The Victorian Exploring Expedition of 1860-1861 was the largest, costliest journey of exploration ever mounted in Australia. It was also one of the worst failures in Australian history, with many lives needlessly lost. Led by Robert O'Hara Burke and his navigator William John Wills, it set out to cross the "deep" continent from southern to northern coast - Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria - at a time when coastal cities were booming but the interior was almost unknown: terra incognita.\n\nExpedition Site\n