150th Anniversary of Burke & Wills ExpeditionPrint Page

The plaque commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860 and 1861. It is located near the site of the first camping place (Camp 1) and was unveiled on Australia Day 2012 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the expedition. 

Made out of a single casting of bronze, the plaque is the first of a series of 13 plaques mark the route of the expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. This plaque is placed within the Queens Park camel art installation.

The Burke and Wills Expedition was originally called the Victorian Exploring Expedition and its aim was to cross the continent of Australia from Melbourne on the south coast to the north coast, which at the time was uninhabited white people. No one had done this before, and to the Victorian colonists the centre of the continent was unknown, unmapped and unexplored.

The expedition was organised by the Royal Society of Victoria and it became the first to cross the continent. Three men traveled 5,000 kilometres from Melbourne to the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria and then back to the Depot Camp at Cooper Creek. Seven men died in the attempt, including the leader, Robert O'Hara Burke and the third in command William John Wills. Only one of the four men who reached the north coast, John King, survived to return to Melbourne.

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