The Burke and Wills Expedition - Part 6 - The Return

The Explorers Podcast

Matt Breen

Society & Culture, History, Education

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In part 6 of our series, Robert Burke and his comrades begin their journey from the northern coast of Australia to the depot at Cooper's Creek. They are low on supplies and their health is waning. Meanwhile, William Wright struggles to get the needed supplies to depot, where the health of William Brahe and his men is deteriorating. People and Places Robert O’Hara Burke – Leader of the Victorian Exploring Expedition (VEE) William Wills – British surveyor and astronomer. 2nd-in-command of the expedition. Victoria Exploring Expedition (VEE) – The official name of the expedition led by Robert Burke to cross the Australian continent. Hermann Beckler - German doctor and botanist. Ludwig Becker - German geologist and naturalist. William Wright - Bushman who joined the VEE at Menindee. Now leading the relief column to Cooper's Creek. John King - 22-year old ex-soldier. Selected by Burke to be part of the contingent going to the north coast. Thomas McDonough - VEE member who accompanied Burke and Wills to Cooper's Creek. Charley Gray - VEE member who was selected to go with Burke and Wills to the north coast of Australia. 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. About 750 miles from Melbourne. Menindee - Most northerly outpost on the route of the VEE in their trek across Australia. About 400 miles from Melbourne. Gulf of Carpentaria - The most direct route from Victoria to the northern coast of Australia - roughly a 1500 mile journey across the continent. Resources and links: https://explorerspodcast.com/ Map: https://explorerspodcast.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/burke_and_wills_map.png Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an airwave media podcast. Hello and welcome to the Explorers Podcast. Today is Part 6 in our series on the Burke and Wills
0:21.4	Expedition. Last time we left Robert Burke and Wills expedition. Last time we left Robert
0:24.5	Burke and William Wills, plus John King and Charlie Gray, about a dozen miles
0:28.9	from the northern coast of Australia. Burke had accomplished his goal of
0:32.4	crossing the continent, although you can quibble about those last few miles and so he didn't really quite make it.
0:37.5	But it's good enough in the eyes of history, so that it's fine by me.
0:41.0	Anyhow, today we are going to send Burke back across the continent,
0:44.9	aiming for Cooper's Creek, a journey of about a thousand miles when you factor in all the twists and
0:49.8	turns you will have to make. It is not going to be easy. However, before we jump in with Birkenwills, let's check in on the other two groups of the Victorian exploring expedition. The first consisted of the four men at the Supply Depot at Cooper's Creek under the command of William Bra.
1:06.0	And the second was the relief expedition under William Wright, who had reached the Toroweto Swamp,
1:11.0	about halfway between Men and D and Cooper's Creek. We will start today's story with
1:15.5	Wright and his men. William Wright had left Men and D at the end of January, bound for Cooper's
1:21.6	Creek. He had the supplies that would be desperately needed by
1:24.6	Birkenwills Wynne, and if they returned to the Depot from their journey to the North Coast.
1:30.0	But things had been difficult. It was the middle of summer, and water was desperately short.
1:34.8	Temperatures were often more than a hundred degrees. The horses suffered the most, and at one point
1:39.3	were in danger of dying. The relief expedition managed to reach the Torowal to a swamp on February 12th where they stayed and recuperated.
1:46.5	Wright could not get any of the locals to guide the expedition, but they were warned by the
1:51.0	Aboriginal people that most of the water to the north was dried up.
1:54.4	The only sure water source would be at the Bulleu Lakes about 100 miles to the north. From there, it was another 100 miles to Cooper's Creek.
2:05.2	The party would push on from Toroweto and find that the region was an arid wasteland. The sun had sucked the life out of almost everything. On February
2:10.8	19th, the expedition would reach a place that they would call Rat Point Camp.
	...

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