# Burke & Wills

Burke & Wills is a 1985 Australian adventure film directed by Graeme Clifford, starring Jack Thompson and Nigel Havers. The film is based on the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition across Australia.
The film follows Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills in their crossing of Australia's interior in 1860–1. The film's account of the story changes the expedition's ending by having the explorers actually reach the northern coast. This upbeat idea was vehemently criticised by Australian reviewers. The film was released a week after the similarly themed comedy Wills & Burke.

## Plot synopsis

Irish explorer Robert O'Hara Burke (Thompson) and British scientist William John Wills (Havers), have set out to make the first maps of the interior region of the Australian continent in 1860. During their journey, they and their compatriots run low on food and suffer from heat exhaustion until there is only one survivor.

## Cast

* Jack Thompson as Robert O'Hara Burke
* Nigel Havers as William John Wills
* Greta Scacchi as Julia Matthews
* Matthew Fargher as John King
* Chris Haywood as Tom McDonagh
* Ralph Cotterill as Charley Gray
* Drew Forsythe as William Brahe
* Ron Blanchard as Bill Patton
* Monroe Reimers as Dost Mahomet
* Barry Hill as George Landells
* Hugh Keays-Byrne as Ambrose Kyte
* Roderick Williams as Bill Wright
* Arthur Dignam as Sir William Stawell
* Ken Goodlet as Doctor John Macadam
* Peter Collingwood as Doctor William Wills
* Edward Hepple as Ludwig Becker
* Susannah Harker as Bessie Wills
* Martin Redpath as Mayor of Melbourne
* Julie Hamilton as Mrs. Kyte
* Nick Carrafa as Edwin Welch
* John Gregg as Alfred Erwin
* Deryck Barnes as Tom Payne
* Les Foxcroft as Harry
* John Penman as Fat Kid
* Redmond Phillips as Commissioner May
* Mark Pegler as Journalist
* Mary Acres as Julia's Dresser
* David Bracks as Lawyer
* Lucy Bell as Kyte's Daughter
* Matthew Savage as Christopher Marsden

## Production

Graeme Clifford was an Australian who had become a leading editor in Hollywood and had moved into directing. He was interested in making a film about the Burke and Wills expedition and in 1978 approached EMI Films, who had commissioned a script from Terence Rattigan based on the story. This did not work out so Clifford then hired a fellow Australian expatriate, Michael Thomas, to write a screenplay. Early financial assistance was provided by David Williams of Greater Union.
Clifford then went to make his first feature, Frances, and discovered that Greater Union's enthusiasm for the film had cooled. However, he received support from Hoyts-Edgley who agreed to finance. The budget would be particularly high because of Clifford's insistence at filming along the actual path of the expedition. It was the second most expensive Australian film at the time after Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Greater Union decided to back Wills & Burke instead.
Charlton Heston was once interested in playing Burke but Clifford says he only ever envisioned Jack Thompson in that role. After seeing Chariots of Fire, he wanted Nigel Havers to play Wills, a decision opposed by Actors Equity, but this was overturned at arbitration.
Filming started in September 1984 and took 13 weeks. Many of the original locations were used, such as Coopers Creek, because Clifford thought it was important to be as authentic as possible. Additional filming was completed in England some months later.
Painter Sidney Nolan came out on set and was the film's official painter.

## Release

The film premiered in Melbourne on 2 November 1985 before Prince Charles and Lady Diana; the first Australian Royal Premiere. It opened in other Australian cities on 7 November 1985, was shown at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival in May, the Toronto Film Festival in September 1986 and was released worldwide in early 1986.
Burke & Wills performed disappointingly, grossing $1,567,000 at the box office in Australia. Jonathan Chissick later said "people in Australia were just not interested in seeing a picture about these two guys dying in the desert." The poor box office was also blamed on the poor reviews of Wills & Burke that was released at the same time.
The film was released in the US but also performed disappointingly there.
The film was released on VHS Video in Australia by Charter Entertainment in 1987 and released in the USA on 26 October 1988 by Nelson Entertainment. The film was released on laserdisc in the USA.
The film was released on DVD in 2014 through Umbrella Entertainment. Although released in Australia on the PAL format, the disc is region free. Umbrella Entertainment used the re-mastered version of the film produced by the National Film and Sound Archive (Australia) as part of the sesquicentenary activities in 2010; the sound was left as 2-speaker stereo. The DVD has no menu on the disc and the film is presented in its original 2.35:1 widescreen format.

## Reception

The film received mostly positive reviews. Variety called it "satisfying entertainment despite its length and seemingly downbeat subject."

### Accolades

| Award | Category | Subject | Result |
| AACTA Awards | Best Cinematography | Russell Boyd | Nominated |
| AACTA Awards | Best Original Music Score | Peter Sculthorpe | Nominated |
| AACTA Awards | Best Sound | Syd Butterworth | Nominated |
| AACTA Awards | Best Sound | Jeanine Chiavlo | Nominated |
| AACTA Awards | Best Sound | Peter Fenton | Nominated |
| AACTA Awards | Best Sound | Phil Heywood | Nominated |
| AACTA Awards | Best Sound | Lee Smith | Nominated |
| AACTA Awards | Best Costume Design | George Liddle | Nominated |

## Miscellaneous

A 1975 British documentary series called The Explorers on the BBC featured the Australian expedition story in the episode titled Burke and Wills. Directed by Lord Snowdon, it was narrated by David Attenborough in the UK version (but by Anthony Quinn in the 1976 US broadcast version), and coincidentally the same Australian actor Chris Haywood who played Tom McDonagh also previously appeared in the British documentary released around a decade earlier. Moreover, in the same year as this film, Haywood also played a cameo role of the constable in the Burke & Wills spoof parody Wills & Burke (1985).