Burke & Wills Tours

29/12/2025

Where is the next location of the Melbourne Staue going to be?

Their quest captured the imagination of the colony and became part of Australia’s foundation narrative. But it was a debacle led by an eccentric man with a poor sense of direction

08/03/2025

A statue of the explorers will not return to its prime location in Melbourne’s city square.

20/07/2021

This month the Burke & Wills Report focuses on the memorials in and around Castlemaine. And it explores the potential linkages to a railway baron who reportedly wanted to build a transcontinental railway from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Last month, the Burke & Wills Report described the monuments to Burke & Wills in Swan Hill, including the first one which was erected only one month after the Victorian Exploring Expedition…

19/06/2021

Many of the longer term followers of this page may remember I wrote a regular blog about 10 years ago following the trials and tribulations of the Burke & Wills Expedition as part of the 150th anniversary. I then started an occasional series of blogs on Enduring Symbols of the Expedition. Somehow I became distracted and never finished it.

As part of a COVID inspired clean up, I had found a lot of material I had drafted but never published. I have decided to dust it off and publish it This next post is about the monuments in Swan Hill. Enjoy!

The first monument to commemorate the expedition was erected at Swan Hill, when Government Astronomer Neumeyer (who was Wills employer and mentor at the Flagstaff Observatory before he left on the …

20/08/2020

Yesterday marked the 160th anniversary of the Burke and Will expedition leaving Melbourne. Ten years ago I wrote a regular blog describing their progress. You are welcome to follow the journey again week by week and see how it all unravels here. Enjoy!

Burke and Wills Report – a weekly update on the progress of the Victorian Exploring Expedition 150 years ago 15 August The Great Adventure starts As we have seen in the last Burke and Wills Report,…

10/07/2018

Congratulations Phil. A fantastic effort