Eyre: The Forgotten Explorer (Ivan Rudolph, HarperCollins)

The subtitle of this book is quite fitting. For unlike other explorers of colonial Australia, Edward Eyre has never had much hold on the cultural memory. Aside from the highway, peninsula and the dry lake that bear his name, there are few memorials to the man and popular recall of his identity and deeds is scant. That might change with the publication of this accessible biography by Ivan Rudolph. Greatly illuminated by excerpts from his subject’s diary, Rudolph traces Eyre’s daring quests to open up the Australian wilderness. Although the book is short on the context of his achievements, the significance of Eyre’s overland expeditions, his quests to discover an inland sea, and his facilitation of peaceful relationships with Aboriginal people speak for themselves. Rudolph, author of Sturt’s Desert Drama (2006), has a strong sense of story—his account of Eyre’s expedition to Albany, with murder and near-death brushes, is particularly engrossing. But the scope of this biography is very tight: it is concerned only with Eyre’s explorations of Australia and foregoes detail of his controversial tenure as Governor of Jamaica. More suitable for a general readership, this succinct biography will be a solid beginning for readers of history and exploration. 

Patrick Mullins is a PhD candidate and a former bookseller

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Category: Reviews