This contrasts with the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition in 1860 – 61 which was much better funded, but resulted in the deaths of three of the members of the transcontinental party.

Positive accounts of Aboriginal customs and encounters are also recorded in the journals of early European explorers, who often relied on Aboriginal guides and assistance: Charles Sturt employed Aboriginal envoys to explore the Murray-Darling ; the lone survivor of the Burke and Wills expedition was nursed by local Aborigines, and the famous Aboriginal explorer Jackey Jackey loyally accompanied his ill-fated friend Edmund Kennedy to Cape York.

William John Wills, second-in-command of the Burke and Wills expedition worked under Neumayer at the Flagstaff Observatory until the expedition departed from Melbourne on 20 August 1860.

He remained with Burke and Wills as far as the Darling River at Bilbarka, before returning to the settled districts of Victoria.

* Burke & Wills Web A comprehensive website containing many of the historical documents relating to the Burke & Wills Expedition.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.

The easiest way to get to the park is via the Burke & Wills Roadhouse.

Burke and Wills passed through the area in their famous 1860 – 61 expedition, setting up a base camp at nearby Menindee.

The venture became known as the Burke & Wills expedition, with the well-known and fatal outcomes.

Leichhardt ’ s failed attempt to make the first east – west crossing of the Australian continent may be compared with the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-61, which succeeded in crossing from south to north, but failed to return.

* Robert O ' Hara Burke ( 1821 – c. 28 June 1861 ) – Irish leader of the Burke and Wills expedition.

Map of the Burke and Wills expedition

In 1860 – 61, Robert O ' Hara Burke and William John Wills led an expedition of 19 men with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3, 250 kilometres ( approximately 2, 000 miles ).

Burke was selected by committee ballot as the leader, and Wills was recommended as surveyor, navigator and third-in-command.

Wills was more adept than Burke at living in the wilderness, but it was Burke's leadership that was especially detrimental to the mission.

Burke, Wills, John King and Charles Gray set off for the Gulf with six camels, one horse and enough food for just three months.

Brahe was ordered by Burke to wait for three months ; Wills, however, had the maps and was more conservative and had a more realistic view of the task ahead, and secretly instructed Brahe to wait for four months.

It was around this time as the musician's popularity increased that he acquired the nickname, " Soul Brother No. 1 ", after failing to win the title " King of Soul " from Solomon Burke during a Chicago gig two years prior.

The painting that first brought him into public notice, and gained him the acquaintance and patronage of Edmund Burke, was founded on an old tradition of the landing of St Patrick on the sea-coast of Cashel, ( this is a mistake reproduced from another source, Cashel is an inland town far from the sea ) and of the conversion and Baptism of the King of Cashel It was exhibited in London in 1762 or 1763 and rediscovered in the 1980s, in unexhibitable condition.

Burke was known as " King Solomon ," the " King of Rock ' n ' Soul ," and as the " Bishop of Soul ," and described as " the Muhammad Ali of soul ," and as " the most unfairly overlooked singer of soul's golden age.

" Despite his reservations, Burke, " accompanied by smooth backing vocals and an arrangement equal parts Nashville and Nat King Cole, gave it his best.

On October 26, 1962 Burke appeared on the bill at the Apollo Theatre that headlined James Brown, and was recorded and released as The Apollo Theatre Presents In Person The James Brown Show ( King 826 ) in May 1963.

In March 1963 Burke appeared again at Chicago's Regal Theater with Roy Hamilton, Ben E. King, Rufus Thomas, Jimmy Witherspoon, The Orlons, The Five Du-Tones, and The Four Dancing Ebonites.

After a string of a dozen hit records, by November 1963 Burke had agreed to be crowned the " King of Rock ' n ' Soul " in a ceremony at the Royal Theatre in Baltimore by local deejay Fred Robinson, known professionally as " Rockin ' Robin ", who also gave him a cape and crown that he always wore on stage.

Burke accepted the appellation the " King of Rock ' N ' Soul ", indicating " without soul, there'd be no rock and without rock, there'd be no soul.

" After the success of his " Papa's Got a Brand New Bag " in late 1965, James Brown, believing he deserved to be crowned " King of Soul ", hired Burke to perform for one night in Chicago, but ended up paying not to perform but rather to watch him perform instead, expecting Burke also to surrender his crown and title to him.

Burke performed again at The Regal Theater in Chicago with Dee Clark, Dionne Warwick, and Freddie King in February 1964.

From October 16 to November 9, 1964 Burke again toured the South on Henry Wynn's Supersonic Attractions Tour with Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, BB King, Chuck Jackson, and Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, with Jimi Hendrix a temporary member of his band.

" According to David Cantwell, in this period, " Burke quickly became a King without a kingdom.

Burke, who had met fellow preacher King several times, agreed to Atlantic Record assigning 5 % royalty on this single to the family of King.

In 1971 Burke toured with a 31-piece soul band on his " Peace Revival " tour to promote his King Heavy album.

King and Bobby Bland, in 1974 Burke signed with ABC Dunhill Records, where his main project was the soul concept album I Have a Dream ( Dunhill DSX 50161 ), a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr, where " the songs were built on key phrases from his speeches – " Now Is the Time ", " Mountain Top ", or from the aims of his crusade " Social Change "'.

In 1984 Rounder Records released Soul Alive !, a recording of Burke's 1981 live performances at the Phoenix 1 Club in Washington D. C., that was produced by King Solomon Haile Selassie Burke, Burke's youngest son, who " was just fourteen years old when he put the Souls Alive album out for me.

By 1997 Burke was signed by Jim Fifield, the President and CEO of EMI, to Point Blank Records, a subsidiary of Virgin Records, where he released an album The Definition of Soul, that was produced by one of his sons, King Solomon Haile Selassie Burke.

On November 8, 2003 Burke performed at Avo Session Basel in Switzerland, where he sang " Georgia on My Mind ", " Stand by Me ", " A Change is Gonna Come ", and " Proud Mary ', which was released on DVD as Solomon Burke: The King Live at Avo Session Basel.

The sessions produced the first recording of Griffin's " Up to the Mountain ( MLK Song )", which she brought to Burke because of his association with King and that era.

Burke and Wills left the camels behind with King and Gray at Camp CXIX ( Camp 119 ), and set off through the swamps, although after they decided to turn back.

Both Burke and Gray immediately came down with dysentery.

Gray was ill, but Burke thought he was " gammoning " ( pretending ).

On 25 March on the Burke River ( just south of what is now the town of Boulia ), Gray was caught stealing skilligolee ( a type of watery porridge ) and Burke beat him.

While the possibility that Burke killed Gray has been discounted, the severity of the beating Burke gave has been widely debated.

Burke, Wills, King and Gray left the Depôt for the Gulf of Carpentaria.

In that same year, when Gray indicated his desire to retire from the Navy, Arleigh Burke, the Chief of Naval Operations, told Gray " If you stay, you'll have my job some day.

The story was later adapted for an episode of the 1984-85 television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, David Burke as Doctor Watson and Charles Gray as Mycroft Holmes.

" His repertoire also included impressions of celebrities and well-known figures, including Al Gore, Bob Barker, John Kerry, Dr. Phil, Bill O ' Reilly, Maury Povich, Chris Martin, Steve Jobs, Mel Gibson, Chris Hansen, Roy Horn, Ozzy Osbourne, John Ramsey, Freddie Prinze, Jr., J. K. Simmons ( as Mac McGuff, Juno's father ), William Petersen ( as Gil Grissom ), Jack Coleman ( as Noah Bennet ), Hugh Laurie ( as Gregory House ), Hugh Beaumont ( as Ward Cleaver ), Sarah Jessica Parker ( as Carrie Bradshaw ), Dr. Drew, Adam Sandler, Howie Mandel, Dick Cheney, Clint Eastwood, Gray Davis, Simon Cowell, JC Chasez, Bruce Jenner, Michael Richards, Chris Burke, Charlie Sheen ( as Charlie Harper ( Two and a Half Men )), David Schwimmer ( as Ross Geller ), Jeff Probst, Tim Gunn ( Project Runway ), Howard K. Stern, Tommy Lee, Bob Goen, Criss Angel, Jeff Foxworthy, Saddam Hussein, Matthew Good, Daniel Powter, Larry David, Barry Gibb, Eddie Vedder, and Brad Garrett.

A Bill of Divorcement describes a day in the lives of a middle-aged British woman named Margaret " Meg " Fairfield ( Burke ); her daughter Sydney ( Hepburn ); Sydney's fiancé Kit Humphreys ( Manners ); Meg's fiancé Gray Meredith ( Cavanagh ); and Meg's husband Hilary ( Barrymore ), who escapes after spending almost twenty years in a mental hospital.

The small team of Burke, William Wills, John King and Charley Gray reached the mangroves on the estuary of the Flinders River, near where the town of Normanton now stands, on 9 February 1861.

Burke, Wills, John King and Charley Gray reached the mangroves on the estuary of the Flinders River, near where the town of Normanton now stands, on 9 February 1861.