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John King (explorer)

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John King (15 December 1838–15 January 1872) was an Irish soldier who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the sole survivor of the four men from the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition who reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Burke and Wills expedition was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Contents

Early years

He was born at Moy in the county of Tyrone, Ireland on the 15 December 1838 to Henry King and Ellen Orn. King was educated at the Royal Hibernian School in Dublin before joining the 70th Regiment at the age of 14. In October 1853 he was posted to Peshewar in north-west India where he worked as a teacher. In 1857 he was involved in the Indian Mutiny and was involved in some of the principal engagements. He suffered a severe illness for some 16 months and went to Karachi to convalesce. During his convalescence he met George Landells.

Australia

Landells had been sent to India by the Victorian Government to purchase 24 camels to be used for exploration of the Australian desert. King had obtained his army discharge and was engaged by Landells to supervise the Indian sepoys who had charge of the camels. King and the 24 camels arrived in Melbourne on 8th June 1860. They were accommodated at improvised stables at the Victorian Parliament House grounds in Spring Street and later moved to Royal Park from whence the Expedition left 20 August 1860.

Robert O'Hara Burke was appointed leader of the expedition and George Landells was second-in-command. King was appointed as one of the Expedition Assistants on a salary of £120 a year. Early in the expedition George Landells resigned following an argument with Burke and John King was placed in charge of the camels.

Burke and Wills expedition

In September 1858 the South Australian explorer, John McDouall Stuart had reached the centre of Australia and in July 1859 the South Australian parliament offered a reward of £2,000 for the promotion of an expedition to cross the continent from south to north. In May 1860, Burke was appointed to lead the Victorian Exploring Expedition with William John Wills as surveyor and astronomical observer.

The expediton left Melbourne on 20 August 1860 with a total of 19 men, 27 camels and 23 horses. The reached Menindee on 23 September 1860 where several people resigned, including the second-in-command, George James Landells and the medical officer, Dr. Hermann Beckler.

Coopers Creek, 400 miles further on, was reached on 11 November 1860 by the advanced group, the remainder being intended to catch up. After a break, Burke decided to make a dash to the Gulf of Carpentaria, leaving on 16 December 1860. William Brahe was left in charge of the remaining party. The small team of Burke, William Wills, John King and Charley Gray reached the mangroves on the estuary of the Flinders River, near where the town of Normanton now stands, on 9 February 1861. Flooding rains and swamps meant they never saw open ocean.

Already weakened by starvation and exposure, progress on the return journey was slow and hampered by the tropical monsoon downpours of the wet season. Gray died four days before they reached the rendezvous at Cooper Creek. The other three rested for a day when they buried him. They eventually reached the rendezvous point on 21 April 1861, 9 hours after the rest of the party had given up waiting and left, leaving a note and some food, as they had not been relieved by the party supposed to be returning from Menindie.

They attempted to reach Mount Hopeless, the furthest extent of settlement in South Australia, which was closer than Menindie, but failed and returned to Cooper Creek. While waiting for rescue Wills died of exhaustion and starvation. Soon after, Burke also died, at a place now called Burke's Waterhole on Coopers Creek in South Australia. The exact date of Burke's death is uncertain, but has generally been accepted to be 28 June 1861.

King survived with the help of Aborigines until he was rescued in September by Alfred William Howitt. Howitt buried Burke and Wills before returning to Melbourne. In 1862 Howitt returned to Coopers Creek and disinterred Burke and Wills' bodies, taking them first to Adelaide and then by steamer to Melbourne where they were laid in state for two weeks. On 23 January 1863 Burke and Wills received a State Funeral and were buried in Melbourne General Cemetery.

After the expedition

Howitt returned King to Melbourne where he was hailed as a hero and mobbed by the admiring colonists of Victoria. King received a gold watch and a pension of £180 a year from the Royal Society of Victoria and he was present at the inauguration of the Burke & Wills statue on the corner of Collins and Russel Streets in Melbourne on the fourth anniversary of their return to Coopers Creek 21st April 1865.

King lived with his sister at St Kilda and in September 1871 he married his cousin, Mary Richmond. He never fully recovered from the privations suffered whilst living with the Aborigines on Coopers Creek and he died prematurely on 15th January 1872 aged 33.

References

See also

External links

 

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