William Landsborough
| William Landsborough | |
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William Landsborough
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| Member of the Queensland Legislative Council | |
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In office 20 December 1862 – 11 May 1865 |
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In office 17 May 1865 – 23 September 1865 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
William Landsborough 21 February 1825 Ayrshire, Scotland |
| Died | 16 March 1886 (aged 61) Caloundra, Queensland, Australia |
| Resting place | Toowong Cemetery |
| Nationality | Scottish Australian |
| Spouse(s) | Caroline Hollingworth Raine (m.1862 d.1869), Maria Theresa Carr (m.1873 d.1921) |
| Relations | David Landsborough (father) |
| Children | Three sons, three daughters |
| Residence | Loch Lamerough |
| Occupation | Explorer, Public servant |
| Religion | Church of England |
William Landsborough (21 February 1825 – 16 March 1886) was an explorer of Australia and notably he was the first explorer to complete a North-to-South crossing of Australia. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council.
Landsborough was born in Stevenston, Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of Rev Dr David Landsborough (a clergyman, entomologist and artist) and his wife Margaret, née McLeish. William Landsborough was educated in Irvine and migrated to Australia in 1842, several years after his brothers James and John.
William Landsborough arrived in Sydney on the Duke of Richmond, on 30 September 1842. He joined his brothers James and John on their property in the New England district of New South Wales and stayed with them until 1850 when he went into partnership with a friend, William Penson, buying 30,000 acres nearby which they named Oak Ridge.
When gold was discovered in Bathurst, New South Wales in 1851, he went to the diggings but had little success. In 1853 Landsborough decided to give up mining and rejoin his brothers, who had sold up their property and had driven their stock before them, to try their luck in the unsettled districts north of Brisbane. Landsborough sold his share in Oak Ridge to his partner, William Penson, and in 1853 took ship to Brisbane.
When Landsborough arrived he learned that his brothers had taken up land at Tenningering, about fifty miles south-west of today’s city of Bundaberg. He joined them there for a while before in 1854 taking up land for himself a little further north in the Kolan River area.
At that time, this was the most northerly coastal settlement along the eastern seaboard of Australia and it was here that Landsborough began his career as an explorer. Between 1856 and 1861, each year when the shearing season was over, he explored north and west, each time deeper into unknown territory. He preferred to travel in a small group usually with one or two friends and an Aboriginal tracker. As Thomas Welsby later wrote, “A sequel to Landsborough’s expeditions was the race for the magnificent, pastoral country described by him.”
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Wikipedia