B&W (T) The Clump Winlaton, Victoria, Australia
By The Morris on 20-Aug-10. Waypoint GA2296

 Camp XIV. (On the Plains.) Wednesday,  5/9/1860.

Eighteen miles further brought the expedition to a camping spot between Lake Tutchewop and Lake Boga, beside a clump of trees left untouched for over a century afterwards. This was quite close to Lake Boga.
Becker's journal entry appears to be the only primary written reference to camp 14 on the Burke and Wills trail.

Just south of Swan Hill, the Victorian Exploring Expedition had already been on the road for over two weeks. Men and animals were tired and dispirited, with poor weather and equipment failure exacerbating their woes. Things did finally seem to be turning around, however, as expedition naturalist Ludwig Becker shows in his diary:

 "My camp-watch was again from 3 to 5 in the morning during which time the horizon all round, in intervals of a few seconds, was illuminated by sheet lightning of a circular form, each occupying only a few degrees of space. The display finished with a thundercloud passing over our heads, when day broke. We marched at 8¼ a.m. The day was very bright and soon saw us at Lake Boga. This is a fine sheet of water and reminds one of Hobsons Bay looking from St. Kilda towards Williamstown and Sandridge, but without the mountain ranges in the distance. I dismounted and went along the sandy shore of the lake collecting some shells."

They arrived at Swan Hill the next day, where they rested for a few days before pressing on into New South Wales.

The Swan Hill Guardian (16/02/1996) noted that locals had long known this area as the Burke and Wills Clump. While the authenticity of this location cannot be proven conclusively, there is a strong community attachment to it as a place of great importance.

The envelopment of the site in an almost legendary aspect of Australia's past is an important element of the region's history. The term "Burke and Wills Clump" refers to a clump of native box trees growing beside the Murray Valley Highway 4 km south of the Township of Lake Boga.

Originally the trees were numerous, but regular flooding in the immediate vicinity and inadvertent land clearance have resulted in a reduction in the number of trees to 8, with two dead stumps.

The wider area, which served as a campsite for such a large band of travellers and their livestock, could potentially contain evidence of the expedition's presence. Widespread flooding in the area may have irreversibly disturbed or removed any archaeological deposits, although no formal archaeological assessment of the site has occurred.

The area has, since the early 1990s, been curated and cared for by local community members, who formed the "Burke and Wills Clump Project Sub-committee". The Sub-committee has been involved in maintaining the trees, revegetating the area and creating an interpretive roadside stop with a commemorative cairn and brass plaque.