Devil Been Walkabout Tonight

Devil Been Walkabout Tonight focuses on the last three months of Robert O’Hara Burke, William John Wills, and John King on Cooper’s Creek. The original expedition, which set out in August 1860, aimed to explore the centre and northern reaches of the Australian continent. The expedition essentially concluded with the death of Burke and Wills on Cooper’s Creek from starvation and illness in late June and early July 1861.

The tragedy was a sliding doors moment in history. Burke, Wills, and King arrived back at the famous ‘Dig Tree’ campsite on the same day that this manned outpost decided to pack up and return south towards Menindie. They missed each other by a matter of hours.

Over the last few decades, revisionist history has attempted to place Burke, Wills, and the sole survivor King, within the paradigm of ‘stupid, arrogant white fellas’ who ignored the wisdom and help of the Yandruwandha people, who had successfully carved out a niche along and around Cooper’s Creek. The story, as told by the participants through their diaries, letters, journals, and oral history from members of the Yandruwandha clan, tells a completely different story. The three men appreciated that their very survival was dependent on the Yandruwandha, and much time was spent trying to keep good relations with the local indigenous clan, with a few odd exceptions.

Overall, relations between the two groups were good, and it was for this reason that King survived with the help of the Yandruwandha people—without them, he too would have died. This book places the death of Burke and Wills, and the generosity and good will of the Yandruwandha clan, in its proper historical context.