We are challenged to travel lightly especially in terms of the 72 sent out by Jesus in Luke 10 with strict instructions to take very little with them. Jesus encouraged them to rely on the kindness and acceptance of those that they met along the way. In contrast 19 explorers set out from Melbourne in 1860.
Burke and Wills set off on their expedition from Royal Park, Melbourne at about 4pm on 20 August 1860 watched by around 15,000 spectators. The 19 men of the expedition included six Irishmen, five Englishmen, three Germans, an American, and four camel drivers from South Asia. They took 23 horses, 6 wagons and 26 camels.
The expedition took a large amount of equipment, including enough food to last two years, a cedar-topped oak camp table with two chairs, rifles, revolvers, rockets, flags and a Chinese gong; the equipment all together weighed as much as 20 tonnes, carrying 6 tonnes of firewood. It also included large amounts of rum and brandy.
The group separated in central Australia near Innamincka but destiny was not in favour of the explorers. Burke, Wills and King arrived at the depot on Cooper Creek in the evening of Sunday, 21 April 1861, finding the camp deserted after Brahe’s group had left earlier that day. They found the Dig Tree and dug up the cache of supplies together with Brahe’s letter explaining that the party had given up waiting and had left. Burke’s team had missed them by only nine hours. The three men and two remaining camels were exhausted; they had no hope of catching up to Brahe’s party. Burke and Wills died sometime in June 1861. King was rescued thanks to the help of local indigenous people but died a few years later due to complications from his harrowing journey.
The apostle Paul said, “I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
2 Corinthians 9:5-7, ESV.
In all your actions think of those you can bless as you go through life.