AustLit

'The Prussian explorer and scientist Ludwig Leichhardt's mysterious disappearance in 1848 after he set out to cross the Australian continent has intrigued, captured imaginations and been appropriated by such diverse groups as Nazi party members during the Third Reich and botanists in nineteenth‐century Australia. What happened to Leichhardt has not been resolved and Andrew Wright Hurley does not attempt to solve the mystery. Rather, the author examines how, why, and where Leichardt's story has endured, by whom the myth has been taken up and how these entanglements have interpenetrated each other.' (Publication summary)