''Walk to the West'' was a book published to celebrate both the

sesquicentenary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

(150 years) of the

Royal Society of Tasmania The Royal Society of Tasmania (RST) was formed in 1843. It was the first Royal Society outside the United Kingdom, and its mission is the advancement of knowledge. The work of the Royal Society of Tasmania includes: * Promoting Tasmanian historic ...

in 1993, and the event from which the book is made – the ''Walk to the West Coast of Tasmania'' by James Backhouse Walker, Arthur Leslie Giblin, Charles Percy Sprent, William Piguenit, Robert Mackenzie Johnston,

William Vincent Legge Colonel William Vincent Legge (2 September 1841 – 25 March 1918) was an Australian soldier and an ornithologist who documented the birds of Sri Lanka. Legge's hawk-eagle is named after him as is Legge's flowerpecker and Legges Tor, the seco ...

, George Samuel Perrin, and Henry Vincent Bayly in 1887 from Hobart to the West Coast of Tasmania.

Paintings

It is interspersed with plates from Piguenit's paintings made in the earlier stages of the journey. see also Locations included in the paintings:- *

Lake Pedder Lake Pedder, once a glacial outwash lake, is a man-made impoundment and diversion lake located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia. In addition to its natural catchment from the Frankland Range, the lake is formed by the 1972 damming of the ...

Frenchman's Cap Frenchmans Cap is a mountain in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The mountain is situated in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. At above sea level, it is within the top thirty highest mountains in Tasmania. Locatio ...

* Mount King William * Lake St Clair * Mount Rufus * Mount Gell * King William Range * Mount Ida * Mount Heemskirk *

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...

Diary

The diary (unpublished) by Walker is transcribed for the book, and meticulous annotation explains the Tasmanian conditions and environment. It identifies characters involved in the exploration and place naming in the West Coast of Tasmania in its ''Lexicon of relevant place names''.

Itinerary

The days and locations included:- * 17 February 1887 - Hobart to New Norfolk by train, then to Ouse by coach * 5 March 1887 - Formby (Devonport) by coach to Launceston, then by train to Hobart. It also contains a foldout map that was current of the West Coast in 1888 - when the party was travelling. It mentions the name of the significant track cutters and explorers of the era.

Paintings

Diary

Itinerary

Notes

References

Further reading