thumb|Wylie and Eyre when they first saw the ship.|alt=A dark-skinned man with a bucket and a man in a hat with a gun plod.
Wylie (c. 1825 – after 1852) was an Indigenous Australian who was a key partner to Edward John Eyre on his 1840-41 expedition through South Australia. He was a Mineng Noongar man indigenous to Mammang-Koort (King George Sound) in Western Australia. He would have left with Eyre on his expedition to penetrate to the interior in June of the same year, but Wylie was ill. Later in the year, Eyre was at Fowlers Bay in the west, having retreated from the north, and Wylie joined him by way of the ship supplying the expedition, the Hero.
Wylie was subsequently one of three Aboriginal boys to accompany Eyre and John Baxter on their final attempt to cross the Nullarbor Plain in 1841. He deserted for a brief time with the other older Aboriginal member of the party, Joey, while the party rested at the sandhills of present-day Eucla, but they returned when they failed to find any food. Several weeks later he proved loyal to Eyre when Joey and Yarry (the other Aboriginal person) murdered Baxter and deserted. Despite the two Aboriginals accosting them and calling for Wylie to join them the following day, Wylie stayed with Eyre for the rest of the journey. Using his tracking skills, he obtained food and water for Eyre in the inhospitable desert, saving him from certain death. However, he retained his pension and in 1848, Eyre had his pension increased.
There is a statue of Eyre and Wylie in Kimba, South Australia.
See also
- List of Indigenous Australian historical figures