Artefact sparks new interest in Burke and Wills expedition

Updated April 08, 2008 10:56:00

The Simpson Desert in South Australia's far north is as remote as it is hostile.

While few people choose to spend time here, for two brothers from Adelaide a chance discovery unearthed a rare link with Australia's most famous explorers, Burke and Wills.

Eric and Klaus Ganzert make their living restoring houses, but it was during a fishing trip to Cooper Creek seven years ago that they discovered a medal.

"I saw this thing sticking out in this low sand dune and originally I thought it was an ear tag or something like that," Eric Ganzert told The 7.30 Report.

"There was probably about a third of it sticking out. I pulled it out of the sand and basically the sand fell away and it said,'Burke, Wills and King, 1861'.

"I showed it to my brother and started getting a bit hysterical. He probably thought I was bitten by a snake.

"We basically didn't know what to do, so we packed up then and there to go back to Adelaide to think about what it was."

'Highly significant'

Amateur historian Dave Phoenix says the medal is a highly significant item.

"The Burke and Wills expedition is the most famous of all of Australia's exploration attempts and this is a direct link to the events that took place in Cooper Creek in 1861," he said.

The epic journey that has inspired artists and filmmakers saw Robert Burke, William Wills and the lesser known Charlie Gray and John King trek from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

But they struggled to return, dragging themselves to Cooper Creek only to discover their support party had given up on them and left hours earlier. The only support they had came from the local Aboriginal population.

Tim Bonyhady, from the Australian National University, says Burke and Wills were in a terrible condition at that point, both mentally and physically.

First Gray, then both Burke and Wills died of starvation. But King, 21, with the help of the Yondruwandha people, slowly returned to health.

Dave Phoenix, who runs a website dedicated to Burke and Wills, says King survived because the local Aboriginal people took him in, cared for him and showed him how to make shelter.

"King [later] explained how the Yondruwandha treated him as one of their own," he said.

Mr Phoenix says that in the 1860s, when social Darwinism was at its height, the thought that Aboriginal people should show compassion was a radical idea in colonial society.

"So when the Royal Society decided to send Howlett back to recover the remains of Burke and Wills they also decided they wanted to thank the Yondruwandha people for their actions," he said.

"They had three of these plates made up and they called them medals."

Aaron Paterson, a descendent of those who helped Burke, Wills and King, says the stories have come down through generations, including a description as King as a kind of gofer for Burke and Wills.

"Our people have passed on that we thought it was a bit humorous that he was a bit like a woman, because he was running around waiting on Burke and Wills all the time," he said.

Sale halted

Although they discovered and plate in 2001, it was not until last year that Eric and Klaus Ganzert decided to sell it. But as soon as it was listed for auction, the sale was halted by the South Australian Government.

"I've exercised my powers under the Aboriginal Heritage Act to protect that breast plate to ensure that it's not sold, to ensure that it doesn't leave this state without my permission," Jay Weatherill, SA Aboriginal Affairs Minister said.

Under the act, the brothers potentially faced a jail term for their discovery.

After months of negotiation, a deal was brokered that the plate can be sold with the profits divided between the brothers and the Yondruwandha.

But the auction is conditional upon the item remaining in Australia, being available for public display and copies being made for all parties.

"Short of having it back, we thought if we're going to reach agreement, we're going to have to give and take," Mr Paterson said.

"Our main focus was that it be kept and preserved and not leave Australian shores."

The question now is what is the medal worth and where will it end up?

"Most of the significant Burke and Wills relics have for a long time been in museum collections like the National Library or the library in Victoria, or in various museums," Mr Bonyhady said."There've been very few it seems in private hands."

Money aside, the Ganzert brothers look forward to the sale so they can get off the legal and emotional roller coaster they've been riding since making the discovery.

"There's another two of them out there. If we find another one, we'll keep it a secret," Eric Ganzert said.

Topics: 19th-century, community-and-society, history, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, innamincka-5731, australia, sa

First posted April 08, 2008 09:34:00