To the Ends of the Earth

Mary Gaunt, Pioneer Traveller

Travel writer, explorer and novelist.

'Gaunts never give up', the motto of Mary's ancestor, Prince John of Gaunt (1340-1399) was quoted by Mary's father, William Gaunt, to his children.

In the 1880s, Mary Gaunt was one of the first women admitted to Melbourne University. Miss Gaunt's desire to study law was denied since male academics believed women incapable of studying 'difficult' subjects. In 1909, Mary, now widowed, led her own expedition into the West African jungle, staying in remote villages to gather information for her book 'Alone in West Africa'. In 1913, in the absence of sealed roads, Mary travelled in a bone-shaking mule cart from Peking to the edge of the Gobi desert and returned to Europe on a Russian troop train. Her amazing experiences in China and Russia produced two more travel books. Mary donated her royalties to the Red Cross to help Belgian refugees. For many years she lived in Italy and, during World War Two, died in France.

Prelude: Outwitting Mussolini

1. 'Gaunts never give up'
2. Encountering prejudice at university
3. Finding Doctor Right
4. Mary postpones a visit to China
5. Africa - the 'Dark Continent'
6. Heading a band of naked warriors
7. 'Madame, you have the heart of a lion'
8. 'Murder Hill' and German Togoland
9. Black magic among the Ashanti
10. The male dinosaurs of Londonís RGS
11. Through Tsarist Russia to Peking
12. Inside the walls of the Forbidden City
13. A political assassination
14. The Great Wall of China
15. 'Behind every small foot is a jar of tears'
16. Chengde and the hunting palace of the Manchu
17. The temple of the Three Mountains
18. 'Please keep your last bullet for yourself'
19. Last days in China
20. Exploring the Amur River and Saghalien
21. On a troop train through Siberia
22. St Petersburg and after
23. Captured by Germans
24. The Gaunts in wartime
25. The final years of a cosmopolitan author