The Burke River is an ephemeral river in southwest Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia. The river was named in memory of Robert O'Hara Burke

Robert O'Hara Burke

Robert O'Hara Burke was an Irish soldier and police officer, who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the leader of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled...

 of the Burke and Wills expedition

Burke and Wills expedition

In 1860–61, Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills led an expedition of 19 men with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres...

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The Burke River rises in the Standish Range north of Boulia

Boulia, Queensland

Boulia is a town in Central West Queensland, Australia. It is located approximately by road south of Mount Isa, and lies on the Burke River, which was named after the explorer Robert O'Hara Burke who passed through the area with the Burke and Wills expedition in 1860. The township was gazetted in...

. It flows south through Boulia towards the Simpson Desert

Simpson Desert

The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth largest Australian desert, with an area of 176,500 km² ....

 in the Lake Eyre Basin

Lake Eyre Basin

The Lake Eyre basin is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. The Lake Eyre Basin is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about 1,200,000 square kilometres, including much of inland Queensland, large portions of South...

. The river flows into Eyre Creek, a tributary of the Georgina River

Georgina River

The Georgina River is the north-westernmost of the three major rivers of the Channel Country in western Queensland that flow in extremely wet years into Lake Eyre.-Geography:...

. The Hamilton River is the second major Queensland river that flows into the Georgina downstream from the confluence with the Burke.