Alfred William Howitt, , also known by author abbreviation A.W. Howitt, was an Australian anthropologist, explorer and naturalist. He was known for leading the Victorian Relief Expedition, which set out to establish the fate of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition.
Alfred William Howitt, circa 1861
Scan of illustration from p. 40 of The native tribes of South-East Australia, 1904
Alfred William Howitts grave site at the Bairnsdale Cemetery
Burke and Wills expedition
The Burke and Wills expedition was organised by the Royal Society of Victoria in Australia in 1860–61. It initially consisted of 19 men led by Robert O'Hara Burke, with William John Wills being a deputy commander. Its objective was the crossing of Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres. At that time most of the inland of Australia had not been explored by non-Indigenous people and was largely unknown to the European settlers.
Robert O'Hara Burke by William Strutt
William John Wills
Instructions issued to Burke, leader of the Victorian Exploration Expedition
Nicholas Chevalier, Memorandum of the Start of the Exploring Expedition, oil on canvas, 1860