Howitt went on to be appointed Police magistrate & Warden Crown Lands Commissioner; later still, he held the position of Secretary of the Mines Department.

On a follow-up expedition to Cooper Creek in 1862, Howitt recovered the bodies of Burke and Wills[2] for burial at the Melbourne General Cemetery.

Howitt researched the culture and society of Indigenous Australians, in particular kinship and marriage; he was influenced by the theories of evolution and anthropology.

[4] The recreational park named in his honour is located adjacent to the Mitchell River Bridge on the eastern side of Bairnsdale.

Howitt's scientific life shared a special irony with that of his longtime friend Lorimer Fison.