Entering the A1 at Adelaide and travelling to Darwin, I looked at Google maps. Just for fun really, because I knew which direction to go: North! Google told me that there would be just over 3000 km ahead of me and the description showed 1 turnoff....Yes that is right: `one` turnoff, just before Darwin. In many countries you could not travel 3 km without making at least two turns, but Australia is different. The best person to tell you more about this is John Stuart, but unfortunately he has been dead for 150 years. On 14 May 1858, an expedition of discovery led by John McDouall Stuart departed from a copper mine located on the very edge of the known world in the North Flinders Ranges. The Australian continent stretched for another 2000 kilometres to the north and 2500 to the west and no white man had the slightest idea of what was there. It was to be the first of six expeditions mounted by Stuart as he sought to uncover the mysteries of the interior and forge a path to the north. After five failures, ultimately he became part of a race across the continent.

 

Stuart was hired by the people from Adelaide to find a route to Darwin, so the city could be connected to the Telegraph line that had reached the Northern capital all the way from London. In our days of mobile phones and internet, it is maybe hard to imagine the excitement about being able to hear from relatives at the other site of the world within minutes, when before it would have taken about six months for a sea-mail letter to reach Europe. A Telegraph connection would bring business and wealth, similar to what the internet does in 2009. But Adelaide had competition from its much larger sister Melbourne. The Gold rush had brought immense wealth to the Melbournians, making it the world’s richest city. Its money was reflected on the expedition set out by Burke and Wills. While Stuart was on his horse, and had a handful of helpers with him, Burke and Wills carried truckloads. The expedition set off from Royal Park, Melbourne at about 4pm on 20 August 1860 and was watched by around 15,000 spectators! The 19 men of the expedition took twenty-three horses, six wagons and twenty-seven camels.

 

There was an enormous amount of equipment; enough food to last two years, a cedar-topped oak camp table with two chairs, rockets, flags and a Chinese gong; the equipment all together weighed as much as 20 tonnes. Burke and Wills expedition turned out to be a complete disaster. After splitting from the main group at Coopers Creek to explore a potential route, Burke and Wills returned unsuccessful 13 weeks later, only to find out that the main group had left just 9 hours ago. With no chance of catching up, Burke and Wills died in the desert.

 

In the end it was Stuart to be the first European to cross Australia from south to north and return again. Unfortunately it brought him little fame in nowadays Australia. Except for the fact that the highway from Adelaide to Darwin was named after Australia’s greatest explorer, it was the cumbersome expedition of Burke and Wills that caught the peoples imagination. 'The loner` was quickly forgotten by the joyous people from Adelaide, who started building the Telegraph line not long after. An explorer of no fixed abode who battled alcoholism and ill health to push himself to the limits of endurance in crossing straight through the Red Centre to the northern seas.

 

Having travelled the route in a comfortable 4WD, I cannot express enough my admiration for Australia's greatest and least understood explorer. If you have some time to spare between semesters, you could go to the Gold Coast, which is great fun. But to hire a car and explore the outback will be the trip of a life time. Let me know your travel stories, leave a comment!