Burke and Wills Dig Tree, Queensland

After our morning coffee we ventured up to have a look at the Innamincka pub and Trading Post. We decided to top up with a bit of fuel as it’s 367km to Thargomindah and we may have a few detours. We had thought to explore a bit more but unfortunately due to the recent floods we couldn’t drive out to any of the interesting spots. 

So we made our way out of town and crossed back over the border into Queensland once again. We could see the effects of the flood along the way… the dry gibber plains in contrast to lush green valleys. 

As we crossed the river the evidence of the force of nature could be seen by the bits of bitumen scattered on the banks. 

We turned off the Innamincka Road near Nappa Merrie and drove along a gravel track to the Burke and Wills Dig Tree. It is an iconic Coolibah tree on the banks of Cooper Creek  and a living monument to the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-61. The tree marks the site where the expedition's supply party, led by Ludwig Brahe, waited for the explorers to return from their attempt to cross the continent. When Brahe departed, Burke, Wills, and King returned to the site 9 hours later, finding the camp abandoned and carving "DIG" into the tree to indicate that they had buried provisions there. The tree is in the remote Dig Tree Reserve and requires a conservation fee of $20 per vehicle but then you can stay and camp here for no extra cost. The site had been under 4m of water in March 2025 and the road access has just been graded 2 weeks ago by the caretaker. There are plenty of individual sites along the river to choose from and we happily settled into one of them. We walked back up to these fascinating historical trees that were used numerous times for carvings since 1860, 165 years ago. These tress were already 100years old back then. We read all of the information boards near the trees and in the shelter at the entrance to the park.

And so our day ends on the banks of Cooper Creek …

Flood waters were over the flag pole

84km today