Both Kennedy and Gregory had followed much the same line of route when tracing the course of the Barcoo and Cooper's Creek, a short distance to the eastward.

The only apparent motive for the expedition seems to have been not particularly creditable, the desire to outdo Stuart, who after nearly accomplishing the task might well have been allowed the honour of completing it.

But Time is after all the great arbitrator: Stuart re-entered Adelaide successful, on the same day that the bodies of Burke and Wills arrived for shipment to Melbourne.
Robert O'Hara Burke was born in the county of Galway, in Ireland, in 1821.

He was the second son of John Hardiman Burke, of St.Clerans, and was educated in Belgium.

In 1840 he entered the Austrian army, in which he rose to the rank of Captain.