George Koulakis with a
school,
ool they were nine hours too late
late, and all
blazed Burke and Wills
but one member of the expedition perished.
tree in Mithika country
George became fascinated by the existence of
the Plant Camp when he led a cathartic motorbike
journey in 2014 for five former ADF members.
They followed the Burke and Wills route
from Melbourne to Normanton and back.
“We were basically broken military
people - four men and one woman - riding
broken military motorbikes,” he said.
“All the bikes and people made it to the finish and we
had a new respect and passion for Burke and Wills.”
He made an eight-part video documentary
about the trip (search for The Burke
and Wills Adventure on YouTube).
When he conceived the idea of trying to find
the famous Plant Camp, he was astonished
to learn its location was marked, and had
already been explored by academics.
Retired Burke and Wills academic PROF Frank
Leahy discovered in the 1980s the reason for the
difference between the locations on the route
detailed by Wills in the journals already recovered, andd
the actual locations of found Burke and Wills camps.
higher level approval before a commitment could be made.
It was a mechanical clock that was losing time.
There was already a requirement for soldiers to
“Wills calculated his position using a sextant and
conduct
remote area deployment in preparation for
timepiece but, because the clock was losing time, his
disaster
response
operations and the systematic grid
longitude was always wrong,” George said.
search
of
the
area
was the sort of task always included
Once PROF Leahy realised the problem, it
in
regular
training
for the unit’s combat engineers.
was a relatively simple calculation to correct
A
decision
on
the
Defence
Aid to the Civilian Community
the error, and pinpoint the Plant Camp.
request
is
expected
in
coming
weeks to confirm the task.
PROF Leahy and three fellow academics visited
George
said
it
was
uncertain
where
any material that
the site in 2007 and, in a cursory search of the area,
might be recovered would be housed and displayed.
found more than 400 Burke and Wills artefacts.
“It could go to the Queensland museum, a museum in
He also found the marked tree at the Plant Camp.
Melbourne, or to the Royal Society of Victoria that originally
Queensland Government officials declared the area a
sponsored the Burke and Wills expedition,” he said.
restricted site in 2011 and access is strictly limited.
George and his team will document the expedition
CO 3CER LTCOL John Daunt said the assistance asked of the
Army fitted in well with the unit’s normal training objectives, but and everything that happens at the Plant Camp and
send regular updates. Check out the first video by
the nature of activity, falling outside usual training areas and
clicking here, and come back often for updates.
involving civilian and state government organisations, required
SEPTEMBER 2016 | 7