124 WHITE— A Sketch of the Life of Samuel White. 



He returned from Cape York and New Guinea in the early 

 part of 1879, and, on making - a trial of his new steam yacht, 

 "The Eclipse" (the machinery for which he had imported from 

 England), he found that the steamship drew too much water 

 for successful navigation in the shallow seas to the east of 

 Australia. She was disposed of, and Samuel White set about 

 the building of a new craft, and this time it was built of red 

 gum, to resist the coral reefs. All the timber was sawn from 

 trees on his estate at the Reedbeds, and he was very particular, 

 examining every plank before it was used. It- can be well 

 understood that all his time and energy was required for the 

 execution of this big undertaking. I will now quote an article 

 which appeared in the daily press of April 7, 1880, the day 

 upon which Samuel White started upon his last expedition. 



Under the heading "Scientific Expedition to New Guinea," 

 the writer says: — "Amongst the men who contribute to the 

 fame of a new colony, but whose deeds are as unostentatious 

 as their names, were once unfamiliar to the old world beyond 

 the seas, are some of the sons of our old colonists, who ven- 

 ture forth into the unexplored regions of the interior in search 

 of new country, and endure the most extreme hardships in 

 their pursuit after wealth. There are few, however, who, with 

 ample means at their command, would give up the comforts 

 and luxuries of home life to risk unforeseen dangers and pri- 

 vations in the field of scientific research — the object of whose 

 life would be the collecting and classification of specimens of 

 the flora and fauna of the South ; the gathering of shells that 

 stud the seashore, of fossils that lie hidden in caves, or the 

 capture of winged denizens of the air, whose brilliant plumage 

 is a charm for ever in the eyes of the ornithologist. 



"Some six miles out of Adelaide, on the road to Henley 

 Beach, stands a handsome, well-built residence, portions of 

 which have only recently been completed, while other parts 

 of the homestead exhibit unmistakeable signs of age. This 

 is the abode of the son of one of our earliest settlers, Mr. John 

 White, who arrived in the Colony in 1836. Mr. Samuel White, 

 possessed of ample means to live a. retired life, has displayed a 

 passion for ornithology, and in his pursuit of specimens of 

 the feathered tribe has explored nearly every portion of the 

 Australian Continent, and now intends to carry his investi- 

 gations into a more distant region. Mr. White first commenced 

 his scientific travels about the year 1862, when he endeavoured 

 to sail up the Murray River, but being baffled in this, he made 



