Part 1 (1/2)

Australian Heroes and Adventurers

by William Pyke

PREFACE

This book is the first of a series which the Publisher intends to issue, illustrative of life and adventure in the Australian Colonies and the Islands of the Pacific It has been carefully compiled from reliable sources of infor's Narrative_, _Howitt's Diary_, Wood's _Explorations in Australia_, Withers's _History of Ballarat_, Sutherland's _Tales of the Gold-fields_, Raffello's _Account of the Ballarat Riots_, McCombie's _History of Victoria_, etc, etc Most of these books are very expensive or out of print, and therefore not easily procurable at the booksellers

In the succeeding voluive--”Buckley, the Runaway Convict, and his Black Friends,” ”John Batman, the Founder of Melbourne,” ”Fawkner, the Pioneer,” ”Early Days of Tasmania,” ”Botany Bay Tales,” ”Reers,” ”Brave Deeds,” ”Squatting Tales,” ”Remarkable Personal Adventures,” ”Curious Anecdotes,” etc, etc

MELBOURNE, 1889

BURKE AND WILLS

TWO HEROES OF EXPLORATION

CHAPTER I

_ACROSS AUSTRALIA_

There stood for twenty years, at the intersection of Collins and Russell Streets, the only monument which the city of Melbourne can boast of

Increasing traffic has recently necessitated its removal to a small reserve opposite our Parlia position at one of the chief entrances of the city It is the lasting memorial of two men and the expedition they led across the continent of Australia It stands in silent and solehfare--two ly in a solitude as complete as the deepest seclusion of the lonely plains of the interior, where the heroes whose memory they perpetuate met their fate No inscription tells the curious visitor or wayfarer who they are, or records the deeds that have gained theh place in the estimation of the citizens of Victoria The story is an old one in these days of rapidly passing events, but we think it will bear repetition, and, therefore, in the following pages ill do our best to relate the events that led to the erection of so nificent a memorial

From the days of the first settlement of New South Wales at Port Jackson in 1788, down to the present ti their condition, enhanced by the adventurous spiritin their breasts, has proanise parties for the exploration of the unknown interior of their vast continent In not a few instances the explorer has been the precursor of the squatter and the selecter of settlements and civilisation The journey of Oxley, in 1818, led to the discovery that the Macquarie and other rivers ended in large reedy ave rise to the belief in an immense inland sea, into which all the rivers of the interior emptied themselves But subsequent travellers in search of this supposed inland sea dissipated the belief in its existence In 1828 Sturt reached the ”great salt river,” called the Darling, which has since filled such an ie of our staple product to the ocean In his next journey Sturt went down the Murruee and the Murray as far as Lake Alexandrina His description of the country surrounding the lake--plenty of green pastures and abundance of agricultural land of the most fertile kind--induced the squatters to send down their emaciated flocks froration of nurowers from overcrowded Europe, who founded the Colony of South Australia

Mitchell, in 1836, descended the Darling, crossed over the Murray, and entered into what is now the Colony of Victoria He named it ”Australia Felix,” because the country which hted hienial climate presented such a pleasant contrast to that of the land he had just travelled over Pioneers frorated to this newly-revealed district The productiveness of its soil, and the subsequent discovery of gold, soon attracted a great nurants to the happy clirew into a rich and prosperous colony, and Melbourne, its st the chief cities of the world

The success attending the early exploring expeditions equipped by the mother colony seems to have incited the colonists of Victoria to ehbours In 1859 a patriotic offer wascitizen of Melbourne--Mr A the cost of fitting out an expedition to explore the vast interior of Australia This generous offer was accepted The project was taken up by the Royal Society of Victoria, and the sum of L3400 was raised by public subscription The Governranted an additional L3000 for the purchase of cainated, under theExpedition, which is now , no doubt, to its calamitous termination, as the ”Burke and Wills' Expedition”

The Exploration Co a suitable leader Several well-known explorers ritten to, but each of theiven to Mr Robert O'Hara Burke, a man of approved ability, and in himself actuated by an enthusiastic desire to perfor our vast continent from sea to sea

Mr Burke was an Irishman, born in 1821, and was, therefore, only forty years old at the time of his melancholy end He had served in the Austrian Cavalry, and also in the Irish Mounted Constabulary, previous to his arrival in Van Die Inspector at Hobart Town and as Police Magistrate at Beechworth (Victoria), he was granted leave of absence in order to go to England, where he hoped to obtain a co for the seat of the war then waging between England and Russia Being unsuccessful, owing to the termination of the war, he returned to Victoria, and shortly received an appointment as one of the superintendents of the Victorian Police Force, which position he held until the setting out of the exploring expedition Mr Burke diligently prepared himself for the journey across the continent He examined the records of previous expeditions for the personal experiences of fore of the interior already at hand He alsotours, in order to qualify hi such a journey The following characteristic letter, written whilst _en route_, will show his deter:--

”ON THE DARLING, _4th October 1860_

”MY DEAR S----,

”I received your letter, and was glad to hear of the safe arrival of your friend B---- We have been resting here a few days, awaiting the arrival of the baggage, which has just come up To-morroe proceed on, and I shall not delay anywhere until I reach Cooper's Creek--being an Irishman I gons and my own behind The accursed impediments, the ruin of so many expeditions, I am determined shall not ruin me