NHBS is on Wills Road, on the edge of Totnes, a small town in Devon. Wills Road is named after William John Wills, of the Burke and Wills expedition, who famously perished in the wilds of South Australia in 1861 at the age of 27. Wills was born in Totnes, hence the name of the road, and the statue in the town centre. Robert O’Hara Burke, though not from Totnes, is also commemorated by having a road named after him, his road runs behind the NHBS warehouse; in other words we are right between the two of them.
We were reminded of Totnes’ famous son when we read the announcement of a new book recently: Burke and Wills: The Scientific Legacy of the Victorian Exploring Expedition, published by CSIRO and due to be available in the UK in November. This book deals with the scientific achievements of the expedition and its successive relief groups, rather than the much-publicised failures that led to the deaths of seven of the expedition’s members.
Regardless of the serendipitous connection between Burke & Wills and NHBS, I am rather looking forward to seeing a copy of this book, as it fills a large gap in the scientific literature of exploration, and it contains many original illustrations.
