The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-16 00:00:00

'DISASTROUS TER3fINA77ON OF THE
1 AUSTRALIAX EXPLORING EXPEDITION.

(From the Melbourne Herald of July 26.)
Sad news ha 3' been received about the exploring
expedition. Mr. Brahe, one of the party, arrived
in town on the 29th of last month, and reported
that Mr. Burke, the leader of the expedition, left
Cooper's Creek on the 16th December, to start for
the Gulf of Carpentaria, and that nothing had been
heard of him since. He was accompanied by
Messrs. Wills, King, and Gray, and six camels and
one horse, and left the remainder of his party
under the charge of Mr. Brahe, at Cooper's Creek.
The party remaining at the depot were—Messrs.
Brahe (in charge), Patton, M‘Donegh, Dost Ma-
hommed, and camels and 12 horses. Mr. Wright,
the officer in charge of the contingent party left at
the Darling, moved onwards towards Cooper's
Creek. It being summer, nearly all the watercourses
had been dried up, and the ravages of scurvy re-
duced the effective strength of the party to an
alarming extent. Unable to proceed from these
causes, he established a camp and stockade at Bulla,
where the natives became hostile, and repeatedly
attacked them. Mr. Ludwig Becker, the naturalist
and artist, and a gentleman of great scientific ac-
quirements, and Messrs. Chas. Stone, W. Purcell,
and Patton died, at various intervals during the
journey. Three of the horses perished from exhaus-
tion, two of the camels from scab, and another was
lost. In Mr. Wright's report the following affect-
ing description of the circumstances attending the
untimely end of some
.of these unfortunate men is
given : _ _

"On the 18th of April, after mature consideration,
I sent Mr. Hodgkinson, accompanied by Belooch
with six of the camels, back to Menindie, for the
purpose of escorting Mr. Becker and Purcell thither,
and returning with as many stores as their camels
could bear. I also commissioned Mr. Hodgkinson
to engage two men upon. the Darling to assist him
in his return and replace those leaving the party.
At this time the natives, though very numerous,
were peaceably disposed, and did not molest either
the camp at Koorliatto or that atßulla. I instructed
Dr. Beckler to join the main camp after committing
his patients to Mr. Hodgkinson's charge, but upon
the following day the latter gentleman returned
with a note from Dr. Beckler stating that the at-
tempt to reconvey Mr. Becker and Purcell to Me-
nindie would be fatal to them. Under these cir-
cumstances, I had no option but to countermand
Mr. Hodgkinson's instructions, and as the natives
had made a hostile demonstration the very day fol-
lowing his departure, I thought it advisable to
erect a stockade, and not weaken the party by send-
ing any to Menindie. Dr. Beckler, Mr. Becker,
and Purcell then came to Bulla, and upon the 22d
of April we were attacked again by the natives.
As Stone was evidently dying I did not fire upon
them, and suffered them to pilfer several articles
lying outside the stockade. At about 4 o'clock in
the afternoon, shortly after they retired, Stone died.
The following day Purcell died, and the natives
again appeared, making the most insulting demon-
strations and invitations to fight them.
" On the morning of the 24th April, after bury-
ing Purcell, I started with Smith to look for our
horses, which had strayed, but I had not proceeded
a couple of miles ere signal fires sprang up in every
direction, and I thought it best to return to camp,
as the natives were evidently prepared to take ad-
vantage of my absence.
" On the 27th the natives once more advanced
from a camp which they had established near ours,
not as on former occasions seeking the protection of
cover, but marching boldly across the plain in front
of our camp, and quickening their pace as they
neared us into a run. They were, as well as we
could count them, some fifty in number, well armed,
powerful men, and as they would not stop, though
repeatedly required to do so, I gave orders to fire,
and succeeded in repulsing them without further
trouble. Mr. Becker during the affray lay in a
tent pitched close to the stockade, but was perfectly
unconscious. With two of tne party of eight dead,
and a third dying, further advance or a longer stay
at Bulla amid unfriendly natives were alike imprac-
ticable ; and had our cattle been molested by the
natives our fate would have been sealed. Dr.
Beckler arid Mr. Hodgkinson, with myself, were the
only healthy members of the party, and I decided
upon an immediate:retreat to Tara- Wattu, at which
place I hoped to recruit the sick and to obtain fresh
stores from the Darling. On the 28th of April, there-
fore, I packed up, proposing to start next morning,
but during the night a bell was heard, and at day-
light a mob of horses, recognised as forming part of
Mr. Burke's equipment, were seen feeding near the
stockade. Shortly after Mr. Brake came up, and we
were gratified to find that he was in charge of a party,
consisting of Patton, MacDonough, and Botan,
with twelve horses and six camels (very much in-
fected with scab), on their return to the Darling
from the depot established by Mr. Burke at Cooper's
Creek. MacDouough, Patton, and Botan were
suffering from scurvy on their arrival atßulla, and,
.vith the exception of Botan, became quite unfit for
the slightest exertion or movement. Being strength-
ened by this accession to the party in the eyes of
the natives, they made no further attempt to molest
us, and 1 remained at Bulla until Ist May, when I
commenced my return to Taru-Wattu. Upon
reaching the next camp, Koorliatto, I resolved to
give the sick a further spell, while I advanced with
Mr. Brahe to the depot at Cooper's Creek, for the
purpose of ascertaining whether Mr. Burke had
returned, or the provisions left there by Mr. Brahe
had been discovered by the natives. I found no
signs of Mr. Burke's return, or of the cache of
stores being disturbed, and returned to Koorliatto
on the 12th of May, finding the men at the depot
there all safe, but very little improved in health.
As will be seen by the diary, the journey from
Koorliatto to Menindie was tedious in the extreme,
from the difficulty of moving men so extremely
weak as were our sick. Patton died five miles
south of that point, on the 30th of May, and the
whole party were saved by a providential fall of
rain about this period, as no other water than sur-
face water was found from Purria Creek to Wanna-
winta, a distance of up wards of 150 miles, Kama-
pundi, Duruoto, and Purlprummatte Creeks being
dry."
At a meeting of the Exploration Committee, which
was held on Sunday, day following that on which
the foregoing intelligence was received, Mr. Brahe
gave the following particulars of his stay and de-
parture from Cooper's Crcek : He stated that Mr.
Burke instructed him to remain at the depot for
three months, or longer, if the provisions would
allow him. He remained at the depot after Mr.
Burke left for a period of eighteen weeks, and was
compelled to leave then on account of one of the
men dying. He left a quantity of provisions for Mr.
Burke—as much as he could well spare, as he ex-
pected he would require provisions for six or seven
weeks to make the Darling. He knew he had a
bad piece of country to traverse to the Darling, and
calculated the journey at seven weeks. He left
Cooper's Creek on the 21st April; that was about
eighteen weeks after Mr. Burke left. He buried in
the ground at Cooper's Creek 501bs. of flour, 501bs.
of oatmeal, 501bs. of sugar, and 501bs. of rice. He
started from Cooper's Creek to return with twelve
horses and six camels. Four of the camels were
in excellent condition when he left, but the other
two were very bad with scab. Those two had never
recovered from the time they left Menindie, and a
few weeks after meeting Mr. Wright's party on the
way back they both died. The horses were in fair
condition, but suffered from want of water, as they
found none between camp No. 60, at Cooper's Creek,
and Lake Bulla. He left Cooper's Creek at camp No.
60. He followed Mr. Burke's route for two days
along the creek, but could find no water. He (Mr.
Brahe) had with him 1501bs. of flour, a bag and
a half sugar, a bag of rice, and 41bs. of tea.
That was the quantity of provisions he had for
himself and three men. Dr. Beckler died on the
way back, after Mr. Wright's party left them. He ,
left the creek on the 21st April, and one night he
camped within two miles of Mr. Wright's party.
He did not return from Cooper's Creek by the same
route as he went. When Mr. Burke left he accom-
panied him about as far as his second camping place,
and then returned to the depot, and on the follow-
ing day erected a sort of stockade for defence against
any attack by the natives. The stockade was finished
on the 24th December. It was about that time the
blacks made their appearance, and they had to
watch them day and night. Before leaving Cooper's
Creek they had two days' pretty heavy rain. They
had had several slight showers. The cold nights
began in April. When Mr. Burke left he said he
should be back in three months' time at least. He
expected to be able to reach the Gulf of Carpentaria
and return in less than three months. He did not
say he expected to meet a ship at the Gulf of Car-
pentaria. Mr. Burke was quite positive about com-
ing back to Cooper's Creek. He said he would run
no risk whatever. He said he would make a push
for the gulf from Eyre's Creek. He said he might
be back in a month. He heard of Mr. Stuart's re-
turn to Adelaide before leaving Menindie. He (Mr.
Brahe) thought Mr. Burke came to know about
Mr. Stuart's return by a South Australian paper.
From camp 65 Mr. Burke followed Cooper's Creek
for two days, and said that he was making for
Eyre's Creek. Mr. Burke determined to go to
Eyre's Creek. The party were in excellent
spirits and good health when they left. There
was no difficulty in reaching Cooper's Creek.
Mr. Burke expected Mr. Wright up to the creek
about the time he left, and gave instructions that
his despatch should be forwarded to Melbourne by
his party. He said that if Mr. Wright came up in
two days, he (Mr. Brittle) and party were to follow,
but it would be no use their coming after that.
They were to follow his track. They were to keep
_ the creek for two days. His opinion with respect