YOL. TIL 



APPENDIX I. (p. 13.) 



Tlie foUow'mg reprint (bi/ permission) from the columns of the "Spectator" of Wth Oct. 

 md%bth Oct., 1862, conveys so accurate an idea' of the achievements of the gallant and 

 lamented Burke and Wills, and of the mismanagement that led to their disastrous fate, that 

 no apology is needed for inserting it here. 



THE AUSTRALIAN EXPLOPvING EXPEDITION OF I860.* 



{Spectator, Wth and 2oth Oct., 1S63 ) 



" Those who are interested — and who is not ? — in tlie history of the 

 latest and most successM of Australian exploring expeditions will find 

 the principal materials requisite for the satisfaction of their curiosity in 

 the small volume now before us. The special interest attaching to this 

 particular expedition lies in the striking contrast which it presents be- 

 tween the perfect success of its leaders and their melancholy end. 

 Having accomplished their arduous task of traversing the Australian 

 continent from south to north, Messrs. Burke and Wills returned to 

 their starting-point, only to find that the depot which they had estab- 

 lished there had been abandoned by their companions less than twelve 

 hours before their arrival. Utterly broken down by privation and 

 fatigue, and disappointed of the succour on which they had confidently 

 relied, they were unable to traverse the comparatively trifling distance 

 which separated them from the settled districts, and, after some weeks 

 of hopeless wandering, they v/ere literally starved to death when almost 

 within sight of aid. The story of these few weeks, as contained in the 

 scanty records left by Messrs. Burke and Wills, and in the statement 

 made by their sole surviving companion, is one of the most touching 

 narratives of human fortitude that we have ever met v/ith. The feeling 

 of sympathy, almost painful in its intensity, which it necessarily excites, 

 is immediately followed by a desire to ascertain the precise quarter in 



* Robert O'Hura Burke, and the Australian Exploring Expedition of 1860. By Andrew 

 Jackson. London : Smith, Elder, and Co. 



