The expedition served as research for a national touring exhibition of work by the artist that relates to Creaghe's 1883 expedition. The exhibitions will be held in leading private galleries across Australia. The work featured will be the artist's direct response to the land; the unheralded achievement of Emily Caroline Creaghe and the strength, courage and insight shown by this most remarkable Australian.

Born in 1860, Creaghe spent her early life in India before her father retired from his post in the Royal Artillery. Her family returned to England before migrating in 1876 to Australia, settling at Lavender Bay. During a visit to her sister and brother-in-law in Goodna, near Brisbane, Caroline met Harry Creaghe, whom she married in 1881.

Though unconfirmed, it is believed their infant first child, a boy Cayley, died from drinking contaminated water. It has been proposed that the couple's desire to try something new and adventurous to assist them in their grief was behind their acceptance to join the expedition with noted early explorer Ernest Favenc.

Emily Caroline Creaghe kept a remarkable diary of the journey and it offers a fascinating insight to the trials of our early Australian explorers. The diary was written in the 1883 edition of Letts's Australasian Diary and Almanac. Typically at the end of the day she would record her experiences and impressions, often in the most trying of circumstances. It would have been no easy matter, especially in a dying or faint light and with the physical and mental exhaustion of long-distances traveled.

Creaghe observes the landscape through sympathetic eyes. This is evident when she reflects on the party leaving the spears belonging to an Aboriginal tribe that they meet because 'harm has been done so often by white men stealing Blacks' only means of gaining their food'. Creaghe also comments on the relationships, hostility and gender constraints between males and females within the tribes.

Her observations also included her ever-present fear of attack by Indigenous people, as a result of the ever-increasing pastoralist expansion into tribal hunting grounds. Creaghe makes various empathetic and insightful comments on the violence inflicted upon both sides in the frontier wars.

Lack of food and water, illness and death amongst the party, the intricacies of human relationships, combined with constant heat, the ever-present flies and mosquitoes coupled with the fear of attack would have made a lesser explorer challenge why they were engaging in such an expedition. Creaghe does not do this and it is remarkable that she maintained her diary against these challenges. Creaghe's diary allows us to time-travel to an era and on an expedition that allows us to appreciate the privations of exploration from a uniquely youthful and female perspective.

Gemma Lynch-Memory is considered by many to be one of Australia's most collectable abstract landscape painters. She has enjoyed a constant demand for her work both nationally and internationally and has been painting professionally full-time for over 12 years.

Gemma found a copy of the Creaghe diary by chance at a small book shop near her studio in the Yarra Valley. She immediately related to Creaghe's story and was drawn to the subject on several levels. 'Her lack of notoriety struck me initially, I was surprised that no-one had heard of her, including myself' explained Gemma. 'Being someone who is perpetually engaged with landscape and its emotive capacity, the concept of being the first to ever seeing such an amazing part of our country truly fascinated me'. She also noted that 'just going there and retracing her steps and getting a sense of what it must have been like has become quite the fascination'.

A book will be published prior to the first exhibition that will chronicle both the expedition and the creative process of the artist. It is hoped that this will further highlight the accomplishments of Emily Caroline Creaghe and serve as a reference book on contemporary art practice. Many of the finished art works that will feature in the national touring exhibition will feature in the book as well.

'I truly hope that in time to come history lessons on explorers in our schools won't be totally male dominated and will contain information on Emily and others'. 'That feels important.and I believe that highlighting her achievement through art and perhaps being able to give people some sense of what she felt and saw is exciting' explained writer and project coordinator Julie Hoffmann. As part of the project WaterAid Australia will be the official charity partner. WaterAid Australia is a non-government initiative that provides safe and clean drinking water to impoverished communities globally. It is an interesting footnote that Emily fell pregnant while on the expedition and gave birth to a son in Rockhampton in 1884.

History has a knack of over looking the achievements of women and this project offers a unique and interesting way of addressing that imbalance. Emily Caroline Creaghe unheralded accomplishments and amazing accounts are rich territory for Lynch-Memory's contemplative expressive canvases. The combination is sure to have historical, social and cultural significance for all Australians.

The first 'emily:explorer' exhibition will open in Sydney in November 2007 and move to other capital cities through 2008.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Ref:

Peter Monteath, Preface 'The Diary Of Emily Creaghe'

Amanda Day, ANU Research Paper