The Dig Tree: The Story of Burke and Wills
Wills knew that he was fading fastest. On 26 June, he decided the only honourable thing to do was to sacrifice himself to save his companions. 'Without some change,' he wrote, 'I see little chance for any of us.'
In 1860, an eccentric Irish police officer named Robert O'Hara Burke led a cavalcade of camels, wagons and men out of Melbourne. Accompanied by William Wills, a shy English scientist, he was prepared to risk everything to become the first European to cross the Australian continent.
A few months later, an ancient coolibah tree at Cooper Creek bore a strange carving: 'Dig Under 3ft NW'. Burke, Wills and five other men were dead. The expedition had become an astonishing tragedy.
Sarah Murgatroyd reveals new historical and scientific evidence to tell the story of the disaster with all its heroism and romance, its discoveries, coincidences and lost opportunities. Generously illustrated with photographs, paintings and maps, The Dig Tree is a spell-binding book.
Sarah Murgatroyd was born in England in 1967, and grew up on a farm in Sussex.
After a year spent wandering through China, India and the Himalayas, she gained an honours degree in philosophy and literature at Warwick University and then studied broadcast journalism at Cardiff University.
Murgatroyd's journalism career began with local radio in Bournemouth; it was interrupted by her diagnosis with breast cancer at the age of twenty-five. She entered a stage of aggressive treatment and then, in her unstoppable way, joined the BBC Radio 5 Live network.
In 1993, she resigned and moved to Australia with her future husband. She travelled extensively, providing news and current affairs coverage for the BBC. To research The Dig Tree, Murgatroyd retraced the footsteps of Burke and Wills. Under normal circumstances this is a difficult journey but she completed it three times while enduring chronic pain. She carried an emergency jar of morphine with her on her travels.
Sarah Murgatroyd died of cancer in March 2002, a few weeks after The Dig Tree was published to universal acclaim.
Author: Sarah Murgatroyd
Format: Paperback, 400 pages, 128mm x 198mm
Published: 2012, Text Publishing, Australia
Genre: History: Specific Subjects
Wills knew that he was fading fastest. On 26 June, he decided the only honourable thing to do was to sacrifice himself to save his companions. 'Without some change,' he wrote, 'I see little chance for any of us.'
In 1860, an eccentric Irish police officer named Robert O'Hara Burke led a cavalcade of camels, wagons and men out of Melbourne. Accompanied by William Wills, a shy English scientist, he was prepared to risk everything to become the first European to cross the Australian continent.
A few months later, an ancient coolibah tree at Cooper Creek bore a strange carving: 'Dig Under 3ft NW'. Burke, Wills and five other men were dead. The expedition had become an astonishing tragedy.
Sarah Murgatroyd reveals new historical and scientific evidence to tell the story of the disaster with all its heroism and romance, its discoveries, coincidences and lost opportunities. Generously illustrated with photographs, paintings and maps, The Dig Tree is a spell-binding book.
Sarah Murgatroyd was born in England in 1967, and grew up on a farm in Sussex.
After a year spent wandering through China, India and the Himalayas, she gained an honours degree in philosophy and literature at Warwick University and then studied broadcast journalism at Cardiff University.
Murgatroyd's journalism career began with local radio in Bournemouth; it was interrupted by her diagnosis with breast cancer at the age of twenty-five. She entered a stage of aggressive treatment and then, in her unstoppable way, joined the BBC Radio 5 Live network.
In 1993, she resigned and moved to Australia with her future husband. She travelled extensively, providing news and current affairs coverage for the BBC. To research The Dig Tree, Murgatroyd retraced the footsteps of Burke and Wills. Under normal circumstances this is a difficult journey but she completed it three times while enduring chronic pain. She carried an emergency jar of morphine with her on her travels.
Sarah Murgatroyd died of cancer in March 2002, a few weeks after The Dig Tree was published to universal acclaim.