Day 4

OK, so what's a Dig Tree? This is where the ill fated Burke & Wills exploration of 1861 had it's ironic climax. Burke & Wills were leading the expedition to cross Australia from South - North. The party were to leave from Melbourne and trek to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the North and return to Melbourne. At camp 65 on the Cooper Creek, Burke, Wills, King & Grey left William Brahe in charge and set out for a quick dash to the gulf and to return. They told Brahe to wait for 3 months, if they had not returned by then he was to return with the main party to Melbourne. Making the gulf was long and arduous and on their return trek, Grey died. Brahe waited an extra month at camp 65 and before he left for Melbourne, he buried a cache of provisions next to a Coolibah tree and blazed the tree with "DIG" and then the location. Just 7 hours after Brahe and the main party left Camp 65, Burke, Wills & King staggered in to find them gone. Burke did not trust the local Aborigines who were trying to offer food and this was his undoing and he and Wills both perished on the banks of Cooper Creek. They unknowingly, slowly poisoning themselves making a flour from Nardoo as they had seen the Aborigines do. They didn't know the full process where the Aborigines washed the poison from the flour and dried it before baking it to make Nardoo cakes. After the death of Burke & Wills, King was cared for by the Aborigines and was later found by a rescue party sent from Melbourne. The "DIG Tree" is now visited by thousands of travellers each year to reflect on the tragedy of 140 years ago. The tree itself nearly died in recent times when termites and it has been saved by tree surgeons who have scoured out the termite nest in the trunk and replaced it with a concrete stump in the centre. The Dig tree is now located on Nappa Merrie Station, close to the South Australia-Queensland border. In the early 1900's, a stockman carved a 3d likeness of Robert O'Hara Burke in another Coolibah tree close by. It's a long way to travel to the middle of this great continent of ours just to see a tree, but to stand and read the full story and browse the static display hut, and camp at Camp 65 on the banks of the Cooper where those intrepid explorers did.......

"DIG" Tree	Likeness of Burke carved by a stockman some 50 years after his death	"LXV" for camp 65
The waterhole at Camp 65	A peaceful resting place	A monument to his passing.

Our journey takes us across the Queensland - South Australia border and a short drive to Innamincka, also on Cooper Creek. Innamincka is a tiny settlement consisting of a PUB, a trading post and the National Parks office in what was the old hospital. Accommodation can be had at the pub and the trading post and meals at the pub. If you bring your accommodation with you, you can camp on the Town Common on the banks of the Cooper. Bush toilets are scattered along the banks and opposite the trading post flushing toilets and hot showers are available for a gold coin donation to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

She's flat country mate

Crossing the QLD-SA Border

Nice of them to think of us