The Australian Expedition That Was the First to Cross the Continent South-to-North in 1861 and Whose Two Senior Leaders Both Died at the Depot Their Support Party Had Left Nine Hours Earlier
Robert O'Hara Burke and William Wills crossed the Australian continent from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria in February 1861. On the return they reached the Cooper's Creek depot on 21 April 1861 to find that the support party under William Brahe had departed nine hours earlier after waiting for them for four months. Both Burke and Wills died of starvation at the creek in late June 1861.
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