Wylie (person)

Wylie was an indigenous Australian originally from the tribes around Albany in Western Australia. He accompanied Edward John Eyre to Adelaide by sea in May 1840, and would have left with Eyre on his expedition to penetrate to the interior in June of the same year, but Wylie was ill. Later in the year, Eyre was at Fowler's Bay in the west, having retreated from the north, and Wylie joined him by way of the ship supplying the expedition, the "Hero".

Wylie was subsequently one of the three aboriginies to accompany Eyre and John Baxter on their final attempt to cross the Nullarbor Plain in 1841. He deserted for a brief time with the other older aboriginal boy, Joey, while the party rested at the sandhills of present-day Eucla, but they returned when they failed to find any food. Several weeks later he proved loyal to Eyre when Joey and Yarry (the other aboriginal boy) murdered Baxter and deserted. Despite the two aborigines accosting them and calling for Wylie to join them the following day, Wylie stayed with Eyre for the rest of the journey, impressing the French whalers they met in Rossiter Bay with his voracious appetite.

After the completion of the journey, Wylie remained at Albany. He spent a brief time as a native policeman, and also benefited from a government pension procured for him by Eyre, who remained in contact with him for some years afterward.

External links

* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020575b.htm Australian Dictionary of Biography entry]