What happened
In 1860 Robert O’Hara Burke and William Wills set out from Melbourne at the head of a large expedition aiming for the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north.
Background
Blocked by wetlands, they did not quite reach the sea but crossed almost the whole continent before turning back. A failure of supply arrangements meant that, on the return journey at Cooper Creek, they died of hunger and exhaustion.
Consequences
The tragedy shocked the nation and drove home the harshness of the interior. The Burke and Wills expedition is remembered as a symbolic episode in the history of Australian inland exploration.