14 August

This is Ludwig Leichhardt. Famous explorer of Australia. Disappeared on his last expedition in 1848, nobody knows what happened to him. I remember learning about the explorers at school. What's most interesting for me is the idea we needed to 'explore' a country that had people in it for at least 60,000 years before we arrived. We could have just asked them. It'd be like a tourist coming to Lithgow and 'discovering' all the sights, without asking any of the locals. Some of these explorers died horrible, completely unnecessary deaths, while bemused Aboriginal Australians watched on in disbelief. We're still doing this. 'Exploring' and 'discovering' the country on our holidays. Somewhere we've now been more than 200 years. It doesn't strike people as bizarre. Our own birthplace just one more tourist destination, like Paris or Bali.