Four days after Wells had started, the Honourable David Carnegie, fourth son of the ninth Earl of Southesk, born March 23rd, 1871, left an outpost of civilization called Doyle's Well, some fifty miles south of Lake Darlot, intending to cross Warburton's Desert on a north-easterly course, about two hundred miles to the east of the route pursued by surveyor Wells. The objects of this purely private expedition were (1) extension of geographical knowledge; (2) the desire to ascertain if any practicable stock-route existed between Kimberley and Coolgardie; (3) the discovery of patches of auriferous country within the confines of the desert. In the two last objects Carnegie was doomed to disappointment, but as a geographical contribution to our scanty knowledge of north-west Australia, the outcome of his repeated journey was distinctly valuable.
Carnegie started with three white men and a native boy, and for many days passed through country that afforded no water for the camels; of which they had nine. A native was induced to lead them to a singular spring situated in a cavern twenty-five feet underground. Though the water was not easy of access, having to be hauled up by bucket to the surface, there was an ample supply for the camels, and, as Carnegie considered the well to be permanent, he named it the Empress Spring.
The discovery of this subterranean spring was indeed a godsend, as when they eventually reached Forrest's Alexander Spring they found it dry. A similar experience had befallen W.W. Mills who, after Forrest's exploration, had attempted to take over a mob of camels in Forrest's tracks.
Strangely enough a lagoon of fresh water was found at the foot of the creek in which the spring was situated, and this satisfied their wants. From this sheet, which was named Woodhouse Lagoon, the party kept a nearly northerly course across what Carnegie calls in his book "the great undulating desert of gravel." Over this terrible region of drought and desolation the party made their painful way by the aid of miserable native wells, found with the greatest difficulty, and a few chance patches of parakeelia,* until they were relieved by finding, through the good offices of an aboriginal guide, a beautiful spring which was named Helena Spring. They were then seven days out from Woodhouse Lagoon, and during the last days of the stage they had been travelling across most distressing parallel sand-ridges.
*[Footnote.] A ground plant which camels eat, and which assuages their thirst.
From Helena Spring Carnegie struggled on, intending to strike the northern settlements at Hall's Creek where there is a small mining township. On the way there, while still in unexplored country, they discovered one more oasis, in a rock hole, which was called Godfrey's Tank, after Godfrey Massie, one of the party. On November 25th, 1896, they congratulated themselves that they were at last clear of the desert and its desolation, having come out on to a well-watered shady river, running towards the northern coast. But a sad accident turned their rejoicing into mourning. Charles Stansmore accidentally slipped on a rock when out shooting, and his gun going off, he was shot through the heart and died instantly. His friend Carnegie speaks most highly of him, and his sudden death on the threshold of success was a sad blow to the company. Stansmore was the third explorer to lose his life from a gun accident.
At Hall's Creek Carnegie heard of the misfortune that had befallen Wells, in the loss of two of his party, and he at once volunteered his assistance; but as search-parties had already started out, his aid was not required. He therefore rested for a short time before again trying conclusions with the desert on the return journey. Sturt's Creek was by this time occupied and stocked, and the party followed it down until they arrived at its termination in Gregory's Salt Sea. From this point Carnegie kept a southerly course to Lake Macdonald near the South Australian border, passing on his way a striking range which he named the Stansmore Range, after his unfortunate companion. Lake Macdonald was long thought to be a continuation of Lake Amadeus, until the exploration of Tietkins in 1889 proved its isolation. From Lake Macdonald, Carnegie, who had now three horses in his equipment, kept a more south-westerly course towards the Rawlinson Range, the endless sand-dunes still crossing his track in dreary succession. So persistently did they rise across his path that, on one day, eighty-six of them were crossed by the caravan during a progress of eight hours. From the Rawlinson Range they kept on the same south-west course until they struck their outward track at Alexander Spring. A fall of rain fortunately replenished the spring shortly after the arrival of the party. They reached Lake Darlot on the 15th of July, and their desert pilgrimage was ended.
Not only did Carnegie get safely across the dreaded desert, but he returned overland to his starting-point by a different route. He wrote a book, Spinifex and Sand, which contains a most interesting account of this journey, as well as a graphic and picturesque description of the physical features of the Great Sandy Desert.
Carnegie died before he had made more than this one contribution to Australian geography. Like the ill-fated Horrocks, he had the explorer's ardent spirit. His restless and adventurous soul ever leading him onward to the frontiers of settlement and the outskirts of civilised life, he fell beneath a shower of poisoned arrows at Lokojo in Nigeria, on the west coast of Africa, on the 27th of November, 1900.