Burke and Wills are as legendary as Ned Kelly or Gallipoli in the Australian consciousness – in 1860, they set out from Melbourne to cross the continent for the first time. With extraordinary endurance and courage, they succeeded, only to perish at Cooper Creek. A gripping account of their travails, with new historical evidence.The harrowing true story of the Burke and Wills expedition team who took on the Australian wilds 150 years ago–and lost.
They departed Melbourne’s Royal Park in the summer of 1860, a misfit party of eighteen amateur explorers cheered on by thousands of well-wishers. Their mission: to chart a course across the vast unmapped interior of Australia, from Melbourne to the northern coast. Months later, only one man returned alive–with tales of heroism, hardships, and lost opportunities that were by turns terrifying and darkly comic.
Drawing its title from one of the few remaining traces of the expedition, “The Dig Tree” combines the danger of Sebastian Junger with the irony of Bill Bryson to relive the tragic journey of these completely initiated adventurers.
372 p. : ill., ports, maps ; 20 cm. #080322
Burke and Wills Expedition, (1860-1861) | Kalkatungu / Kalkadoon people (G13) (Qld SF54-02) | Yawarawarka people (L23) (SA SG54-10) | Settlement and contacts – Explorers – European. | Race relations – Attitudes. | Attitudes – Indigenous attitudes. | Yandruwantha / Yandruwandha people (L18) (SA SH54-02) | Australia — Discovery and exploration. | Cooper Creek (Qld Far West SG54, NE SA SH54)