Brahe agreed to this suggestion and the two men moved their horses to the fateful tree, and tethered them there to stamp their hoofs, and drop fresh dung upon the very spot where, eighteen inches below the surface, there was a bottle containing the entire narrative by Wills of the expedition to Carpentaria, together with letters from both Wills and Burke stating that they were going slowly down the creek on the Mount Hopeless trail.
    While the horses stamped above this sand-smothered secret, Brahe stared at the words—DIG—3ft—NW—which he himself had carved.
    The words seemed to be imploring him to obey their instruction, but he was deaf to the appeal. The galahs in the trees screeched “Dig!” but he did not understand their language. The leaves of the coolabah rustled “Dig!” repeating the mute message carved on its trunk. “Dig! Dig” sighed the wind, but Wright and Brahe did not—dig. They strolled about the Depot, yarning, smoking, and wondering what had become of Burke.
    Frank Clune, one of two great Australian popular historians, colourfully tells the tale of Burke and Wills in DIG, which says it all.
    The Victorian Exploring Expedition set out amid gala scenes in the 20th August 1860, led by Robert O’Hara Burke. With him went William John Wills, an English gentleman, a surveyor and pathfinder for the expedition.
    In fact they were engaged in a race. In Adelaide, John McDouall Stuart was mounting an expedition with the same intention, to be the first to traverse the continent of Australia from south to north.
    The Victorians had a head start on Stuart, but they knew they would need it. The South Australians had less distance to go, and Adelaide placed them on a better line to take advantage of what little was known about the first half of the journey.
    Initially there were 17 men, six wagons, 28 horses, 27 camels, and 21 tons of supplies.
    Burke’s team did get to the Gulf of Carpentaria first, on February 11th 1861, 5 months after they started, but the journey had taken its toll. They missed their relief parties and Burke and Wills died of exposure and starvation at Cooper’s Creek on 1st July. They would have survived had they sought help from the aborigines, who they tried to drive off by gunfire instead, or had the relief party not made the fatal error with the DIG message.
    
At the end of the street was a very steep hill, and the idea was that if I were to push off from the top it would only be a matter of staying upright for a few seconds before full upright motion would be achieved. Now I, for all my failings, was not lacking in courage and immediately I escorted the bicycle up to the crest, stood astride it, and needed only the briefest meditation of a life amongst bodgies to close my eyes and thrust myself forward.