Charles Cooke Hunt

Charles Cooke Hunt ( * 1833 in England; † March 1, 1868 in Geraldton ) was one of the first European explorers, who conducted four expeditions into the interior of Western Australia 1864-1866.

Life

Hunt was baptized in 1833 in Brighton, Sussex, England and was the son of John George Hunt, an auctioneer, and his wife Mary Ann, born Cooke. It is believed that he obtained a master's degree as a navigator in 1851 in Liverpool. He reached in 1863, the Swan River Colony in Western Australia about 1863 and he initially lived with his uncle in Newleyine. He married Mary Ann, née Seabrook, December 27, 1864 in Beverley and had a son and a daughter. In December 1865 he became very ill in January 1868, he spent some time in the hospital; Finally, he died of heart failure on March 1, 1886 at the age of 35 years.

Expeditions

He began to work in Fremantle as an assistant - surveyor, before he became a surveyor in the Nikol Bay Area. Hunt explored the coast near Port Hedland. A pass between the De Grey River district and the Nikol Bay district was later named after him.

In 1864, he was asked if he would explore agricultural land and water resources along the former route of 1863 expedition by Henry Lefroy in the Coolgardie area. The expedition group of Hunt consisted of six participants and the Aboriginal tracker Tommy Windich. They left York on 9 July and reached the Gnarlbine rock on August 16. From Gnarlbine out they came to the Lake Lefroy. Hunt returned from a report on good grass land that Lefroy had spotted. This area was later named after the Governor Hampton.

His third expedition took place with six retirees as a leader, ten convicts and George Mundial, an Aboriginal from January to October 1865. This expedition had been sent out to create a path and fountains between York and Gnarlbine for cattle drive to the Hampton Plains. You installed a total of 23 wells.

In 1866, Hunt went with another group on a journey to find a way with fountain to Lake Lefroy and created a path that led into the north-east Coolgardie area. He wrote in his diary that there were many opportunities to stop and that he was "too ill to work today" ( German: too sick had to work ), but still he remained until the road was completed.

The prospectors Bayley and William Ford 1891 used the new path and the fountain in the way where they were successful in the discovery of gold. The road was later C.Y. O'Connor used to build the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme.