20 Cents - Elizabeth II 4th Portrait - Burke and Wills

Issued to mark the 150th anniversary of the Burke and Wills expedition, which departed Melbourne in August 1860 as the most elaborately funded exploration venture in Australian colonial history. The party of 19 men, 23 horses, and 26 camels — the camels imported specifically for the journey — failed catastrophically, with Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills both dying near Cooper Creek in 1861. Only John King survived, kept alive by the Yandruwandha people for months before rescue.

The expedition's camels outlasted everyone. Released into the outback, their feral descendants still roam central Australia today.