What are the details of the Burke and Wills journey?

Answer 1

When the South Australian government offered a reward of two thousand pounds to the first expedition to reach the northern coast, it started a chain of events that affected a Scottish explorer by the name of John McDowall/McDougall Stuart, a young Englishman by the name of William Wills, and an Irishman named Robert O'Hara Burke.

Due to the South Australian challenge, the Victorian Government decided to sponsor its own extremely well-funded and well-equipped expedition from south to north. The proposed expedition was widely publicised, and confidence in its success rode on the back of the new wealth being enjoyed by the young colony of Victoria in the wake of the goldrushes.

Burke had absolutely no experience in exploring, and it remains a mystery as to why he was even chosen to lead the expedition. He was a police superintendent on the goldfields, and had a tendency towards quick impatience (which was his undoing, in the end). There is evidence to suggest that Burke offered to lead the expedition because he had proposed to a young acress named Julia Matthews, who responded that she would consider marriage if Burke was the triumphant winner of the race to the north and back.

Wills had more bush experience. He was apparently a likeable young man with leadership potential. Originally, he was third in command, but because Burke (a rather fiery tempered chap who did not like his judgments being questioned) had a run-in with his original second-in-command, Landells, he was fired - and Wills was promoted to second-in-command.

They left from Melbourne in August 1860, farewelled by around 15,000 people. The exploration party was very well equipped, and the cost of the expedition almost 5,000 pounds. This was a disadvantage, however. Because of the size of the exploration party, it was split at Menindee so that Burke could push ahead to the Gulf of Carpentaria with a smaller party. The smaller group stayed to establish the depot which would serve to offer the necessary provisions for when the men returned from the Gulf. In November 1860, Burke and Wills first reached Cooper Creek. From here, they made several shorter trips to the north, but were forced back each time by waterless country and extreme temperatures.

It was not until December 16 that Burke decided to push on ahead to the Gulf, regardless of the risks and the searing summer temperatures. In February 1861, a small party consisting of Burke, Wills, King and Gray finally reached the northern coast. Crossing extensive marshes, they came to a salt tidal channel surrounded by mangroves, which prevented them from either seeing or reaching the sea. The group immediately turned around and began the long and arduous trip back to Cooper Creek - a trip which Gray never completed. Burke and Wills themselves perished in mid 1861. Only King survived, aided by Aborigines, to tell the tale of their journey.

The exact cause of Burke and Wills's death was a form of starvation or malnutrition, or possibly even poisoning, brought on by not being able to absorb the nutrient in the nardoo they tried to eat. The men knew that the Aborigines gathered nardoo which they had used to sustain Burke and Wills, until they were frightened off by Burke's defensiveness against the Aborigines. So, whilst awaiting the rescue that never came, Burke and Wills made their way to where they knew Aborigines collected Nardoo. Nardoo was an important bush food for Aborigines, who knew how to prepare its seedpods (or, strictly speaking, sporocaps) to make flour. The sporocarps contain poisons that must first be removed for them to be eaten safely. Studies of the explorers' journals indicate that they probably died of nardoo poisoning, after failing to follow precautions from the Aborigines of how to prepare it safely.