AUSTRALIA
ROADTRIP

South Australia
Western Australia
& Northern Territory

Start Location Victoria

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OUTBACK "ROLLER COASTER" & DIG TREE

"King has stayed with me till the last. He has left me at my own request, unburied and with my pistol in hand".

Last notes written by Burke.

Cooper Creek.

26th June 1861

Our road trip takes us west back into South Australia along the "roller coaster" and over sand dunes which are well vegetated with native hop bush, sandhill wattles, grevilleas, and in season Sturt desert peas.

These red sandhills rise to about 15m at a spacing of five to the kilometre above the claypans west of Cameron Corner. One large lake holding water from recent rain events was driven around on this fairly well-defined track. The lake we called Lake Harry. Not sure if this is the correct name.

Driving from Cameron Corner to Merty Merty via Riecks Road, the distance exceeds 120km towards the large outback Moomba Gas fields and short stretches of sealed roads.

Fort Gray is bypassed on an unsealed road. Fort Gray is a research station for national parks? No public access. Giving the appearance of a homestead from the outside.

It must be said that the unsealed road from Cameron Corner, referred to as the roller coaster, was the most interesting road section of our 3,500km trek through the Outback.

Dig Tree

The historic Burke & Wills Dig Tree location is accessed via station property on an easily travelled stony track. No station permission is required to visit the Dig Tree area. Overnight camping is allowed beside Cooper Creek. The actual Dig Tree is thought to have perished over time.

Burke & Wills and the Dig Tree

In 1860, 15 years after Sturt named the Cooper Creek, an expedition with Robert O'Hara Burke in charge and with William John Wills second in command, departed from Melbourne, costing 9,000 pounds. The goal of the expedition was to explore the inland areas and claim available land north of the southern Australian states as far as the northern coastline.

The beginning of the exploring expedition consisted of:

4 officers
10 men (party totalled 19 men by start to finish)
27 camels
23 horses
a special cart to float on water
several drays and 21 tins of provisions

With the benefit of hindsight and given a practical approach, far too much equipment was carried by the expedition.

For example:

A cedar and oak dinner table and chairs

A large, heavy bathtub

Eight tonnes of food

Six tonnes of firewood

20 tonnes in total to be carried across Outback Australia.

Burke & Wills Expedition

Burke's party reached Cooper Creek and Burke divided the expedition in two and the four man party travelled the remaining 1,200 km to the Gulf of Carpentaria in 8 weeks. Burke took six camels along with Wills, King and Gray (an ex sailor).They encountered impenetrable mangroves on the Gulf of Carpentaria after almost reaching open coastal water and then turned back. Gray was the first to pass away on the return to Cooper Creek. The remaining three returned to the Cooper Creek Camp number 65 in a very weakened condition, and supplies were critical.

Missing others of the original party by nine hours who had been waiting four months for Burke's return to Cooper Creek but had now gone. Campfire ashes still warm.

Wills found a Coolabah tree with words cut into it reading;

"DIG UNDER 40 ft W, Apr 21 1861."

A small cache of food had been buried along with a note. Of the remaining men in Burke's returning party from the Gulf, only John King survived. King was in charge of some of the expedition's camels. King's survival was largely due to Aboriginal people feeding him and looking after him until a later search party found him on 15th September 1861.

A total of three rescue parties were dispatched to find Burke & Wills.

The expedition, rescue efforts, and associated activities cost 57,000 pounds. The tragic expedition and rescue attempts captured the early emerging fledgling nation.

The Dig Tree, as it is known, is about an easy forty-five minute drive from Innamincka. The actual tree is not thought to have survived the ravages of time. Other blazed trees of Burke & Wills have.

Burke lived to 40 years of age.

Wills lived to 27 years of age

Gray lived to 44 years of age

King survived the expedition and lived to be 33 years of age, but he was never able to recover his physical health. In total, seven out of the 19 men on the expedition died.

Nardoo

Is a fern that grows in hot and dry inland areas when rain causes temporary filling of water holes and road-side puddles. Often mistaken for clover, its correct name is Marsilea drummondii and is called by its common name of Nardoo. Mixed with copious amounts of water, it forms a thin flour-like paste and was eaten raw or cooked by Aborigines for generations.

Burke and Wills, when their food stocks were gone, were fed Nardoo by Aborigines. However, they did not follow the Aborigine advice on how to prepare Nardoo properly to be safely eaten. This lead to developing beri-beri and malnutrition and eventual death.

Traveldriven

DRIVE INNAMINCKA

TO DIG TREE & BIRDSVILLE

OUTBACK ROLLER COASTER

NORTH OF INNAMINCKA