and immediately engaged in squatting pursuits, his enterprising
spirit constantly leading him beyond the pale of civilization, where his
natural love for exploration rapidly increased. His fortunes as an
Overlander have already been noticed. On the 5th August, 1839, he left
Port Lincoln, on the western shore of Spencer's Gulf, meaning to
penetrate as far as he could to the westward. Some time before he had
made an expedition to the north of Adelaide as far as Mount Arden, a
striking elevation to the North-North-East of Spencer's Gulf. He had
ascended this mount, and from the summit seen a depression which he took
to be a lake with a dry bed. This lake afterwards played an important
part in the history of South Australian settlement under the name of Lake
Torrens.

Eyre's party on his westward trip consisted of an overseer, three men,
and two natives. Twenty days after leaving Port Lincoln, they arrived at
Streaky Bay, not having crossed a single stream, rivulet, or chain of
ponds the whole distance of nearly three hundred miles. Three small
springs only had been found, and the country was covered with the gloomy
mallee and tea-tree scrub. Westward of Streaky Bay the country was still
found to be scrubby; so Eyre formed a camp, and taking only a black boy
with him, he forced a stubborn way onward, until he was within nearly
fifty miles of the western border of South Australia. To all appearance
the country was slightly more elevated than the level scrubby flats he
had been traversing, but there was neither grass nor water, and an
immediate return became necessary. Before he got ba