B&W (T) Tarcoola Pooncarie, New South Wales, Australia
By Black Bunny on 20-Aug-10. Waypoint GA2266

Burke and Wills (Traditional): Tarcoola.

Burke and Wills:

Sources differ over whether the expedition, still proceeding slowly across the rough ground, landed up at "Gambala" or "Gambanna", but it was here on the Darling River, at a place called Phelps' Tarcoola Station on September 24, where bickering over the best way to utilise the camels started to boil. At the end of the month, against Landells' objections, Burke decided to put some of the provisions onto the foreign beasts, which had thus far only carried the men, though he did not yet load the animals too heavily. "From this time you have to give up your scientific investigations," Burke told Becker and Beckler, and "work like the rest of the men as long as you are on the road or not free from your camp duties". They'd have to jettison some of their scientific gear too, he said, ordering everyone to strip down to no more than 15 kilograms' pack weight. With Neumayer returned to Melbourne, the party was no longer regularly sending scientific reports back to the Royal Society, and Burke was showing his disinterest in such studies. Beckler's medical supplies were likewise trimmed to a minimum. It appears that Burke had an ulterior motive: He didn't want Becker to reach the north coast because he was 52 and it would make the whole excursion seem too easy. "The first two days of [walking] nearly cooked poor B– and I think he will not be able to stand it much longer," Burke wrote to a colleague in Melbourne.

Meanwhile the camels were suffering doubly because Burke had cut off their rum ration. Landells believed they needed it for warmth, as a stimulant and to ward off scurvy, but Burke was fed up with his men and the labourers at the shearing station totting their way through the supply. He dumped the remaining 60 gallons.

About this location:

William Campbell opened the Tarcoola livestock run in 1848. Three years later it comprised 30,000 acres, enough grazing for 4,000 sheep. John Phelps took over in '57, and by 1882 it sprawled over more than a million acres. The house at Tarcoola is pictured below. Here Burke's party set up camp and loaded some of their wagons and gear onto the steamer Moolgewanke for transport on to Menindee.