William John Wills

William John Wills ( born January 5, 1834 in Totnes, Devon, England; † end of June, probably 28 or June 29, 1861 in Breerily Waterhole, Cooper Creek, South Australia ) was an English surveyor. He became known as the deputy leader of the expedition of Burke and Wills. This expedition represented the first attempt to cross Australia from south to north and to find a route between the populated tracts of land around the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, and Victoria in the south.

Early years

Wills was born in Totnes in Devon and taught at the St. Andrews Grammar School in Ashburton. In 1852 he emigrated with his younger brother Thomas to Australia. They found work as a shepherd in Deniliquin in New South Wales. Her father, Dr. William Wills Senior, followed by his sons, and upon his arrival in October 1853 they moved together to Ballarat. William John Wills worked as a miner and buyers for a bank. In 1855 he began to study land surveying and moved to Melbourne to work under Georg von Neumayer at the Flagstaff Observatory of Geophysics, Magnetism and Nautical.

Expedition of Burke and Wills

→ Main article: Expedition of Burke and Wills

In September 1858 the explorer John McDouall Stuart reached the center of the Australian continent, and in July 1859, the Australian government praised a reward of £ 2,000, in order to support an expedition to cross Australia from south to north. Robert O'Hara Burke was appointed in May 1860 to head the expedition. In July the appointment of Wills as surveyor, astronomical observer and third followed in the internal chain of command.

The expedition left Melbourne on 20 August with a total of 19 participants, 27 Australian camels and 23 horses. They reached Menindee on 23 September. There, several men were left initially, including the deputy head of George James Landells, after Wills was promoted to the post.

The group with Burke and Wills reached on 11 November, 400 miles distant Cooper Creek and wanted to wait for the next group there. During this break, Burke decided to make a trip to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and broke together with Wills, John King and Charley Gray on. The rest of the men he left behind under the command of William Brahe. Burke, Wills and her companions arrived on February 9, 1861, the mangroves on the estuary of the Flinders River. Pouring rain and swamps prevented, however, that they got the ocean to face.

The return proved to be a lengthy and difficult undertaking. The men were already weakened by hunger and fatigue, and were further hampered by the tropical monsoon the onrushing rainy season. Gray died four days away from the meeting point at the Cooper Creek. The remaining three men appealed a day off to bury Gray. They finally met on April 21, 1861 at the meeting point a, nine hours after the rest of the group had given up waiting and left the Cooper Creek, just a message and some food behind. The remaining in Menindee group that they should replace, has never arrived.

Burke, Wills and King were trying to reach Mount Hopeless, the outermost inhabited outpost in South Australia, which was closer than Menindee. However, they failed and returned to Cooper Creek back to wait for rescue. Wills could not go on with exhaustion and asked the others to leave him with food, water and shelter. Burke and King continued their march then continued without him. Wills died alone at a place called Breerily Waterhole on Cooper Creek. The exact time of death is unknown, but it was with some certainty the 28th or 29th Juni 1861.

Even Burke died shortly after Wills. Only John King survived with the help of Aborigines. He was rescued on 15 September by Alfred William Howitt. Howitt buried Burke and Wills before he returned to Melbourne. In 1862 he returned to the Cooper Creek and disinterred the bodies. About Adelaide they were brought to Melbourne, where they were two weeks laid out in public. On January 23, 1863 Burke and Wills were given a state funeral and was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.