Ludwig Becker
Encyclopedia
Dr Ludwig Becker was an Australia
n artist, explorer and naturalist born in Darmstadt
, Germany
. He was a member of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition
and died, along with his colleagues Purcell and Stone, at the expedition's camp on the western bank of Koorliatto Waterhole, Bulloo River
in 1861.
, Germany
on 5 September 1808. He achieved a doctorate of philosophy and left Germany during the 1848 revolution.
His father was Ernst Friderich Becker (? - 1826) and his mother was Amona Eleanora Weber (? - 1819). Becker was the eldest of five children from this marriage. After his mother's death, Becker's father married Johanette Christiane Weber and they had three more children.
he arrived at Launceston
in 1851. He was described by Lady Denison as "one of those universal geniuses who can do anything...a very good naturalist, geologist...draws and plays and sings, conjures and ventriloquises and imitates the notes of birds so accurately". In 1852-54, while gold digging in Bendigo, Becker made meteorological observations and produced sketches which he exhibited in Melbourne
in April 1854. He became a council member of the Victorian Society of Fine Arts in 1856 and of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria
in 1859, and was a leading member of the German Club. He corresponded with ornithologist and zoologist John Gould
, known as the father of bird study in Australia, on the lyrebird
, and was one of the first to try to raise a lyrebird chick and sent sketches of the egg to ornithologists in Germany and France.
. It was organised by the Philosophical Institute of Victoria which in 1860 became the Royal Society of Victoria
.
The Burke and Wills expedition
was led by Robert O'Hara Burke
, who was a superintendent of police in the Castlemaine
district. In 1860 he was given leave to take command of the exploring expedition to cross the continent from Melbourne
in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria
in the north. The objectives of the expedition were hazy and its route, from Cooper Creek
to the Gulf of Carpentaria
, was decided less than a month before it set out. Burke's instructions, sent after him because they were not ready at the time, were lengthy and vague. The real object of the expedition appears to have been to snatch from the South Australia
n explorer, John McDouall Stuart
, the honour of making the first south-north crossing of the continent. Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria 1856-1863, described it as "the glorious race across the continent between the expeditions fitted out in this and the adjacent colony of South Australia".
The Burke and Wills expedition was the most expensive in the history of Australian exploration. It cost over £60,000 and would eventually claim seven lives. Burke was the first Australian explorer to be provided with camel
s, over two dozen of them, imported complete with cameleers
. There were horses and wagons, food for two years and lavish equipment. The party consisted of five officers: Burke, Landells as second-in-command, and William John Wills, third-in-command and surveyor and meteorologist and the two German scientific officers: Becker and Hermann Beckler, medical officer and botanist. The expedition also included a foreman, nine assistants and the camel-drivers.
The expedition left Melbourne
on 20 August 1860 and made progress through the settled districts of Victoria to Swan Hill and Balranald and reached Menindee on the Darling River
at the beginning of October. Burke was in haste and left much of his provisions at Balranald and more at Menindee.
Becker, as artist, naturalist and geologist on a salary of £300, received lengthy instructions from Doctor John Macadam
, honorary secretary of the Exploration Committee, which stipulated that he should collect specimens, keep a diary and produce daily maps with illustrations and sections. He sent his first dispatches from Swan Hill, and from Menindee sent a number of specimens. He became despondent when these were not acknowledged.
Burke became impatient with the lost time in making scientific investigations and ordered that Becker and Beckler give up their investigations and work like the rest of the men and walk instead of ride. In a report to the Exploration Committee, Landells wrote that Burke requested him not to allow Becker to ride and had observed that if Becker accompanied the expedition, and got through, people would say that it would not be difficult to cross to Carpentaria, and that he was to be walked until he gave in. At one stage Becker did not eat for three days and became faint. He had to wait until everyone was asleep to do his writing and sketching.
After quarreling with Burke, Landells resigned at Menindee and Burke promoted Wills to second in command, replacing him as third officer by a local man, William Wright, who proved incompetent and unreliable.
Burke's orders were that his base camp was to be at Cooper Creek; instead, he divided his party, transport and provisions, dashing on to Cooper Creek with an advance party and ordering Wright to follow with as little delay as possible. However, Wright waited in Menindee for three months - by which time Burke had travelled to the Gulf of Carpentaria and back - before transporting the vital reserve transport and provisions the four hundred miles to Cooper Creek.
Becker was with Wright's party in Menindee. Frustrated due to the lack of communication from the Exploration Committee, he no longer wrote his daily reports and concentrated instead on sketching. He became aware of the possible failure of the expedition, but his letter to the committee about the delays was ignored.
Wright's party moved north at the end of January 1861, and reached Torowoto Swamp, about half way from Menindee to Cooper Creek on 12 February. By this time Becker and others were suffering from scurvy
and the effects of bad water. At their camp at Rat Point, Becker and Purcell, the cook, were very ill. Wright moved on to try to reach Cooper Creek, but only made it to Bulloo and returned. Beckler remained with the sick members, and on 8 April wrote to his brother of Becker's illness and the unlikelihood of his recovery, stating that, "I shall have to bury him here, and then what an outcry there will be for me in Melbourne!"
Wright wanted to send the sick men back to Menindee, but Beckler told him that they could not make a single days journey. Wright then ordered the party on to Bulloo, which they reached on 21 April. Wright's party never continued onto Cooper Creek.
Meanwhile Burke, impatient for Wright's arrival at Cooper Creek, selected Wills, King and Gray to accompany him to the gulf and left four men under the command of William Brahe, one of the assistants, at camp LXV at Cooper Creek. Burke decided to explore on foot and took provisions for twelve weeks and six camels and a horse as pack animals. It took four months to complete the 1500 miles, and Gray died before they returned to camp LXV at Cooper Creek. When Burke's party reached camp LXV on 21 April 1861, spent, starving and in rags, they found it deserted. Brahe's party, having given up hope of seeing Burke and Wills, had left that day for Menindee with six camels, twelve horses, all the clothes and most of the food. Burke decided that as they were in bad shape and had only two camels, they would not be able to catch Brahe's party and would not survive the 400 mile journey. He decided to make for Mount Hopeless
, a 150 mile journey away, leaving a message of their intentions at camp LXV.
Brahe's party arrived at Wright's camp at Bulloo on 28 April. The natives were hostile, and had attacked the camp on 27 April. During this period, Becker was mostly unconscious and died on 29 April, and was buried near the graves of Purcell and Stone who had died a few days earlier. The Commission of Enquiry into the causes of the deaths of Burke and Wills also found, from Dr Beckler's evidence, that Dr Becker died of dysentery
and the exhaustion consequent upon it; of course with some peculiar symptoms, which were principally owing to the affection of scurvy. After his burial, Becker's clothes, bedding and tent were burned and his other effects were placed in a pack for conveyance to Melbourne.
Becker had made meteorological observations daily until a month before he died. His death was lamented in newspapers and journals both in the Australian Colonies and in Germany, and he was mourned by colleagues at the Royal Society. Governor Barkly paid tribute to "one of the earliest and most indefatigable contributors...the name of Ludwig Becker will...rank with those of Cunningham
, Kennedy
and Leichhardt
and the rest of that noble band who have sacrificed their lives in the cause of science." The City of Ballarat commemorated the expedition with a clock tower in 1863 referring to the deaths of The Victorian Explorers Burke, Wills, Gray and Becker. The small Queensland
parish of Becker perpetuates his name and some timber posts mark his grave.
This expedition paved the way for settlement in the area, with the first recorded settlement being Bulloo Downs taken up by Jones, Sullivan and Molesworth Green in 1864.
Beckers papers have been used to write a novel about his life which was published in 2009.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n artist, explorer and naturalist born in Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He was a member of the ill-fated 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...
and died, along with his colleagues Purcell and Stone, at the expedition's camp on the western bank of Koorliatto Waterhole, Bulloo River
Bulloo River
The Bulloo River is an isolated drainage system in western Queensland, central Australia. Its floodplain, which extends into northern New South Wales, is an important area for waterbirds when inundated.-Description:...
in 1861.
Early years
Becker was born at Offenbach am Main near DarmstadtDarmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on 5 September 1808. He achieved a doctorate of philosophy and left Germany during the 1848 revolution.
His father was Ernst Friderich Becker (? - 1826) and his mother was Amona Eleanora Weber (? - 1819). Becker was the eldest of five children from this marriage. After his mother's death, Becker's father married Johanette Christiane Weber and they had three more children.
- Ludwig Phillip Heinrich Becker (1808 - 1861)
- Friederich Becker
- Heinrich Leonard Becker
- Ferdinand Becker
- August Becker
- Karl Becker
- ? Becker
- Ernst Becker (c. 1826 - ?)
Australia
After some time in Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
he arrived at Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
in 1851. He was described by Lady Denison as "one of those universal geniuses who can do anything...a very good naturalist, geologist...draws and plays and sings, conjures and ventriloquises and imitates the notes of birds so accurately". In 1852-54, while gold digging in Bendigo, Becker made meteorological observations and produced sketches which he exhibited in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
in April 1854. He became a council member of the Victorian Society of Fine Arts in 1856 and of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria
Royal Society of Victoria
The Royal Society of Victoria is the oldest learned society in the state of Victoria in Australia.The Royal Society of Victoria was formed in 1859 from a merger between The Philosophical Society of Victoria and The Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science , both founded...
in 1859, and was a leading member of the German Club. He corresponded with ornithologist and zoologist John Gould
John Gould
John Gould was an English ornithologist and bird artist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
, known as the father of bird study in Australia, on the lyrebird
Lyrebird
A Lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds, that form the genus, Menura, and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral coloured...
, and was one of the first to try to raise a lyrebird chick and sent sketches of the egg to ornithologists in Germany and France.
Burke & Wills Expedition
His scientific knowledge and artistic ability qualified him for selection as a member of the Victorian Exploring Expedition in 1860-61, which has since become known as the Burke and Wills expeditionBurke 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...
. It was organised by the Philosophical Institute of Victoria which in 1860 became the Royal Society of Victoria
Royal Society of Victoria
The Royal Society of Victoria is the oldest learned society in the state of Victoria in Australia.The Royal Society of Victoria was formed in 1859 from a merger between The Philosophical Society of Victoria and The Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science , both founded...
.
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...
was led by 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...
, who was a superintendent of police in the Castlemaine
Castlemaine, Victoria
Castlemaine is a city in Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria about 120 kilometres northwest by road from Melbourne, and about 40 kilometres from the major provincial centre of Bendigo. It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander. The...
district. In 1860 he was given leave to take command of the exploring expedition to cross the continent from Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the Arafura Sea...
in the north. The objectives of the expedition were hazy and its route, from Cooper Creek
Cooper Creek
Cooper Creek is one of the most famous and yet least visited rivers in Australia. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its tributaries and is one of three major Queensland river systems that flow into the Lake Eyre Basin...
to the Gulf of Carpentaria
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the Arafura Sea...
, was decided less than a month before it set out. Burke's instructions, sent after him because they were not ready at the time, were lengthy and vague. The real object of the expedition appears to have been to snatch from the South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
n explorer, John McDouall Stuart
John McDouall Stuart
John McDouall Stuart was one of the most accomplished and famous of all Australia's inland explorers. Stuart led the first successful expedition to traverse the Australian mainland from south to north and return, and the first to do so from a starting point in South Australia, achieving this...
, the honour of making the first south-north crossing of the continent. Sir Henry Barkly, Governor of Victoria 1856-1863, described it as "the glorious race across the continent between the expeditions fitted out in this and the adjacent colony of South Australia".
The Burke and Wills expedition was the most expensive in the history of Australian exploration. It cost over £60,000 and would eventually claim seven lives. Burke was the first Australian explorer to be provided with camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s, over two dozen of them, imported complete with cameleers
Afghan (Australia)
The Afghans or Ghans were camel drivers who worked in outback Australia from the 1860s to the 1930s. While called Afghans, not all of them were from Afghanistan; some came from the northern regions of British India, areas that now constitute modern-day Pakistan...
. There were horses and wagons, food for two years and lavish equipment. The party consisted of five officers: Burke, Landells as second-in-command, and William John Wills, third-in-command and surveyor and meteorologist and the two German scientific officers: Becker and Hermann Beckler, medical officer and botanist. The expedition also included a foreman, nine assistants and the camel-drivers.
The expedition left Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
on 20 August 1860 and made progress through the settled districts of Victoria to Swan Hill and Balranald and reached Menindee on the Darling River
Darling River
The Darling River is the third longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales. Including its longest contiguous tributaries it is long, making it the longest river system in Australia.The...
at the beginning of October. Burke was in haste and left much of his provisions at Balranald and more at Menindee.
Becker, as artist, naturalist and geologist on a salary of £300, received lengthy instructions from Doctor John Macadam
John Macadam
Dr. John Macadam , was an Australian chemist, medical teacher and politician. The genus Macadamia was named after him in 1857 by his colleague Ferdinand von Mueller....
, honorary secretary of the Exploration Committee, which stipulated that he should collect specimens, keep a diary and produce daily maps with illustrations and sections. He sent his first dispatches from Swan Hill, and from Menindee sent a number of specimens. He became despondent when these were not acknowledged.
Burke became impatient with the lost time in making scientific investigations and ordered that Becker and Beckler give up their investigations and work like the rest of the men and walk instead of ride. In a report to the Exploration Committee, Landells wrote that Burke requested him not to allow Becker to ride and had observed that if Becker accompanied the expedition, and got through, people would say that it would not be difficult to cross to Carpentaria, and that he was to be walked until he gave in. At one stage Becker did not eat for three days and became faint. He had to wait until everyone was asleep to do his writing and sketching.
After quarreling with Burke, Landells resigned at Menindee and Burke promoted Wills to second in command, replacing him as third officer by a local man, William Wright, who proved incompetent and unreliable.
Burke's orders were that his base camp was to be at Cooper Creek; instead, he divided his party, transport and provisions, dashing on to Cooper Creek with an advance party and ordering Wright to follow with as little delay as possible. However, Wright waited in Menindee for three months - by which time Burke had travelled to the Gulf of Carpentaria and back - before transporting the vital reserve transport and provisions the four hundred miles to Cooper Creek.
Becker was with Wright's party in Menindee. Frustrated due to the lack of communication from the Exploration Committee, he no longer wrote his daily reports and concentrated instead on sketching. He became aware of the possible failure of the expedition, but his letter to the committee about the delays was ignored.
Wright's party moved north at the end of January 1861, and reached Torowoto Swamp, about half way from Menindee to Cooper Creek on 12 February. By this time Becker and others were suffering from scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
and the effects of bad water. At their camp at Rat Point, Becker and Purcell, the cook, were very ill. Wright moved on to try to reach Cooper Creek, but only made it to Bulloo and returned. Beckler remained with the sick members, and on 8 April wrote to his brother of Becker's illness and the unlikelihood of his recovery, stating that, "I shall have to bury him here, and then what an outcry there will be for me in Melbourne!"
Wright wanted to send the sick men back to Menindee, but Beckler told him that they could not make a single days journey. Wright then ordered the party on to Bulloo, which they reached on 21 April. Wright's party never continued onto Cooper Creek.
Meanwhile Burke, impatient for Wright's arrival at Cooper Creek, selected Wills, King and Gray to accompany him to the gulf and left four men under the command of William Brahe, one of the assistants, at camp LXV at Cooper Creek. Burke decided to explore on foot and took provisions for twelve weeks and six camels and a horse as pack animals. It took four months to complete the 1500 miles, and Gray died before they returned to camp LXV at Cooper Creek. When Burke's party reached camp LXV on 21 April 1861, spent, starving and in rags, they found it deserted. Brahe's party, having given up hope of seeing Burke and Wills, had left that day for Menindee with six camels, twelve horses, all the clothes and most of the food. Burke decided that as they were in bad shape and had only two camels, they would not be able to catch Brahe's party and would not survive the 400 mile journey. He decided to make for Mount Hopeless
Mount Hopeless
Mount Hopeless is the name of several mountains:* Mount Hopeless * Mount Hopeless * Mount Hopeless * Mount Hopeless * Mount Hopeless...
, a 150 mile journey away, leaving a message of their intentions at camp LXV.
Brahe's party arrived at Wright's camp at Bulloo on 28 April. The natives were hostile, and had attacked the camp on 27 April. During this period, Becker was mostly unconscious and died on 29 April, and was buried near the graves of Purcell and Stone who had died a few days earlier. The Commission of Enquiry into the causes of the deaths of Burke and Wills also found, from Dr Beckler's evidence, that Dr Becker died of dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
and the exhaustion consequent upon it; of course with some peculiar symptoms, which were principally owing to the affection of scurvy. After his burial, Becker's clothes, bedding and tent were burned and his other effects were placed in a pack for conveyance to Melbourne.
Becker had made meteorological observations daily until a month before he died. His death was lamented in newspapers and journals both in the Australian Colonies and in Germany, and he was mourned by colleagues at the Royal Society. Governor Barkly paid tribute to "one of the earliest and most indefatigable contributors...the name of Ludwig Becker will...rank with those of Cunningham
Allan Cunningham (botanist)
Allan Cunningham was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants.- Early life :...
, Kennedy
Edmund Kennedy
Edmund Besley Court Kennedy was an explorer in Australia in the mid nineteenth century. He was the Assistant-Surveyor of New South Wales, working with Sir Thomas Mitchell...
and Leichhardt
Ludwig Leichhardt
Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt, known as Ludwig Leichhardt, was a Prussian explorer and naturalist, most famous for his exploration of northern and central Australia.-Early life:...
and the rest of that noble band who have sacrificed their lives in the cause of science." The City of Ballarat commemorated the expedition with a clock tower in 1863 referring to the deaths of The Victorian Explorers Burke, Wills, Gray and Becker. The small 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...
parish of Becker perpetuates his name and some timber posts mark his grave.
This expedition paved the way for settlement in the area, with the first recorded settlement being Bulloo Downs taken up by Jones, Sullivan and Molesworth Green in 1864.
Beckers papers have been used to write a novel about his life which was published in 2009.
External links
- Australian Dictionary of Biography.
- Becker's sketches from the Burke and Wills Expedition.
- Burke & Wills Web A comprehensive website containing many of the historical documents relating to the Burke & Wills Expedition.
- The Burke & Wills Historical Society The Burke & Wills Historical Society.
- Terra Incognita Burke and Wills online exhibition at the State Library of Victoria.
- The Royal Society of Victoria.