Burke & Wills Web
www.burkeandwills.net.au
The online digital research archive of expedition records
© 2020

by the Master's Apprentices

© 1970, Doug Ford & Jim Keays.
Track 12, Hands of Time, 1981.

 

In 1859 three men left Melbourne town,
tramping down a dusty road.
Headed northward bound,
the ground was dry,
but hopes were high.
Could Burke and Wills be the men
To cross Australia north to south,
and make it back again.

Where are all the seagulls, will we reach the sea?
We will find those seagulls, Burke and wills and me.


Two thousand miles of desert sand,
and later on that day,
June the 3rd I think it was,
we made it to the place.

I turned to Burke and said Good man,
supplies are running low.
We'll make it back to Cooper's Creek,
from there I just don't know.

Where are all the seagulls, will we reach the sea?
We will find those seagulls, Burke and wills and me.


Yes they made it back to Cooper's Creek,
and asked the question why.
The depot was abandoned there,
Oh Lord were they to die?

They made it just another mile,
before they came to rest.
Burke turned to Wills and said,
My man we did our very best.

Yes we saw the seagulls, and we saw the sea?
Yes we saw those seagulls, Burke and wills and me.

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www.burkeandwills.net.au Burke & Wills Web The digital research archive of expedition records
© 2020, Dave Phoenix