Appendiv I. 497 



back to the Darling, whence Brahe at once proceeded to Melbourne. On 

 hearing his report, the Exploration Committee lost no time in despatch- 

 ing the relief party, under Mr. Howitt, which, as we have already said, 

 discovered King in the following September. 



"After the foregoing brief summary of the facts of the case, the reader 

 will probably have but little difficulty in coming to the conclusion that 

 the death of Messrs. Burke and "Wills was, in great measure, owing to 

 Mr. Wright's having so unaccountably neglected to obey the distinct in- 

 structions of his chief. Mr. Jackson, indeed, holds that no one but 

 Wright was at all to blame in the matter. Nay, he even goes so far as 

 to accuse Wright of having wilfully and deliberately left the leaders of 

 the expedition to a fate which he must have known would be the natural 

 result of his inaction. ' Can any reasonable person,' he asks, ' doubt 

 that Wright knew perfectly well the exact nature of his instructions, and 

 foresaw the disastrous consequences almost certain to ensue should they 

 be disregarded.' This very serious charge is based upon a passage in a 

 despatch from Mr. Wright to the Exploration Committee at Melbourne, 

 dated Dec. 19th, in which he says : — ' As I have every reason to believe 

 that Mr. Burke has pushed on from Cooper's Creek, relying upon finding 

 the depot stores at that water-course upon his return, there is room for 

 the most serious apprehensions as to the safety of himself and party, 

 should he find that he has miscalculated.' This passage seems at least 

 to prove that Wright had fully comprehended both the meaning and the 

 object of the instructions he had received, to return to Menindie, and bring 

 up the stores as rapidly as possible to Cooper'' s Creek. In the teeth of these 

 positive orders he remained at Menindie no less than eighty-two days, 

 from Nov. 5th, 1860, to Jan. 26th, 1861, doing literally nothing at all. 

 There was, as far as we can see, nothing to prevent him from reaching 

 Cooper's Creek with a portion of the stores before the end of 1860. The 

 distance from Menindie to the Creek is about 400 miles, and Mr. Burke 

 had traversed it without difficulty in twenty-three days. When Burke 

 left Cooper's Creek on December 16th, he was in daily expectation of 

 Wright's arrival. Had this reasonable expectation been fulfilled, there 

 would then have been no reason why Brahe should not have remained 

 at the depot for six months, or even a longer time. Wright appears to 

 have spent a considerable portion of the time which he wasted at Menin- 



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