Where did you go ?
The 'Burke & Wills Walk 2008' followed the faded footsteps of the Burke & Wills Expedition. Dave Phoenixwalked from Melbourne in Victoria on the south coast and crossed Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria near Karumba in Queensland, a distance of over 3,750 kilometres.

Dave left Royal Park, Melbourne on 1st August 2008, traveled through Victoria to Swan Hill and crossed into New South Wales. He was in Menindee early in September and reached Cooper Creek in South Australia in mid-October. He walked across Sturt's Stony Desert and into Birdsville in Queensland in November when the temperatures reached 44°C. Dave crossed the rugged Selwyn Ranges in December and walked across the vast plains of the Gulf Savannah to reach the north coast just before Cyclone Charlotte heralded the start of the biggest wet season the area has seen in over 50 years..

The track of the expedition has intrigued historians for nearly 150 years and is still the source of great debate even today. No one really knows exactly where Burke and Wills went. The records are fragmented, inaccurate and in some cases missing altogether.

However despite the uncertainty it was possible to establish the expedition's track to a reasonably high degree of certainty using the existing historical records in combination with the physical landscape and this was the basis for the route of the 'Burke Wills Walk 2008'. The walk followed the original track as faithfully as possible.


'I mean to cross this country, Mr Landells. I mean to be the first white man to do it, and I mean to walk every step of the way.'
Jack Thompson as Burke in the 1985 movie, 'Burke & Wills'.


For more information on this remarkable venture, please feel free to contact me.
© Dave Phoenix, 20121. All rights reserved.