The Parker-Flinte Expedition

By Lindsay Johannsen

During the nineteenth century many an expedition set out to explore the vast Australian interior. Some achieved their goal and some were beaten back by conditions or hostile inhabitants. Others met with disaster – sometimes due to circumstance, occasionally of their own making – and one or two disappeared completely, no trace of their remains ever found. This one never even made the history books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lindsay Johannsen
• Release date: Apr 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310256851

Lindsay Johannsen

There's not a lot to tell really, though on reflection, looking back on it through the lens of one’s recollections and memories, the whole business seems more akin to an extended Huckleberry Finn adventure, but set in the vastness of Central Australia. Born, raised and schooled in Alice Springs; taken from the leafy glades of learning mid-way through Year-eight to work at my father's remote little copper mine; later employed for some years driving his cattle-hauling road trains – him having pioneered road trains and the cattle hauling business (see "Kurt Johannsen: A Son of the Red Centre"). Married in the fullness of time; built a bush homestead on the northern edge of the Simpson Desert and raised a family there, all while running a small tungsten mining business and provisioning the hundred or so Aboriginal people local to the area who adopted us. Sold our mine and homestead a few years after the kids had flown the coop, acquired a forty foot (12m) touring coach, converted it into a big steel-wheel mobeel Palaise-de-passion motor home and took to the roads of this great land of Oz - in the main visiting our offspring (most of whom had moved to coastal regions), our grandchildren generally and a couple of great grandies, plus various friends and associates from years gone by. So these days all I have to do is keep the missus happy – my Bride my Precious Lamb and Flower of the Early Mid Morning. 'Anywhere you wish, my darling,' I tell her. 'You just say the word and we'll be on our way.' So it's free as the breeze, we are now, out and about having wild and exciting adventures and being amazingly cool generally. Best job I ever had.

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THE PARKER-FLINTE EXPEDITION

Published by Lindsay Johannsen at Smashwords

Copyright Lindsay Johannsen 2015

Smashwords Edition Licence Notes.

This story is presented to you free of cost. I insist on maintaining my copyright, however, though until such time as I amend this notice please feel free to disseminate, reproduce, copy or distribute it amongst your friends and/or enemies to your heart’s content, provided you do this for non-commercial purposes only and the story remains complete and in its original form. My preference, however, is for you to recommend to others that they download The Parker-Flinte Expedition from Smashwords themselves, so enriching my life with a warm glow of satisfaction in lieu of any monetary reward.

Thank you.

National Library Of Australia Cataloguing-in-publication data:

Author: Johannsen, Lindsay Andrew

Title: The Parker-Flinte Expedition

Cover art and design bungled by the author.

Also published at Smashwords by one’s sylph: the novels McCullock’s Gold and The Cassidy Chronicles, plus a poem and some other short story rubbish, a couple of children’s stories and a couple of Christmas yarns – among other things.

To order the McCullock’s Gold paperback version or contact the author please visit

www.vividpublishing.com.au/lajohannsen

THE PARKER-FLINTE EXPEDITION

Zander Mxscupoviktzs,

Rabbit Trap Flat,

Far NW Qld, 7999

The Right Honourable Professor Sir Maximillian Throstle, E&OE

History Dept

U of Q

Brisbane, Qld 7000

Dear Max

Following the demise of my somewhat eccentric and reclusive Uncle Silas and the reading of his Will, I have, as per his instructions, taken possession of his oaken trunk. This was the only thing of consequence to survive the pest exterminators and decontamination team, all else of necessity having been killed and/or incinerated.

According to family rumour, opening the chest would reveal the many exotic and valuable objects he’d collected during his decades in exile, though their exact nature was the subject of much