Edmund Kennedy Assistant-Surveyor of New South Wales, who worked with working with Sir Thomas Mitchell, exploring the interior of Queensland and northern New South Wales, including the Thomson River, the Barcoo River, Cooper Creek, and Cape York Peninsula.
Increasing trade between Sydney and Singapore had prompted Captain Owen Stanley of HMS Rattlesnake to recommend the east coast of Cape York be explored and after a resupply of the party at the tip of the cape, the expedition could continue down the west coast, returning overland to Sydney on a journey that would take eighteen months. Kennedy was appointed to lead the expedition, which would start from Rockingham Bay, north of the present town of Cardwell.
On 28 April 1848 Kennedy and twelve men sailed from Sydney in the barque Tam O' Shanter escorted by HMS Rattlesnake. They arrived at Rockingham Bay 20 May, but mangrove swamps, mountains and thick rainforest slowed them down. They were due to rendezvous with the supply ship Bramble at Princess Charlotte Bay in early August, but the party was two months late. By mid November, with men and horses weakening Kennedy left eight men at Weymouth Bay, while Kennedy and four others continued north.
Near Shelburne Bay one of the party accidentally shot himself, so Kennedy left two men with him and continued on with his aboriginal tracker Jackey Jackey. They were followed by menacing natives and Kennedy was fatally wounded on he banks of the Escape River, around thirty kilometres from the tip of Cape York. Jackey Jackey made it to the rendezvous with the supply ship Ariel on 23 December 1848. A subsequent search of Shelburne Bay revealed a few relics were found, but no sign of the three men left there and at Weymouth Bay there were only two survivors of the eight men left there. The Ariel returned to Sydney in May 1849. Wikipedia entry Australian Dictionary of Biography Kennedy Retrace documentary Australian Museum