Pushing His Luck : Report Of The Expedition And Death Of Harry Whitcombe

Author: Hilary Low translated from Jakob Lauper

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $45.00 NZD
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  • : 9781877257889
  • : Canterbury University Press
  • : Canterbury University Press
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  • : March 2010
  • : 240x170mm
  • : Hong Kong
  • : 45.0
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • : Hilary Low translated from Jakob Lauper
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  • : Paperback
  • : 1
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  • : 919.369
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  • : 144
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  • : colour photographs
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Barcode 9781877257889
9781877257889

Description

In 1863 Henry Whitcombe, a young civil engineer and Canterbury's Provincial Road Surveyor, led an expedition to find a route across the Southern Alps in advance of the West Coast gold rushes. Jakob Lauper, a hardy Swiss goldminer, was hired to accompany him. The journey turned to tragedy. Dogged by appalling weather and half-starved, the two men traversed the Main Divide by a pass that now bears Whitcombe's name, and struggled down to the western beach. There the exhausted Whitcombe drowned while attempting to cross the flooded Taramakau River. Against extraordinary odds, Lauper survived and made his way back to Christchurch. His report on the expedition was translated into English and published mid-1863. Pushing His Luck provides for the first time an accurate translation of Lauper's vivid account, and explains the significance of new information brought to light. Nearly 150 years after the event, the truth about this journey is finally told.