In 1860, an eccentric Irish police officer named Robert O'Hara Burke set out from Melbourne at the head of the most lavish expedition of his age. Accompanied by William Wills, he was prepared to risk everything to become the first European to cross the Australian continent. Meanwhile, John McDouall Stuart, a dour Scotsman, was already trekking north from Adelaide. The race was on. Sarah Murgatroyd's book, which reveals new historical and scientific evidence, tells the full story of the disaster with all its heroism and romance, its discoveries, coincidences and lost opportunities.