As they turned south from Camp 119 the monsoon broke and it rained in torrents. They were continually stuck in mud. It had taken two months to get to the Gulf now the race was on to get back to Cooper Creek in another two.

There, Brahe’s men were coping with dwindling supplies, stultifying boredom and petty fights with pilfering locals. Back in Menindee Wright finally got orders from Melbourne and set out north on January 26. Burke’s party headed south retracing steps to old camps. A food audit on February 12 found they had eaten three quarters of their provisions forcing them to decrease their ration. They supplemented this with the native plant portulac which Wills said tasted like spinach and it saved them from scurvy. But Gray was declining and weakened rapidly in March. After three months they were still 1100km from the Creek. On March 25, they discovered Gray was stealing food. Burke thrashed him and Gray was banned from looking after the supplies.

On March 30 they sacrificed the weakest camel and jerked the meat. Then the horse gave way and they feasted on his stew.  At Coongie Lakes Gray was strapped to a camel and died on April 17. They stopped a day to bury him and discarded all but the essentials. They began to think of home as telltale signs of the Cooper came into view. On April 21 they arrived at an empty Depot 65 but the ashes of a fire were still warm. Wills saw a carving on a coolabah. “DIG UNDER 3 FT NW”.  

Burke collapsed. They had missed them by eight hours – the time it took to bury Gray. They followed the dig instructions and found a note with Brahe’s intention to head south. There was also flour, sugar, tea and dried meat.

Wills and King wanted to follow Brahe but Burke took the fateful decision to head south-west to Mt Hopeless, 250km away in SA. King reburied the trunk and asked Burke if they should leave a new message. “No”, said Burke, “the word DIG serves our purpose as much as theirs.”

On April 29 Brahe and Wright hooked up at Bulloo Lakes. The combined party had numerous invalids and deaths but Brahe suggested they should dash back to the Cooper. On May 8 the pair reached the Dig Tree and found the site as they left, assuming the footprints were Aboriginal. They limped back to Menindee on June 19. 

Burke, Wills and King got lost in the rivulets of the Cooper and the barrier of high sand ridges.They turned back to the Cooper and arrived back at the Dig Tree on May 30. They discovered a large patch of nardoo seeds which they pounded into flour. But the Yandruwandha destroyed thiaminase (which blocks Vitamin B absorption) by washing and cooking the nardoo. Burke’s party suffered beri-beri.  

On June 26, 1861 Wills wrote his final letter to his father and he died within days. Burke was not much stronger and wrote his last will while King set off in search of the Yandruwandha.

King found the Yandruwandhu who gave him fish and a bed to sleep in. He deteriorated but clung to the hope of rescue. Melbourne sent explorer Alfred Howitt to Menindee to look for the missing expedition. He plundered from the remains of the Burke expedition and set off north arriving at Cooper Creek in just 25 days. He found camel tracks which led to Depot 65 but he too ignored the DIG sign. On September 15 one of Howitt’s men Edwin Welch was on a reconnaissance mission when he scattered a group of Aborigines, leaving one scarecrow-like figure behind. A man wearing the remains of a hat fell to the ground and raised his hands skywards. He told him his name was King, which was unknown to Welch who knew only of Burke and Wills. “King?” he inquired. Yes, King replied, “the last man of the Exploring Expedition,” and he broke down and wept.