by Graham Rodger

© 2005

Hey Mr Burke, would you listen for a while,
I have a few words that I'd like to say,
Won't you sit down old mate, and rest your weary feet,
I think you've all walked far enough to day.

Hey, Mr Burke, I know your tramping out there still.
Where the stony desert's vast and wide.
Are your tortured souls condemned to walk eternally,
across the burning plains towards Camp 65?

---

Hey Burke and Wills will it ever end?
Will the desert ever set your spirits free?

Together with King and Gray, you carved your names into history.
Now your ghostly figures walk, where the lonely dingoes stalk,
In a desperate bid to reach old Cooper's Creek.

---

Hey Mr Burke, I know just how you felt,
When you crawled that last long mile to Cooper's Creek,
and then to find your mates had only left just hours ago,
and there was nothing that you could do, you were just too weak.

And Mr Wills, you were right there to the end
Just like you promised you would be,
Never take consolation mate, you did your country proud,
and helped to write the pages of history.

---

Hey Burke and Wills will it ever end?
Will the desert ever set your spirits free?

Together with King and Gray, you carved your names into history.
Now your ghostly figures walk, where the lonely dingoes stalk,
In a desperate bid to reach old Cooper's Creek.