Robert O'Hara Burke (1821-1861), explorer, came to Australia in 1853 and joined the Victorian police force. A charismatic daredevil, he was anxious to be appointed to the exploratory expedition from the south to the north of the continent, although he was without experience as an explorer and the trip, made on behalf of the Royal Society of Victoria, had no clear objective. In 1860 he took command of the expedition. Burke's instructions were minimal, and practically incoherent, but they did clearly stipulate that the base camp was to be at Cooper's Creek. Burke disregarded this directive and split his party several times, with dire results. He and Wills did reach the mangroves of the Gulf of Carpentaria, but on the terrible return to Coopers Creek one of their party of four died. When Burke, Wills and King got to Coopers Creek they found that the waiting party had just left, with most of the provisions. Determined to travel light, Burke had jettisoned most of his own party's food. Dying of starvation and exhaustion, he reportedly asked King to leave him unburied on the desert ground, his pistol in his hand.
