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INDEX
WHO DID DISCOVER AUSTRALIA?
COLONIAL EXPLORATION
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Colonial Exploration: b Robert O'Hara Burke (1821-1861) and William John Wills (1834-1861)
The expedition set out from Melbourne on August 21, 1860, and reached Menindee in October. There the second-in-command, and camel master, George Landell left the expedition. Surveyor William Wills took his place, and William Wright was added to the expedition as a guide to bring them to Cooper's Creek. Burke split up the group, eight men among which Burke himself would push on to Cooper's Creek, while the rest would remain in Menindee. After arrival in Cooper's Creek, Wright was sent back to get the rest of the expedition. Burke however grew impatient. Although Wright had not yet returned, on December 16, Burke, Wills, John King and Charles Gray left Cooper's Creek for their trek to the Gulf of Carpentaria. William Brahe was left behind at the camp, and told that they expected to return in three months. Little is known of the northward voyage, but on 9 February 1861 Burke and Wills reached the delta of the Flinders river. They did not actually reach the sea, having no time to go through the swamps that separated them from it, but were close enough to notice the tide and ascertain its closeness. Where the northward voyage had been hot and arid, the voyage back was extremely wet, and they had problems continuing because of heavy rains and lightning storms. Gray grew ill, although the others thought he was just pretending. He died of dysentery on April 17. On April 21 they reached Cooper's Creek. Unfortunately, they found it deserted. Wright and his extra supplies had never arrived, and Brahe, having waited one month longer than the three he had been told to, had left the camp just eight hours before they arrived. The day that had been spent burying Gray had proved fatal. Brahe had left some supplies in case they would come back, and that helped them get a little bit of strength. Wills and King wanted to try to overtake Brahe, who was only miles away from them, but Burke decided against it. They and their camels were much weakened and it would be impossible to overtake Brahe, whose expedition was still in good condition. Instead they would try to reach Mount Hopeless, the nearest outpost of civilization. The men set out for the southwest, but found themselves running around in circles. They lived on nardoo, a type of grass seed, and a bit of fish and rats, but the men grew weaker and the aboriginals that had helped them traveled on. Burke and Wills died of starvation in late June 1861, King was cared for by a group of aboriginals until a rescue party found him. Brahe, in the meantime, had met Wright who had finally set out, and returned to Cooper's Creek on 8 May. However, Burke, Wills and King had removed all traces of their presence to avoid the aboriginals from removing the note they had written. He did not check the provisions he had left behind, and returned convinced that the four man had not been at the camp. Tragically, Burke, Wills and King were only a few miles away at the time.
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A prize of 2000 pounds had been set for the first person to succeed in crossing Australia from south to north. Although this was a large sum at the time, only two men set out to try and receive it. One of them was John McDouall Stuart, already an experienced explorer who had made travels to central Australia. The other was Robert O'Hara Burke. Burke was chosen to lead an expedition by the government of Victoria, which hoped to beat Stuart, who was supported by South Australia. The expedition was very well prepared. It would be the best outfitted and most expensive expedition of its kind. Camels, which would be better suited for tasks in the central Australian deserts than horses, were especially brought over from India. However, Burke was not a good choice as a leader. He had no experience in the bush, was not a good planner, and was not able to stop internal troubles within the group.