King was cared for by his sister, Elizabeth, at her house in Westbury Street, St Kilda. In 1863 he went to Tasmania to see if it would aid his recovery, arriving in Hobart on the SS "Black Swan" on Sunday, 1 February. King returned to Melbourne and was present at the inauguration of the Burke & Wills statue on the corner of Collins and Russell Streets in Melbourne on 21 April 1865, the fourth anniversary of their return to Cooper Creek.