The very scarce official Commission Report, eagerly awaited by the Victorian public in the aftermath of the tragic Burke and Wills expedition, which resulted in the deaths of seven men, including the leaders Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills. The Commission's findings, published in February 1862, were highly critical of Burke's leadership, finding that he made a "serious error of judgment" by dividing the party at Menindee and again at Cooper Creek. Also singled out for blame was William Wright, whom Burke had left at Menindee with instructions to bring up supplies, but who delayed his departure for three months ("reprehensible in the highest degree"), and William Brahé, censured for leaving his post in charge of the Cooper Creek depot just seven hours before the advance party returned. Blame was to be shared between these men and the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria itself.

The very scarce official Commission Report, eagerly awaited by the Victorian public in the aftermath of the tragic Burke and Wills expedition, which resulted in the deaths of seven men, including the leaders Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills. The Commission's findings, published in February 1862, were highly critical of Burke's leadership, finding that he made a "serious error of judgment" by dividing the party at Menindee and again at Cooper Creek. Also singled out for blame was William Wright, whom Burke had left at Menindee with instructions to bring up supplies, but who delayed his departure for three months ("reprehensible in the highest degree"), and William Brahé, censured for leaving his post in charge of the Cooper Creek depot just seven hours before the advance party returned. Blame was to be shared between these men and the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria itself.

Bound in with the Report is the single-leaf Victorian Parliamentary Paper "Country discovered by Burke and Wills" of 1863.