Good exploration story in Australia. ( )

I would assume every Australian knows the story of Burke & Wills to cross the Australian continent in 1861 like every Brit knows the later Scott of the Antarctic. Like the Antarctic expedition the planning and strategy was haphazard and the choice of a leader was perhaps not ideal. Like Scott they were also plagued by extraordinarily bad luck. And like Scott, almost nothing of value was learned from the expensive fiasco. Wright becomes the villain as he selfishly delays to follow up the lead expedition and replenish depot LXV at Cooper's Creek. Brahe becomes the [a:Apsley Cherry-Garrard|27180|Apsley Cherry-Garrard|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] of this story as he abandons the depot a mere 9 hours before the lead expedition returns due to his own team's lack of resources and oncoming illness and Wright's failure to ever return to resupply.

Moorehead keeps the narrative interesting even though we know the basic outcome; just the right mix of lively and literate and accurate, clearly pointing out where he is interpolating. He has to piece together much of the information to create a complete story due to a paucity of source material; the expedition while in the bush was particularly lazy at keeping any sorts of journals or diaries.

I had read Moorehead's [b:The White Nile|4621482|The White Nile|Alan Moorehead|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1343011040s/4621482.jpg|336217] before so I knew he could spin a suspenseful narrative out of historical ingredients.

Before this I had thought the British had cornered the market on the glorious disaster but after reading this I see the Australians have their own version. ( )

Hard to imagine that by 1860 'Australia' was, to the rest of the world, the littoral in its south east with a few other foothold cities and settlements. The vast centre of this continent was uncharted. The disastrous expedition led by Burke and Wills was a well resourced attempt to explore the interior. In the end it did succeed in tracing a route from Melbourne on the south coast to the Gulf of Carpenteria on the north. This book relates the history of the appalling privations and tragedies that the expedition is remembered for. Alan Moorehead who made his name as a WW2 war reporter became a highly regarded writer of popular narrative history till his career was ended by complications following a stroke in the mid 60s. This is a beautifully written book. Restrained and evocative. ( )

Alan Moorehead has a must-read niche in my mind. I enjoyed this exploration of an epic Aussie trek. I was unfamiliar with the extent that exploration was an internal competition as far as this expedition went. It didn't end well, and one sees why. ( )

An interesting account of the first exploration group to cross the interior of Australia from south to north. Also a tragic story since three of the four explorers died through a combination of poor planning, poor communication, and missed rescue opportunities. ( )