A TRAGIC JOURNEY

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXX, Issue 190, 20 August 1935, Page 8

A TRAGIC JOURNEY

HEROICALLY FOOLISH FATE OF BURKE AND WILLS One of the most, heroically foolish episodes in the history of Australia is commemorated in the anniversary falling on August 20, 1860, when it will be 75 years since Burke and Wills left Melbournie on their tragic expedition into the Australian unknown. Robert O’Hara Burke was the leader of the expedition, and he had W. J. Wills with him as surveyor and astronomical observer.

Ten Europeans and three Sepoys accompanied the expedition, which was soon torn by internal dissension. It was not long before Landells, Burke’s second in command, and the doctor became insubordinate and resigned. On November 11, Burke, with Wills and five assistants, reached Cooper’s Creek in Queensland, where a depot was formed. Here fjiurke proposed waiting the arrival of his third officer, Wright, who had been sent back for camels and supplies. Wright dallied, however, and Burke and Wills pushed on.

Worn down by famine, they reached the estuary of the Flinders River on the Gulf of Carpentaria. This was on February 4, 1861, and on February 26 they began their return journey. They suffered greatly from famine and ex-

posure. On April 16, Gray, another of Burke’s assistants, died, and the emaci-

ated survivors halted for a day to bury him. That day’s delay cost Burke and Wills their lives.

They arrived at Cooper’s Creek to find the depot deserted. The officer left there had left for Darling only a few hours before. With such assistance as they could get from the natives, Burke, Wills and King, all that were left of the party, struggled on. Death overtook Burke and Wills at the end of June. King was cared for by natives, and later rescued. No one can deny the heroism of the men whose lives were sacrificed in this ill-starred expedition. But it is admitted that the leaders were not bushmen, and had had no experience in exploration. Disunion and disobedience to orders brought about, the worst results, and all that now remains to tel! the story of this vast undertaking is a monument to the memory of the foolhardy heroes, from the chisel of Charles Summers, erected on a prominent site in Melbourne.