B&W (V) Castlemaine Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
By Geocaching Australia on 20-Aug-10. Waypoint GA2316

This is a special Burke & Wills cache listed on Geocaching Australia.

This cache requires you to visit a Burke & Wills historical location and take a photo as described along with your GPS receiver and if possible yourself in the picture. Once you have logged this cache as a find, you are required to load your picture to your log to validate your find.

While you're here try looking for http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga2280 B&W (M) Castlemaine Monument. It's not too far away.

Validating Your Log
Take a picture of your GPS receiver and if possible yourself in front of the monument and attach it to your online log.

Important Information
The Burke Wills Historical Society notes: "The actual route Burke and Wills followed once they left Camp 78 is unknown and one of the most intensely debated issues. Wills' map and some of his journals containing astronomical observations have been lost. Because the journals have never been transcribed, it means the expedition's track north of the Diamantina, through the gibber rises, confused sand dunes and extensive claypans, is a matter for conjecture."
Travel in Outback Australia can be extremely hazardous. Plan your trip with care and seek and follow local advice on what precautions to take. Be aware of private property restrictions. Do not risk your life to log this geocache.

About This Location
There were several meetings and a slew of votes in the early months of 1860 before Robert O'Hara Burke was chosen as leader of the VEE - despite his complete lack of experience in such undertakings.
Born in County Galway, Ireland, in 1821, he'd been a captain in the Austrian dragoons. One source claims Burke had bolted in battle and been disgraced, but he left the army as a lieutenant in '47 and signed on with the Irish Mounted Constabularly. He immigrated to Australia in '53 and joined the Victorian Police, first at Carlsruhe, then Beechworth and finally - after a stint fighting in the Crimea - here in Castlemaine, where he was a popular if eccentric superintendent. A fellow policeman submitted Burke's application to lead the VEE, calling him "a most active man and very strong, and is kind and gentle in his manners, but possessing a strong will, ambitious, and had been accustomed to command from boyhood".

Burke's selection as leader of the expedition was not unanimous - two professional explorers were on the final ballot - his choice had much to do with personal influence and political motivations. It's been claimed that his corrupt former boss on the Castlemaine police force was on the selection panel.

Castlemaine, deterred from its ambition to have Burke's remains buried here after the expedition, erected a monument to him, pictured below, on Wills Street, where the placemark rests. John King, the VEE's sole survivor, attended the laying of the cornerstone in 1862.

 

Additonal Information
Source: Paul Dorsey Used with Permission