The Dig Tree

Easy to rate - I thought it was great, and give it 4.5 stars, settling for 4 - harder to wrap a review around it.

Murgatroyd does a great job of distilling out the information and presenting it in a readable narrative, with a simple time-line, and isolating out those facts which can't be proven beyond speculation clearly so that all the relevant detail can be absorbed. It has excellent pace, and a very well managed structure so as not to bog the reader down in possibilities and variables (except where necessary).

It tells not only the story of Burke and Wills, and their expedition, but extensively deals with Stuarts various expeditions happening concurrently with B&W. This was handled masterfully, as it had the potential to be a complex and confusing mess. Added to these, the start of the book (and also the end) tell of the relevant exploring and expeditions which occurred before (and after) the 1860 expedition.

This book exposes the rivalry between the individual states of Victoria and South Australia battling for the overland telegraph route - and the political manipulating behind the scenes. It shows the Victoria Philosophical Institute (which became the Royal Society of Victoria), the Exploration Committee, and the Exploration Fund Committee as being inept, factional, having personal or hidden agenda, and lacking in adequate process. Similarly it exposes the poor planning and inadequacy of the expedition team, its instructions and the equipment. Burke seemed to utilise a divide and rule process - putting on the outer those he meant to remove from the expedition (eg the scientists, the artist, etc), and to turn the expedition into a footrace.

The best example of the poor planning is the shear volume of equipment they collected, without sufficient camels, horses and wagons to transport it. Nevertheless they hired extra and transported it part of the way, only to leave a lot behind and sell other parts. The confusion of the rescue party when they viewed those items left behind (medicine, limejuice etc), when they took items unnecessary (only to abandon them later) showed how out of their depth the Committee and the expedition leaders were.

The miracle, if anything, is how close they were to succeeding, despite the lack of organisation.

There is a sad side to the story too. Despite his flaws, Burke was a driven man who, wills wills and King, achieved incredible feats of endurance (despite marking it incredibly hard for themselves), and only through some quirks in communication, were not saved and able to make their way back with William Wrights backup team to what would likely have been the glory Burke was seeking. Wills also proved incredibly hardy, despite all odds. The sadness of dying of starvation, and not thirst in a place with so many realistic options to provide food - the Aboriginals even fed them for a long period before tiring of them - all they needed to do was learn.

So with a sad end to the expedition, the book turns to the enquiry into the expedition, and to the scapegoat who takes the lions share of the blame - very unfairly. Meanwhile the Committee get mild rebuke, and Burke and Wills maintain a heroic standing.

It is a great read, and well worth seeking out for those with an interest in Australian history, exploration and expeditions in the 1860s, or just a train wreck rolling out in slow motion.