ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

The Dig Tree

How could this be, that after months of hell,
Of endless miles of blasted deserts crossed,
That now but this blazed coolibah to tell
The wretched men, for them all hope is lost.

There on its trunk the message cut so clear
That but nine hours before their comrades left,
And now these three can sense the end is near
As Burke regrets the folly that had cleft

His party all those months before, when he
Had dashed with King and Gray and Wills
To reach the gulf, now but this wounded tree
To mark where buried store, such bitter pills

That at the end of this great quest delay
The deaths of brave men, starved and weak
Abandoned on this melancholy day
By Bullah Bullah on the Cooper Creek.


© Dennis N. O'Brien, 2011, 2012

Just a shame he didn't have the wit to recruit the support of the locals, rather than alienate them the way he did.

I've been reading up on this disaster and it
really was an expedition put together by a committee and with the expected results.
At a time when the place was awash with skilled bushmen who would
have made it a success, virtually none seem to have been included in the party.
It was badly planned, badly led by Burke by all accounts and on top of that had incredible bad luck.
As an example apparently none of those left at the Creek while Burke etc, went to
the Gulf knew how to catch fish.