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The party set off on the long
journey, but it was too slow for Burke. He started to leave supplies and
equipment behind so that they could go faster.
Gregory, who was an experienced
explorer had previously warned Burke not to travel until the middle of
summer, to avoid the heat. However, Burke was afraid that Stuart who was
sent by the South Australian government, would get there first and
decided not to wait. When they reached Menindie (on the Darling River in
New South Wales), Burke decided to go ahead with a party of 8 men to set
up a depot at Cooper's Creek (half-way between Melbourne and the Gulf of
Carpentaria). He left Wright in charge of the rest of the party and told
him to follow in a few days.
Burke and his party reached Coopers
Creek early in November. They set up a depot and waited for the others to
arrive. However, 6 weeks later there was still no sign of them. Leaving
Brahe, 3 other men and some of the animals, Burke decided to make a dash
to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Brahe was told to stay at Coopers Creek and
wait for them to return. He was told to stay for as long as possible and
not to leave unless it was absolutely necessary.
On 16 December, Burke, Wills, King
and Gray set off from Coopers Creek to set off on their dash for the Gulf.
They had 6 camels, 1 horse and 12 weeks' supply of food with them. The men
walked and the animals carried the supplies. It was a long hard journey
and the men had to put up with incredible heat, thunderstorms and wet,
boggy conditions. They reached the Gulf in early February and were the
first to cross the continent from south to north. They then began their
journey back. Day after day, they were held up by rain and their food
supply was becoming low. Gray was caught stealing food and was beaten by
Burke. The men and the animals were exhausted and they only had one
month's supply of food left. Gray became too weak to walk and died. After
burying him, they had to rest for a day before they had the strength to
continue. By now they were very weak. Finally on April 21 Burke, Wills and
King arrived back at the depot at Coopers Creek, but it was deserted.
There was only a message cut into a tree:
DIG - 3 FEET N.W.
When they dug, they found a letter
and some supplies. The letter told them that Brahe had left with the rest
of the men just a few hours earlier. They had waited for four months and
had left only that morning. Burke thought about going in pursuit,
then thought it was hopeless. Burke, Wills and King were too
exhausted to catch up with Brahe. The three survivors were in bad
shape and their legs were almost paralysed. It was difficult to walk more
than a few metres. They decided to rest, eat some of their supplies, and
then head for a cattle station 240 kilometres away. They still had 2 of
their camels left.
Meanwhile Brahe and his depot party
met up with the main group and he decided to go back to Coopers Creek to
make sure that Burke and Wills had not come back. When he arrived,
everything seemed exactly as he had left it and so he decided to return to
Melbourne to organise a search party. Brahe thought that the explorers had
died and so unfortunately did not leave any horses or supplies.
Meanwhile Burke, Wills and King
realised they could not make the long trip. Their supplies were running
out and the last camel had died so they returned to Coopers Creek.
In his diary written while he was dying, Wills bitterly blamed Brahe for
not leaving pack animals and some provisions. At Coopers Creek, they were
unable to find enough food and grew weaker. The three men survived for
several weeks on nardoo seed and fish given to them by friendly
aborigines. Burke and Wills died at the end of June while waiting to be
rescued. King was later found by a search party. He was living with a
tribe of friendly aborigines who had given him food and shelter. He died 9
years later at the age of 31. The bodies of Burke and Wills were recovered
by the search party and buried in Melbourne.
This expedition was a tragedy. If
they had not wasted a day burying Gray, they would have reached the depot
before Brahe left. If the explorers had stayed closer to the aborigines,
they could have survived. If Burke had been a better bushman, they could
have survived on the banks of a creek stocked with fish. If Brahe and
Wright had been more observant, they could have seen that the explorers
had dug beneath the DIG tree. If Wright had brought up the supplies as
ordered, they would have had enough supplies. Burke and Wills died a
lonely death and are possibly Australia's most famous explorers.
For more
information on Samuel Wallis, go to: |
