Illustration of the Australian explorer and anthropologist Alfred William Howitt (1830-1908) discovering the bodies of Irish soldier and police officer Robert O'Hara Burke (1821-1861) and British surveyor William John Wills (1834-1861). The Burke and Wills expedition (1860-1861) was the first to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria. However, during the return their return journey all but one of the men died from starvation or illness. Howitt's expedition to find Burke and Wills set off in June 1861 and discovered their bodies in late September. Illustration published in 1868.