John King (explorer)

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John King (15 December 1838 – 15 January 1872) was an Irish soldier who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the sole survivor of the four men from the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition who reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition was the first to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

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[edit] Early years

He was born at Moy in County Tyrone, Ireland on 15 December 1838 to Henry King and Ellen Orn. King was one of four children, he had two older brothers, William and Samuel and one sister. He was educated at the Royal Hibernian School at Phoenix Park in Dublin before joining the 70th Regiment on 15 January 1853 at the age of 14. King was sent to Chatham and then posted to India, where the Regiment had been stationed since 1848. He arrived on 28 September 1858 and was stationed in Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province where he worked as a teacher. In 1857 he was involved in the Indian Mutiny and was involved in some of the principal engagements. He suffered a severe illness and spent sixteen months convalescing in the Rawalpindi District, probably at Murree. He met George Landells at Muridke early in 1860.

[edit] Australia

George James Landells had been sent to India by the Victorian Government to purchase 24 camels to be used for exploration of the Australian desert. King had obtained his army discharge and was engaged by Landells to supervise the Indian sepoys who had charge of the camels. King and the 24 camels arrived in Melbourne on 8 June 1860. They were accommodated at improvised stables at the Victorian Parliament House grounds in Spring Street and later moved to Royal Park from whence the Expedition left 20 August 1860.

[edit] Burke and Wills expedition

Main article: Burke and Wills expedition

Robert O'Hara Burke was appointed leader of the Victorian Exploring Expedition with Landells as second-in-command. William John Wills was surveyor and astronomical observer and King was appointed as one of the Expedition Assistants on a salary of £120 a year.

The expedition left Melbourne on 20 August 1860 with a total of 19 men, 27 camels and 23 horses. They reached Menindee on 16 October 1860 where Landells resigned following an argument with Burke. Wills was promoted to second-in-command and King was placed in charge of the camels.

Burke split the expedition at Menindee and the lead party reached Coopers Creek on 11 November 1860 where they formed a depot. The remaining men were expected to follow up from Menindee and so after a break, Burke decided to make a dash to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Burke split the party again and left on 16 December 1860, placing William Brahe in charge of the depot on Coopers Creek. Burke, Wills, 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. Flooding rains and swamps meant they never saw open ocean.

Already weakened by starvation and exposure, progress on the return journey was slow and hampered by the tropical monsoon downpours of the wet season. Gray died four days before they reached the depot at Cooper Creek and the other three took a day to bury him. They eventually reached the depot on 21 April 1861 to find the men had not arrived from Menindee and Brahe and the Depot Party had given up waiting and left just 9 hours earlier. Brahe had buried a note and some food underneath a tree which is now known as the Dig Tree.

Burke, Wills and King attempted to reach Mount Hopeless, the furthest extent of settlement in South Australia, which was closer than Menindie, but failed and returned to Cooper Creek. While waiting for rescue Burke and Wills died of exhaustion and starvation. The exact date of their deaths is uncertain, but has generally been accepted to be 28 June 1861.

King survived with the help of Aborigines until he was rescued in September by Alfred William Howitt. Howitt buried Burke and Wills before returning to Melbourne. In 1862 Howitt returned to Coopers Creek and disinterred Burke and Wills' bodies, taking them first to Adelaide and then by steamer to Melbourne where they were laid in state for two weeks. On 23 January 1863 Burke and Wills received a State Funeral and were buried in Melbourne General Cemetery.

[edit] After the expedition

Burke and Wills Statue on the corner of Collins and Swanston Street, Melbourne
Burke and Wills Statue on the corner of Collins and Swanston Street, Melbourne

Howitt returned King to Melbourne where he was hailed as a hero and mobbed by the admiring colonists of Victoria. King received a gold watch and a pension of £180 a year from the Royal Society of Victoria and he was present at the inauguration of the Burke & Wills statue on the corner of Collins and Russel Streets in Melbourne on the fourth anniversary of their return to Coopers Creek 21 April 1865.

King lived with his sister in Octavia Street, St Kilda and in September 1871 he married his cousin, Mary Richmond. He never fully recovered from the privations suffered while on the Expedition and he died prematurely of pulmonary tuberculosis on 15 January 1872 aged 33. His pall-bearers were Ferdinand von Mueller, Dr David Wilkie and Inspector J M Gilmour. He is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

[edit] References

  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
  • This article also incorporates text from the public domain Australian Dictionary of Biography
  • The [Melbourne] Argus, 1861. "The Burke and Wills exploring expedition: An account of the crossing the continent of Australia from Cooper Creek to Carpentaria, with biographical sketches of Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills". Melbourne: Wilson and Mackinnon.
  • Attwood, Alan, 2003. Burke's Soldier. Melbourne, Penguin. ISBN 0-14-300082-9. (a fictionalised account of King's experiences)
  • Bonyhady, Tim, 1991. Burke and Wills: From Melbourne to myth. Balmain: David Ell Press. ISBN 0-908197-91-8.
  • Burke and Wills Outback Conference 2003, 2005. The Inaugural Burke & Wills Outback Conference : Cloncurry 2003 : a collation of presentations. Dave Phoenix, Cairns Qld. ISBN 0-646-44702-5
  • Clune, Frank, 1937. Dig: A drama of central Australia. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
  • Corke, David G, 1996. The Burke and Wills Expedition: A study in evidence. Melbourne: Educational Media International. ISBN 0-909178-16-X
  • Henry, William, 1997. The shimmering waste: The life and times of Robert O'Hara Burke. Galway, Ireland.: W Henry Publisher. ISBN 0-906312-46-9
  • Howitt, Alfred William, 1907. "Personal reminiscences of Central Australia and the Burke and Wills Expedition: Presidents inaugural address". Journal of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. 1907 (Adelaide, 1907.), 43p.
  • Jackson, Andrew, 1862. Robert O'Hara Bourke [sic] and the Australian Exploring Expedition of 1860. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  • Manwaring, William Henry, 1970. "A contemporary’s view of Robert O’Hara Burke". La Trobe Library Journal. Vol. 2 (No. 6).
  • Murgatroyd, Sarah, 2002. The Dig Tree. Melbourne: Text Publishing. ISBN 1-877008-08-7
  • Victoria: Parliament, 1862. Burke and Wills Commission. Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into and report upon the circumstances connected with the sufferings and death of Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills, the Victorian Explorers. Melbourne: John Ferres Government Printer.
  • Wills, William John, & Wills, Dr William, 1863. A successful exploration through the interior of Australia, from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria: from the journals and letters of William John Wills. London: Richard Bentley.

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