Author(s): Martin Edmond

World History

The Burke and Wills expedition of 1860 was one of the best equipped expeditions of the Victorian era but it was doomed to a terrible fate. Much has been written about the leaders of this expedition but what do we know of other members of the party? In The Supply Party, Edmond takes the reader on a physical trek and intellectual quest across outback Australia to unravel the life and search for the grave of Ludwig Becker, the official artist and naturalist on the Burke and Wills expedition. At 52, Becker was the oldest member of the Burke and Wills party. Born in Germany, he'd already lived an extraordinary life before joining the ill-fated explorers.