1-157-480 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Burke and Wills expedition setting out from Royal Park, Melbourne, Australia, 20 August 1860. Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills were commissioned by the Government of Australia to make the first crossing of Australia, the interior of which was largely unknown. Although they and two companions, Charles Gray and John King, reached the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north coast, a combination of bad luck and Burke's poor leadership left them with insufficient food for the return journey. Gray died of dysentery and Burke and Wills perished from starvation. Only King survived, after being given food and shelter by a tribe of Aborigines. He was found by a search party on 18 September 1861.