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    Burke and Wills
    Burke and Wills
    Burke and Wills
    Ebook63 pages52 minutes

    Burke and Wills

    By Raymond Boyd Dunn

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    It was an expedition, comprehensively equipped like no other exploratory party before it or since. Despite achieving its objective of crossing the vast Australian continent from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria it ended in tragedy. It was plagued by poor decision making, harsh conditions and bad luck. Led by a man of intractable character, who had no experience in exploration whatsoever, it was a tribute to the bravery and sheer willpower of the men who lived and died in the dash for the Gulf.
    This is a fictional story, woven around the actual happenings, of the race to cross the Australian continent from south to north  to establish a route for a telegraph line which would connect Melbourne to the rest of the world; to establish a route for a railway; to confirm, once and for all, whether there was an inland sea which would be fed by all the rivers flowing westwards away from the east coast

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRaymond Boyd Dunn
    Release dateMar 1, 2014
    ISBN9781311726056
    Burke and Wills
    Author

    Raymond Boyd Dunn

    Raymond Boyd Dunn is a "born and bred" third generation Australian. After his retirement Raymond Boyd became a grey nomad, and, with his wife, spent some time touring this vast country of Australia. He was born in the small Burnett Valley town of Monto, Queensland, and for his entire life has answered to the name of 'Boyd'. Apart from his travels he has lived all of his life in Queensland, and after satisfying his thirst for seeing first hand this wonderful country we live in, settled on the Sunshine Coast to spend his remaining years in the sunshine near the beach.He commenced his working life as a Bank Officer and resigned after thirteen years to become self-employed. At various stages he has owned a Corner Store, a small Supermarket Chain, a Butchery, a Milk Run, a Printery and a Cattle and Grain Farm. He has been involved, in various capacities, in Cricket and Tennis Clubs; Jaycees, Lions and Rotary Clubs and Aero Clubs. He was a Cricketer, played tennis, tried to play golf, and was a keen long distance runner.Upon taking a well-earned retirement he wrote his unpublished autobiography, which was for distribution among his family of six children and numerous grand-children. A visit to Cooktown, where he learnt of the Palmer River Gold Rush, was the incentive to keep writing and produce his first novel 'Palmer Gold' He then settled down to write novels, producing two more books to complete a Trilogy...'An Australian Ranch' and "Carly and Sam...Will and Effie'. There followed numerous short stories, and other novels: 'Lord of the Manor in Australia', and 'The Vintage Years'. He continues to write whilst enjoying life in the sunshine on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland.

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      Book preview

      Burke and Wills - Raymond Boyd Dunn

      Burke and Wills

      Crossing a Continent

      A Fictional Tale of the Ill-fated Expedition

      Based on Fact

      By Raymond Boyd Dunn

      Copyright 2014…Raymond Dunn

      Smashwords Edition

      As this book is of the Australiana genre, all spelling has been checked in the Heinemann Australian Dictionary.

      The Expedition

      It was an expedition, comprehensively equipped like no other exploratory party before it or since. Despite achieving its objective of crossing the vast Australian continent from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria it ended in tragedy. It was plagued by poor decision making, harsh conditions and bad luck. Led by a man of intractable character, who had no experience in exploration whatsoever, it was a tribute to the bravery and sheer willpower of the men who lived and died in the dash for the Gulf.

      This is a fictional story, woven around the actual happenings, of the race to cross the Australian continent from south to north  to establish a route for a telegraph line which would connect Melbourne to the rest of the world; to establish a route for a railway; to confirm, once and for all, whether there was an inland sea which would be fed by all the rivers flowing westwards away from the east coast.

      ~~~

      Prologue

      As I sat in the air-conditioned comfort of a Gold Kangaroo class cabin on The Ghan, while the kilometre-long passenger train sped along the track to Alice Springs in central Australia, I gazed at the beauty of the desert which, seemingly, went on forever. The harsh red centre of the continent had been transformed by the recent rain, and the vista through the double-glazed, wide window of my cabin was magnificent.

      But I knew that such beauty should not be taken at face value. It should really be recognised for what it was: the desert is a very dangerous place, and its recent transformation should not be regarded as clothing a benign environment.

      My thoughts turned to my schooldays, and the mental pictures that came to mind as I listened in awe to the stories of intrepid explorers like Charles Sturt, John McDouall Stuart, and, of course, the most famous of all: Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills and the story of the ‘Dig’ tree.

      These brave men had endured unimaginable hardships in the harshness of the unforgiving desert: the unbearable heat which could melt the lead in their pencils, the shortage of water, and the great distances involved.

      That any of them survived at all is testament to the courage and tenacity possessed by the men who returned, and by the men who perished. They were the men at the forefront of those opening up the wild, untamed land of Australia to European settlement. Only the original inhabitants, the aborigines, had learned to treat her with the respect she deserved, and how to survive in the extreme conditions.

      Chapter 1

      Are you really going to lead the exploring party right across the middle of Australia up to the Gulf of Carpentaria, Robert? asked the beautiful Julia Matthews, turning on the seat in front of her dressing table to face the robust, bearded Police Superintendent. The auburn-haired soprano was playing at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, and the admirer visiting her in her dressing room after the show was Superintendent Robert O’Hara Burke of the Victorian Police. It wasn’t the first time he had come to declare his admiration for her glorious voice; he attended nearly every performance when his duties allowed him, and he was always welcome to her dressing room after each show.

      Yes, Julia, he said, It was verified at a meeting of the Exploration Committee only this afternoon. Blandowski and von Mueller were both up for the leadership, but they were voted out when it came to a ballot. The committee selected me!

      Then you deserve to be congratulated. Have you any experience in exploration?

      No, not really, but I’ll have William Wills to do the navigating. The committee preferred a strong leader  that’s what got me elected.

      Won’t it be dangerous, going over all that uncharted land?

      No, not a bit! Half of it has been blazed already. Sturt and Gregory have been as far as Cooper Creek, and that’s about halfway.

      "Will you be taking a boat, just

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