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The Dig Tree: The Story of Bravery, Insanity, and the Race to Discover Australia's Wild Frontier
The harrowing true story of the Burke and Willis expedition team who took on the Australian wilds 150 years ago--and lost.
They departed Melbourne's Royal Park in the summer of 1860, a misfit party of eighteen amateur explorers cheered on by thousands of well-wishers. Their mission: to chart a course across the vast unmapped interior of Australia, from Melbourne to the northern coast. Months later, only one man returned alive--with tales of heroism, hardships, and lost opportunities that were by turns terrifying and darkly comic.
Drawing its title from one of the few remaining traces of the expedition, The Dig Tree combines the danger of Sebastian Junger with the irony of Bill Bryson to relive the tragic journey of these completely initiated adventurers. The cast of characters includes the expeditionleader; a reckless, charming Irish policeman known for getting lost on his way home from the pub; an eccentric nature enthusiast from Germany; an alcoholic camel handler; and a rogue American horse-breaker who is just in it for the money. For nine harrowing months, their quest for glory shifts from idiocy to perseverance and then inexorably toward tragedy. The nightmare culminates in a last haunting message left behind a group of desperate and dying men--the word DIG carved into what is now Australia's most famous tree.
The Dig Tree follows this compelling journey through a forgotten corner of history to examine a daring expedition that came unbelievably close to success only to let it slip away.
They departed Melbourne's Royal Park in the summer of 1860, a misfit party of eighteen amateur explorers cheered on by thousands of well-wishers. Their mission: to chart a course across the vast unmapped interior of Australia, from Melbourne to the northern coast. Months later, only one man returned alive--with tales of heroism, hardships, and lost opportunities that were by turns terrifying and darkly comic.
Drawing its title from one of the few remaining traces of the expedition, The Dig Tree combines the danger of Sebastian Junger with the irony of Bill Bryson to relive the tragic journey of these completely initiated adventurers. The cast of characters includes the expeditionleader; a reckless, charming Irish policeman known for getting lost on his way home from the pub; an eccentric nature enthusiast from Germany; an alcoholic camel handler; and a rogue American horse-breaker who is just in it for the money. For nine harrowing months, their quest for glory shifts from idiocy to perseverance and then inexorably toward tragedy. The nightmare culminates in a last haunting message left behind a group of desperate and dying men--the word DIG carved into what is now Australia's most famous tree.
The Dig Tree follows this compelling journey through a forgotten corner of history to examine a daring expedition that came unbelievably close to success only to let it slip away.
355 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2002
About the author
Sarah Murgatroyd
2 books6 followersSarah Murgatroyd was born in England in 1967, and grew up on a farm in Sussex.
After a year spent wandering through China, India and the Himalayas, she gained an honours degree in philosophy and literature at Warwick University and then studied broadcast journalism at Cardiff University.
Murgatroyd’s journalism career began with local radio in Bournemouth; it was interrupted by her diagnosis with breast cancer at the age of twenty-five. She entered a stage of aggressive treatment and then, in her unstoppable way, joined the BBC Radio 5 Live network.
In 1993, she resigned and moved to Australia with her future husband. She travelled extensively, providing news and current affairs coverage for the BBC. To research The Dig Tree, Murgatroyd retraced the footsteps of Burke and Wills. Under normal circumstances this is a difficult journey but she completed it three times while enduring chronic pain. She carried an emergency jar of morphine with her on her travels.
Sarah Murgatroyd died of cancer in March 2002, a few weeks after The Dig Tree was published to universal acclaim.
Source: http://textpublishing.com.au/books-an...
After a year spent wandering through China, India and the Himalayas, she gained an honours degree in philosophy and literature at Warwick University and then studied broadcast journalism at Cardiff University.
Murgatroyd’s journalism career began with local radio in Bournemouth; it was interrupted by her diagnosis with breast cancer at the age of twenty-five. She entered a stage of aggressive treatment and then, in her unstoppable way, joined the BBC Radio 5 Live network.
In 1993, she resigned and moved to Australia with her future husband. She travelled extensively, providing news and current affairs coverage for the BBC. To research The Dig Tree, Murgatroyd retraced the footsteps of Burke and Wills. Under normal circumstances this is a difficult journey but she completed it three times while enduring chronic pain. She carried an emergency jar of morphine with her on her travels.
Sarah Murgatroyd died of cancer in March 2002, a few weeks after The Dig Tree was published to universal acclaim.
Source: http://textpublishing.com.au/books-an...
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
February 20, 2025
Echt een geweldig boek.
Vanaf het begin wordt je door de schrijver meegenomen in het verhaal. Niet zoals andere geschiedenisboeken droog, feitelijk en meningloos, maar als menselijke lezer. De schrijver laat soms subtiel maar ook soms minder subtiel zijn mening over evenementen en personages doorschemeren. Dit leidt niet alleen tot grappige- maar ook tot tragische momenten waardoor je het verhaal leest met een constante “oh nee, alsjeblieft niet” gedachte in je hoofd.
5 van de 5 sterren
Vanaf het begin wordt je door de schrijver meegenomen in het verhaal. Niet zoals andere geschiedenisboeken droog, feitelijk en meningloos, maar als menselijke lezer. De schrijver laat soms subtiel maar ook soms minder subtiel zijn mening over evenementen en personages doorschemeren. Dit leidt niet alleen tot grappige- maar ook tot tragische momenten waardoor je het verhaal leest met een constante “oh nee, alsjeblieft niet” gedachte in je hoofd.
5 van de 5 sterren
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review