Burke & Wills

The unbelievable story about Australia's most famous explorers ... thirty camels, nineteen men, two intrepid explorers and one ill-fated journey!

Australia, 1860. Irishman Robert O'Hara Burke (Jack Thompson) is a figure of fiery determination. Romantically linked to opera singer Julia Matthews (Greta Scacchi), he is driven to explore the largely uncharted inland. With the support of several important businessmen and politicians, Burke is appointed by the Royal Society of Victoria to lead an ambitious expedition to cross Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Eager to beat a rival expedition, Burke is joined by scientist William John Wills (Nigel Havers) and sets off with a party of nineteen able men, a supply of specially imported camels and enough equipment to conquer the great continent, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres.

But on their return journey south, a twist of fate and poor judgment causes the party to miss a crucial rendezvous, threatening their very survival. With tragedy on the horizon and nowhere else to go, Burke and Wills are destined to be remembered as two of the most remarkable men in Australian history.

Co-starring Arthur Dignam, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Drew Forsythe and Chris Haywood, directed by Graeme Clifford, with music by Peter Sculthorpe and filmed on location by Oscar-winning cinematographer Russell Boyd, Burke & Wills follows the great explorers' footsteps across the rugged terrain in vivid widescreen detail.