Media Release
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
The Swan Hill Regional Library is inviting residents and students to come along these school holidays and take the opportunity to experience the Burke and Wills track - all within the library surrounds.
And from the 19 to 30 September, school children who walk the track in the library have the chance to enter a competition and win some special Burke and Wills prizes, thanks to the Royal Society of Victoria (RSV).
The walk is part of a special display at the library prepared by the RSV of 41 life-sized silhouettes portraying the 19 members of the Victorian Exploring Expedition (which became known as the Burke and Wills expedition) and other members who joined and left the expedition, as it rolled through country Victoria, outback New South Wales and Queensland after leaving Royal Park in Melbourne on 20 August 1860.
Each silhouette in the display has a descriptive summary of their role and activity during the expedition, as it reached the various important camp site locations along the track including Swan Hill, Menindee, Coopers Creek, the Gulf and the return to the Dig Tree.
Manager Cultural Development and Libraries Camille Cullinan encouraged students to visit the library these school holidays, experience the walking track display and enter the competition for the chance to win some great prizes.
“The prizes include a Burke and Wills First Day Cover, a set of commemorative Burke and Wills coins and a set of Burke and Wills stamps - all of which are part of a limited edition collectible items celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Burke and Wills expedition,” Ms Cullinan said.
“To be in the running to win these terrific prizes, all the students have to do is visit the library, answering questions about Burke and Wills as they follow the trail through the library.”
The competition will be open until 5 pm on Thursday, 30 September, with plans to have the President of the Royal Society of Victoria Professor Lynne Selwood present the three winners with their prizes on Friday, 1 October.
The Swan Hill Library is open between the hours of 10 am to 5.30 pm Monday to Friday, 7 pm to 8.30 pm Wednesday evenings and 10 am to 12 pm on Saturdays.
The Walk the Burke and Wills Track will be on display at the library until Thursday, 30 September 2010, when it will be taken “along the Track” to Balranald.
For more information regarding the Burke and Wills display or the school holiday competition, please call the Swan Hill Regional Library on 5036 2480.
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