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Instead of horses and camels, the
2010 Burke and Wills Environmental Expedition
is utilising two Mitsubishi Pajeros, affectionately
renamed after Burke’s horse “Billy”
and camel “Raja”, to travel from Melbourne
to the Gulf of Carpentaria to commemorate the
150th anniversary of the journey.
One hundred and fifty years ago, two intrepid
explorers, Robert O'Hara Burke and William John
Wills, set off on foot into the unforgiving Australian
Outback searching for an inland sea. They did
it the hard way with a huge contingent of men,
horses and camels for support.
Two more ‘modern’ but no less adventurous
explorers will be re-enacting this epic journey.
Jack Thompson, multi award-winning actor and environmentalist
will join the trek’s creator Jonathan King,
historian and author, on this marking of the 150th
anniversary. This team has a few distinct advantages
over their 1860’s counterparts, namely two
Mitsubishi Pajero GLX support vehicles.
In 1861, with little known about the centre of
Australia, the race was on to be the first to
open up a trade route across this wide brown land.
Burke and Wills set off with 19 men including
five Englishmen, four Indian sepoys, three Germans
and an American with the intention of crossing
Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf
of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around
3,250 kilometres. They also seemed to be a little
overloaded with cargo, including rum, dried meats,
fire wood and even a cedar topped oak table –
altogether they took 20 tonnes of equipment! To
lug all of this gear, they had 23 horses, six
wagons and 27 camels imported from India especially
for the mission.
Although the group was ultimately ‘successful’
in reaching the Gulf of Carpentaria, only one
man, John King, actually survived the return journey.
This year, in honour of his ancestor, Jonathan
King will trek the track with a team that includes
actor Jack Thompson, artists John Howland and
Ben Beeton, and cinematographer Michael Dillon.
They aim to achieve a more modern outcome as they
compare today’s environment with the one
documented in the comprehensive Burke and Wills
notes. The team will be undertaking a two-stage
expedition, with specialist environmentalists
using detailed maps, to follow the infamous 1860
route.
With the backing of the Royal Society of Victoria,
which organised the original 1960 trek, they intend
to assess the damage to the land that has been
caused over the 150 years of exploitation, and
find ways to repair it.
Rather than 26 horses, six wagons and 23 camels,
John, Jack and the team will be more ably backed
up by two Mitsubishi Turbo Diesel Pajero four-wheel
drives. Jonathan was especially keen to engage
Mitsubishi for his recreation and is a long time
lover of Pajeros with fond childhood memories
of outback adventures.
The team is utilising the award-winning
Mitsubishi Pajero GLX with a 3.2-litre turbo diesel
engine, producing 147kW of power at 3,800 rpm
and 441Nm of torque at 2000 rpm at the same time
delivering superior fuel economy. Life on the
dirt will be a little more comfortable for the
team with the Pajero offering Super Select 4WD,
with its four driving modes, including high and
low range options; not to mention the power steering
and cruise control that will make things a lot
easier for the longer sections of the trip. The
vehicles will also have ‘Multi-function Display,’
which will be a big help to keep the team on track,
with a trip computer, compass, altimeter, barometer,
outside temperature, date and time display.
The team departed Melbourne in late August, 2010
and throughout the journey they will keep us up
to date with diaries from the road, local stories,
video, blogs and their environmental findings
as they retrace the notorious 3000km route north.
To gain a greater understanding of their journey
and to read an account of their travels, log into
http://www.4wd4life.com.au/burkeandwills.
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