We left Sydney on the 29th of April, 1848, in the barque “Tam O’Shanter” (Captain Merionberg); in company with H.M.S. “Rattlesnake.”

Our party consisted of the following persons: Mr. E. B. Kennedy, (leader,) Mr. W. Carron, (botanist,) Mr. T. Wall, (naturalist,) Mr. C. Niblet, (storekeeper,) James Luff, Edward Taylor, and William Costigan, (carters,) Edward Carpenter, (shepherd,) William Goddard, Thomas Mitchell, John Douglas, Dennis Dunn, (labourers,) and Jacky, an aboriginal native of the Patrick’s Plains tribe.

The 1848 Kennedy expedition to Cape York was a disaster from the very beginning, the perils plagued them for the continuation of the journey. The author of this book William Carron was one of three who survived from thirteen men.