Portrait of Robert O'Hara Burke, 1860. Pencil and wash, Pictures Collection, National Library of Australia

Completed in the months prior to his return home to Britain in 1862, Strutt's final works in Australia focused on the departure of the Burke and Wills expedition. He watched the preparations leading up to the group's departure on 20 August 1860, and made in situ sketches of the expedition's leader, Robert O'Hara Burke. Sketches such as this portrait of Burke informed Strutt's later full-length portrait of the explorer, which was commissioned by the Melbourne Club.