1. Ludwig Leichhardt was the fourth son and sixth of the eight children of Christian Hieronymus Matthias Leichhardt, farmer and royal inspector and his wife Charlotte Sophie, nee Strahlow.
21 Facts About Ludwig Leichhardt
1. 2.
Between 1831 and 1836 Ludwig Leichhardt studied philosophy, language, and natural sciences at the Universities of Gottingen and Berlin but never received a university degree.
3.
Ludwig Leichhardt moved to England in 1837, continued his study of the natural sciences at various places, including the British Museum, London, and the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, and undertook field work in several European countries, including France, Italy and Switzerland.
4.
Ludwig Leichhardt's aim was to explore inland Australia and he was hopeful of a government appointment in his fields of interest.
5.
In September 1842 Ludwig Leichhardt went to the Hunter River valley north of Sydney to study the geology, flora and fauna of the region, and to observe farming methods.
6.
Ludwig Leichhardt then set out on his own on a specimen-collecting journey that took him from Newcastle, New South Wales, to Moreton Bay in Queensland.
7.
On 23 September 1842, at the invitation of Alexander Walker Scott, Ludwig Leichhardt arrived at Ash Island, where he spent two or three days.
8.
When plans for this expedition fell through, Ludwig Leichhardt decided to mount the expedition himself.
9.
Ludwig Leichhardt returned to Sydney by ship, arriving on 25 March 1846 to a hero's welcome.
10.
The Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia, from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, a Distance of Upwards of 3000 miles, During the Years 1844 and 1845 by Ludwig Leichhardt describes this expedition.
11.
Ludwig Leichhardt blamed failure of the expedition on his men's weakness.
12.
In 1848 Ludwig Leichhardt again set out from the Condamine River to reach the Swan River.
13.
The expedition had been expected to take two to three years, but after no sign or word was received from Ludwig Leichhardt it was assumed that he and the others in the party had died.
14.
Ludwig Leichhardt was appointed leader of a search expedition, but found no further trace of Leichhardt.
15.
The mystery of Ludwig Leichhardt's fate remained in the minds of explorers for many years.
16.
Ludwig Leichhardt is remembered as one of the most authoritative early recorders of Australia's environment and the best trained natural scientist to explore Australia to that time.
17.
Ludwig Leichhardt left a record of his observations in Australia from 1842 to 1848 in diaries, letters, notebooks, sketch-books, maps, and in his published works.
18.
Harsh criticism of Ludwig Leichhardt's character was published some time after his disappearance and his reputation suffered badly.
19.
However, Ludwig Leichhardt's success in making it to Port Essington in 1845 was a major achievement, which ranks him with other successful European explorers of Australia.
20.
On 23 October 1988, a monument was erected beside Ludwig Leichhardt's blazed tree at Taroom by the local historical society and tourism association to celebrate Ludwig Leichhardt's 175th birthday and the Bicentenary of Australia.
21.
Ludwig Leichhardt's life inspired a range of "Lemurian" novels, starting with George Firth Scott's book The Last Lemurian.