Here it became necessary to
divide the party: Burke took Wills with him, and two others, leaving the
remainder at Cooper's Creek to look after the stores and to wait there
until Burke and his companions returned.
They reached Flinders River in February of the following year, but they
found the country to be quite a desert, and provisions failed them. They
were obliged to return, reaching Cooper's Creek on April 21st, 1861.
They arrived emaciated and exhausted, only to find that the others had
given up all hope of seeing them again, and returned home. Burke and his
companions struggled on for two months, but one by one they succumbed,
until only one was left--a man named King. Fortunately he was found by
some friendly natives, who treated him kindly, and was handed over to
the search-party sent out to find the missing men. The bodies of Burke
and Wills were also recovered, and buried with all honours at Melbourne,
where a fine monument was erected to their memory.
Many of the early settlers in Australia were killed by the aborigines or
bushmen, and a friend of ours who emigrated there from our native
village many years ago was supposed to have been murdered by them.
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