Following Burke and Wills Across Australia A Touring Guide

About this book

Every Australian has heard of Burke and Wills but few have travelled in their footsteps. In 2008, historian Dave Phoenix decided to walk across Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria, following the track taken by the ill-fated Burke and Wills Expedition. Now you can follow them too.

Following Burke and Wills Across Australia guides you on a road trip that follows one of history's great transcontinental journeys, sharing the explorers' experiences on the way. Maps lay out a route that takes you as close as possible to the Expedition's track. As you travel the outback roads, you can learn all the details of the day to day journey of the Expedition from the explorers' own words, and compare what you see with their descriptions of the country in 1860–61. Each chapter provides information about what to see now: the location and descriptions of the markers and memorials placed along the route over the 150 years since the Expedition, and places where you can stand where the explorers stood and look out over prospects they drew and described.

Following Burke and Wills Across Australia is a perfect companion for those wanting to see outback Australia, and at the same time understand a journey that has attained mythic status in the history of Australian exploration. Even if you want to follow only part of the track, this is the book for you.

Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Using the Touring Guide

1 Melbourne
2 Leaving Melbourne
3 Crossing the Mountains: Bulla to Knowsley
4 Crossing the Plains: Knowsley to Tragowel
5 Along the Rivers: Tragowel to Swan Hill
6 Swan Hill to Balranald
7 Balranald to Pooncarie
8 Pooncarie to Menindee
9 Menindee to Mutawintji
10 Mutawintji to Tibooburra
11 Tibooburra to Thargomindah
12 Thargomindah to Innamincka
13 Innamincka to Birdsville
14 Birdsville to Boulia
15 Boulia to Cloncurry
16 Cloncurry to Karumba

Other Sites in Victoria
Appendices
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Dave Phoenix is a recognised expert on the history of the Burke and Wills Expedition and is currently the President of the Burke & Wills Historical Society. He has done extensive research into the experiences of the various parties and to determine the route taken by the Expedition. In 2008 he walked 3,750 km from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria, following this route.