Ludwig Becker on the Burke & Wills Expedition

Ludwig Becker, artist, naturalist, scientist, was a member of the doomed Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-61 – one of the best equipped yet worst fated of explorations. The sophisticated, talented and always curious Becker would die beside an ephemeral creek in south-west Queensland while his party was under siege from displaced and enraged Aborigines.

Becker’s principal Australian legacy is his written and visual diary of the Burke and Wills expedition, which includes over seventy luminous artworks – half of them reproduced here – depicting this new and foreign environment with eloquence and sympathy.

With this book follow Becker’s path from Melbourne to Bulloo Creek as he is bullied by Burke, harried by Aborigines and horribly injured. Until the last he continued to fulfil his official duties as artist and naturalist.

Soft cover. 209 pages.  (First Edition 2009). 230mm X 153mm. ISBN 9781921037269. RRP $32.95.