The Eyre Highway is named after the explorer John Eyre who made the first crossing of southern Australia in 1841. It took him five gruelling months. His partner Baxter was killed by their Aborigine guides, but other Aborigines later led him to a spring which saved his life. Despite this, Eyre wouldn’t have survived if he hadn’t been lucky enough to come across a French whaling ship in Rossiter Bay. They gave him provisions which enabled him to make it as far as Albany.