Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Burke & Wills (1985)

play
Email a link to this page
To:
CC:
Subject:
Body:
clip ‘We wrote the map’

Original classification rating: PG. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

Burke (Jack Thompson) and Wills (Nigel Havers) have reached the Gulf of Carpenteria. Lying in the sand, Burke asks Wills to be his best man when he marries Miss Julia Matthews on his return to Melbourne. Burke demands a solemn promise. The two men share a drink of water over the vow of friendship. Burke’s horse Billy rolls merrily in the sand.

Curator’s notes

by Paul Byrnes

This is a good example of what the movie does well. The relationship between Burke and Wills develops from strict formality, appropriate to an English gentleman and an Irish soldier, to one of deep respect and friendship, forged by an incredible shared feat of hardship. The contrast in performance styles of Thompson and Havers, two very different actors, works well in this context. Burke’s strong passion is visible and audible in face and voice. Wills is restrained, almost effete, but they have survived to become the first white men to cross the Australian continent.

Unfortunately, the scene is also historically inaccurate. Burke and Wills never reached the coast, nor lay on a beach. As soon as they established that the swamps they were trudging through were salt water and tidal, they knew they were almost at the sea. They were so low in rations that they turned back immediately, for the dash back to Cooper Creek.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer ‘We wrote the map’ from the feature film Burke & Wills as a high quality video download.

To play the downloadable video, you need QuickTime 7.0, VLC, or similar.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before downloading the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

This clip is available in the following configurations:

File nameSizeQualitySuitability
burkewil2_pr.mp4 Large: 22.3MB High Optimised for full-screen display on a fast computer.
burkewil2_bb.mp4 Medium: 10.5MB Medium Can be displayed full screen. Also suitable for video iPods.

Right-click on the links above to download video files to your computer.

Thanks to the generosity of the rights holders, we are able to offer this clip in an embeddable format for personal or non-commercial educational use in full form on your own website or your own blog.

You must read and agree to the following terms and conditions before embedding the clip:

australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

  • You may retrieve materials for information only.
  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

All other rights reserved.

ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

Copy and paste the following code into your own web page to embed this clip: