This young man was part of a doomed project - private citizens were encouraged to invest in a plan to transport and breed sheep. The explorer had reported that vast expanses of grass and land were available for the taking - in the far North of W.A.
Thousands of sheep, families with children and babies, surveyors and government officials boarded boats and set sail.
The grass was spinifex - which sheep cannot eat, the only water was eventually located - on a different island to the settled one, and the local people found the sheep to be excellent food.
Many died before the project was eventually abandoned. The original explorer, and the instigator of the project, continued to rise through the ranks to quite an exalted level.....
Is a shame that even back then there were people who tried to take advantage of other people by promising them something they couldn't provide only to take their money
