Australian History

[Lancair]

I didn't say it was a discovery.
It's the place they saw first but was not the place they had intended to be seeing.
Another clue. One journey was a first, the other was a recreation of an earlier journey to prove a point.

 

[Mr Boring]

Lasseter's Reef refers to the purported discovery, announced by Harold Bell Lasseter in 1929 and 1930, of a fabulously rich gold deposit in a remote and desolate corner of central Australia. Lasseter's accounts of the find are conflicting and its precise location remains a mysteryif it exists

 

[Mr Boring]

be..aatch!!.. if im right, who cares of fine details, looking for gems.. whatever

 

[Mr Boring]

I know where it was aswell, Johnson well mining dug the main reef in 1982, quartz stone was drooping with gold on the surface, 230 thousand ounces found in the original open pit within 50 meters, and it is a quartz reef that extends for over 20km that was not discovered till the late 1930`s. it is in the same area where the american brothers found the 4000oz patch ( many will know who im refering to)

 

[Lancair]

Sorry Mr B.

Another clue, both journeys started outside of Australia.

 

[goldtruck59]

This just gets worse

 

[Ditherer and Son]

Heard & McDonald Islands?

 

[Ditherer and Son]

Or Norfolk Island

 

[Lancair]

Sorry D&S.

Ok it's proving difficult, so Ill reword and add a clue or two.

I am a town. Both journeys happened in the 20th Century and both crossed a lot of water to get here. One finished here the other finished elsewhere, both saw me first but it wasn't where they'd planned to be.

 

[slowflow]

discoverer of the Swan River

 

[Lancair]

Ok, let me try again to rephrase the question with more clues.

I am a town in Australia. Some say my name comes from Irish decent, a recent theory has it's origin in the local Aboriginal word for the area.
I have 2 famous "saw me first" events in my history. One was a journey that was the first of it's time, now accomplished daily. The other was to prove a point that it could of been done long before the English found Australia. Neither had "intended" to see me first but they did. One finished its journey here, the other elsewhere. Both occurred in the 20th century.

What town am I and what 2 journeys saw me first?

I apologise if I made it too hard but as pointed out by Dr Duck, it is hard to find a question that either, hasn't been done or is easily Google answered. I have chosen the words I used intentionally, to make it not so easy.

 

[slowflow]

Coober Pedy, John McDouall Stuart 1858, Wille Hutchison 1915

 

[the duck]

Mount Bryan

 

[goldtruck59]

Broome

 

[Lancair]

Sorry but how do either of those answers fit ?

Another clue. It's NOT geology or mining related!

 

[Goldpick]

The place is Ballina, it was the first town seen by Charles Kingsford Smith on his trans pacific flight before turning north to the final destination of Brisbane.

The second was the Las Balsas rafts from their expedtion from Ecuador in 1973, instead of arriving at the predicted destination of Mooloolabah, the currents forced them south to Ballina. It proved that people could have travelled across the Pacific in ancient times!

Phew, that took a while, good one.

 

[Lancair]

YAY Goldpick.

A bit more info.

Ballina's etymology is not entirely certain. Some believe it was named directly after the Irish town of Ballina. A recent theory has emerged, without historical evidence, that a more likely source is a Bundjalung word, "bullinah", meaning "place of many oysters". This theory argues that the Aboriginal name reminded the predominantly Irish settlers of "Ballina", so the name's origin could be an accidental or deliberate corruption of the Aboriginal form.

Now I can update my location info, I live in Ballina and that info was displayed for the first few days of this question!

 

[slowflow]

Lancair, it had to be aviation related.

 

[Goldpick]

Lets move on, it was a good question, and made me do a lot of thinking. Didn't originally pick up on the Ballina link but did research lancair.

We are both the same thing, one is 305m high, the other is 424m high. There is contention over which is the highest in Australia. What are we, what are our names, where are we located, and why is there debate over which is the highest.

 

[slowflow]

Waterfalls.\
Wallaman Falls - Queensland 305
Wollomombi Waterfall - New South Wales 424

There is debate about the inclusion of cascades, which reduces the direct fall. The issue involves the distance of other falls from the primary drop.
provides an interesting read, see http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/