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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burke and Wills expedition | 7/9 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Wills_expedition | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T12:39:46.567045+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== South Australian Burke Relief Expedition === The South Australian House of Assembly chose John McKinlay to lead the South Australian Burke Relief Expedition, which left Adelaide on 16 August 1861. On 21 October the grave of a European man was found at Lake Kadhi-baeri, about 100km north of Lake Hope on Cooper Creek. It was ascertained that this man was part of a group of three and was killed during a conflict with local Aboriginal people probably many months previously. Several Aboriginal people had also been killed, and some of the survivors showed McKinlay their bullet wounds. The dead man's two associates had left to the south. In vengeance, the Aboriginal people had cut off some of the dead man's muscle, cooked it and ate it. McKinlay assumed that the dead man was a member of the Burke expedition until he received news a few weeks later that Howitt had found King and the bodies of Burke and Wills. Some sources claim the man to have been Gray. The same group of Aboriginal people later became angry at McKinlay's party, surrounding and shouting at them. McKinlay ordered his men to fire several rounds at them, with many feeling the effects. The Aboriginal people retreated to the lake, where McKinlay's men fired at them some more, dispersing them completely. McKinlay then decided to make exploration the focus of his expedition and headed in the direction of Central Mount Stuart, but was driven back by heavy rains and floods. He then made for the Gulf of Carpentaria, hoping to find Victoria still there. By 20 May 1862, McKinlay was around five miles (8 km) from the shore of the gulf, but the intervening country was found to be impassable and he decided to turn east and make for Port Denison on the north coast. On 2 August 1862 he reached a station on the Bowen River, and after resting a few days the expedition reached Port Denison. The party then returned by sea to Adelaide. McKinlay received a grant of £1000 from the government and a gold watch from the Royal Geographical Society of England.
== Expedition to recover the remains of Burke and Wills == In late 1861, Howitt was tasked with returning to Cooper Creek, exhuming Burke and Wills' remains and returning them to Melbourne for a state funeral. Howitt and his party left Melbourne on 9 December. After a long stay in Menindee and again at Mount Murchison, the expedition arrived at Cooper Creek on 25 February 1862, camping at Cullyamurra waterhole. From there Howitt undertook numerous exploratory trips into the surrounding area. On 13 April, Wills' remains were exhumed, and in September 1862, Burke's bones were retrieved from the grave that Howitt had dug a year earlier. For the next six months, Howitt explored the Australian interior before deciding in November to return to the settled areas. On 8 December the party arrived in Clare, South Australia. Howitt and the expedition's doctor continued on to Adelaide while the rest of the party followed three days later by train. Burke's and Wills' remains were then taken to Melbourne, arriving on 29 December 1862. On this expedition, Howitt presented three breastplates commissioned by the Exploration Committee to the Yandruwandha people in appreciation of the assistance they had given to Burke, Wills and King. Breastplates were often issued to Aboriginal people for faithful service to the colonists. One of these plates is in the collection of the National Museum of Australia. The inscription on the plate states that it was presented "for the Humanity shewn to the Explorers Burke, Wills and King 1861".
== Controversy and blame == Fairly or unfairly, blame for the deaths of Burke and Wills have been focused on three individuals, namely Brahe, Wright and Burke himself. Brahe could have stayed longer at Camp 65 were it not for the leg injury suffered by the blacksmith Patton, necessitating the Brahe party's departure for Menindee that morning. Patton was to die from complications six weeks later. Burke and Wills discussed catching up with them, but they were too exhausted and decided to wait. Wright's delay at Menindee and at the Bulloo River subsequently resulted in his being blamed for the deaths of Burke and Wills. In 1963, Alan Moorehead wrote of the 'mystery' surrounding Wright's delay:
There was no basis here for criminal proceedings against Wright, but he had been publicly condemned as the man on whom the guilt chiefly lay, and that was a reputation that he was unlikely ever to live down. He retired to obscurity in Adelaide, leaving behind him still a slight, persistent mystery: why had he really delayed? Was it only because he wanted to make sure of his salary? Was it because he did not want to leave his wife and family and the comforts of the settled districts? Was it merely that he was stupid, lazy and indifferent: a man too mean-spirited to think of anyone but himself? Or was it just possible that he was the victim of that same fated chain of errors that had bedevilled the expedition from the beginning? These were questions that would never be fully answered. An in-depth study of Wright's action formed a part of Dr Tom Bergin's 1982 MA thesis. Bergin, who recreated the original journey from Cooper Creek to the Gulf of Carpentaria with camels in 1978, showed that a lack of money and too few pack animals to carry supplies meant Wright was placed in an unenviable position. His requests to the Exploration Committee were not acted on until early January, by which time the hot weather and lack of water meant that the party moved extremely slowly. Burke's abrasive personality, poor decision making and hostile behaviour to some of his fellow expeditioners and to Aboriginal people has also been pointed out as contributing factors to the disaster.
== Cause of death ==