A SET of traditional grinding stones said to have been found at Cooper Creek has sparked a probe into whether they may have been the tools used to grind some of the last meals of explorers Burke and Wills.
Geologist Bob Foster says he found the stones on a family road trip in the 1960s and brought them back to Melbourne.
He donated them to the Royal Society this month, after learning of the upcoming 150th anniversary of the expedition.
Robert O'Hara Burke and William Wills depended on the generosity of the local Yantruwanta people on their return to Cooper Creek in 1861, and were fed fish and nardoo cakes, according to State Library information.
In the last days of their journey, after Burke upset the relationship with the locals, the pair devoted themselves to gathering the edible seeds from the nardoo fern at Cooper Creek, with no understanding of the preparation needed to remove the seeds' toxic quality.
As a result, the food satisfied their hunger but robbed their bodies of vitamin B1 and failed to provide any real nourishment.
Yesterday, members of the Royal Society took the stones to experts at the Melbourne Museum.
Mary Morris, senior collection manager for the ethno-history collection, said the grinding stones had definitely been used and the report of their location made them a very intriguing find.
But it was impossible to say yesterday whether they had any direct connection to the explorers, she said.
Science historian and Royal Society honorary archivist Doug McCann believes the stones could be priceless, and that it's very likely they were used by the tribe that fed the men in their last days and kept fellow explorer John King alive for more than three months until the arrival of a search party.
''I think it's highly probable that it was used by the tribe that looked after Burke and Wills, and John King survived because of it,'' he said.
Dr McCann plans to have the stones tested for any further clues. He said the stones were an important reminder of how a simple tool could make a big difference in history.
''Stone-age technology actually kept John King alive. They were reduced to that very simple technology but very powerful technology,'' he said.
Mr Foster said he found the stones at Marpoo Waterhole on a family holiday in the 1960s and brought them back to Melbourne. In hand-written labels, he has offered the exact latitude and longitude of where he says he discovered them.
But Mr Foster doubts they would have been used by the famous explorers and says the stones were most likely left behind after the beginning of white settlement many years later.
The smaller stones were unusual, and may indicate that children in the family did some of the grinding work, he said.
Dr McCann made a separate discovery while working at the Society recently, finding about 150 bound copies of the preparation notes for Burke and Wills' journey. The society is considering placing some of the vintage copies on the market.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter