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Much of our journey criss crossed that taken by the Burke and Wills expedition.
So just a little bit of information regarding there tragic journey..

The Burke and Wills expedition was organised by the Royal Scoiety of Victoria 1860-61. It consisted of 19 men led by Robert O''Hara Burke and William John Wills, with the objective of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south, to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,200 kilommetres. At the time most of the inland of Australia had not been explored by non-indigenous people and was largely unknown to the European settlers

The expedition left Melbourne in winter. and made slow progress at first. The party divided at Menindee on the Darling River. Burke made good progress, reaching Cooper Creek at the beginning of summer. The expedition established a depot camp at the Cooper, and Burke, Wills and two other men pushed on to the north coast (although swampland stopped them from reaching the northern coastline).

The return Journey was plagued by delays and monsoon rains, and when they reached the depot at Cooper Creek, they found it had been abandoned just hours earlier. Burke and Wills died on or about 30 June 1861. Several relief expeditions were sent out, all contributing new geographical findings. Altogether, seven relief expeditions were sent out. Altogether, seven men died, and only one man, the Irish soldier John King, crossed the continent with the expedition and returned alive to MelbourneRead more