Descendants of the Yandruwandha still remember the stories of their ancestors caring for a solitary white man stranded on the Cooper. While most members of the tribe wanted to look after him until he was reunited with his countrymen, a few of the younger warriors distrusted their guest and suggested he should be killed.
John King’s descendants, now based in Ireland and New Zealand, have long known of an enduring connection between the explorer and his saviours. Their beliefs coincide with a story now acknowledged by senior members of the Yandruwandha. In 1867 a drover named James Arnold, also known as ‘Narran Jim’, was riding through the Cooper area. He came across a little halfcaste girl around five or six years old who was living with the Aboriginal people. She was nicknamed ‘Yellow Alice’ and ‘Miss King’. The Yandruwandha alive today believe she was John King’s daughter.
The only visible carving on the Dig Tree shows Burke’s initial B with the camp number LXV underneath.
Acknowledgments
This book, more than most, has been the result of the generosity and expertise of many people. I would like to thank Tom Bergin, who has spent many years investigating this expedition, retraced the explorers’ route using camels in 1972 and went on to write In the Steps of Burke and Wills. He gave me access to his extensive research, especially his work on the nutritional problems faced by the expedition, the management of the camels and the role of Robert Bowman. Dr Ross Mackenzie, Professor A. S. Truswell and Jo Duflou provided valuable insights into the scientific side of things. Paddy McHugh taught me about camels. Gerard Hayes and all the staff of the State Library of Victoria, the Mitchell Library in Sydney, the National Library in Canberra and the Mortlock Library in Adelaide responded patiently and efficiently to my many requests for information.
Thanks also to Tim Flannery, for his support in the first place, and for reading the manuscript; to Helen Tolcher for her assistance on matters Aboriginal; and to the wonderful people I met in towns such as Menindee, Innamincka, Birdsville, Boulia, Cloncurry and Normanton, while retracing the Burke and Wills route through outback Australia. Their local knowledge and enthusiasm has added so much to the story.
Arran Patterson and his family are direct descendents of the Yandruwandha tribe from the Cooper Creek area. Arran has painstakingly researched his family history and the role of the indigenous people in the Burke and Wills story. He and his relatives believe that better understanding between black and white will only come with the sharing of knowledge. The Dig Tree stands enriched by their generosity.
I am indebted to many people for support and sustenance: the Melbourne Support Crew—David, Melissa, Callum, Sonia, Paul, Dale, Emma and Annie; the Brisbane Support Crew of Heidi, Andy, Angie and Benson; and the Sydney Support Crew—Eleanor, Edward, Dominic, Sophie, Peig, Rod, Andrew, Kerry, Jamie, Kristen, Stuart, the Keadys and Debs. I want to thank Nick and Geraldine, for helping to provide me with a writer’s paradise; Monty, the man who is not my husband, for saying what he thinks, enduring my attempts at baking damper and taking the photographs. Marie Adams got me out to Australia in the first place and kept me here. My family have not only forgiven me for living in Australia but have supported me unflinchingly in everything I have ever attempted, with the possible exception of buying a motorbike. My husband Kevin suggested I write the book, then let me loose in a four-wheel-drive and rescued me when necessary.
Michael Heyward, my editor, believed in me in the first place, and I am grateful for his skill and sensitivity ever since. Melanie Ostell and everyone at Text guided me through the process.
And I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Michael Friedlander and all the staff at the Prince of Wales in Sydney. No statement of appreciation can fully reflect the magnitude of the contribution they have made to my life and to the lives of so many others. Without them none of this would have been possible.
All errors and omissions that remain are my own.
Select Bibliography
THE BURKE AND WILLS EXPEDITION
Bergin, Tom, In the Steps of Burke and Wills, ABC/Griffin Press Ltd, Sydney, 1981.
Bonyhady, Tim, Burke and Wills: From Melbourne to Myth, David Ell Press, Sydney, 1991.
Clune, Frank, Dig: The Burke and Wills Saga, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1991 (first pub. 1937).
Colwell, Max, The Journey of Burke and Wills, Paul Hamlyn, Sydney, 1971.
Corke, David, Partners in Disaster: The Story of Burke and Wills, Nelson, Sydney, 1985.
Jackson, Andrew, Robert O’Hara Burke and the Australian Exploring Expedition of 1860, Smith Elder, London, 1862.
Moorehead, Alan, Cooper’s Creek, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1963.
White, John, The Stockade and the Tree, Footprint Press, Melbourne, 1992.
EXPEDITION DIARIES
Beckler, Hermann, A Journey to Cooper’s Creek, Stephen Jeffries and Michael Kertesz (trans. and eds), Melbourne University Press and State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, 1993.
Davis, John, Tracks of McKinlay and Party across Australia, Sampson, Low, London, 1863.
The Explorers, Tim Flannery (ed.), Text Publishing, Melbourne, 1998. Flinders, Matthew, Terra Australis, Tim Flannery (ed.), Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2000.
Gregory, Augustus C., and Gregory, Francis T., Journals of Australian Explorations, J. C. Beal, Brisbane, 1884.
Landsborough, William, Journal of Landsborough’s Expedition from Carpentaria in Search of Burke and Wills, Libraries Board of South Australia, Adelaide, 1963.
Leichhardt, Ludwig, Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, T & W Boone, London, 1847.
McKinlay, John, Journal of Exploration in the Interior of Australia, Libraries Board of South Australia, Adelaide, 1962.
Mitchell, Thomas Livingstone, Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, with Descriptions of the Recently Explored Region of Australia Felix, and the Present Colony of New South Wales, vols I & II, T & W Boone, London, 1838.
Stuart, John McDouall, Explorations in Australia: The Journals of John McDouall Stuart, during the Years 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861 and 1862; When He Fixed the Centre of the Continent and Successfully Crossed It from Sea to Sea, William Hardman (ed.), 2nd edn, Saunders, Otley & Co., London, 1865.
Stuart, John McDouall, Exploration of the Interior: Diary of J. M. Stuart from March 2 to September 3, 1860, S. A. Government Printer, Adelaide, 1860.
Sturt, Charles, Journal of the Central Australian Expedition, J. Waterhouse (ed.), Caliban Books, London, 1984.
Sturt, Charles, Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia: Performed under the Authority of Her Majesty’s Government during the Years 1844, 5 and 6; Together with a Notice of the Province of South Australia in 1847, vols I & II, T & W Boone, London, 1849.
Sturt, Charles, Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, during the Years 1828, 1829, 1830 and 1831, vols I & II, Smith Elder & Co., London, 1833.
Wills, Dr William, A Successful Exploration through the Interior of Australia, Friends of the State Library of South Australia, Adelaide, 1996 (first pub. 1863).
GENERAL AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION
Cannon, Michael, The Exploration of Australia, Reader’s Digest, Sydney, 1987.
Cumpston, J. H. L., Augustus Gregory and the Inland Sea, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1965.
Favenc, Ernest, Explorers of Australia, Tiger Books International (Senate), London, 1998.
Haynes, Roslynn D., Seeking the Centre, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998.
Howitt, Mary, Come Wind or Weather, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1971.
McIver, George, The Drover’s Odyssey, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1935. Madigan, Cecil T., Central Australia, Oxford University Press, London, 1936.
Madigan, Cecil T., Crossing the Dead Heart, Georgian House, Melbourne, 1948.
BIOGRAPHIES AND AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
Beale, Edgar, Sturt, the Chipped Idol: A Study of Charles Sturt, Explorer, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1979.
Ferguson, Charles, Experiences of a Forty-Niner during Thirty-Four Years Residence in California and Australia, Frederick T. Wallace (ed.), The Williams Publishing Company, Cleveland, 1888.
Lockwood, Kim, Big John: The Extraordinary Adventures of John McKinlay, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, 1995.
Mudie, Ian, The Heroic Journey of John McDouall Stuart, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1968.
Tipping, Marjorie, Ludwig Becker: Artist and Naturalist with the Burke and Wills Expedition, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1979.
Webster, Mona S., John McDouall Stuart, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1958.
Young, Rose, G. F. Von Tempsky, Artist and Adventurer, Alister Taylor, Martinborough, 1981.
ABORIGINAL HISTORY
Howitt, Alfred, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1966 (first pub. 1904).
Mulvaney, D. J., The Prehistory of Australia: Ancient People and Places, Thames & Hudson, London, 1969.
Tolcher, Helen, Drought or Deluge, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1986.
MONOGRAPHS, PAMPHLETS AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES
Bergin, Tom, Courage and Corruption: An Analysis of the Burke and Wills Expedition and of the Subsequent Royal Commission of Enquiry, unpublished thesis, University of New England, Armidale, 1982.
Blanchen, B. J., ‘From Melbourne to Menindie: A Tourist’s Guide Based on the Diaries of Ludwig Becker’, La Trobe Library Journal, October 1978, pp. 34-36.
Fitzpatrick, Kathleen, ‘The Burke and Wills Expedition and the Royal Society of Victoria’, Historical Studies of Australia and New Zealand, 10 April 1963, pp. 470-78.
Kerwin, Bennie, and Breen, J. G., ‘The Land of the Stone Chips’, Oceania, vol. 51, pp. 286-311.
McKellar, John, ‘John King: Sole Survivor of the Burke and Wills Expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria’, Victorian Historical Magazine, December 1944, pp. 106-9.
McKellar, John, ‘William John Wills’, Victorian Historical Magazine, 2 February 1962, pp. 337-50.
McLaren, Ian, ‘The Victorian Exploring Expedition and Relieving Expeditions, 1860-61: The Burke and Wills Tragedy’, Victorian Historical Magazine, 29 April 1959, pp. 211-53.
Threadgill, Bessie, South Australian Land Exploration, 1856 to 1880, vols I & II, Board of Governors of the Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 1922.
OTHER SOURCES
McKnight, Tom L., The Camel in Australia, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1969.
McNicoll, Ronald, Number 36 Collins St: The Melbourne Club, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1988.
Rajkowski, Pamela, In the Tracks of the Camelmen: Australia’s Most Exotic Pioneers, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1987.
Riffenburgh, Beau, The Myth of the Explorer, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994.
Sadleir, John, Recollections of a Victorian Police Officer, George Robertson, Melbourne, 1913.
Serle, Geoffrey, The Golden Age: A History of the Colony of Victoria, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1968.
Stawell, Mary, My Recollections, Richard Clay & Sons, London, 1911.
Stroud, Mike, Survival of the Fittest, Vintage, London, 1999.
NEWSPAPERS
Argus, Age, Ballarat Star, Bendigo Advertiser, Castlemaine Advertiser, Examiner and Melbourne Weekly News, Galway Advertiser, Geelong Advertiser, Herald, Illustrated London News, Illustrated Sydney News, Loughrea Journal, Melbourne Leader, Melbourne Post, Melbourne Punch, Mount Alexander Mail, Ovens and Murray Advertiser, South Australian Register, Southern Courier, The Times, Yeoman and Australian Acclimatiser.
ORIGINAL MATERIAL AND MANUSCRIPTS
The La Trobe Library at the State Library of Victoria houses the largest collection of material relating to the Burke and Wills expedition, including many original letters, diaries, records of the Royal Society and a transcript of the royal commission of inquiry. Other documents including Burke’s pocketbook and Wills’ diaries and field books are held at the National Library of Australia in Canberra. The Mitchell and Dixson libraries at the State Library of New South Wales also hold manuscripts relevant to Burke and Wills and the subsequent rescue expeditions. Much of the material pertaining to John McDouall Stuart is housed in the Mortlock Library, Adelaide.
Text Classics
For reading group notes visit textclassics.com.au
The Commandant
Jessica Anderson
Introduced by Carmen Callil
Homesickness
Murray Bail
Introduced by Peter Conrad
Sydney Bridge Upside Down
David Ballantyne
Introduced by Kate De Goldi
A Difficult Young Man
Martin Boyd
Introduced by Sonya Hartnett
The Australian Ugliness
Robin Boyd
Introduced by Christos Tsiolkas
The Even More Complete
Book of Australian Verse
John Clarke
Introduced by John Clarke
Diary of a Bad Year
JM Coetzee
Introduced by Peter Goldsworthy
Wake in Fright
Kenneth Cook
Introduced by Peter Temple
The Dying Trade
Peter Corris
Introduced by Charles Waterstreet
They’re a Weird Mob
Nino Culotta
Introduced by Jacinta Tynan
Careful, He Might Hear You
Sumner Locke Elliott
Introduced by Robyn Nevin
Terra Australis
Matthew Flinders
Introduced by Tim Flannery
My Brilliant Career
Miles Franklin
Introduced by Jennifer Byrne
Cosmo Cosmolino
Helen Garner
Introduced by Ramona Koval
Dark Places
Kate Grenville
Introduced by Louise Adler
The Watch Tower
Elizabeth Harrower
Introduced by Joan London
The Mystery of
a Hansom Cab
Fergus Hume
Introduced by Simon Caterson
The Glass Canoe
David Ireland
Introduced by Nicolas Rothwell
Ned Kelly
Introduced by Alex McDermott
Bring Larks and Heroes
Thomas Keneally
Introduced by Geordie Williamson
Strine
Afferbeck Lauder
Introduced by John Clarke
Stiff
Shane Maloney
Introduced by Lindsay Tanner
The Middle Parts of Fortune
Frederic Manning
Introduced by Simon Caterson
The Scarecrow
Ronald Hugh Morrieson
Introduced by Craig Sherborne
The Dig Tree
Sarah Murgatroyd
Introduced by Geoffrey Blainey
The Plains
Gerald Murnane
Introduced by Wayne Macauley
The Fortunes of
Richard Mahony
Henry Handel Richardson
Introduced by Peter Craven
The Women in Black
Madeleine St John
Introduced by Bruce Beresford
An Iron Rose
Peter Temple
Introduced by Les Carlyon
1788
Watkin Tench
Introduced by Tim Flannery
Seventeen
This Extraordinary Continent
* Wills’ cousin Harry died on Sir John Franklin’s Arctic expedition.
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