Kennedy, Edmund (1818-1848), was an Australian explorer. He led an expedition to explore the Cape York Peninsula in what is now northern Queensland, Australia. At the time, Queensland was part of the British colony of New South Wales. Kennedy and most of his party died on the journey.
Edmund Besley Court Kennedy was born on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands in the English Channel, on Sept. 5, 1818. He went to Sydney, New South Wales, in 1840. He joined the Surveyor General’s Department and took part in surveys of Portland Bay in the Port Phillip district in what is now Victoria state. In 1845, he served as second-in-command under Surveyor-General Sir Thomas Mitchell on an expedition to what is now central Queensland. In 1847, Kennedy led an expedition to the Cooper’s Creek (now Cooper Creek) area of what is now southwest Queensland. There, he encountered and named the Thomson and Barcoo rivers.
In 1848, Kennedy was chosen to lead an overland expedition from Rockingham Bay, near the base of the Cape York Peninsula, to Cape York, at the peninsula’s northern tip. The journey would cover a distance of more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers). The expedition sailed from Sydney in April and reached Rockingham Bay in May. Upon setting out overland, the party of 13 men was well armed and well equipped with horses, sheep, and carts. But the animals and carts proved impractical in the rain forest of the Tully River region. After six weeks, the party had traveled only a short distance inland.
Once out of the rain forest, the expedition moved more quickly. The men crossed the Mitchell and Palmer rivers. After passing through a gap in the Great Dividing Range, they traveled north to Princess Charlotte Bay, where they planned to meet a supply ship. However, by the time the party arrived in October, the ship had already sailed. The men struggled on, but they were soon exhausted and low on supplies.
In November, Kennedy set up camp at Weymouth Bay, near Cape Direction. There, he divided the party, leaving eight men at the camp while he pressed on with four others, including the Aboriginal guide Galmarra (also known as Jackey Jackey). Kennedy’s small group headed north to meet another supply ship waiting at Albany Island, off the far northeast coast of Cape York Peninsula. At Shelburne Bay, Kennedy left behind an injured man and two others to look after him. Only Kennedy and Galmarra continued on the journey.
In December, Kennedy and Galmarra were near the Escape River, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the supply ship, when local Aboriginal people attacked them. Kennedy was wounded with a spear and died a short time later. Galmarra was able to reach the supply ship. He guided a rescue party to Shelburne and Weymouth bays. However, the rescuers found only two of the men who had stayed behind alive, at the Weymouth Bay camp.
