page_title: Ludwig Becker (explorer)
section_title: Burke and Wills expedition
hierarchical_section_title: Ludwig Becker (explorer) / Burke and Wills expedition
caption_attribution_description: English: Illustration by Ludwig Becker on Burke and Wills expedition , near mud plains 40 miles from Duroadoo. Full file includes detailed notes on the bird and the illustration
context_page_description: Ludwig Becker was a German artist, explorer and naturalist. He was born in Rödelheim near Frankfurt am Main. He moved to Australia in 1850, and was a member of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition. He died at the expedition's camp on the western bank of Koorliatto Waterhole, Bulloo River in 1861.
context_section_description: His scientific knowledge and artistic ability qualified him for selection as a member of the Victorian Exploring Expedition in 1860–61, which has since become known as the Burke and Wills expedition. It was organised by the Philosophical Institute of Victoria which in 1860 became the Royal Society of Victoria.
  The Burke and Wills expedition was led by Robert O'Hara Burke, a police superintendent in the Castlemaine, Victoria district. In 1860 he was given leave to take command of the exploring expedition to cross the continent from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north. The objectives of the expedition were hazy and its route, from Cooper Creek to the Gulf of Carpentaria, was decided less than a month before it set out. Burke's instructions, sent after him because they were not ready at the time, were lengthy and vague. The real object of the expedition appears to have been to snatch from the South Australian explorer, John McDouall Stuart, the honour of making the first south-north crossing of the continent. Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria 1856–1863, described it as "the glorious race across the continent between the expeditions fitted out in this and the adjacent colony of South Australia".
  The Burke and Wills expedition was the most expensive in the history of Australian exploration. It cost over £60,000 and would eventually claim seven lives. The expedition was provided with more than two dozen camels, imported complete with cameleers. There were horses and wagons, food for two years and lavish equipment. The party consisted of five officers: Burke, Landells as second-in-command, and William John Wills, third-in-command and surveyor and meteorologist and the two German scientific officers: Becker and Hermann Beckler, medical officer and botanist. The expedition also included a foreman, nine assistants and the camel-drivers.
  The expedition left Melbourne on 20 August 1860 and made progress through the settled districts of Victoria to Swan Hill and Balranald and reached Menindee on the Darling River at the beginning of October. Burke was in haste and left much of his provisions at Balranald and more at Menindee.
  Becker, as artist, naturalist and geologist on a salary of £300, received lengthy instructions from Doctor John Macadam, honorary secretary of the Exploration Committee, which stipulated that he should collect specimens, keep a diary and produce daily maps with illustrations and sections. He sent his first dispatches from Swan Hill, and from Menindee sent a number of specimens. He became despondent when these were not acknowledged.
  Burke became impatient with the time lost in making scientific investigations and ordered Becker and Beckler to cease their investigations and work like the rest of the men and walk instead of ride. In a report to the Exploration Committee, Landells wrote that Burke requested him not to allow Becker to ride and had observed that if Becker accompanied the expedition, and got through, people would say that it would not be difficult to cross to Carpentaria, and that he was to be walked until he gave in. At one stage Becker did not eat for three days and became faint. He had to wait until everyone was asleep to do his writing and sketching.
  After quarrelling with Burke, Landells resigned at Menindee and Burke promoted Wills to second in command, replacing him as third officer by a local man, William Wright, who proved incompetent and unreliable.
  Burke's orders were that his base camp was to be at Cooper Creek; instead, he divided his party, transport and provisions, dashing on to Cooper Creek with an advance party and ordering Wright to follow with as little delay as possible. However, Wright waited in Menindee for three months – by which time Burke had travelled to the Gulf of Carpentaria and back – before transporting the vital reserve transport and provisions the 400 miles to Cooper Creek.
  Becker was with Wright's party in Menindee. Frustrated by the lack of communication from the Exploration Committee, he no longer wrote his daily reports and concentrat
caption: Purple backed wren or fly catcher. (Detail)
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