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38 Merchant Taylors’ Prep School Newsletter - 25.03.2022 MTP Library A Glimpse From the Archives M.G. Leonard’s visit has an amazing but true link to the history of our school. In her latest book, Sabotage on the Solar Express , which is set in Australia, Hal asks his uncle Nat why there is a camel on the logo of the famous train the Ghan, rather than a kangaroo. His uncle explains that the camels arrived from Afghanistan to help map out the Australian outback. Guess what? The explorer responsible for introducing these camels just so happens to be the nephew of the founder of our school. It is a Little Known Fact: Francis John Terry had a famous nephew... Michael Grant Terry , is known as “The Last of the Australian Explorers”. He was born May 3rd 1899, in Durham (U.K.), the son of Arthur Terry, brother of our School’s founder. In 1917 Michael Terry enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service, working in the Armoured Cars Division, in Russia, he ended up with frost-bite and gas-damaged lungs after being captured by the Bolsheviks. He was discharged on health grounds, and was allocated a permanent pension by the British government and a free ticket to either California (USA) or West Australia. He landed at Fremantle on January 31st 1919, just a few months before his 20th birthday, sailing on the ship, SS MILTAIDES. Wearing a broad-brimmed felt hat, Michael Terry worked for a while as a car salesman in Perth, selling Dodge vehicles. After being robbed of all his savings he was “stoney broke in a strange land. It seemed the end of the world.” Michael Terry moved to New South Wales where he started a transport company, became a drover, a car salesman and, in between times, undertook the first east-west motor vehicle crossing of Australia (1923) from Winton, in Queensland, to Broome, in West Australia, driving a 1913 Model T-Ford. In the years following, Michael Terry organised 14 principal explorations of the Australian inland (1923-1935) with vehicles or camels. During his years wandering the inland deserts with camels, Terry heard wild Aborigines speak of a special place they called “Chugga-Kurri.” On a mining jaunt to the Cleland HIlls (Northern Territory), in 1961, Michael Terry made a discovery which he came to describe as “My major contribution to Australian archaeology”. At a natural waterhole known to the Aborigines as Ullilla, the traveller accidentally came across a series of extraordinary pictographs (rock carvings). There is a museum in Australia dedicated to Michael Terry and his explorations, which is full of the maps he made and the photographs and notes he took. A few can also be found in the National Geographical Society in London. Michael Terry, FRGS, FRGSA, famous explorer, surveyor, prospector and writer passed away in 1981. Sabotage on the Solar Express Man on a a camel - Ghan logo Michael Terry with his camel, Rocket