Produced by Sue Asscher and Robert Prince
SUCCESSFUL EXPLORATION
THROUGH THE INTERIOR OF
AUSTRALIA,
FROM MELBOURNE TO THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA.
FROM THE JOURNALS AND LETTERS OF
WILLIAM JOHN WILLS.
EDITED BY HIS FATHER, WILLIAM WILLS.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
PUBLISHER IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY.
1863.
DEDICATED,
BY PERMISSION,
TO HIS GRACE
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, K.G.,
ETC., ETC., ETC.
BY HIS GRACE'S
FAITHFUL SERVANT,
WILLIAM WILLS.
JANUARY, 1863.
PREFACE.
A life terminating before it had reached its meridian, can scarcely
be expected to furnish materials for an extended biography. But the
important position held by my late son, as second in command in
what is now so well-known as the Burke and Wills Exploring
Expedition across the Island Continent of Australia; the
complicated duties he undertook as Astronomer, Topographer,
Journalist, and Surveyor; the persevering skill with which he
discharged them, suggesting and regulating the march of the party
through a waste of eighteen hundred miles, previously untrodden by
European feet; his courage, patience, and heroic death; his
self-denial in desiring to be left alone in the desert with
scarcely a hope of rescue, that his companions might find a chance
for themselves;--these claims on public attention demand that his
name should be handed down to posterity in something more than a
mere obituary record, or an official acknowledgment of services.
A truthful, though brief, memoir of my son's short career, may
furnish a stimulating example, by showing how much can be
accomplished in a few years, when habits of prudence and industry
have been acquired in early youth. He fell a victim to errors not
originating with himself; but he resigned his life without a
murmur, having devoted it to science and his country. His death,
with the circumstances attending it, furnishes an application of
the lines of a favourite poet, which he often quoted with
admiration:
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing leave behind us
Footsteps on the sands of time;
Footprints that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er Life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwreck'd brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
The following pages are the only tribute a fond and mourning father
can offer to the memory of one who, while living, merited and
reciprocated his warmest affections.
WILLIAM WILLS.
London, January, 1863.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
Birth.--Infancy.--Boyhood and Early Education.--Youthful Traits of
Character.
CHAPTER 2.
My two Sons leave England for Australia.--Incidents of the Voyage.
--Extracts from Journal.--Arrival at Port Phillip.--Melbourne.
--Employed as Shepherds in the Interior.--Mode of Life.--Melbourne
in 1853.--Advice to Immigrants.--Descriptive Letters from the Bush.
CHAPTER 3.
I arrive in Australia.--Join my two Sons at their Sheep-station.
--Return to Melbourne and Remove to Ballaarat.--Visit to Mr. Skene.
--My son studies Surveying.--His Rapid Proficiency.--Appointed to
take Charge of a Party.--Letters on various Subjects to his Mother
and Brother at Home.
CHAPTER 4.
My Son is appointed to the Magnetic Observatory at Melbourne, under
Professor Neumayer.--His Rapid Advance in the Study of Magnetism
and Mineralogy.--Letters to his Relatives at Home, descriptive of
his Pursuits, Wishes, and Sentiments.--First suggestions of his
Probable Employment on the Exploring Expedition.
CHAPTER 5.
Postponement of the Exploring Expedition projected at the beginning
of 1860.--My Son's Letter to his Sister on going into Society.--Mr.
Birnie's Opinion of him, and Extract from his Lecture.--Letter from
William to his Mother on Religious Views and Definitions of Faith.
--His last Communications to his family at Home, before the
Departure of the Expedition.
CHAPTER 6.
THE EXPEDITION.
How the Expedition originated.--Appointment of the Leader,
Officers, and Party.--Mr. Robert O'Hara Burke, Mr. G.J. Landells,
Mr. W.J. Wills, Dr. Herman Beckler, Dr. Ludwig Becker, etc.--The
Expedition starts from Melbourne on the 20th of August, 1860.
--Progress to Swan Hill.--Discharge of Mr. Ferguson, the Foreman.
--Advance to Menindie.--Resignation of Mr. Landells and Dr. Herman
Beckler.--Mr. Wills promoted to second in command, and Mr. Wright
to third.
CHAPTER 7.
From Menindie on the Darling to Torowoto.--Mr. Burke's Despatch,
and Mr. Wills's Report from Torowoto.--Mr. Wright's unaccountable
delay at Menindie.--The Expedition proceeds onwards to Cooper's
Creek.--Exploring Trips in that neighbourhood.--Loss of three
Camels.--Mr. Wills's Letter to his Sister, December 6th and 15th.
--Incorrectness of McDonough's Statements.
CHAPTER 8.
Mr. Wills's Survey of the line of Country pursued by the
Expedition, from Torowoto Swamp to Cooper's Creek.
CHAPTER 9.
Departure from Cooper's Creek for the Gulf of Carpentaria.
--Arrangements for the continuance of the Depot at Cooper's Creek.
--Mr. Brahe left in Charge.--Determination of Route.--Progress and
Incidents.--Mr. Wills's Field Books, from the 16th of December,
1860, to the 30th of January, 1861, 1 to 9.--Shores of Carpentaria.
CHAPTER 10.
Return from Carpentaria to Cooper's Creek.--Mr. Wills's Journals
from February 19th to April 21st, 1861.--Illness and Death of Gray.
--The Survivors arrive at Cooper's Creek Depot and find it
deserted.--A Small Stock of Provisions left.--Conduct of Brahe.
--Report of the Royal Commission.
CHAPTER 11.
Proceedings in Melbourne.--Meeting of the Exploration Committee.
--Tardy Resolutions.--Departure of Mr. Howitt.--Patriotic Effort of
Mr. Orkney.--South Australian Expedition under Mr. McKinlay.--News
of White Men and Camels having been seen by Natives in the
Interior.--Certain Intelligence of the Fate of the Explorers
reaches Melbourne.
CHAPTER 12.
The attempt to reach South Australia and Adelaide by Mount
Hopeless.--Mistake of selecting that Route.--Mr. Wills's Journals
from the 23rd of April to the 29th of June, 1861.--Adventures with
the Natives.--Discovery of Nardoo as a Substitute for Food.--Mr.
Burke and King go in search of Natives for assistance.--Mr. Wills
left alone in the Desert.--The Last Entry in his Journal.
CHAPTER 13.
King's Narrative.--Mr. Burke and King again go in search of the
Natives, as a last resource.--Death of Mr. Burke.--King returns and
finds Mr. Wills dead in the Gunyah.--He falls in with the Natives
and wanders about with them until delivered by Mr. Howitt's party.
--Extract from Mr. Howitt's Diary.--Extract from Mr. McKinlay's
Diary.--My Son's last Letter to me, dated June 27th, 1861.--Strong
Attachment between Mr. Burke and my Son.--King delivers the Letter
and Watch intrusted to him.--With some difficulty I recover the
Pistol.--King's Reception in Melbourne.--Sir H. Barkly's Letter to
Sir Roderick Murchison.--Summary of Events and their Causes.
CHAPTER 14.
Letters of sympathy and condolence; from Sir Henry Barkly; Major
Egerton Warburton; A.J. Baker, Esquire; P.A. Jennings, Esquire; Dr.
Mueller; The Council of Ballaarat East; Robert Watson, Esquire;
John Lavington Evans, Esquire--Meeting at Totnes.--Resolution to
erect a Monument to Mr. Wills.--Proceedings in the Royal
Geographical Society of London.--Letter from Sir Roderick Murchison
to Dr. Wills.--Dr. Wills's Reply.--'The Lost Explorers,' a poetical
tribute.--Concluding Observations.
APPENDICES.
ILLUSTRATIONS:
1. THE LAST HOURS OF MR. WILLS.
Painted by Scott. Melbourne. London: Richard Bentley, 1863.
Engraved by J. Saddle.
2. WILLIAM J. WILLS.
Painted by Scott. Melbourne. Engraved by J. Brown.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
CHAPTER 1.
Birth.
Infancy.
Boyhood and Early Education.
Youthful Traits of Character.
William John Wills was born at Totnes, in Devonshire, on the 5th of
January, 1834. He had, therefore, attained the full age of
twenty-seven at the time of his death. Even in infancy, his
countenance was interesting and expressive. He began to speak and
walk alone before he had completed his first year. His lively
disposition gave ample employment to his nurses, though I cannot
remember that he ever worried one, through peevishness or a
fractious temper. As soon as he could talk distinctly, he evinced
an aptitude to name things after his own fancy; and I may fairly
say, that he was never a child in the common acceptation of the
term, as he gave early indications of diligence and discretion
scarcely compatible with the helplessness and simplicity of such
tender years. About the time of his completing his third year, Mr.
Benthall, a friend and near neighbour, asked permission to take him
for a walk in his garden. The boy was then in the habit of
attending a school for little children, close by, kept by an old
lady. In less than an hour, Mr. Benthall returned to ask if he had
come home. No one had seen him, and we began to be alarmed lest he
might have fallen into a well in the garden; but this apprehension
was speedily ascertained to be groundless. Still he returned not,
and our alarm increased, until his mother thought of the school,
and there he was found, book in hand, intent on his lesson. He knew
it was the school hour, and while Mr. Benthall was speaking to the
gardener, had managed to give him the slip, passing our own door
and proceeding alone to the school, on the opposite side of the
square. Mr. Benthall, who can have seen or heard very little of him
since, was one of the first, on hearing of his recent fate, to send
a subscription to his monument, about to be erected at Totnes.
Perhaps he remembered the incident.
Another anecdote of the child bears upon a leading characteristic
in the after life of the man. My late lamented brother, W.T. Wills,
who has since died at Belleville, in Upper Canada, was on a visit
at my house from abroad. He had occasion to go to Plymouth and
Devonport, and I engaged to drive him over in a gig. A petition was
made to his mother, that little Willy might accompany us. It was
granted, and we put up for the night at the Royal Hotel, at
Devonport, where he became quite a lion. The landlady and servants
were much taken by their juvenile visitor. The next morning, my
brother and I had arranged to breakfast at ten, each having early
business of his own to attend to, in different directions. When we
returned at the appointed time, the boy was missing. None of the
household had seen him for an hour. Each supposed that someone else
had taken charge of him. After a twenty minutes' search in all
directions by the whole establishment, he was discovered at the
window of a nautical instrument maker's shop, eight or ten doors
below the inn, on the same side of the street, within the recess of
the door-way, gazing in riveted attention on the attractive display
before him. The owner told me that he had noticed him for more than
an hour in the same place, examining the instruments with the eye
of a connoisseur, as if he understood them. His thirst for
knowledge had superseded his appetite for breakfast. About twelve
months subsequent to this date, we had nearly lost him for ever, in
a severe attack of remittent fever. At the end of a fortnight, the
danger passed away and he was restored to us. As he lay in complete
prostration from the consequent weakness, our old and faithful
servant, Anne Winter, who seldom left him, became fearful that his
intellects might be affected; and I shall never forget her
heartfelt delight and thankfulness when she saw him notice and
laugh at the ludicrous incident of a neighbour's tame magpie
hopping upon his bed. The effect of this fever was to alter the
contour of his features permanently, to a longer shape, giving him
a more striking resemblance to his mother's family than to mine.
His utterance, also, which had been voluble, became slow and
slightly hesitating.
For some time after this he resided at home, under my own tuition.
Our intercourse, even at this early age, was that of friendly
companionship. Instructing him was no task; his natural diligence
relieved me from all trouble in fixing his attention. We were both
fond of history. From what I recollect, he took more interest in
that of Rome than of Greece or England. Virgil and Pope were his
favourite poets. He was very earnest with his mother in studying
the principles of the Christian religion. More than once my wife
remarked, "that boy astonishes me by the shrewdness with which he
puts questions on different points of doctrine." In his readings
with me he was never satisfied with bare statements unaccompanied
by reasons. He was always for arguing the matter before taking
either side. One question, when very young, he would again and
again recur to, as a matter on which the truth should be elicited.
This was a saying of our old servant, above named, when she broke
either glass or earthenware: that "it was good for trade." His
ideas of political economy would not permit him to allow that this
axiom was a sound one for the benefit of the state; and on this
point, I think, Adam Smith and Malthus would scarcely disagree.
The pleasure I enjoyed in my son's society when a boy, was greater
than that which intercourse with many grown men contributed; for I
may strictly repeat, as I have already said, that he was never a
child in intellect although juvenile enough in habits and manners.
He never made foolish remarks, although not in the slightest degree
uncomfortably precocious or pragmatical. I had no fear of trusting
him with anything, and was often reproved for allowing so young a
child to handle a gun, which he was accustomed to do as early as
eleven years of age. His first practice was on some young rooks
which he brought down with unerring aim, from a rookery on the
grounds at our country residence. He was so particular in his
general demeanour that I designated him Gentleman John, and my
Royal Boy. His brothers, all younger than himself, styled him, Old
Jack, and Gentleman Jack. He had a wonderful power of attaching
animals of all kinds. Nothing moved him to anger so readily as
seeing one ill-used. Beating a horse savagely would excite his
disgust, as well as his dislike to the person who did it. Not
having a dog, he used to take a fine cat we had, which would
accompany him to any distance in the fields, and hunt the hedges
and hedgerows for him. Never feeling that I could have too much of
his company, I frequently made him my companion in long country
walks, during which he incessantly asked for information. For the
science of astronomy he evinced an early taste. When a very little
boy, I began to teach him the names and positions of the principal
constellations, the revolutions of the earth on its axis, and the
fixity of the polar star. I believe we were the first to notice a
comet in 1845, which was only a short time visible here, having a
south declination, and which we afterwards knew to have been a fine
object in the Southern hemisphere.
At the age of eleven he went to school at Ashburton. Although the
distance was not more than six miles from the cottage of Ipplepen,
my then general place of residence, it was with much reluctance
that I consented to the separation. Several friends urged on me
that I was not doing him justice by keeping him at home; that a
public seminary where he could mix with other boys was an
advantage, even though he might not learn more. It also happened
that, at this time, a gentleman with whom I had been long
acquainted, and of whose talents I held a high opinion, was elected
to the head-mastership of that school, which held its chief
endowments from Gifford, the satiric poet, and Dr. Ireland, the
late Dean of Westminster. I remember how I returned in gloomy
spirits after leaving him there. As I had four other children, it
may be said that I showed undue partiality for this one, but my
conscience clears me from the charge. I deeply felt the loss of his
companionship. He was so suggestive that he set me thinking; and
whilst I was endeavouring to teach, I acquired more knowledge than
I imparted. There was nothing remarkable in his progress at school.
I experienced no disappointment because he did not return home at
the end of every half-year with the head prize. He merely brought
his six months' bill, and a letter commending his steady diligence
and uniform propriety of conduct. In viva voce examinations he had
scarcely an equal chance with one of inferior intellect who might
be quicker in expression; for besides the trifling hesitation of
speech I have already noticed, he would have been ashamed to give a
wrong answer from eagerness. A remark of Mr. Page, his tutor,
confirmed me in my own previous impression on this point. "It vexes
me," he said, "that John does not take a top prize, for I see by
his countenance that he understands as much, if not more, than any
boy in my school; yet from want of readiness in answering he allows
very inferior lads to win the tickets from him." On the whole, I
think he derived much benefit from Ashburton; for besides his
scholastic improvement he became an adept at the usual games, and a
social favourite out of school hours.
At the age of sixteen he left the grammar-school, and I find the
30th of May, 1850, to be the date of his articles to me as surgeon.
I had at that time taken a partner, Henry Manly, Esquire, now
resident at Ipplepen, with a view of introducing and resigning to
him my Ipplepen practice. Being in a country place, five miles from
Totnes, where there was no chemist or dispensary, my son readily
acquired his duties, which were to distribute the medicines and
appliances directed for our patients by my partner and myself. In
all cases his caution was extreme and we had no fear of his making
mistakes. The ordinary operations of extracting a tooth or
breathing a vein when a bumpkin presented himself as a patient, he
speedily mastered. The absurd practice of going to be bled on any
occasion that might strike the fancy of the party, without the
advice of the doctor, was not at that time so completely obsolete
as in this advanced age I hope it is, and ought to be. I remember,
during the time of my own articles, that I frequently performed
venesection five or six times in a day on persons who requested and
fancied they required it; and I seldom indulged in the liberty of
asking, wherefore.
In 1851, I took my son to London to show him the Great Exhibition.
His chief attractions there, were the instruments and mechanical
inventions. If, after a day or two, I chanced to deviate from the
leading thoroughfares and missed my way, he would set me right in a
moment. This was rather mortifying to one who fancied himself well
acquainted with London from frequent visits, but he smiled when he
saw I was not a true guide. I asked him how he acquired this apt
knowledge. "On the second day," he replied, "when you were out, I
took the map and studied it for two hours, so that now I am well
versed in it." My subsequent experience made me think he had some
instinctive power in matters like these, such as horses and
carrier-pigeons possess, for the darkest night never baulked him.
On a visit to Windsor, being told that it was considered a feat to
climb the statue of King George the Third at the end of the long
walk, he accomplished it in a very short time. At Hampton Court he
unravelled the mystery of the Maze in ten minutes and grew quite
familiar with all its ins and outs.
In the following spring, 1852, I took him again to London, at the
opening of the session for medical students. As there was no
anatomical class he studied that branch of science by visiting the
museum at Guy's. Having myself been a student at that school, I
introduced him to my late respected teacher, Charles Aston King,
Esquire, through whom he obtained permission to attend. Surgical
operations he witnessed at the theatres of any hospital on the
regular days. The only class he entered was that of practical
chemistry, under Dr. John Stenhouse, LL.D., at Bartholomew's. When
the course had nearly terminated, I saw Dr. Stenhouse, and inquired
whether my son evinced any particular talent in that line. Dr.
Stenhouse came from the lecture-room, and walked with me through
Newgate-Street into Cheapside, earnestly requesting me not to take
from him one of the most promising pupils he had ever had. "I
venture an assurance," he said, "that in two years, in practical
chemistry, he will be second to few in England." Dr. Stenhouse at
that time was engaged in analyzing the different articles of food
sold in the shops, and found my son useful and suggestive. His
testimonial ran thus:--
I have much pleasure in certifying that Mr. W.J. Wills attended
a course of practical chemistry at this medical school during the
summer season of 1852. He obtained considerable proficiency, and
invariably distinguished himself by great propriety of conduct.
(Signed) JOHN STENHOUSE LL.D., Lecturer to the Medical School of
St. Bartholomew's Hospital,
September 1st, 1852.
At the house where he lodged, kept by an old couple and their
servant, he was as one of themselves, and amused them greatly by
the discoveries he made of the tricks practised by vendors of goods
in the street; tricks they had no idea of, although they had lived
in London all their lives. They used to say he would be a great
genius in the detective department of the Police.