Everyone has heard of the explorers Burke and Wills, who died when attempting to cross the Australian continent in 1861, but few will know of William Landsborough, a quiet unassuming man who in the middle of the 19th century explored and opened up vast areas of land in north-eastern Australia to settlement and farming.He was considered such a good bushman and explorer that he was chosen to lead one of the four search parties sent out to look for Burke and Wills in 1861. ...

The tragic story of the Burke and Wills expedition is now part of Australian folklore and we know the sad irony that by the time that the relief parties set out, only one member of Burke’s party, John King, was still alive. But in 1861, with none of the rapid means of communication we now enjoy, all the people of Victoria knew was that the explorers were long overdue on their return trip to the Gulf of Carpentaria. In 1860, Victoria and South Australia were involved in...