Whirlwinds in the plain

Ludwig Leichhardt - Friends, foes, and history

Among Australian explorers, the reputation of Ludwig Leichhardt is still one with which
to conjure-and 'conjure' is a word chosen carefully. Despite his immense achievements, a cloud has hung above Leichhardt's name; even today the stock calumnies against his character and his capacity continue to circulate and be renewed.

Informing the whole of this great book the sensitive reader may sense a quiet but insistent question: 'What can be the future of historical truth in Australia if the lies about
Leichhardt are not exposed for their falsehood?

For many years Elsie Webster laboured at the sources-the diaries, the letters and documents where truth lay waiting for a ray from the lantern of Diogenes. Was there ever
a scholar more pertinacious or more thorough? No courtroom ever saw such careful and relentless presentation and analysis of evidence.

From beneath a mountain of malice and envy she has drawn Leichhardt again into the light of day. Faults he may have had, but he is an attractive figure indeed when viewed against the sordid spite, meanness, falsity and backbiting of his detractors, some humble and some exalted.