Cooper's Creek

By Alan Moorehead,

Book cover of Cooper's Creek: Tragedy and Adventure in the Australian Outback

Book description

In 1860, an expedition set out from Melbourne, Australia, into the interior of the country, with the mission to find a route to the northern coast. Headed by Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills, the party of adventurers, scientists, and camels set out into the outback hoping to find…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

2 authors picked Cooper's Creek as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Two decades ago, I was preparing for my first book promotion trip to Australia and New Zealand. I asked my (Aussie) publisher to recommend two books to learn more about Australia and its history.

The first was In A Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson, which I had heard of. The second was Cooper’s Creek, which I hadn’t. It’s a stunning, scary, edge-of-your-seat short history about an expedition in 1860 that set out from Melbourne into the vast, empty, broiling interior of the country, with the mission to find a route to the lush northern coast. Needless to say, things didn’t…

Over the years Australia has produced a succession of superb journalists, of whom Alan Moorehead was one of the most distinguished, both as a war correspondent and as a writer of non-fiction books. Cooper’s Creek tells the story of the Burke and Wills 1860 expedition, which set out to cross Australia from south to north. It is a tale of heroism, tenacity, and sheer, rotten luck. Almost everybody perished, some when rescue was literally hours away.

From Peter's list on the history of Australia.

Want books like Cooper's Creek?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Cooper's Creek.

Browse books like Cooper's Creek

Book cover of The Fatal Shore
Book cover of The Commonwealth of Thieves
Book cover of Behind Bamboo: Hell on the Burma Railway

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,588

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in wilderness survival, explorers, and Australia?

Explorers 112 books
Australia 334 books