William John Wills - Early Years, Burke and Wills Expedition

Explorer, born in Devon, SW England, UK. He studied medicine, became a surveyor of crown lands in Victoria, Australia, and was second-in-command of Robert O'Hara Burke's ill-fated expedition to the N of Australia, on which he died of starvation.

He achieved fame as the second-in-command of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, which 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. See Burke and Wills expedition.

Early Years

Wills was born in Totnes in Devon on 5 January 1834 and was educated at St Andrews Grammar School, Ashburton. Wills father, Dr William Wills Snr., followed the boys out to Australia, arriving in October 1853 and the three moved to Ballarat. William John Wills worked as a digger and a buyer for a bank. Wills lived in Dorcas Street, South Melbourne until 1859 when he moved into the Observatory.

Burke and Wills Expedition

See 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, Robert O'Hara Burke was appointed to leader of the expedition and in July 1860 Wills was appointed Third-in-Command, surveyor and astronomical observer. The reached Menindee on 23 September 1860 where several people resigned, including the second-in-command, George James Landells, and Wills was promoted to Second-in-Command.

Coopers Creek, 400 miles further on, was reached on 11 November 1860 by the advanced group, the remainder being intended to catch up. The small team of Burke, 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.

They attempted to reach Mount Hopeless, the furthest outpost of pastoral settlement in South Australia, which was closer than Menindie, but failed and returned to Cooper Creek. While waiting for rescue Wills became exhausted and was unable to continue. Wills died alone at a place called Breerily Waterhole on Coopers Creek in South Australia. 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.