B&W (V) Howitt finds King Innamincka, South Australia, Australia
By Geocaching Australia on 20-Aug-10. Waypoint GA2414

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.

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 September 15 the relief party's surveyor, Edwin Welch, spotted across the creek a group of Aborigines shouting and gesticulating. They scattered as he approached, leaving behind a man covered in scarecrow rags and part of a hat. Welch didn't immediately recognise the figure as being human. "Before I could pull up I passed it," he wrote later, "and as I passed, it tottered, threw up its hands in an attitude of prayer, and fell on the sand. When I turned back the figure had partly risen. Hastily dismounting I was soon beside it excitedly asking, 'Who in the name of wonder are you?'
'I am King, sir.'
For a moment I did not grasp the thought that the object of our search was attained, King being one of the undistinguished members of the party. 'King,' I replied.
'Yes,' he said. 'The last man of the Exploring Expedition.'
'What, Burke's?'
'Yes,' he said.
'Where is he - and Wills?'
'Dead, both dead long ago' and he fell to the ground."

The Yandruwandha had taken care of King and in return he shot crows for them and administered first aid. Howitt appeared on the scene. "I found King sitting in a hut which the natives had made for him. He presented a melancholy appearance - wasted to a shadow, and hardly to be distinguished as a civilised being but by the remnants of clothes upon him. He seemed exceedingly weak, and I found it occasionally difficult to follow what he said. The natives were all gathered round, seated on the ground, looking with a most gratified and delighted expression."
Howitt pitched camp, expecting to remain 10 days while King recuperated enough for the journey home. A marker today indicates the spot where King was found.

Additonal Information
Source: Paul Dorsey Used with Permission