Seventeen letters sent by Ludwig Leichhardt from 1842–48 vividly depict his stay in Australia. In this exhibition curated by historian Heike Hartmann, we are introducing a brand new English translation of the letters and a timeline tool with which to view those, this virtual exhibition documents Leichhardt’s adventurous stay in Australia and opens up new perspectives for the environmental history of the land, Europeans’ engagement with its indigenous population, and international scientific networks at the time.

Introduction
Leichhardt's letters: A timeline
Leichhardt's biography
Botanical collection
Indigenous knowledge
Zoological collections
The journey of the letters
Leichhardt's legacy
Further reading
Exhibition texts by Heike Hartmann (2015) under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International license. This refers only to the text and does not include any image rights. For copyright information on the above images, please click here.

Hartmann, Heike. “Ludwig Leichhardt: A German Explorer’s Letters Home from Australia.” Commentaries translated by Brenda Black. Environment & Society Portal, Virtual Exhibitions 2015, no. 1. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/6348.

ISSN 2198-7696 Environment & Society Portal, Virtual Exhibitions

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The Environment & Society Portal is a project of the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, a joint initiative of LMU Munich and the Deutsches Museum. The center is supported by a grant from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research. Read more about the Portal in English and in German.