Burke & Wills Print Page

The plaque commemorates the Burke and Wills expedition of 1861.

In 1860 - 61, Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills led an expedition of 19 men with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres . At that time most of the inland of Australia had not been explored by non-indigenous people and was completely unknown to the European settlers.

The south-north leg was successfully completed (except that they were stopped by swampland 5 kilometres from the northern coastline), but owing to poor leadership and bad luck, both of the expedition's leaders died on the return journey. Altogether, seven men lost their lives, and only one man, John King, crossed the continent with the expedition and returned alive to Melbourne.

Burke notes in his journal that "The party climbed another range at a place they called Kings Gap and descended into Corella Creek. They followed this creek northwards from the 21st January to the 9th February 1861."

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