Getting the whole outfit together was no small task. The 500 yards long caravanserai comprised 19 men, 26 camels, 23 horses, and various wagons carrying 20 tons of supplies and equipment.
Among the 'equipment' were cedar-topped dining tables, 12 dandruff brushes, four enema kits and assorted items of sartorial finery belonging to the leader of the troop, including the top hat which he wore as, astride his charger, 'Billy', he led the Victorian Exploring Expedition out of Royal Park, on to Flemington Road and thence to Mount Alexander Road heading for Essendon and distant parts north.
During this month 150 years ago the Victorian Exploring Expedition was in the last stages of its preparations before assembling in Royal Park near the Sarah Sands Hotel, on Melbourne's then northern outskirts, for its planned departure on Monday 20 August 1860.
The flamboyant leader was, of course, Robert O'Hara Burke, and the grand venture — inspired by the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, later the Royal Society — has become known by its leader's name and that of his deputy, William John Wills. The colourful departure, some hours later than planned, marked by speeches and ceremonies and watched by 15,000 people, mirrored the apparent panache of the leader.
Burke, an Irishman, was a charismatic figure, a handsome, dashing, soldier-turned-policeman with a pleasing combination of blarney and devil-may-care abandon. Heavily bearded and with what was thought to be a duelling scar on one cheek — though Burke himself never confirmed this while allowing it to be assumed — he was a romantic figure in a time of stirring romantic deeds dominated by extraordinary characters.
By the time Burke and Wills stirred their cumbrous team into action, Richard Burton had made his famous journey to Mecca and then to the African Great Lakes while David Livingstone was well embarked on his Zambezi expedition during which he would have his legendary encounter with Henry 'Dr Livingstone I presume' Stanley. Closer to home, McDouall Stewart had already penetrated 'the great silence' north of Menindie.
To the gaze of the Philosophical Institute members, Burke looked like an exciting version of those and other intrepid adventurers, the man to bring the colony of Victoria to the attention of the questing world.
"To those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first assign the wrong tasks."
But Burke's apparent advantages, attractive to a committee governed by considerations of class and position rather than actual qualifications, belied his flaws. He