A Frenchman's Walk Across The Nullarbor

Henri Gilbert, a French journalist, set out a century ago to walk around the world. His diary records his extraordinary crossing of the Australian continent. This work is a historical curiosity and a glimpse of colonial Australia through a foreigner's eyes.

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Quite by chance, Colin Dyer unearthed - in the John Oxley Library, Brisbane - the diary of one Henri Gilbert. In this small, leatherbound notebook, Gilbert describes his extraordinary walk across Australia's searing Nullarbor Plain in 1897-98. Gilbert, a French journalist, was in fact) walking around the world, and crossed (Australia from Perth to Brisbane Written in Gilbert's native French, the diary also contains photographs of himself and the people he met, as well as cuttings about the journey from contemporary local newspapers. At each stop he made sure the diary was authenticated by a signed attestation from the local stationmaster, the hotel owner, the postmaster or the mayor Colin Dyer has translated the diary so that English-speaking readers may enjoy this delightful historical curiosity. Attractively packaged in a small hardback format, perfect for a gift, the book also contains facsimile pages of Gilbert's exquisite handwriting, as well as a selection of his photographs A fascinating Introduction by Colin Dyer sets the story in its broader historical context