One hundred and fifty years ago Melbourne came to a standstill for the funeral procession of Robert O’Hara Burke (1821-1861) and William John Wills (1834-1861).
The Burke and Wills funeral procession, IMP24/01/63/8-9
Burke and Wills had set out from Melbourne on 20 August 1860, with a group of 19 men, to travel across Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Their aim was to find out more about Australia’s uncharted interior. However by 1861, with no contact received from the explorers, it was obvious that something had gone terribly wrong with the expedition. In June 1861 the exploration committee organised a relief party led by Alfred William Howitt, which left Melbourne on June 26. This was one of several relief expeditions that set out to search for Burke and Wills.
At Loddon River Howitt ran into William Brahe, one of the members of the expedition, who had been left in charge of the camp when Burke and Wills, short on supplies and accompanied by John King and Charles Gray, set off on a dash from Cooper’s Creek to the Gulf of Carpentaria. When Brahe told them that he did not know the whereabouts of Burke and Wills, Howitt decided that a much larger rescue party would be required.
On September 15 Howitt reached Cooper’s Creek, where he found John King, the last survivor of the Burke and Wills expedition. King had survived thanks to help of local Yandruwandha Aborigines, who offered him food and shelter. It was not long later that Howitt found the remains of Burke and Wills, and buried them at Cooper’s Creek (now called Cooper Creek). The pair had died from malnutrition after they missed Brahe’s waiting relief party by only hours, then set off in a final desperate attempt to reach the settlements of South Australia.
The Argus, Jan 22, 1863
In Melbourne it was decided that Burke and Wills should be reburied with full honours, and Howitt was sent to retrieve their remains. In January 1863 the remains lay in state in the hall of the Royal Society of Victoria for two weeks, where they were viewed by more than 100,000 people. The funeral was held on 21 January 1863, and was Victoria’s first state funeral. It was reported that the procession lasted for four city blocks and that 40,000 people attended, the largest crowd ever seen in Melbourne. The Argus newspaper declared that ‘with all honour the people of Victoria have interred their first heroes’. You can read a full report of the funeral procession, published 22 January 1863, in the Argus newspaper online.
Burke and Wills were buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.
You can find out more about the Burke and Wills expedition on the Library’s Dig website, which includes:
- information about what happened before, during and after the expedition
- biographies of key players in the expedition and the relief efforts
- copies of original documents and artefacts relating to the expedition
- a guide to Burke and Wills documents held in libraries and museums across the world.
Written by Debra Hutchinson
Librarian, Australian History & Literature Team
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Australia’s First State Funeral not Burke & Wills, Melbourne, 1863 !
Burke & Wills’ funeral, in 1863, may have been Victoria’s first state funeral, however it cannot have been Australia’s first state funeral.
Over twenty-three years prior, on 10 October 1839, in Adelaide, South Australia, the Province’s first Surveyor-General Colonel William Light (27 April 1786 – 6 Oct 1839), planner and founder of the City of Adelaide, was interred in Light Square with a state funeral and military honours. The funeral procession progressed from his home at Theberton, through the Adelaide Park Lands to a service in Trinity Church, North Terrace, Adelaide, and thence to burial in Light Square.
Therefore, rather than Burke & Wills, Melbourne, 1863, Australia’s first state funeral would have been that of William Light, 10 October 1839, Adelaide, South Australia.
Thanks for your comments and information K. Henderson. We are happy to amend the statement- to Victoria’s first.
Paul