B&W (V) No welcome back Oontoo, Queensland, Australia
By Geocaching Australia on 20-Aug-10. Waypoint GA2394

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.

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Validating Your Log
Take a picture of your GPS receiver showing the same co-ordinates as the cache page (plus or minus 100 meters) 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
On the evening of April 21, Burke, Wills and King re-entered Camp LXV, the Cooper's Creek Depot, but their expectations of a joyful reunion with their fellow explorers were immediately dashed when they found the place abandoned. Brahe and the others had stayed a full four months, but when the appointed waiting period had elapsed, and in poor shape themselves and no sign of a relief party, they headed south - a mere nine hours ahead of Burke's arrival as it turned out.

A large coolibah tree at the camp had the word "dig" etched in it, still bleeding sap. There is disagreement over the wording of Brahe's blaze on the tree, which became known as "the Dig Tree" in the 1930s following the publication of "Dig", Frank Clune's novel about the expedition. Farmer John Conrick, who bought the surrounding land in 1873 (it stayed in his family until 1960), insisted it was "DIG UNDER 40 FT W", but expedition investigators said it read "DIG [under] 3FT / 9FT / 40FT/ NW/ NE/ SW/ W". The date "APR 21 1861" was also inscribed. Alfred Howitt, who led a search party here, may have also added to Brahe's inscription.
At any rate, Burke and company dug, and found a camel's box with a note from Brahe: "I intend to go SE from Camp 60 to get on our old track near Bulloo. Two of my companions and myself are quite well; the third, Patton, has been unable to walk for the last 18 days, as his leg has been severely hurt when thrown by one of the horses. No person has been up here from the Darling. We have six camels and 12 horses, in good working condition."

All the signs pointed to the astonishing fact that Brahe was likely no more than 10 miles away, but rather than try and catch up with him, the battered Burke and his colleagues ate some of the food left for them and decided to slowly make their way along the creek and then strike out overland towards the nearest settled area in South Australia, which was considerably closer than Menindee.

Now preserved by Queensland Heritage (camping is permitted), the Depot is a fenced enclosure about 60x70 metres with two gnarled, engraved coolibah trees, two stone cairns, interpretive signs and a modern hut. Some of the Dig Tree markings remain legible, and on the second tree is a portrait of Burke carved in 1898 by John Dick, variously described as a local stockman and itinerant artist. Photos taken in the early 20th century show the slow collapse of the six-metre-square stockade known as "Fort Wills", built by Brahe after Burke's departure for the north. Its last posts were still standing in the 1930s but were probably washed away in the great Cooper floods of 1949-50.

The cairns were erected, respectively, by the Conrick family in 1937 and the Royal Historical Society of Queensland in about 1960.

Additonal Information
Source: Paul Dorsey Used with Permission