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SOLVING BURKE & WILLS 'DIG TREE' MYSTERY Introduction The Victorian Exploring Expedition of 1860-1, later called the Burke and Wills Expedition, formed a Depôt at their 65th Camp (Camp LXV) on the banks of Cooper Creek in south-west Queensland. During the five months in which the camp was occupied, from December 1860 to April 1861, William Brahé and the three other members of the Depôt Party built a wooden stockade 18 feet by 20 feet, and remained to await the return of Burke's advance party who were crossing Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Four months later, on Sunday 21 April 1861, when injury and illness forced Brahé's Depôt Party to retreat, they blazed cryptic information on trees and buried a cache of food. Much of the drama surrounding the expedition centred around this Depôt camp and the famous coolibah tree, now known as the DIG TREE, but in earlier times it was also called DEPÔT LXV and FORT WILLS. Although the story is so well known by most Australians, many mysteries and unanswered questions remain:-
These questions and
uncertainties have fascinated and frustrated historians, authors and
tourists who visit and write about this famous place in south-west
Queensland. The evidence appeared to be baffling.
This website details my examination of the expedition diaries which explain who carved the enigmatic word Dig on the Depôt tree......and, based on other evidence, it's now possible speculate where William Brahé buried the cache of food in the camel box. Any comments would be welcome.
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