The Dig Tree

The Dig tree is a very important part of inland exploration history and is now part of the Nappa Merrie Station. We stayed here the night but it’s a very expensive stay at $11 a night – no power and no water, despite the fact it’s on the Cooper Creek.

I knew some vague info. about the Dig Tree as it is now known but anyone wanting to learn about the mystery should google “the mystery of the Dig tree” I am still trying to work it all out. What ever really happened it’s a tragedy.

Who did what when still seems something of a mystery and did those minding the camp really leave in the afternoon of the evenng Burke, Wills and King arrived.
“The Victorian Exploring Expedition of 1860-1, later called the Burke and Wills Expedition, formed a Depôt at their 65th Camp (Camp LXV) on the banks of Cooper Creek in south-west Queensland. During the five months in which the camp was occupied, from December 1860 to April 1861, William Brahé and the three other members of the Depôt Party built a wooden stockade 18 feet by 20 feet, and remained to await the return of Burke's advance party who were crossing Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Four months later, on Sunday 21 April 1861, when injury and illness forced Brahé's Depôt Party to retreat, they blazed cryptic information on trees and buried a cache of food.
Much of the drama surrounding the expedition centred around this Depôt camp and the famous coolibah tree, now known as the DIG TREE, but in earlier times it was also called DEPÔT LXV and FORT WILLS.
Who carved Dig on one of the trees?
What did the inscription really mean?
Where exactly was the stockade at Depôt LXV?
Where was the cache of food buried?
I got the feeling I wanted to start digging …….. wonder how many before me actually did try and find the cache?