Several natural barriers prevented the early development of the inner country, the 'Blue Mountains to the northwest of Sydney and the Australian Alps between NSW and Victoria (VIC). The sheer size of the country to the west and to the north prevented many early expeditions, bearing in mind that almost nothing was known about the terrain, access to or availability of water. The Blue Mountains were crossed for the first time in 1813 and it wasn't until 1824 that explorers Hume & Hovell finally reached Port Phillip Bay in VIC for the first time.  Charles Sturt traversed from Sydney to South Australia (SA) following the Murray River, while Mitchell followed the Lachlan River into VIC. He then travelled south down to Portland on the south coast before returning in a NW direction to Sydney. In 1840 Eyre made the journey to Lake Eyre and west to Albany (WA), the lake & highway now bears his name. In 1844 Leichhardt left NSW going north via the coastal route, crossing the Mitchell River in Queensland (QLD),  before striking out across the south end of the 'Gulf of Carpentaria' before reaching Port Essington at the northern most tip of the Northern Territory (NT). Later, a second expedition from east to west led by Leichhardt disappeared without trace.

The ill-fated expedition of Burke & Wills left Melbourne on 20th August 1860 and lasted for 2 years. Robert O'Hara Burke an ex-policeman and William John Wills a topographer and 13 other inexperienced souls who had little or no idea of what lay before them, set out with 25 camels, 27 horses, 2 wagons, 70 gallons of rum and 21 tons of equipment to find a way to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The princely sum of 9000 pounds had been raised for the trip, half went on importing the 25 camels in from Afghanistan. Landell who was to care for the camels convinced all, that the best thing for a sick camel was rum (?), thus 70 galls was taken along. They had enough food for 18 months, including a big stock of lemon juice for scurvy and sugar for emergency energy. They also had a veritable arsenal with them. No one questioned the ability of just 4 men to handle all the animals. From the first day they were in trouble, heavy rains turning the roads into quagmires and the wagons overloaded. When they reached Swan Hill they made their first major mistake, by lightening  the wagons by selling off the lemon juice and most of the sugar. By the time they reached the 'Menindee Lakes' system in early October an open rift had appeared between Burke and Landell who left the party and returned to Melbourne. The group then split into two, one group going on to Camp 65 at 'Coopers Creek' and the rest staying at Menindee. They completed the trip of 372 miles in a remarkable 25 days. 

Here again they split up, Burke, Wills, Gray & King with 6 camels and a horse entered the great unknown and struck out for the Gulf, 744 miles ahead of them. By this time in mid-December they were already short of food, getting farther north they entered the tropical area of QLD and were further hampered by heavy rain, mud and mosquitoes. Leaving Gray, King  and the animals, Burke & Wills set out on foot alone, finally reaching the Gulf in late January 1861. They retraced their steps and with Gray & King set out for Coopers Creek once more. On the 17th April Gray died. Only 2 camels now survived to make it back to Camp 65. When they staggered in to camp they were devastated to find that the base party who had waited for over 3months had left just 3 hours earlier in the opposite direction.

A message found carved into a tree indicated that small cache of food was left buried at the base of the tree (right), but this was soon gone and finally they had to depend on the local aborigines to survive. But, it was all too late!  Burke died 30 June and Wills a few days later. King was found later by the natives and survived, the only one of the original party to do so. The expedition was doomed from the start because of ignorance, lack of correct planning and total disregard for the native people who live and exist very well in the area. To them it wasn't a waste land but a place where they have lived, migrated back and forth for countless of centuries. If they had taken the time to meet, talk and ask for their help, the expedition might have reached a successful conclusion.  

In 1872 the overland telegraph line was completed, heralding the end for the main exploration as we know it.

One of the last true explorers Ernest Giles and a small party then followed the Finke River north  and discovered the well known oasis 'Palm Valley'. Later he led another party to try and find a way across the red centre to WA. Travelling further south to avoid the huge salt lake he named Lake Amadeus, he was again defeated by the harsh conditions and the desert. They lost a young stockman called 'Gibson' who became lost and the desert was aptly named the "Gibson Desert'. In May 1875 yet another party left Beltana north of Port Augusta in SA with 22 camels and an afghan camel driver named Sahleh, 5 others including an aboriginal tracker. For the next 6 months they trekked endlessly over hostile terrain. They all nearly died but were saved by the black tracker who followed tracks made by an emu to a waterhole near what is now Kalgoorlie. In November they reached the most outlaying sheep station and were spared. They later turned south west and headed towards Perth. Giles returned by a different route, he trekked north to Geraldton then crossed the Sandy Desert finally reached Charlotte Waters just north of Coopers Creek, the scene of the Burke & Wills saga. Brothers John & Alexander Forrest also made significant contributions and surveyed huge areas of WA and the Kimberley region. They also crossed west to east from Geraldton, following the Murchison River to its source, then east to a point near Peake Telegraph Station in SA in 1874. As their map shows, they covered a lot of territory.

Others who accomplished famous deeds were Capt Mathew Flinders who made a circum- navigation and also plotted the coastline and many islands. George Bass who proved that Tasmania was not a part of the mainland and these islands were named after them, when their exploits were completed. These intrepid explorers were without doubt, instrumental in forming the stepping stones to where we are today. We owe them a great deal.!!