Andrew Hume: On the trail of lost explorer Ludwig Leichhardt

Ratbags & Roustabouts

After explorer Ludwig Leichhardt went missing in 1848, Andrew Hume, made it his life’s mission to find out what had happened to him. But no one would believe the secrets he uncovered in Australia’s punishing interior. Was Hume a bushman or a conman?
Andrew Hume felt an affinity with the Australian bush he grew up in. He loved the land and he honed his bush skills living with Indigenous tribes.
But when famed German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt and his party went missing during their attempted crossing of Australia from east to west, Hume set off by himself to look for them.
For years he traversed Australia’s Outback, and finally in 1862 he claimed he came across something remarkable. Something that explained everything.
When the authorities refused to believe him, though, it was left to him to prove his claims. But just how far would he go to convince the world he wasn’t a fraud?

02.47 Leichhardt’s expeditions
06.51 Conspiracy theories
08.30 Andrew Hume
13.05 The search and the arrest
18.57 Hume tells what happened to Leichhardt
22.12 Hume retrieves the document
24.36 Hume’s final expedition
30.52 Conman or truth-teller?

Hosted by Marion Langford. Follow on Instagram or check out the website at ratbagsandroustabouts.com. Do you know a story that the history books forgot? Let us know about it!