Travel Story: leigh wilkins - australia
The following day I was soon on the banks of the Murray River, Australia’s longest river, its largest, the source of life in this part of the continent. I’d ridden these roads before and was keen to check a few sites of significance. Upon reaching the intersection with the Darling River I headed north. Mitchell had taken this path to confirm that he had found the lower reaches of the river he had discovered some ten years earlier. Sixty kilometres later, the shape of the bank and the status of the trees confirmed in his mind it was, in fact, the Darling. Finding the area where he had made this decision I could see what he meant, the discovery for me was no less significant as I had never seen the Darling river with water in it, let alone flowing.
The banks of the Murray hid a horrific side story to Mitchell’s expedition, one of mistrust and massacre. I knew this area would be hard to find but made a point of paying some form of respect. After looking for some time and almost giving up, I came across a marker on what I believed to be the banks of the Murray.
“Mt, Dispersion. Named by Major Mitchell on May 26th, 1836, after an encounter with aborigines at this spot.”
I stared in disbelief at the simple marker. An encounter? An understatement! I sat down heavily on the earth bank, tears began to well on the lower rim of my eyes. I was struggling to comprehend what I was seeing. A local farmer pulled up giving me his version of events. Stunned I listened, sadness was now turning to anger.
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