The Burke and Wills Expedition - Part 1 - Australia, the Royal Society of Victoria and Robert Burke

The Explorers Podcast

Matt Breen

Society & Culture, History, Education

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2020

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The first episode in the Burke and Wills Expedition series provides background to the endeavor - which was an expedition to cross Australia in 1860-61. We are introduced to the organizers of the expedition - Royal Society of Victoria - and its eventual leader, Robert Burke. Key people and places Robert Burke - Irish police superintendent from Castlemaine. Will be named leader of the expedition. Royal Society of Victoria - aka The Society. Scientific society based in Melbourne. They will organize the expedition. Exploration Committee - The committee of the Society which oversaw the Burke and Wills Expedition. Victoria Exploring Expedition (VEE) - The official name of the expedition led by Robert Burke to cross the Australian continent. Sir William Stawell - Key member of the Exploration Committee, and Chief Justice of Victoria. John Macadam - Secretary of the Exploration Committee. John Bruce - Wealthy Australian businessman who supported Robert Burke's bid to lead the expedition. Peter Edgerton Warburton - aka Major Warburton - Police Commissioner of South Australia and candidate to lead the VEE. Gustov von Tempsky - Prussian adventurer and candidate to lead the VEE. George Landells - Horse trader who would bring 25 camels to Australia to be part of the upcoming expedition. Would later be named second-in-command of the VEE. Charles Sturt - British soldier who would explore Australia - discovering Cooper's Creek in 1844. John McDouall Stuart - Scottish explorer who would be the chief competitor with the VEE to blaze a route across Australia. Augustus Gregory - Explorer who had gone from Brisbane to Adelaide in 1858. He turned down the opportunity to lead the VEE, but recommended any expedition go to Cooper's Creek and set up a depot - and use it as a base for striking out to the north. Cooper's Creek - River in central Australia. It is about halfway across the continent if someone is traveling between Melbourne and Gulf of Carpentaria in the north. William Wills - British surveyor and astronomer who will eventually become the second-in-command of the VEE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.4	Of Lufthanser group Ponged careers. Hello and welcome to the Explorers Podcast. I hope you are all well.
0:49.7	It is time for a new series this one about the Burke and Wills Expedition, and I am very excited about it for several reasons.
0:57.0	First of all, this will get us to Australia.
0:59.0	We have not done any stories about the exploration of the land down under and the Birkenwills expedition is one of the
1:04.7	continent's greatest tales. Second, this is an awesome story. If you love a classic
1:10.4	explorer sets out into the unknown drama,, this is right up your alley. It's a story with everything.
1:16.2	It has triumphs and tragedies and foolishness and a myriad of other things. It is simply fantastic.
1:21.8	And third, I think you're going to love this story because it's It is simply fantastic.
1:22.7	And third, I think you're going to love this story because it's not something we know a lot about.
1:27.0	I mean, let's be honest, when you hear the names Christopher Columbus or Ferdinand Magellan, we know what happens to those people even before we listen to a
1:34.0	podcast or read a book about their exploits. But the Birkenwills expedition is uniquely
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