From this disastrous expedition he never returned.

He was starved, ill, fatigued, hunted by remorseless aborigines for days, and finally speared to death by the natives of Cape York, when almost within sight of his goal, where a vessel was waiting to succour him and all his party.

Only a black boy named Jacky Jacky was with him.
After Kennedy's death Jacky buried all his papers in a hollow tree, and for a couple of days he eluded his pursuers, until, reaching the spot where his master had told him the vessel would be, he ran yelling down to the beach, followed by a crowd of murderous savages.

By the luckiest chance a boat happened to be at the beach, and the officers and crew rescued the boy.

The following day a party led by Jacky returned to where poor Kennedy lay, and they buried him.