Five Councils in Queensland’s Western Downs region are organising a Ludwig Leichhardt Expedition to mark the 160th anniversary of the explorer’s historic Queensland trek. The Ludwig Leichhardt Expedition Exposition will be hosted by Dalby Town and Wambo, Chinchilla, Murilla and Taroom Shire Councils from 21 to 26 September 2004.
Council delegates will follow a section of the Leichhardt route from Jimbour in Wambo Shire to Expedition National Park in Taroom Shire.
Ludwig Leichhardt was born in Trebatsch, Germany, in 1813. He arrived in Sydney in 1842 and two years later embarked on a successful overland trek from Jimbour Station on the Darling Downs, west of Brisbane, to Port Essington on the Northern Territory coast.
Leichhardt received donations of money, stock and supplies and the help of volunteers on his 14 month trek. The Queensland Events Regional Development Program has allocated $25,000 to the expo.
Guest speakers from Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Sydney, Perth and Alice Springs have been asked to attend. The Ludwig Leichhardt Museum in Trebatsch, Germany, is also celebrating the explorer’s 190th birthday and promoting the Queensland expo.
The idea for an expo followed a visit to the Western Downs region last year by Bernd Marx, a member of a Leichhardt Foundation, which operates the museum at Trebatsch.
