Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia Part 23

MY DEAR SIR RODERICK,

Knowing the interest you have ever taken in the exploration of the interior of Australia, and that you still occupy the post of Vice-President of the Royal Geographical Society, it was my intention to address you fully by the present mail-steamer respecting the Victorian expedition under Burke and Wills, which you will learn has achieved the honour of first crossing from sea to sea, by a route far distant and utterly distinct from that of McDouall Stuart, from whose great fame as an explorer I have not the least desire to detract.

I wished, indeed, as the expedition had cost the gallant leaders of it their lives, to narrate in a connected form its design and history from the very commencement, in order that it might serve the Geographical Society as a record, and prevent any misconception of the causes which have marred its triumphant result.

I find, however, that the pressure of other business will prevent my carrying out this design, and I must content myself therefore with forwarding the newspapers which contain the best report of what has recently come to light, together with the diaries of Burke and Wills, as published in a pamphlet form, and lastly with a map of Australia, on which our Surveyor-General has added to other recent explorations, a reduced tracing of the track of the expedition, from the depot on Cooper's Creek to the Gulf of Carpentaria, where it struck, as would appear, the Flinders River, and not the Albert, as the explorers supposed.

I would refer you, at the same time, for precise details of the whole enterprise to my several despatches of 21st of August, 1860; 20th of July, and 20th of November, 1861; which I am confident the Duke of Newcastle will put at your disposal for the information of the Geographical Society, if applied to.

On one account I am not sorry to be obliged to postpone a detailed communication on the subject, for it would be difficult to tell the sad story of the sufferings and death of the brave men who returned to the spot where they expected to find friends and ample store of provisions and clothing, only to find the depot abandoned, and to perish miserably in default of a.s.sistance, without at least implying blame in some quarter or other; and, as a good deal is still enveloped in mystery, and I have appointed a commission of inquiry to take evidence and report thereupon, it would obviously be improper in me to antic.i.p.ate their conclusion.

The sole survivor of the party who crossed the continent, John King, once, I believe, a soldier in India, is expected to reach Melbourne to-night; and with the aid of his recollections of the journey, the Surveyor-General hopes to be enabled to add to the chart on a large scale, which he is constructing from Mr. Wills's field books, fuller particulars as to the nature of the country; as well as to supply some blanks which were evidently left to be filled in afterwards, especially in regard to the route back, which, from the determination at our observatory of one of his earlier camps, from an observation of one of the planets which is recorded, seems to have been considerably to the eastward of the course pursued in going, though this is not expressly so stated.

I need hardly add that as soon as Mr. Ligar finishes this chart I will send you copies of it, as also the report of the commission of inquiry.

The country towards Carpentaria or Burke's Land--as I hope it will be called--seems so good that there can be little doubt of the formation, at no distant date, of a colony on the sh.o.r.es of that estuary;--a project which you have long, I know, had at heart; and before we recall the several parties sent out for the relief of the missing expedition, I trust we shall be able so far to complete the task as to connect the settled country, by Mr. Howitt's aid, with Burke's Land by the best possible route; and, by means of the party sent by sea in the Victoria steamer, to add greatly to our knowledge of the Gulf, and of the embouchures of the different rivers falling into it.

Believe me ever,

My dear Sir Roderick,

Yours very truly,

HENRY BARKLY.

Government Offices, Melbourne, 25th November, 1861.

P.S.--After I had finished my letter, I received a memorandum from the Surveyor-General respecting Mr. Wills's astronomical observations, which is of so much importance that I enclose it for your information, not having time to get a copy made.

H.B.

It has been remarked, with some disposition to draw uncharitable conclusions therefrom, that no religious expressions, or any specific references to that all-important subject, are to be found in the field-books and journals that have been given to the public. On this point, King said, in reply to Question 1714, "I wish to state, with regard to there being no particular tokens of religion recorded in any part of the diaries, that we each had our Bible and Prayer-book, and occasionally read them going and coming back; and also the evening before the death of Mr. Burke, I am happy to say, he prayed to G.o.d for forgiveness for the past, and died happy, a sincere Christian."

The curtain drops here on the history of the great Victorian Exploring Expedition, and little more remains to be told of its results or shortcomings. The continent was crossed, the Gulf reached, and the road indicated by the hardy pioneers, which their successors will find it comparatively easy to level and macadamize.

Already the stimulant of the Burke and Wills catastrophe has called into active exercise the successive expeditions and discoveries of Howitt, Norman, Walker, Landsborough, and McKinlay. Others will rapidly follow, with the characteristic energy and perseverance of the Saxon race. Now that time has, to a certain extent, allayed the poignant grief of those who are most nearly and dearly interested in the fate of the original explorers; when first impulses have cooled down, and the excitement of personal feelings has given way before unquestionable evidence, we may safely ascribe, as far as human agencies are concerned, the comparative failure of the enterprise to the following specific causes:--

1. The double mistake on the part of the leader, of dividing and subdividing his forces at Menindie and Cooper's Creek;

2. The utter unfitness of Wright for the position in which he was placed;

3. The abandonment by Brahe of the depot at Cooper's Creek;

4. The resolve of the surviving explorers to attempt the route by Mount Hopeless, on their homeward journey;

And lastly, to the dilatory inefficiency of the Committee, in not hurrying forward reliefs without a moment's delay, as the state of circ.u.mstances became gradually known to them.

It is not so easy to estimate the relative quant.i.ty of blame which ought justly to attach to all who are implicated. Each will endeavour to convince himself that his own share is light, and that the weight of the burden should fall on the shoulders of some one else. Meanwhile, there remain for the heroic men who died in harness without a murmur in the unflinching exercise of their duty, an undying name, a public funeral, and a national monument; the unavailing sympathy and respect which rear an obelisk instead of bestowing a ribbon or a pension; recorded honours to the unconscious dead, in place of encouraging rewards to the triumphant living. A reverse of the picture, had it been permitted, might have been more agreeable; but the lesson intended to be conveyed, and the advantages to be derived from studying it, would have been far less salutary and profitable.

CHAPTER 14.

Letters of sympathy and condolence; from Sir Henry Barkly; Major Egerton Warburton; A.J. Baker, Esquire; P.A. Jennings, Esquire; Dr. Mueller; The Council of Ballaarat East; Robert Watson, Esquire; John Lavington Evans, Esquire Meeting at Totnes.

Resolution to erect a Monument to Mr. Wills.

Proceedings in the Royal Geographical Society of London.

Letter from Sir Roderick Murchison to Dr. Wills.

Dr. Wills's Reply.

The Lost Explorers, a poetical tribute.

Concluding Observations.

As soon as my son's death became publicly known, and there could no longer be a doubt on the subject, letters of condolence and sympathy poured in upon me from many quarters. From these I select a few as indicating the general impression produced by his untimely fate, and the estimation in which he was held by those who were personally acquainted with him. The afflicting event was communicated to his mother in Totnes, Devon, by a telegram a fortnight before the regular mail, accompanied by the following letter from Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria:--

Government Office, Melbourne, November 26th, 1861.

DEAR MADAM,

Though you will hear of the bereavement which has befallen you inthe loss of your gallant son from those that are near and dear both to you and to himself, I cannot refrain, in the position I have the honour to hold, from adding my a.s.surance of the sympathy of the entire community with your grief, and the universal admiration of his abilities as displayed throughout the expedition, and which his n.o.ble and heroic conduct to the last hour of his life have inspired.

You may rely upon it that the name of William John Wills will go down to posterity, both at home and in this colony, amongst the brightest of those who have sacrificed their lives for the advancement of scientific knowledge and the good of their fellow-creatures.

Believe me, dear Madam,

Yours very respectfully,

(Signed) HENRY BARKLY,

Governor of Victoria.

Mrs. Wills, Totnes, Devon.

Sir Henry also moved in the committee and the motion was carried nemine contradicente, that from the important part Mr. Wills had taken, the expedition should be called, "The Burke and Wills exploring Expedition." Some spiteful remarks by opposite partisans were made in the Melbourne Argus on this very natural and complimentary resolution. An advocate on one side said, "If the expedition had failed would it have been called the Burke and Wills Expedition?--We opine not." To which another replied the following day, in the same columns, "Would the expedition have succeeded if Wills had not been there?--We opine not." None would have regretted these invidious observations more than the generous, free-hearted Burke, and my gallant son, had they lived to see them. They had no petty jealousies. Each knew his position, and they acted throughout with unswerving confidence as friends as well as a.s.sociated explorers.

It was a.s.serted by Burke's enemies that he was violent, and not having sufficient command over himself, was therefore unfitted to command others. This conclusion, sound enough in the abstract, is more easily made than proved, and in the present instance receives direct contradiction from the undeviating cordiality between the leader and his second. In the cases of Landells and Dr. Beckler, universal opinion p.r.o.nounced Burke to be in the right.

FROM MAJOR EGERTON WARBURTON.

Adelaide.

MY DEAR DR. WILLS,

Vain as must be any consolation that can be offered to you under the circ.u.mstances of almost unparalleled distress attending the loss of your son, I cannot but avail myself of our acquaintances.h.i.+p to express my most humble and hearty sympathy in the terrible catastrophe.

Anger and horror combine to drive us away from the contemplation of the causes of this tragic termination of a feat of heroism and endurance such as has been rarely before achieved; and we turn with deep sorrow and admiration to dwell upon that n.o.ble display of faithful, patient courage which calmly awaited an early and unbefriended grave on the spot where the foot-prints of triumph were reasonably to have been expected.

We all share in your grief; and would fain hope that this may somewhat lessen its bitterness to you; but it must be a source of pride and comfort to you to remember that your son died having DONE his duty to his country and his companions. More than this no man can do, live he ever so long, and few there are who do so much.