The two British explorers, Robert O'Hara Burke and William Wills, had perished in June 1861 during the return leg from their epic exploration of the interior of Australia north from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria on the north coast. They became Australian national heroes and the Victorian Government ordered their bodies returned to Melbourne where a large state funeral was held with around 40,000 lining the streets of the state capital. (By John Osborne)