THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR HENRY BARELY 105 



exploration, but there was a generous sense of emulation amongst 

 the colonists to assist in solving the problem as to whether the 

 interior of Australia was a barren, waterless desert, or a potential 

 feeding-ground for untold millions of sheep and cattle. In this 

 aspect at least it concerned one section of Victorians, who, as the 

 land laws squeezed them out, were perforce taking up country on 

 the outskirts of New South Wales, and pressing forward into the 

 unknown. 



In 1859 a provision dealer in Melbourne, named Ambrose Kyte, 

 offered anonymously 1,000 towards the cost of such an exploration. 

 The project was commended by the press as patriotic, and taken up 

 by the Eoyal Society of Victoria as helpful to scientific inquiry. 

 The public grew interested, and about 2,500 was added to the fund 

 by voluntary donations. But this was far short of what would be 

 required to fit out an expedition qualified to give valuable results. 

 So after the manner that has remained a characteristic of all Austra- 

 lian communities, an appeal was made to the Government which 

 met with a generous response. Parliament voted 9,000 in aid of 

 the project, and took steps to import camels from India for the pur- 

 pose. The duty of selecting a leader for the expedition was confided 

 to a committee of the Eoyal Society, subsequently extended by the 

 inclusion of a large number of prominent colonists and officials into 

 a somewhat unwieldy body known as "The Exploration Fund 

 Committee ". The choice of a leader fell upon E. O'Hara Burke, 

 an inspector of police in Victoria, who had seen some military service 

 in Austria hi his youth, and who was accounted by all who knew 

 him as a fine dashing, brave and probably reckless Irishman, full 

 of the adventurous spirit belonging to vigorous health and the prime 

 of life. Unhappily, he proved to be deficient in the necessary quali- 

 fications of tact and patience. He knew nothing of bush-craft or 

 surveying, and was without any experience in dealing with the ab- 

 origines. His second hi command, G. J. Landells, was an ignorant 

 man whose chief qualification for the post was that he was the only 

 available person who knew anything of the management of camels, 

 he having been employed by the Government to purchase them and 

 bring them from India. On the strength of this special knowledge 

 he gave himself aggressive airs, and was soon at loggerheads with 



