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

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

Paperback – August 1, 2010

by
Price
$10.79
Format
Paperback
Pages
224
Publisher
Skyhorse
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1616080228
Dimensions
5.5 x 5.3 x 8.5 inches
Weight
8 ounces

Description

Alan Moorehead was born in 1910 in Melbourne, Australia, and served as a foreign correspondent, winning international recognition for his reporting during WWII. Moorehead was the author of Cooper's Creek , The White Nile , The Blue Nile , and more than twenty other books. He passed away in 1983.

Features & Highlights

  • 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 enough water and to keep adequate food stores for their trek into the bush. Almost one year later, Burke, Wills, and two others from their party, Gray and King, reached the northern shore but on their journey back, they were stranded at Cooper’s Creek where all but King perished.
  • Cooper’s Creek
  • is a gripping, intense historical narrative about the harshness of the Australian outback and the people who were brave enough to go into the very depths of that uncharted country.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(93)
★★★★
20%
(62)
★★★
15%
(47)
★★
7%
(22)
★
28%
(86)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Quick read, fascinating story

I love first-hand historical accounts of outdoor adventure and exploration, and this one is a classic. The descriptions of wildlife alone are worth the read, but this is also a riveting story of an expedition run amok. Like the equally fascinating "Desperate Passage" and "The Ice Master," this story is also often brutal and heartbreaking. As a sensitive person who cries easily, I am nevertheless drawn to these stories because they have so much to teach us about human nature, and the extremes of cowardice and bravery of which it is capable under survival conditions.
16 people found this helpful
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Great book

I loved this book. It takes you back to the period by describing the actual provisions and other details of the excursion. The auther gives good insight into the motivations of the key players. As you read this book you will feel as if you are with Burke and Wills on their amazing but doomed journey. There are some "old English" terms which one has to deal with but they add to the authenticity of the book. One criticism, I would have enjoyed more maps of the journey as the one map in the book is too small to be useful.
6 people found this helpful
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Depends what you want it for

If you just want the information, it's OK. But there are too many people, too little developed, for you to care what happened to any of them one way or another.
5 people found this helpful
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A wonderful country replete with awesome tales of adventure

A stirring account of brave explorers navigating parts inhospitable of the Australian interior. A wonderful country replete with awesome tales of adventure, daring and self sufficiency. A wartime correspondent, himself brave and hearty, Mr. Moorehead was superbly talented, writing with ease and clarity and great recollection, pacing twists and turns across his narrative so beautifully. A terrific read.
1 people found this helpful
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Five Stars

Great book. Really makes you think

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