TRIUMPHS & TRAGEDIES

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11770, 18 October 1932, Page 7

TRIUMPHS & TRAGEDIES

BTJRKE AND WILLS ADVANCE PARTY. ADVENTURES OF SOLE SURVIVOR

The history of the Burke and Wills expedition is a strange blend of triumph and (tragedy. 'The courageous and successful dash of the two leaders over the last part of the journey to the Gulf of Carpentaria constitutes one of the most stirring chapters in ,the siory of Australian exploration, and it is a. matter for everlasting regret that, primarily through the carelessness and poor organising powers of one or two subordinates, both Burke and AY,ills, together with Gray, should perish on .j:he return journey.

A brighter phase of the expedition, however, is tin; pari played by Mr. J. Iving, one of the big four who left Cooper's Creek with the object oi pushing forward to the Gulf, interesting information concerning King, who was the sole survivor of that gallant quartet, is contained in publications which have been lent- to an Evening Star reporter, by Air. H. E. King, of Dunedin, a nephew oi rjic explorer, Air. H. E. King states that his uncle was in India when •the Burke and AA'ills’ expedition was mooted, and when the call went out for a> supply of camels ior desert transport, young King, no doubt in spirit of adventure more than anything else, joined the party which brought the animals out. Probably because of his experience with camels, Burke and Wills were then only too pleased 10 let him join up with them.

According to the publication ,rAustration Heroes and Adventurers, King turned out to be a. much valued member of the party, and when the leaders grew tired of waiting for Wright at Cooper's Creek lie, along with Gray, was chosen for the strenuous journey across iho Northern Territory to the Guli. The liitlo band left Cooper's Crook on December. 16. 1860, and on January 27, reached Cloncurry Creek, one of the derivative streams of the river Finders. After travelling over swampy ground which necessitated Hie abandonment' of the camels. King and Cray were left behind with the bulk of the provisions, while Burke and Wills pushed on to the sea.

BLACKS BEFRIEND HUM. A description, of that. fn.tnl return journey and the dcnjhs of Burke and Wills had already been given, but it is interesting i'o continue the narrative by tracing the adventures of King. How lie lived after die death of his colleagues is learned from his own narrative, which runs: “The natives, hearing the report of iny gun, came to meet mo, and took me with them to their camp, giving me nardoo and fish. They took the birds 1 had shot, and cooked them for me, and afterwards showed me a gunyah, where 1 was to sleep with thq three of yhe single men. The following morning they commenced {talking to me, and putting one finger on the ground and covering it 1 with sand, at the same time pointing up the creek, saying, ‘White fellow,’ which I understood to mean that one white man was dead. From this J knew that they were the tribe who had taken Mr. Wills’s clothes. “They then asked me where the 'third white man was, and I also made the sign by putting the fingers on the ground and dovering them with sand, at the same time pointing up the creek. They appeared to feel great compassion for mo when they understood that .1 was alone on the creek and gave me plenty to eat. After being, four days with them 1 saw that they were becoming tired of me, and they made signs that’ they wore going up the creek, and that I had better go downwards; but I pretended not to understand them. The same day they shifted camp, and I followed them ; and on reaching their camp I shot some crows, which pleased them so much that they made me shelter in the centre of their camp and sat round until such time as the crows were cooked, when they assisted mo to eat them. “The same day one of the women, to whom I had given part of a crow came and gave me a ball, or nardoo, saying that she would give mo more only she had such a sore arm that she was unable to pound. She showed me a sore on her arm, and the thought struck me that I would boil some water in the billy and wash her arm with a sponge. During the operation the whole tribe sat around, and were mattering one to. another. The husband sat down by hex: side, and she was crying all tlie time.

“After f had washed it. I touched j,t with some caustic, when she began to yell and ran off crying: “Alolcow! mokow!' ((Fire! fire!) From ijiis time she and hor husband used to give me a small quantity of nardoo both night land morning, and whenever the tribe were about going on a fishing excursion he used to give me notice to go with them. They also used to assist me in making a shelter whenever they shifted camp. I generally shot a crow, or a hawk, and gave it to them in return for these little services. Every four or five days the tribe would surround me, and ask whether I intended going np or down the creek. At last 1 made them understand that if they went up f should go up the creek; and if they went down, 1 should also go down, and from (this lime they seemed to look upon mo as one of themselves, and supplied me with fish and nardoo regularly. ‘They were very anxious, however, to know where Burke lay, and one day when we were fishing in the water holes close by, i took them to the spoj. On seeing the remains the whole party- wept bitterly, and covered them with hushes. After this they were much kinder to me than before, and 1 always told them that the white men would he here before itwo moons; and in the evening when they came with nardoo and fish, they used to talk about the •white follows’ coming, ar the same time pointing to the moon_ I also told them they would receive many presents, and they constantly asked me for tomahawks, called by them ‘homay ho.’ “From this time to when the relief party nrriyed. a period of about a. month, they treated me with unform kindness, and looked upon me as one of themselves. The day on which I was released one o! the trihe who had been fishing came and told me that the ‘white follows’ were coming, and the whole of the tribe, who were then in camp, sallied out in every direction to met the party, while 'lie man who brought the news took me over flic creek, where 1 short'v saw the party coming down.’’

SEARCH PARTIES. As soon as if was known that .Burke and the advance party had noi: boon heard of for five months after leaving Cooper's Creek, great consternation was felt throughout, all the colonies, and relief parties were organised and equipped with praiseworthy alacrity. A small. contingent. under Mr. A. W. Howl' i, was furnished by the Royal Society of Victoria and started from Melbourne. early in July jo examine ihe banks of Cooper’s Creek. On August 14 McKinlay was sent out by The South. Australian Government, with instructions to reach Cooper's Creek by way of Lake Torrens. Before the end of the same month two other expeditions—one under Landsbomugh, aud another under Walker-—had set out Jo explore the region round about t.be Gulf of Carpentaria. These expeditions all prosecuted their search with eagerness, and through their instrumentality our geogpra]tical knowledge of the interior was greatly extended, but Mr. Howi tit’s party was the only one that succeeded in getting facts about: the fate of the explorers. From his diary wp learn thaj with the assistance of Brahe, the depot was reached on September 13, and although thi-s ill-fated place appeared to them to he si'ill undisturbed, they succeeded in finding King on the loth. Hie had been living with the blacks for move than two months, and now presented a melancholy appearance—wasted to a shadow, and hardly to be distinguished as a civillised being for the remnants of clothes upon him. The pom- fellow was sitting in ai hut, while the natives were nil gajhered round, sitting on the ground and looking on with a most- gratified and delighted expression. After remaining two days to recruit King, Hewitt and four of the men set.' off with the intention of burying the body of poor Wills. They found the corpse covered with sand and rushes just as King hod loft it, anti when they had carefully collected the remains they interred them where they lay. Mr. Howitt showed their respect by conducting over the grave a short, funeral economy. Afterwards the par,ty heaped sand over the grave and laid bxxshes upon iC that the natives might know by their own tokens not to disturb the last repose of .a fellow-being.