Tracking an epic 19th-century journey through the amazing outback in 112 posts.

As much as America celebrates its Wild West frontiersmen, Australia looks fondly on its own outback pioneers, and while legends like that of Ned Kelly have spread beyond the country thanks to popular films, the mythical Burke-Wills Expedition of 1860-61 holds a special place in Aussie hearts that few non-Australians can truly appreciate.
There have in fact been several home-crowd movies about the four men who walked across a whole continent 145 years ago, and the astonishingly brave and tragic things that happened en route, but even here a great deal of mystery and misinformation clouds the story. The popular website HistoryHouse.com has respun the yarn, but its derision does no justice to the immense undertaking and its outcome.

The state of Victoria was at the time a fledgling colony of the British Empire, established just nine years earlier. Melbourne itself was only just marking its first quarter century. Beyond the city limits was a "ghastly blank". It's been noted, rather picturesquely, that we know more about Pluto today than Melbourne's citizens knew in 1860 about the land north of the nearby Darling River. But gold had just been discovered in the area, and there was likely more out there. It was agreed that a properly kitted-out group could find it, while at the same time advancing science, finding new grazing land and of course extending the colony's boundaries.

Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills set out from Melbourne on the south coast with 19 men and the intention of exploring Australia's unknown interior as far as the northern shore, a journey of 1,650 miles � 2,660 kilometres. They completed the trek north, getting as far as the swampland on the Gulf of Carpentaria, if not the actual coast, but bad decisions and worse luck resulted in the deaths of both Wills and Burke and five others on the return trip. Only one man, in fact, returned home alive, all the rest having bolted the expedition � or been jettisoned from it � at different times.

This Google Earth tour ends in Melbourne General Cemetery, just a few metres from where the great adventure began.



UPDATE MAY 12/06: Huge thanks to Ozlingula, whose knowledge of his home country and how to find your way around it has enabled me to greatly improve the accuracy of many of the placemarks on this tour. He's also personally visited and photographed the scene of the most crucial place on the expedition, the famous Dig Tree site. His help and recommendations have been so extensive, in fact, that he truly deserves co-authorship. Amazing stuff, Chris.
Big thanks also to JuliaM for the camel logo and other suggestions that have greatly enhanced the appeal of the post. Team effort!

UPDATE SEPT 14/06: Thanks to Skewer for noticing that the wrong racecourse was posted as Flemington! That's now corrected.

UPDATE MARCH 24/07: Thanks to higher-resolution images in the Aussie Outback and especially to some very much appreciated on-the-spot reporting from StephenF10, the expedition's crucial Depot Camp, site of the famous Dig Tree, is now confirmed and viewable. Stephen has also identified the exact location of the King memorial and the Pamamaroo camp near Menindee.

VIEWING NOTES: The tour is best viewed with all layers disabled except for terrain. Unless otherwise indicated, the locations of the camps are approximate, a best guess based on descriptions of the area and information gleaned from the Internet and provided by forum member ozlingula.
PLEASE SEE also the KML attachment in the comments section below to ensure you have the latest version of the post.

LINKS: There's a great deal of contradictory material and outright error floating around about the expedition (and if anyone spots some here, please let me know), but for the best read, by far the most authoritative and exhaustive source is Burke & Wills Web by David Phoenix of Cairns.
Much detailed information is also available from the National Library of Australia and the State Library of Victoria and Wikipedia has an excellent overview.
Two descendants of Wills followed the expedition's trail not long ago and documented it here, and then there is the comic relief at History House, which quotes with lips smacking from Tim Bonyhady's book "Burke and Wills: From Melbourne to Myth".