B&W (T) Wright at Menindee. Menindee, New South Wales, Australia
By Black Bunny on 20-Aug-10. Waypoint GA2271

Burke and Wills (Traditional): Wright at Menindee.

Burke and Wills:

Wright and Brahe reached Menindee on June 19, a month after revisiting the Cooper's Creek Depot. Their group had suffered on the return from thirst, lost and dying animals and the fact most of the men were on death's doorstep. William Patton was the last to die, on June 5, but the party was able to make better progress thereafter.

Wright's trek north had been a debacle, four men dying needlessly and nothing delivered by way of relief.

In Menindee Wright disbanded his group and headed back to Adelaide. Beckler and the survivors remained in Menindee, while Brahe rode back to Melbourne with the news that Burke and Wills had not been seen since they'd headed north to the coast. The newspapers were rife with speculation about what could have happened, pressuring the exploration committee to mount a rescue effort.

About this location:

Menindee is a small town in the far west of New South Wales, in the Central Darling Shire, on the banks of the Darling River, with a sign-posted population of 980.

It is the oldest European settlement in western New South Wales, and the first town to be established on the Darling River. A weir on the Darling River near Menindee diverts water from the river into a series of shallow, otherwise dry, overflow lakes. These lakes, the Menindee Water Storage Scheme, regulate the river flow for irrigation downstream into South Australia.

The first European to visit the area was the surveyor and explorer Major Thomas Mitchell in 1835. He was followed by Charles Sturt in 1844 and the town was the advance base for the Burke and Wills expedition in 1860.

Menindee is situated on the western edge of town is the Kinchega National Park.