FRANK FEAST: On arrival in Darwin we assembled the necessary foodstuffs and some of the equipment and took the train from Darwin to Katherine via Adelaide River and Pine Creek. The party consisted of Dr Basedow, Donald Mackay, Charlie Lovell, Walter Sully and myself. On arrival at Katherine we offloaded the stores for the trip and we took possession of 33 hired horses. And we proceeded from there to Mataranka and then on to the Elsey station.
Arriving at the Roper River bar, we crossed the Roper River and proceeded north to the Wilton, Goyder Rivers and then finally we come to the Liverpool. As we got further north the country opened out to some considerable extent, and we rode past many beautiful billabongs consisting of both white-coloured lilies and also the pink-coloured lilies. On the itinerary or on the trip, I calculated I shot over 50 turkeys.
As we proceeded further north we would come up against immense sandstone escarpments. Also on some of these escarpments there was some wonderful caves with Aboriginal drawings in which the doctor was very, very interested.
Then finally we come to the Anglican mission station on the East Alligator, in very beautiful surroundings, with very good soil, at Oenpelli Anglican Mission. On arrival at Oenpelli we were quite short of food due to the fact of those two horses floundering through that creek where several of the pack bags that contained the rice and sago were immersed.
Finally we arrive at Pine Creek. Pine Creek into Darwin by train and, after several days wait in Darwin, we again voyaged south from Darwin to Sydney. That was the last expedition of note in the outback that I accompanied Dr Basedow.
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