In 1896 the last great Australian exploring expedition took to the field. Financed by Albert Frederick Calvert, the expedition was to fill in the remaining unexplored blanks on the map.

South Australian surveyor and explorer Lawrence Allen (Larry) Wells was appointed leader and sailed from Adelaide for Geraldton in May 1896. The seven member team set out with 20 camels from Lake Way (today’s Willunga) in July.

After three months of mapping and exploring, they reached the Great Sandy Desert where Larry decided to split the party. At Separation Well, Charles Wells and George Jones left with three camels on a flying trip to reconnoitre country to the west of the main traverse with the intention of rendezvousing further north at Warburton’s Joanna Spring .

The respective parties set out on October the 11th, 1896 but both soon got into difficulties. Thwarted by salt lakes and illness, the flying party retreated to Separation Well and followed the main expedition north. Intense heat, absence of camel fodder and lack of water supplies took their toll. The fatigued, heavily laden camels faltered on the high crests of the dunes forcing the main party to abandon most of its equipment at Adverse Well.

The camels began to drop dead in the endless tangle of dunes. Larry and the main party were unable to locate the life-giving waters of Joanna Spring which had been wrongly mapped by Warburton. With no sign of the flying party, the main expedition made a dash for the safety of the Fitzroy River, unaware the others were following 12 days behind. Larry arrived at the river on November 6, 1896 without a drop of water and immediately set about searching for his lost companions.

Five search expeditions were mounted by Larry over the next seven months. The first three searches were fruitless but on the fourth, Larry finally located Joanna Spring and found evidence of the lost explorers among the natives at Discovery Well. On the final search the mummified bodies were discovered to the south-west of Joanna Spring on May the 27th, 1987. They had died of heat exhaustion. Larry took the bodies to Derby and they were shipped to Adelaide where they were given a State Funeral on July the 18th, 1897.

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