The Ghan, running from Adelaide to Darwin, is our most luxurious train. Its forerunners were the Afghan camel drivers. In 1840, drivers and their animals were introduced to transport goods, even pianos and furniture, to settlements of the great dry inland. They were brought into the country from Afghanistan because their home country’s climate was as hot and dry as Australia's. The camel drivers’ nationality was shortened to ‘Ghan’ and the route has been called by this name ever since. In 1860 24 camels were imported for the Burke and Wills expedition that was endeavouring to cross Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They reached the fringe of the Gulf in February 1861. However, Burke and Wills died on the way back south on the banks of Cooper Creek, just by a tree that has the word "dig" carved in its trunk. Provisions had been buried there for the explorers, but they failed to dig and died of malnutrition. This tree is now known as the Dig Tree...
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