Famous Irish Australians
Explorer Robert O'Hara Burke and author Thomas Keneally
Robert O'Hara Burke and Thomas Keneally are just two Australians of Irish descent that have helped shape the country.
Robert O’Hara Burke
There are certain trades that are arguably not worth making, and being the first person to cross Australia from north to south, whilst a great accolade, is probably not worth starving to death in the middle of the outback for.
That was the fate that awaited Burke and his second-in-command, Englishman Robert Wills at Cooper’s Creek, after they had become the first men to make it to the Gulf of Carpentaria from Melbourne.
An Irish policeman, Burke migrated to Victoria in 1848, where he quickly rose to the rank of inspector in the goldfields. Then, in a somewhat perplexing decision given his lack of exploration experience, he was chosen to lead an expedition across the continent.
His first major mistake was to leave in the height of summer, fearing that a South Australian party led by John Stuart would beat him to the prize.
He then decided to ditch half of his team at Cooper’s Creek in a mad dash for the top, telling them to wait there for as long as possible. Alas, they arrived back a few hours too late – on their return, they found a message saying that the rest of the party had left that morning.
Desperately weak, and with few supplies, any attempt to get back to Melbourne was futile, and they died an agonizing three weeks later. Even so, Burke is one of Australia’s most famous explorers.
Cooper’s Creek is a bit of an oasis in the middle of the desert, about 20km from Windorah in the outback of South-West Queensland. It’s very much off the beaten track, so if you want to visit, you’re going to have to drive there. However, it can be bundled in to a unique Australian adventure, driving from the Queensland coast to the centre.
Thomas Keneally
One of the most famous Australian authors, Keneally wrote Schindler’s Ark, the book upon which Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust Oscar-winner was based on. He’s also an impassioned political campaigner on just about everything, and in keeping with his Irish roots, is a fervent anti-Monarchist.
More famous Irish Australians: Part one; Part two; Part three
