John King: an Ulster explorer who became the first person to cross Australia

John King was a young man from Ulster whose life changed forever after a chance meeting in India. He arrived in Australia with no aspirations of being an explorer. Nevertheless he became the first person to cross Australia from north to south and became an reluctant hero as a result. His loyalty to Burke secured him a trusted position in charge of the expedition's camels, and camels allowed Burke to explore in a style that no one had been able to attempt previously. At the age of 21, after being in Australia for only ten weeks, John King set off with Burke to walk from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria and back. His story is intertwined with that of the camels, the first to be used on a major Australian exploring expedition