Death of pastoralist and explorer John Horrocks was straw that broke Harry the camel’s back

Explorer John Horrocks, born 200 years ago today, hoped to use camels to explore the outback but a camel he took on his 1846 expedition would be his undoing

Samuel Thomas Gill’s painting of John Ainsworth Horrocks at Salt Lake, N.W. of Mt Arden, on his N.W. Expedition in 1846. Picture: Courtesy of State Library of South Australia

EXPLORING Australia in the 19th century was a tough business. The indigenous people had been doing it for millennia on foot, but when Europeans arrived they mostly travelled by horse.

However, horses bred in Europe were not suited to the arid conditions of the Outback, but explorer John Horrocks, born 200 years ago today, had a better idea. He had heard about merchant brothers Henry and George Phillips who had a camel when they arrived in Adelaide on the Apolline in 1840. They had bought several camels in the Canary Islands on the journey out, but only one survived. So for his 1846 expedition to look for good farm land northwest of Adelaide, Horrocks traded six of his cows for the camel, named Harry.

An 1840 portrait of explorer John Horrocks. Picture: Courtesy of State Library of South Australia

It seemed like a good idea. Camels were well suited to hot, dry lands, but Harry was not very co-operative. He had a reputation for being surly, biting the goats, horses and other men in the expedition party. About a month after setting out on his journey, Horrocks was reloading a gun so he could shoot a bird when Harry lurched, setting off the gun and seriously injuring Horrocks.

Despite the efforts of his companion artist Samuel Thomas Gill, who nursed Horrocks on the desperate dash back to civilisation, the explorer later died from his wounds. It was an ignominious end for an energetic, resilient and highly motivated young man, who, despite only being in his 20s, had already founded a town. Despite his other achievements, Horrocks has become mostly a footnote in the history of the camel in Australia.

Born John Ainsworth Horrocks on March 22, 1818, at the family manse Penwortham Lodge, near the town of Preston in Lancashire, England, his father Peter Horrocks was a gentleman, who inherited his father’s fortune and estates created from success in the cotton industry.

When the family moved to France in 1831, John was sent to a school in Paris but ran away to be with his family when they later moved to Vienna.

An 1846 painting by Samuel Thomas Gill of John Ainsworth Horrocks' expedition to the North-West camp. Picture: Courtesy State Library of South Australia

John Ainsworth Horrocks' first meeting with indigenous people in the Spencer Gulf, South Australia. Picture: Courtesy National Library of Australia

When his father became a shareholder in a company involved in colonising South Australia, the enterprising young lad became fascinated by the potential of this new land. At the age of 20 he had already decided that was where his destiny lay. So, along with his younger brother Eustace, his servant John Green, a blacksmith, a shepherd, some sheep, a sheepdog, tools, pots and pans and a supply of clothing meant to last him five years, he headed to Adelaide late in 1838.

He arrived on March 22, 1839 — his 21st birthday. While other settlers waited for land surveys, Horrocks was keen to explore the land his father had purchased and went on ahead of his servant. Making his home in a hollowed out tree until Green arrived with labourers to pitch large tents and begin building houses, Horrocks began making himself at home and farming the land.

Among the things he brought with him was a church bell, intended for the steeple he envisaged in the centre of his town. In the interim Horrocks delivered his own sermons in his large dining tent. It was not long before he built a stone house, he named Hope Farm, along with stone stables and a town he named Penwortham was founded, 130km north of Adelaide.

Samuel Thomas Gill's painting of John Ainsworth Horrocks (with Harry the camel) at Salt Lake, North West of Mt Arden on his N.W. Expedition. Picture: Courtesy State Library of South Australia

John Ainsworth Horrocks with his camel Harry on an expedition in 1846. Watercolour by Samuel Thomas Gill. Picture: Courtesy of State Library of South Australia

But Eustace returned home, unable to stand the heat, so another brother Arthur came out to be part of the venture.

Horrocks built up his flock of sheep and established the Clare Valley’s first vineyard but after the death of his father in 1842, he headed home to England. He also saw this an opportunity to raise money for his town’s church.

Hearing that his South Australian estates were suffering financial difficulties he headed back in 1844. He might have then settled down to become a successful pastoralist and vintner but soon became restless, writing in a letter “I want a more stirring life”.

The unveiling of the John Horrocks monument at Penwortham in 1946, a century after his death. Horrocks, a pastoralist and explorer, was one of the first settlers in the Clare Valley.

The monument to John Horrocks at Penwortham in 1946.

The life he chose was as an explorer. He asked for government funding for an expedition to the area around Lake Torrens, northwest of Adelaide, but instead he had to rely on private donations. He also enlisted the services of Harry the camel.

The expedition set out on July 29, 1846 but, on September 1, Horrocks was injured after Harry bucked his gun, so the expedition returned to Penwortham, where Horrocks died on September 23.

Before he died he gave orders for Harry to be shot. But the camel was wounded on the first attempt, reared in pain and bit the boy holding the beast.
A second attempt was more successful and Harry is thought to be buried under a gum tree near what later became St Marks church at Penwortham, where Horrocks’ bell was hung when it opened in 1851.

Originally published as Death of pastoralist and explorer John Horrocks was straw that broke Harry the camel’s back