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Sturt Charles
(1795—1869)

Captain Charles Sturt (1795-1869) was born in India in 1795. This was about the same time that Bass & Flinders started to explore Australia's coastline. Sturt fought against Napoleon's army in Spain and at Waterloo. Because of his ability, his commanders made him a Captain and sent him to Australia with his army regiment in 1827.

Governor Darling sent Sturt, together with Hamilton Hume to follow and map the Macquarie River. They got as far as the Darling River which they named, but were unable to track the river any further, as the surrounding country was in the grip of a terrible drought and the streams had dried up. However, he had proved that northern New South Wales was not a giant inland sea. His next expedition was in 1829 when he persuaded Governor Darling to allow him to follow the Murrumbidgee, which had been discovered by Hume and Hovell. On February 4 1830, the party sighted seagulls. Aboriginals told them that the ocean was nearby and on February 9, they sailed into a lake which Sturt named Alexandrina. A few days later, they found the point where the Murray flowed into the sea and since they could not sight any ships which might take them back to Sydney, they started their long journey rowing back to their depot on the Murrumbidgee. Such had been their ordeal, that Sturt went blind for many months. He was to suffer eye problems for the rest of his life. He returned to England for a couple of years, and in 1834 was given 50 000 acres of land near Mittagong in New South Wales. Because of his explorations, the city of Adelaide was settled. In 1838, he made another famous overland trek from Sydney to Adelaide, taking a herd of much-needed cattle. This time the journey took just 40 days and he proved that the Hume and the Murray were one and the same river. He then settled in South Australia and was appointed surveyor general and later registrar general. This was Sturt's fourth major expedition and began in August 1844, when he was almost 50 years of age. Three hundred men applied to join the expedition. Sturt chose 16 including James Poole, the second-in-command and set off together with 11 horses, 300 sheep, 32 bullocks, six dogs and an assortment of carts and wagons. Sturt had to make a very hard decision. He was only 240 kilometres from the centre of Australia, but for the safety of his party, he was forced to turn back to Fort Grey. They had travelled 1500 kilometres and were completely exhausted. He was very disappointed, but at least he had found a route to the centre of Australia and had pioneered an overland route to Adelaide. Sturt had explored the inland of Australia, north to Adelaide, adding much to people's knowledge of the interior of Australia. Sturt returned to England in 1851 where he died in 1869.

Australia, 1930, Charles Sturt

Australia, 1930, Charles Sturt

Great Britain, 1973, Charles Sturt