AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR TO HONOUR BIRTHPLACE OF GALWAY EXPLORER
Date Published: 17-Aug-2010
A famous Galway explorer who made the first successful crossing of Australia from South to North by Europeans will be honoured in Galway this Friday.
40 year old Robert O'Hara Burke was born in Galway in 1921 and led the ill-fated Victorian Expedition of 1860 from Melbourne to the sea in Northern Australia.
Burke made it to the northern coast, but died of starvation on his way back to Melbourne in 1861.
Celebrations are taking place all over Australia on Friday to mark the 150th anniversary of the expedition.
The Australian Ambassador Bruce Davis will join Mayor Michael Crowe in a flag-raising ceremony honouring the famous explorer's birthplace at City Hall on Friday.
A Programme of events has also been put together to commemorate the expedition.