What is Ludwig Leichhardt?
[[File:Ludwig Leichhardt6.jpeg|thumb|220px|Map showing Leichhard's 1844 trip]] '''Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichardt''' (1813—1848) was a [[Germany|German]] [[naturalist]] and [[explorer]] who explored the north of [[Australia]].<ref name=adb>{{cite web |url= http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020090b.htm |title=Leichhardt, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig (1813 - 1848) |first=Renee |last=Erdos|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography Online |year=1967 |accessdate=18 June 2011}}</ref> In 1844 Leichhardt led a small group from [[Moreton Bay]] in the south east corner of [[Queensland]] west to [[Port Essington, Northern Territory|Port Essington]] in the [[Northern Territory]]. This was a trip of 4,828&nbsp;km.<ref name=adb/> They returned to [[Sydney]] by boat. He was presented with the Patrons Gold Medal by the [[Royal Geographical Society]] in London. In 1848 he set out to cross the continent from east to west. He believed he could go north around the [[desert]]s to the coast of [[Western Australia]], and then follow the coast south to the [[Swan River]].<ref name=adb/> After leaving the Darling Downs, Leichhardt's group disappeared.<ref name=adb/> Many people searched, and there were stories about marked trees, or found items, but nothing was proved. In 2006 a small piece of brass with Leichhardt's name on it proved to be a genuine item from the explorer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nma.gov.au/audio/detail/scientific-analysis-of-the-leichhardt-plate |title=National Museum of Australia – Audio on demand program – Scientific analysis of the Leichhardt plate |first=David |last=Hallam |work=nma.gov.au |year=15 June 2007 |accessdate=18 June 2011 |archive-date=12 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312170245/http://www.nma.gov.au/audio/detail/scientific-analysis-of-the-leichhardt-plate |url-status=dead }}</ref> It had been found in 1900 by an [[Indigenous Australian|Aboriginal]] [[stockman]] in Western Australia, close to the Northern Territory border, in the area between the [[Great Sandy Desert]]