B&W (V) A good thrashing Bedourie, Queensland, Australia
By Geocaching Australia on 20-Aug-10. Waypoint GA2391

This is a special Burke & Wills cache listed on Geocaching Australia.

This cache requires you to visit a Burke & Wills historical location and take a photo as described along with your GPS receiver and if possible yourself in the picture. Once you have logged this cache as a find, you are required to load your picture to your log to validate your find.

Validating Your Log
Take a picture of your GPS receiver showing the same co-ordinates as the cache page (plus or minus 100 meters) and attach it to your online log.

Important Information
The Burke Wills Historical Society notes: "The actual route Burke and Wills followed once they left Camp 78 is unknown and one of the most intensely debated issues. Wills' map and some of his journals containing astronomical observations have been lost. Because the journals have never been transcribed, it means the expedition's track north of the Diamantina, through the gibber rises, confused sand dunes and extensive claypans, is a matter for conjecture."
Travel in Outback Australia can be extremely hazardous. Plan your trip with care and seek and follow local advice on what precautions to take. Be aware of private property restrictions. Do not risk your life to log this geocache.

About This Location
Native-Dog Camp, 37R, on March 25, Wills was heading back to their previous camp for some items left there when he came across Gray secretly eating some of the skilligolee (flour) from the provisions. Gray claimed he needed it because of his dysentery, but Wills ordered him before Burke. King spoke in Gray's defence, but Gray "received a good thrashing" nevertheless, as Wills recorded: "There is no knowing to what extent he has been robbing us. Many things have been found to run unaccountably short." Gray's death soon after the incident meant that the extent of the beating Burke gave him would be forever more debated. Was it a few slaps or so horrific that King said he would have killed Burke if he'd had his pistol handy? Gray had been complaining of ill health throughout the return trek, but Wills believed he was "gammoning" - faking it.

As the men set off southward again, one of the camels had to be abandoned because it was too sick to work or be eaten, and two others were killed for their meat, which was jerked in the sun. Far to the south, at the Koorliatto Waterhole, animals and men were also suffering as William Wright strained to reach Cooper's Creek with fresh supplies for the Burke party.

Additonal Information
Source: Paul Dorsey Used with Permission