xsxiv Reports of Committees. 



The important duty of selecting a Leader for the Expedition was 

 the next and most anxious duty that devolved on your Committee. 

 The names of several highly eligible gentlemen were submitted for 

 consideration, but, after mature deliberation, it was resolved to an- 

 nounce that the appointment was open, and candidates were invited 

 to offer their services. 



In reply to this invitation a number of gentlemen, of various qua- 

 lifications, presented their credentials, and sought the arduous but 

 honorable post. The difficulty your Committee experienced in 

 making a selection was inci-eased by the number of apparently suitable 

 candidates that offered their services. After miich anxious inquiry and 

 careful deliberation, your Committee selected Robert O'Hara Burke, 

 Esq., Superintendent of Police in the Castlemaine district, and 

 formerly a cavalry officer in the Austrian service, whose appointment 

 to this onerous office waa duly endorsed by the Government. 



Your Committee, feeling strongly that it was of the first impor- 

 tance the Leader of so difficult an undertaking as traversing the 

 wilds of an unknown region should have the free and uncontrolled 

 selection of his officers and men, conceded to Mr. Burke at once the 

 entire management of the organization of his party. Accordingly 

 the whole number of applicants were invited to meet the leader at 

 the Hall of the Royal Society, when out of about 700 candidates 

 the following were selected, after personal interviews and careful 

 inquiries : — 



George James Landells, second in command 



William John Wills, Surveyor and Astronomer 



Herman Beckler, Medical Officer and Botanist 



Ludwig Becker, Artist and Naturalist, &c. 



Charles D. Ferguson, Assistant and Foreman 



William Patten, Assistant 



Patrick Langan, do. 



Owen Cowen, do. 



Robert Fletcher, do. 



Henry Creber, do. 



William Brahe, do. 



John Drakeford, do. 



John King, do. 



Thos. F. McDonough, do. 



These men, after a careful examination by Dr. William Gillbee, 

 on behalf of the Committee, were pronounced by him free from 

 physical defect and disease. 



The final selection of the route was the next subject of anxious 

 consideration demanding the attention of your Committee. 



There were three principal routes proposed for selection, namely, — 

 1st. Port Augusta, at the head of Spencer's Gulf, and thence to the 

 north. 2nd. Blunder Bay, at the mouth of the Victoria, on the north- 



