NO PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

Hot on the Trail: Australia's first great adventure was part Lewis and Clark, part Donner Party-searing proof that fame is a four-letter word (Mark Jenkins, June 2003, Outside Magazine

The Dig Tree is a gnarled coolibah that stands in the burnt heart of the outback, beside the warm, green water of Cooper's Creek. It is the most famous tree in Australia, on account of the cryptic instructions carved into its trunk and the part it played in that country's most notorious expedition.

In 1860, Robert Burke and William Wills set out to become the first white men to cross Australia, a historic south-north traverse from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Their eight-month journey took them through the Tibooburra region in October of that year, en route to a base camp on Cooper's Creek, and then into vast, desperate stretches of the interior. Burke and Wills were like the Lewis and Clark of Australia, famed icons of early outback exploration-although, by the time it was all over, they'd be-come legends for very different reasons.

"Burke and Wills-now they were some bloody tough bastards!" says the bartender, suddenly animated. "I hope they're still teaching the schoolchildren about our heritage."

If you're lucky, your local video store might have the fine but harrowing film version of this story Burke and Wills. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 25, 2003 3:23 PM