In Australia, the most famous expedition was a disaster. The "Burke and Wills" expedition left Royal Park (Melbourne) in August 1860. There were 16 men with 27 camels, 23 horses and 21 tonnes of baggage. Within a few days there was trouble. Burke accused Landells, his deputy, of drinking the rum which was being carried to prevent scurvy among the camels. Landells left the expedition and William Wills, a surveyor, became deputy. Neither Burke nor Will was an experienced bushman and neither had ever been into desert country.
The party stayed at Maiden's Hotel Menindee for a a few weeks. Today Menindee, on the Darling River, is 130 km east of Broken Hill. In 1860 Menindee was a river port through which passed supplies for the sheep stations and wool for sale.

Leaving Menindee the party travelled along the Darling River for 300 km.
About 10 weeks after leaving Melbourne, the party left the river and known water Burke now became impatient. He split the expedition in two. Burke's group of 8 men with camels, horses and light provisions hurried ahead. They covered about 700 km in 23 days and arrived at Cooper's Creek, where they found a big waterhole (along stretch of water) with abundant fish and mussels. Here they waited for the rest of the party to bring the heavy supplies.

By late December, Burke could wait no longer. Temperatures were often above 40^o C, but thunderstorm activity gave hope of water further north. Burke, Wills, King and Gray set off the Gulf of Carpenteria.
On February 11, they reached mangroves which they could not penetrate. They had reached the Gulf but could not reach the sea. They observed tidal movement in a nearby creek.

They started on the return journey but it was wet season in the tropics and they covered only 160 km in 4 weeks. As they staggered south, Grey died of scurvy on April 17. They reached the camp on Cooper's Creek on April 21 to find it deserted.
They decided to walk to Adelaide but the country was in drought, they were forced to return to Cooper's Creek. Food was exhausted. They ate nardoo "seeds" - actually storage roots of the fern.
The "desert" aborigines eat nardoo but they grind it to a flour, make a dough and bake it. Burke, Wills and King ate it raw.
Burke, Wills and King were on a low thiamin diet, no meat, no nuts, only an occasional fish.
Raw nardoo roots contain thiaminase. They quickly developed beri-beri. Only King was alive when the relief party arrived.

The Burke and Wills expedition cost the enormous sum of 20,000 pounds and the lives of six men.