B&W (T) Pooncarie Pooncarie, New South Wales, Australia
By Black Bunny on 20-Aug-10. Waypoint GA2267

Burke and Wills (Traditional): Pooncarie.

Burke and Wills:

The Burke and Wills expedition passed through Pooncarie on its journey across Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria

The expedition reached the Darling River near Tarcoola Station to the south of town on Wednesday, 26 September 1860 and the next day made CampXXX, (their thirtieth camp since leaving Melbourne) at what is now Bilbarka Park.

The expedition stayed there until the morning of the 11 October 1860 when they headed north to Menindee.

Progress on the deep, loose, red sand was little more than mile an hour, with dense overhanging thickets on the little-used trail clawing at the party and the wagons frequently getting stuck, necessitatng the unharnessing and reharnessing of horses from one to another. But in the first week of October, the party chose their Darling crossover at Bilbarka, near what is today the pretty township of Pooncarie.

The nattering over the camels came to a head when Landells insisted on transporting them across the river by boat, even though none was immediately available. Burke put Wills in charge of swimming the animals across, so Landells quit, and Beckler too in sympathy, though the latter agreed to stay on until they'd reached Menindee and a replacement could be found for him. Wills was abruptly named second-in-command.

About this location:

European settlement of the Pooncarie district is believed to have begun in the 1840s, when settlers headed west to illegally graze livestock on vacant crown land between the Murrumbidgee and Lower Darling Rivers. Burke and Wills' documentation of the place served to bring far more of them. Pooncarie is also famous today for Kinchega National Park, which boasts glittering lakes in a dry landscape, with many waterbirds and massive river redgums.

The Darling is the longest river in Australia, flowing 2,739 kilometres from northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth in the south. It was named in 1828 by the explorer Charles Sturt, in honour of his employer, the state's governor Sir Ralph Darling. Today the river suffers from overuse of its waters, pollution from pesticide runoff and prolonged drought. In some years it barely flows at all.

The cache is located near the Old Wharf site at Pooncarie. There is a cafe nearby and a park for the kids to play in. Beware of tourists in the area as this is a busy site at times.

Hints