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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burke and Wills expedition | 3/9 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Wills_expedition | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T12:39:46.567045+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Menindee to Cooper Creek == In July 1859 the South Australian government offered a reward of £2,000 (about A$243,800 in 2023 dollars) for the first successful south–north crossing of the continent west of the 143rd line of longitude. The experienced explorer John McDouall Stuart had taken up the challenge. Burke was concerned Stuart might beat him to the north coast and he soon grew impatient with the expedition's slow progress, often averaging only 2 mi (3.2 km) an hour. Burke therefore split the group, taking fifteen horses, sixteen camels and the seven fittest men; Wills, Brahe, Patton, McDonough, King, Gray and Dost Mahomet. He also reduced the amount of equipment, with plans to push on quickly to Cooper Creek (then known as Cooper's Creek) and then wait for the others left behind at Menindee to catch up. They departed Menindee on 19 October, guided by a Paakantyi man named Dick Barkinji, William Wright (the manager of the nearby Kinchega sheep station) and another local Aboriginal man. Wright was appointed third-in-command and travel was relatively easy because recent rain made water abundant, and the unusually mild weather temperatures exceeded 90 °F (32 °C) only twice. Wright and Barkinji had also travelled the same way near to Cooper Creek a few months beforehand. Burke's party journeyed via waterholes at Bilpa, Langawirra, Mutawintiji and Wannaminta to the swamp at Torowotto. At Torowotto, Wright, Barkinji and the other Aboriginal guide were sent back to Menindee to bring up the remainder of the men and supplies, while Burke's party continued on to Cooper Creek. Aboriginal people living at Torowotto told them they would meet with opposition from the inhabitants further north. Guided by another two Aboriginal men, Burke's party soon reached Lake Altiboulka (Altoka) and then travelled through the Caryapundy floodplains to the Bulloo River, which was also known as Wright's Creek. At the Bulloo, they encountered around 120 Aboriginal residents and at times used their pathways to make their way to Cooper Creek, which they arrived at on 11 November.
== Cooper Creek ==
In 1860, Cooper Creek was the outer limit of the land that had been explored by Europeans, the river having been visited by Captain Charles Sturt in 1845 and Augustus Charles Gregory in 1858. Burke's party arrived at the Cooper on 11 November and they formed a depot at Camp LXIII (Camp 63). While conducting a ninety-mile reconnaissance to the north of this camp, Wills lost three camels and had to walk back to the depot. A plague of rats forced the men to move camp, so they formed a second depot further downstream at a waterhole. This was Camp LXV (Camp 65), where they erected a stockade which they named Fort Wills. It was thought that Burke would wait at Cooper Creek until autumn (March the next year) so that they would avoid having to travel during the hot Australian summer. However, Burke waited only until 16 December before deciding to make a dash for the Gulf of Carpentaria. He split the group again, leaving Brahe in charge of the depot, with Dost Mahomet, Patton and McDonough. Burke, Wills, King and Gray set off for the Gulf with six camels, one horse and enough food for just three months. By now it was mid-summer and the daily temperature often reached 122 °F (50 °C) in the shade, and in the Strzelecki and Sturt Stony Deserts there was very little shade to be found. Brahe was ordered by Burke to wait for three months; however, the more conservative Wills had reviewed the maps and developed a more realistic view of the task ahead, and secretly instructed Brahe to wait for four months.
== Gulf of Carpentaria ==
The journey north to the Gulf of Carpentaria went smoothly, with recent rains making water easy to find and the Aboriginal people, contrary to expectations, were peaceful. Around 2 February 1861, the group formed Camp CXIX (Camp 119) on the banks of the Bynoe River, an arm of the Flinders River delta, which Wills had noticed to be salty and tidal. Knowing that the sea must be close, but with the ground being boggy, Burke and Wills decided to leave the camels behind with King and Gray at Camp 119 and set off through the swamps to the coast. They followed a path which led to an Aboriginal community with a yam-field and a very large hut. Some of the resident Kukatj men pointed them in the best direction. It is assumed that on 11 February 1861 they may have reached or viewed the shores of the Gulf, but there is no documentary evidence of this. By this stage, they were desperately short of supplies. They had food left for twenty-seven days, but it had already taken them fifty-nine days to travel from Cooper Creek. Burke and Wills rejoined the others at Camp 119 and started the return journey on 13 February.
== Return journey to Cooper Creek ==