Robert O'Hara Burke
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Robert O'Hara Burke (6 May 1821c. 28 June 1861) was an Irish
soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...
and
police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...
who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the leader of the ill-fated
Burke and Wills expedition The Burke and Wills expedition (originally called the Victorian Exploring Expedition) was an exploration expedition organised by the Royal Society of Victoria (RSV) in Australia in 1860–61. The exploration party initially consisted of ninet ...
, which was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the
Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...
. The expedition party was well equipped, but Burke was not experienced in bushcraft. A Commission of Inquiry held by the Government of Victoria to investigate the failure of the expedition was a censure of Burke's judgement.


Early years

Burke was born in St Clerans, near the village of Craughwell,
County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...
, Ireland in May 1821. He was the second of three sons of James Hardiman Burke (1788 – January 1854), an officer in the British army 7th Royal Fusiliers, and Anne Louisa Burke ''née'' O'Hara (married 1817, d.1844). Robert O'Hara was one of seven children: * John Hardiman Burke (d. August 1863) * Robert O'Hara Burke (6 May 1821 – 28 June 1861) * James Thomas Burke (c. 1828 – 7 July 1854) * Fanny Marie Burke (married John Blakeney) * Elizabeth Burke (married Lt. Col Menzies) * Hester Albinia Burke (unmarried, d. 10 November 1866) * Anne Celestine Burke (married Major Horace de Vere, d.1914) James Thomas Burke was a Lieutenant in the
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
, and on 7 July 1854 at the battle of Giurgevo became the first British officer killed in the
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
.


Military career

Burke entered the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...
in May 1835. In December 1836 he failed his probationary exam and went to
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
to further his education. In 1841, at the age of twenty he entered the Austrian army and in August 1842 was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the Prince Regent's 7th Reuss Regiment of the Hungarian Hussars. He spent most of his time in the Imperial Austrian Army posted to northern Italy and in April 1847 was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Towards the end of 1847 he suffered health problems and went to Recoaro spa in northern Italy, then Gräfenberg (now Lázně Jeseník) and finally
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before resigning from the Austrian army in June 1848 after charges against him relating to debts and absence without leave were dropped.


Police career

After returning to Ireland in 1848, he joined the Irish Constabulary (later the
Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...
). He did his cadet training at
Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park () is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since ...
Depot in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
between November 1849 and January 1850, was promoted to 3rd Class Sub-Inspector and was stationed in
County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...
. At the end of 1850, he transferred to the Mounted Police in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
.


Migrating to Australia

Burke migrated to Australia in 1853. He left Queenstown,
County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...
on 24 November 1852 on the S.S. ''Rodney'' which was carrying 342 convicts. He arrived in
Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...
,
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
on 12 February 1853 and promptly sailed for
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
. On 1 April 1853, he joined the recently established Victoria police force. Initially, he worked as Acting Inspector under the Chief Commissioner William Henry Fancourt Mitchell in the Parish of Jika Jika in the northern suburbs of
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, but on 1 November 1853 he was appointed a magistrate, was promoted to Police Inspector, and was posted to Carlsruhe. On 31 December 1853, he was promoted to District Inspector of the Ovens District and early in 1854 he moved to Beechworth to relieve Inspector John Giles Price. After the unfortunate death of his brother, James Thomas, in the
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
, Burke decided to enlist. He left
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
on the S.S. ''Marco Polo'' on 25 March 1856 for England, but, by the time he arrived in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
in June, peace had been declared and the war ended. Burke re-boarded the ''Marco Polo'' and returned to Victoria, arriving in Melbourne on 2 December 1856. He resumed his posting at Beechworth and from there attended the "Buckland Valley" riots near Bright against the Chinese gold miners in 1857. In November 1858 he was transferred to Castlemaine as Police Superintendent on £550 p.a. plus a groom and quarters at ''Broadoaks'' on Gingell Street. After the South Australian explorer, John McDouall Stuart had reached the centre of Australia, the South Australian parliament offered a reward of £2,000 for the promotion of an expedition to cross the continent from the south to north, generally following Stuart's route. He also partnered with another explorer who wanted to discover things about Australia.


Burke and Wills Expedition

In June 1860, Burke was appointed to lead the Victorian Exploring Expedition with William John Wills, his third-in-command, as surveyor and
astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...
observer. The expedition left Melbourne on Monday, 20 August 1860 with a total of 19 men, 27 camels and 23 horses. They reached
Menindee Menindee (derived from Minandichi, the original Indigenous name for Lake Menindee, and frequently but erroneously spelled "Menindie") is a small town in the far west of New South Wales, Australia, in Central Darling Shire, on the banks of the Da ...
on 23 September 1860 where several people resigned, including the second-in-command, George James Landells and the medical officer, Dr. Hermann Beckler. Cooper Creek, 400 miles further on, was reached on 11 November 1860 by the advance group, the remainder being intended to catch up. After a break, Burke decided to make a dash to the
Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...
, leaving on 16 December 1860. William Brahe was left in charge of the remaining party. The small team of Burke, William Wills, John King and Charley Gray reached the
mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...
s on the estuary of the Flinders River, near where the town of Normanton now stands, on 9 February 1861. Flooding rains and swamps meant they never saw the open ocean. Already weakened by starvation and exposure, their progress on the return journey was slow and hampered by the tropical monsoon downpours of the wet season. Gray died four days before they reached the rendezvous at Cooper Creek. The other three rested for a day when they buried him. They eventually reached the rendezvous point on 21 April 1861, 9 hours after the rest of the party had given up waiting and left, leaving a note and some food, as they had not been relieved by the party supposed to be returning from Menindee. They attempted to reach Mount Hopeless, the furthest outpost of pastoral settlement in South Australia, which was closer than Menindee, but failed and returned to Cooper Creek. While waiting for rescue Wills died of exhaustion and starvation. Soon after, Burke also died, at a place now called Burke's Waterhole on Cooper Creek in South Australia. The exact date of Burke's death is uncertain but has generally been accepted to be 28 June 1861. King survived with the help of Aborigines until he was rescued in September by Alfred William Howitt. Howitt buried Burke and Wills before returning to Melbourne. In 1862 Howitt returned to Cooper Creek and disinterred Burke and Wills' bodies, taking them first to
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
and then by steamer to Melbourne where they were laid in state for two weeks. On 23 January 1863, Burke and Wills received a
state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...
and were buried in Melbourne General Cemetery. On that day, Stuart and his companions, having successfully completed the south–north crossing, were received back at a large ceremony in Adelaide.


Places named after Burke

* Burketown,
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
* Burke River in western Queensland. *O'Haras Gap, Selwyn Ranges, Queensland


Places named by Burke

* Cloncurry River was named by Burke after Lady Cloncurry. She was his cousin, Elizabeth Kirwan, who had married Lord Cloncurry. Lady Cloncurry was the daughter of Burke's paternal Aunt Penelope and her husband John Kirwan.


See also

*
John King (explorer) John King (15 December 1838 – 15 January 1872) was an Ireland, Irish-born British soldier who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the sole survivor of the four men from the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition who reached the ...
* List of people on the postage stamps of Ireland * William John Wills


Notes


References

* * *Kathleen Fitzpatrick,
Burke, Robert O'Hara (1821–1861)
, ''
Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
'', Volume 3, MUP, 1969, pp 301–303. * *''The'' elbourne''Argus'', 1861. "The Burke and Wills exploring expedition: An account of the crossing the continent of Australia from Cooper's Creek to Carpentaria, with biographical sketches of Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills". Melbourne: Wilson and Mackinnon. *Bonyhady, Tim, 1991. ''Burke and Wills: From Melbourne to myth''. Balmain: David Ell Press. . *Burke and Wills Outback Conference 2003, 2005. ''The Inaugural Burke & Wills Outback Conference : Cloncurry 2003 : a collation of presentations''. Dave Phoenix, Cairns Qld. *Clune, Frank, 1937. ''Dig: A drama of central Australia''. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. *Corke, David G, 1996. ''The Burke and Wills Expedition: A study in evidence''. Melbourne: Educational Media International. *Henry, William, 1997. ''The shimmering waste: The life and times of Robert O'Hara Burke''. Galway, Ireland.: W Henry Publisher. *Howitt, Alfred William, 1907. "Personal reminiscences of Central Australia and the Burke and Wills Expedition: Presidents inaugural address". ''Journal of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science''. 1907 (Adelaide, 1907.), 43p. *Jackson, Andrew, 1862. ''Robert O'Hara Bourke icand the Australian Exploring Expedition of 1860''. London: Smith, Elder & Co. *Manwaring, William Henry, 1970. "A contemporary's view of Robert O’Hara Burke". ''La Trobe Library Journal''. Vol. 2 (No. 6). *Moorehead, Alan, 1963. ''Cooper's Creek''. New York and Evanston: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1963. *Murgatroyd, Sarah, 2002. ''The Dig Tree''. Melbourne: Text Publishing. *Victoria: Parliament, 1862. ''Burke and Wills Commission. Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into and report upon the circumstances connected with the sufferings and death of Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills, the Victorian Explorers''. Melbourne: John Ferres Government Printer. *Wills, William John, & Wills, Dr William, 1863. ''A successful exploration through the interior of Australia, from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria: from the journals and letters of William John Wills''. London: Richard Bentley.


External links


Burke & Wills Web
A comprehensive website containing many of the historical documents relating to the Burke & Wills Expedition.
The Burke & Wills Historical Society
The Burke & Wills Historical Society. {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Robert Ohara 1821 births 1861 deaths Australian people of Anglo-Irish descent Irish Anglicans 19th-century Irish explorers Explorers of Australia Explorers from Melbourne Royal Irish Constabulary officers Deaths by starvation Police officers from County Galway Burke and Wills expedition Burials at Melbourne General Cemetery Explorers of Queensland People on Irish postage stamps