Burke, Robert O'Hara (1821-1861), led the tragic expedition that first crossed the Australian continent from south to north. Burke and 17 other men set out from Melbourne in August 1860. Leaving some men at Menindee and others at Cooper Creek, he and three companions pushed on across the continent. They reached the dense mangrove swamps near the mouth of the Flinders River on the Gulf of Carpentaria in February 1861. But Burke and William Wills died during the return journey near where the township of Innamincka in South Australia was later established.