Dig; A Drama of Central Australia

Dig - the story of Burke & Wills and the pioneering of the route north from Melbourne to the north coast of Australia, for the award money of two thousand pounds, in 1860.

This is a relatively well known story, which has been told numerous times, none better than by Sarah Murgatroyd in her book The Dig Tree , which I read in 2019. Written in 2002, it no doubt takes into consideration Clune's book, along with many others.

Normally I am a fan of Frank Clune's work, but this one was a little unusual. Clune seems to have a bee in his bonnet about criticisms of Burke and Wills. I tend to agree criticisms of these men are unwarranted, but Clune appears to take this personally and this effects the way he presents the narrative.

As the story develops and Clune explains the roles or actions of people he attributes a prefix to their name - in some cases explanatory (Explorer Landsborough; Survivor King; Galloper Hodgkinson; Rescuer Howitt; Sailor Charley Gray), but more used to show his disapproval of their actions (Deserter Brahe; Backslider Brahe; Craven Wright; Spellbinder Wright). For me this comes across as petty. It is self evident from their actions and behaviours that Wright certainly didn't act in the best interests of the explorers; and Brahe perhaps lacked judgement in his action of departing from the depot before the return of Burke & Wills, and the leaving of only 1/3 of the food, taking 2/3 for his own return trip. However the commission found Brahe's actions ill considered rather than a desertion of this place, mainly due to the fact Wright made a limp effort to re-stock as directed.

The other aspect of the book I didn't enjoy was the last chapter, entitled Aftermaths where Clune takes it upon himself to respond to some of his reviewers - those who were critical of his book; and to add in supplementary information (which perhaps came to light after the original publication) all of which add support of Clune assertions.

So while this might have been one of the earlier publications (1937) to bring together various sources and compile them into a narrative, it is not the best or most balanced view, and I would certainly recommend Sarah Murgatroyd's book The Dig Tree over this. I also have a copy of Alan Moorhouse's Cooper's Creek on the same topic, which I have not yet read.

2.5 stars, rounded up.