Burke & Wills Expedition across Australia 1860-61
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- čas přidán 20. 09. 2014
- Looks at the Victorian Exploring Expedition of 1860-61, led by Robert Burke. Features photos and paintings from the time. Looks at preparations for the expedition, the first weeks, the difficulties faced, reaching the Gulf of Carpentaria, the problems at the Dig Tree, search parties sent out, and recovery of the bodies of the explorers and the historical importance of the expedition.
Whoa... This was an extremely well-done documentary. Many thanks to Astrovisuals1 for sharing this with us. Much appreciated.
The narrator has a wonderful voice, really enjoyable to listen to the excellent narration.
Yes. Just like Robert Powell.
Sound like Howard would have been the best choice. Rescued the lot, packed light and a true bushman. This was my assignment at school 25 years ago
A realy well done documentary THANK You
Brave souls of pioneers rest in this beautiful land
Very good. John King, like Burke were Irish. King was born in Moy, Co Tyrone. I have read Sarah Murgatroyd's account of the expedition in her book 'The Dig Tree' ' three times. An excellent read, that recaptures the terrible events,as if you are there. The Society in Melbourne were ultimately responsible for appointing Burke, considering he had no experience in the outback. Albert Howitt went to Cooper's Creek in record time and had no casualties. Similarly, other explorers with outback experience had no fatalities.
Mum was a Pre School Teacher and gave me plenty of Australian Story books about the History and Flora and Fauna , way back in the 70's. It helped make me more Australian considering I was 6th Generation as well. The Burke and Wills , Flinders , Stuart and Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson
hi love the story of Burk and Wills and all of our Explorers Ashley Australia
Such a high quality production. Great script and narration. 😀😀
Yes high quality, but the resolution isn't. HD would be nice.
Burke and wills are my assignments at school thank you for the info.
FitztianPlayz same
I believe the best guy for the job would actually have been the man who led the rescue mission - Alfred Howitt. A wise leader & proper bushman, with a better understanding of the 'natives'. So strange how he was overlooked...🙄
Yes I remember learning about this in a Qld state school. Tragic in all but this type of venture is not to be entered into lightly. One really has to have a sound realistic knowledge and appreciation of ones own abilities.
Sadly, Sarah passed away after her book was published in 2002. Sarah was only in her mid thirties. I hope she made it to a good place.
Very interesting, good video. It tracks well with what i'm reading in Alan Moorehead's excellent account of the expedition, called "Cooper's Creek", very well researched. 👍
bro you giving kudos to some clown who has literally uploaded some old ABC content from VHS
A very informative video soo well narrated,astonishing history.
Absolutely love theses doco,s it cool to put a face to the names, of the articles I work on👍
Really interesting doc, thanks.
If you really want to learn how badly the whole thing was organized and carried out you should read "Cooper's Creek: Tragedy and Adventure" by Alan Moorehead. He pulls no punches and tells how the expedition was so overburdened that the leaders were making their first camp before the rear had even left Melbourne - and how (you're gonna love this!) they took a piano with them !!! They didn't tie up their horses at night and thought they'd been stolen by Aborigines when in fact they'd simply wandered off. The whole thing was quite simply a man-made disaster.
Not to mention they were never experienced explorers to begin with.
Bourke had the offer from a ship owner to carry a lot of his supplies by boat to menindee but he was against the offer. Bourke was just not the right leader for that expedition
Many of Australia's explorers were pretty hopeless. The most successful were the Forrest brothers who were both qualified and highly skilled surveyors and map makers. Professor Geoff Bolton posited that the Forrest were Australia's only successful explorers in that they consistently completed their expeditions.
Only a few people have followed the path of Bourke and Wills. I have done the southern half. It is hell. Soaring heat, no trees as it is too hot and dry, fierce scrub which tears at the skin. I didn't have camels only horses. The narrator has never been there. It is the land for tough bushmen. The Aboriginal lived near the waterholes but didn't travel the desolate scorching foul bastardly area between them.
Read it. Got totally confused about who went where when.
i read about this expedition in
Ernest Favenc's excellent book
"The History Of Australian Exploration, 1788 - 1888"
Published in 1888.
Love the video!!!
2:08 The Tempsky is Gustavus von Tempsky, a Prussian adventurer, explorer, and soldier, he is mostly known for his involvement in the New Zealand Wars. He was killed in 1868 during battle in the Taranaki, by a shot to the head.
Tempsky was a mercenary and a tough bugger,he led his forest rangers as they were called, traveled light dressed like Maori, heavily armed,and fought guerilla actions, having walked through some of that country,you feel sorry for the Redcoats,no wonder lots of manly Irish deserted to the Maori side!
I've been to the tree where Burke died, it was a very peaceful place. Good place to die I guess.
Thank you for your information and it enough to do for my assignments from CAMBODIA
Mad dogs and Englishmen. Summer is too hot in Australia. That's why we live on the Eastern coastline. Inland north is ridiculously hot in summer. When the wind blows from the north west it gets up to 46°C. That heat will kill a white man just by itself.
Astro: so glad for the subtitles!
When I stop and think about how my ancestors migrated to New Zealand in 1864, it impacts me hard learning about the issues and adventures of their contemporaries. I just learned of Burke & Wills' expedition, that was prompted by the Philosophical Institute of Melbourne just 6 years before my ancestors left Ireland. Drawing connections between the events that may have affected my ancestors, or that they would have been at least aware of, is very impressive. This documentary video made a mark on me, and I appreciate the quality of the content! Going through the video a second time, I am not impressed by the quality (or lack thereof) of the closed captioning on this video. Aboriginal names are a challenge and the botching of them is understandable, but good grief, this was atrocious!
This video looks like it came out in the 70’s get the f over it 😂
At 2:08 mention is made of Gustavus von Tempsky, a Prussian who served in New Zealand as a soldier during the New Zealand Wars. He was killed in the Taranaki in 1868.
Yes the captions are an insult to an otherwise really good presentation,
Burke and wills is my assinment at school thankyou for the imfo :)
Well Im doing it too
Fascinating 👍
15:15 ". . . on the same day that dickhead staggered back into the man . . . " These captions are hilarious.
Classic !
Can somebody please tell me what the harmonica music is. Also who was the player.
Landells is my great great great grandfather.
My mother's side
There was NOT a depot at Carpentaria - why would there have been! There should have been at least six depots across the country to have any chance of getting back to Cooper's creek nearly 1000km away. If their aim was to cross the continent they achieved it - but WHY was it necessary to go back the same way? Re-crossing the country was foolhardy with only TWO depots between Carpentaria and Melbourne - a distance of nearly 3000km - utterly ridiculous
yo name is chris cross ahahahhahahahahaahhahha jk
I followed this on Google maps.
Just having to watch this for school
It is a good documentary, however, it suffers from a serious omission. Aboriginals taught Burke and Wills how to make seedcakes from nadoo, however, Burke and Wills managed to forget one critical step, that of soaking the pulverised nadoo seeds for 12 hours to get rid of the enzyme thiaminase which depletes the body of vitamin B1, causing beriberi.
Wills wrote in his diary: "My pulse is at 48 and very weak and my legs and arms are nearly skin and bone. I can only look out like Mr Micawber for something to turn up, but starvation on nardoo is by no means unpleasant, but for the weakness one feels, and the utter inability to move oneself, for as the appetite is concerned, it gives me the greatest satisfaction."
It is most likely that the combination of vitamin B1 deficiency and vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) caused their deaths. The local aborigines had no problem eating nadoo, but they prepared it properly, after all, they had 50,000 years of experience to teach them.
Awesome thx
could include more dates other then that very helpful
144p resolution - was that an attempt to be “period correct” ? 🤔🤔🤔
Hard enough in a well equipped landcruiser
🚙🐫
Read the book "Cooper's Creek." It's not a long book, and it is a great read.
It's Cooper Creek
@@ben-vf : : Cooper's Creek: Tragedy and Adventure in the Australian Outback. Author: Alan Moorehead.
@@MiTmite9 Not debating the name of the book but the name of the river. I would like to read the book though.
""Burke and Wills and camel", initials in the tree." Australian Crawl
My first thoughts too.
Seems crazy to go to Adelaide instead of the nearby depot
what's the song?
At school i am learning about Burke and wills
Interesting. Reminds me of Scott's tragic expedition to the South Pole.
a fair amount of this narration is incorrect
1. originally expedition was called Burke and Landells.
prior to the send off Adam Landells asked to speak to George James Landells as he thought it to be his Half brother. this was not granted.
Adam walked away not knowing this important answer.
2. Landells was employed for his bushman skills and knowledge of Camels and horses.
3. After Landells resigned due to Burke selling off all the rum for the camels and also Burke not knowing anything about the bush Wills became 2nd in command.
4. Not long after Landells left the country he died in Calcutta.
5. his wife replied to statements during the royal inquest into the ill fated journey..
i agree - the Exploration Committee dumped on Landells to play down their deficiencies and culpability. He probably didn't endear himself to people as he was a very forthright person. The committee appointed Bourke which was the biggest mistake - he was very slack in making his decisions clearly and failed to make his decisions firmly known to his men. They really should have appointed an experienced explorer to the expeditions top spot. With your surname, you must be a decendant of Adam or George?, I've just been researching some info on the expedition - it was beset by sme many failed decisions - especially by Bourke.
@@BikerAU Spot on Phill. I am decendent of Adam.
we have never been able to prove George was related, Story has it he was Adam and Williams 1/2 brother. on the send off Adam asked to speak to George however it was not allowed. he left not knowing if it was his 1/2 brother.
Cheers
Landells is my great great great grandfather.
My mother's side
Really makes me wonder what these men were thinking so much could go wrong so much risk didn’t know what they would run into snake bites getting attacked anything could happen all those explorers where rough tough and brave
OMG! Burke & Wills :D
The statue of Burke and Wills is not at the city Square, since it was created, it has gone walkabout…. Hopefully one day it will come back to the city Square.
The Robert Scott of the Outback
Oh no, not for me! I'll settle for my boring life in Melbourne - no way would I set out on such an expedition!😳
Why not Loretta ? I did I walk from Karumba to Melbourne 2012 and in 2017 I walked from Adelaide to Karumba and now currently planning a double crossing of Australia you have a beautiful country there I wish you happiness and good health bren
cool video
How not to run an expedition.
Intresting
I know right?
Will’s lost diary was found 10 yrs after this was made and it read like Brokeback mountain.
What year was this documentary made?
Brokeback mountain? Lol how so?
@@kellie5476 2010
Never take dubious back scuttle boys to camping spots
They were a cornholing bunch? Why does that not surprise me? My bum is your bum mate!
The botanist is von Mueller.
Afghans in Australia in 1860? Wow.
The muslim Afghans were said to have built a mosque in the outback back than.
He was a Pathan from kashmir . Namely Dosth Mahomet
hence the Australian slang you Burke
Tempsky who got no votes in the leadership ballot, went to New Zealand and made a great name for himself in the wars against the Maori.
Von Tempsky died at the battle of the 'Beak of the Bird' in Taranaki in 1868. It was an ambush by the Maori against the NZ colonial militia and Forest Rangers led by Von Tempsky.
No one had crossed Australia from East to West or vice versa until the new Century. Sadly this has information they had no idea about, so I wish it had narrated this as it effected them in time
It seems like Burke was a glory hound,racing to the coast He should have kept better care of his men,animals,and supplies.
@@cdnsk12 you may be on to something there. I've heard that they weren't exactly fans of the Aboriginals and that's the basis of why they did not survive. William Landsborough is my Great Great Grand Father. Apparently he hung out with/befriended a couple of young Aboriginals and owes his survival to them :) I even have a photo of the 3 of them together which is kinda neat.
@@cdnsk12 so correct it shows there narrow mindedness
This same thinking has been repeated even up to the present day.
@@cdnsk12 Dear Norman: It's not surprising at all that they didn't seek advice from the Aboriginals. They were exhibiting the same attitude that White Christian Europeans and their worldwide descendants have exhibited toward non-white civilizations since the first explorers left Europe around 1500. To this very day, the descendants of White Christian Europeans STILL Think that Western European Culture is superior to every other way of life on Earth. In that context, the White men who died during this expeditions were victims of their own Eurocentric ARROGANCE, of the attitude that no non-White person could ever be smart enough to help a White European. It's the exact same attitude that makes it impossible today for America to see China as an ally rather than an enemy. ... jkulik919@gmail.com
@@JosephKulik2016 Fuck off. The party died from beri-beri as a result of Aborigines feeding the explorers seedcakes made from the sporocarps of the plant nardoo. You're a millennial or GenZ, aren't you?
@@JosephKulik2016 please, Portugese and Spanish never abused on racial basis like British - keep your crimes for yourself, dont involve all Europeans in British chauvinism and racism
In hindsight, its seems clear to me that Burke was a bit of a "burk." Wandering here there and everywhere, splitting up his party in his wilful haste. Men died needlessly because of his impetuousness.
i faintly remember my Oldies (born pre WW1 ) would say that at times
cool
Bizarre decision not to follow the rest after they left cooper's creek only 7hrs ago and towards a water hole. Also pretty awful of the others not to check if the dig had been dug.
....bit harsh but pretty fair Ian 👍
brits and aussies you expect but strange how many germans were involved.
Note, 5:25. John King was Irish, not English.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_King_(explorer)
Interesting, carrying too many supplies, like the Scott polar expedition.
If you make movie about this story it will be goof ??
We only use trees as land markers because we tried using kangaroos but they kept hopping away.
Nailing them down didn't help?
Theres a great telling of this story on The Dollop podcast w/Dave Anthony & Gareth Williams. Maybe a little innacurate but def. hilarious.
Imagine; we are living at a point of history where people dont even recognize that this is from old tv-documentary. Look at te comments!! They really think that this video is just some random youtuber!!! Really, the sound effects, the narrator; old british tv-voice... These people have only seen some reality TV and rap videos.. Makes my stomach turn..
17:11 Wait...wtf?!? Lions?!? In Australia?!? How....just....did I have a stroke? I think this dude just broke my brain.
ONLY 111 COMMENTS ON SOMETHING WITH 114,996 VIEWS???
17:13, wait what lions? Australia has lions? Did they escape from zoos?
Edit: Oooh, Trooper Lions. A person who loses things, not cats that eat things.
😂 yes, Trooper Myles Lyons
John King is my uncles great great great great great uncle
You must be quite young in that case,,, my Great great Grand Father is William Landsborough :)
It is baffling that this documentary dont suggest the native Australians possible had crossed parts of the continent. It is just condesending not to include the locals when making this historic videos now that in retrospect we know of the traveling the nomadic Native Australians are known for, the so called "walk abouts".
Stop virtue signalling and shut up already.
Aboriginals aren't stupid. Stop insulting them. They were perfectly adapted to the land. They didn't ponce about in wastelands.
You could of included how much of the food he brought but thanks
Great documentary. I feel so sorry for the animals that perished: horrible deaths.
The subtitles are a scream. (Better not to have any if they can't do better than that!)
my thoughts exactly 🤣🤣🤣
At 17:13 the narrator mentions horses lost to lions. To my knowledge no big cats ever lived in Australia in modern times. Is this just a slip then?
You're right. No lions here. He was referring to the man surnamed Lyons.
Yeah I thought that's what he said.
The most recent comment!
Yet another piece of Australian history that would not sound out of place in the wild west, I.E. the Donner Party. I'm starting to think Aussies and Americans are almost the same thing. Politics aside, of course.
The Australian Constitution is like a blend of American and UK style governance.
Anglo-Saxon after all , cousins u
Great doco. Cannot understand why they died with plenty water, fish, aboriginies who were surviving well alongside them.
How could they have been victimized by scurvy with fish and fresh meat? No arrangement for relief by sea? Despite all this they were successful and the country was traversed. It must have been tougher than we can imagine.
A buch of green horn Europeans take on the outback, LOL.
I HATE SCHOOL (im doing this for school)
same
They should have just sent Howard in the first place.
Gold Rocks
Naughty Burke! Bad Burke!
As Peter Fitzsimons famously quoted, they died between aisle A and aisle B of the local supermarket in the minds of the local aborigines.
Fitzsimons is a knob, and a communist. He and his wife are an embarrassment to Australia
A very good presentation
So totally ruined by the absolute garbage subtitles.
A bit like Robert Falcon Scott of the Antarctic - ignored good advice and made bad decisions.
oatmeal for the camels and the afgan drivers 3:00
wtf
The locals welcomed them into the towns and villages they came across😂😂😂.
65000 years and no wheel, no bow and arrow and no need to explore.
Shades of the Polar explorers, who ignored the native tribes & all that nature had to offer. All were RN Officers, with no idea of Polar conditions, but plenty of arrogance.
Lions in Australia? no way
Dumping stores wasn't a good idea
As an Australian, I remain disgusted by the entire B&W story, and why it is given such prominence in high school history books.
It’s not a story about the European exploration of Australia, it’s a story of hubris and bad luck that achieved nothing.
The take away from the story has nothing to do with the significance of exploration, what was actually observed, and the consequences of this activity for the nation.
B&W is served up as the main event of the period of exploration, when it was anything but. How many other Australian explorers are house hold names, and does anyone know their stories?
The plan and simple fact of the matter, is most people do not know what the explorers had to say about what they saw… and this ignorance has not served us well in our collective understanding of this nation.
Significantly we hear almost nothing about what the explorers saw.
Piano huh, gee thats travellin light ...Burke. 😂😂😂😂