John King (explorer)
John King (born December 5, 1838 or 1841 in County Tyrone , Ireland ; † January 15, 1872 , St. Kilda , Australia ) was a soldier and explorer . He took part in the Burke and Wills expedition in Australia, which ended in fiasco .
Early life
John King was the son of Henry King, a Highlander soldier. He attended the Hibernian School in Dublin and joined the British Army at the age of 14. He was transferred to India . There he met George James Landells in 1859, who was looking for camels for the Burke Wills expedition in India. Landells recruited King, who then left the army.
Expedition with Burke and Wills
The Burke Wills Expedition started on August 20, 1860 in Melbourne in search of an overland route to the Gulf of Carpentaria . The expedition reached Menindee in early October , where Landells no longer accompanied the expedition. King took over his job as camel driver to Cooper Creek , which they reached on November 11th and set up Camp LXV there. A small group of Robert O'Hara Burke , William John Wills , John King and Charley Gray made their way to the Gulf of Carpentaria, the rest of the crew stayed at Cooper Creek. She formed a depot there and waited 18 weeks for the four members of the expedition to return.
The four men set out on December 16, 1860 with six camels and a horse and reached the Flinders River on February 11, 1861 . There, just seven miles from their destination, they gave up and turned back. On their way back to Cooper Creek, they lost four camels and the horse. Gray died on April 17th. When they reached LXV at 7:30 a.m. four days later, it was deserted. The remaining crew had left the camp nine hours earlier.
With the weakened camels they were unable to catch up with the crew and there was little food left in the depot. So the three explorers decided to go to Mount Hopeless , which was about 150 miles away. They wandered around the arid terrain for two months and in June Wills died. Burke and King kept walking for two more days until Burke died of exhaustion. King stayed with the body for two days before returning downstream to the Breerily watering hole.
The rescue party led by naturalist Alfred William Howitt found King on September 15, living in the aboriginal of Yandruwandha whom he owed his life.
return
The return of King on November 29, 1861 in Melbourne met with great interest and he was celebrated like a hero. A royal commission was set up to investigate the failure. She found that the expedition was poorly led and, due to unfortunate circumstances, ended in fiasco. King's fault could not be established. He received a gold watch for his performance and an annuity of £ 180 a year.
John King was present in Melbourne four years after the expedition for the unveiling of the Burke and Wills statue on April 21, 1865. Otherwise he lived in seclusion with his sister until he married the widow Mary Richmond on August 22, 1871. King did not participate in any other expedition or public event. He died of tuberculosis in 1872 at the age of 33 and was buried in Melbourne Central Cemetery.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | King, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British soldier and explorer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 5, 1838 or December 5, 1841 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | County Tyrone , Ireland |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 15, 1872 |
| Place of death | St. Kilda , South Australia |