Title: Charles Sturt - His Life and Journeys of Exploration
Author: J. H. L. Cumpston
* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No.: 0700391.txt
Language:  English
Date first posted: March 2007
Date most recently updated: March 2007

Project Gutenberg of Australia eBooks are created from printed editions
which are in the public domain in Australia, unless a copyright notice
is included. We do NOT keep any eBooks in compliance with a particular
paper edition.

Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this
file.

This eBook is made available at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg of Australia License which may be viewed online at
http://gutenberg.net.au/licence.html

To contact Project Gutenberg of Australia go to http://gutenberg.net.au

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title: Charles Sturt - His Life and Journeys of Exploration
Author: J. H. L. Cumpston


Published 1951


Anybody might have found it, but His whisper came to me.
--The Explorer: Kipling.


This book is dedicated to
MY WIFE
who has shared in the collection
and preparation of the material
upon which it was written



CONTENTS


Preface
Introduction
I The Early Years
II First Years in Sydney
III The Macquarie Marshes
IV The Second Expedition
V Norfolk Island and England
VI Life in New South Wales
VII First Visit to South Australia
VIII The Period of Governor Gawler
IX The Period of Governor Grey
XThe Central Australian Expedition
XI End of Life in South Australia
XII Last Years in England
XIII Tributes and Memorials
Epilogue
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
References
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments of Illustrations



[ILLUSTRATIONS - not in this text file


1. Murray Mouth showing also Goolwa Channel,
2. Captain Charles Sturt
3. Governor Ralph Darling5
4. Sir Thomas Mitchell
5. The Macquarie Marshes from the Air
6. The Bluff End of Cookbundoon
7. Title-page of book presented to Dr Gibson
8. Meadow Creek at Gunning
9. The Devil's Pass, Mundoonen Range
10. A Remarkable Hill called Pouni, Mt Bowning
11. Dunderalligo Creek
12. Sturt Monument at Gundagai
13. The Murrumbidgee from Jugiong Hill
14. Billabong near Wagga
15. Cypress Ridge near Narrandera
16. The Murrumbidgee between Hay and Maude
17. Sturt Monument at Mildura
18. Murray River Cliffs near Tareena
19. Fossil Cliffs on Murray River
20. Relief Plaque on Pylon at Goolwa Barrage
21. Monument to Sturt and Barker on Hindmarsh Island
22. Sturt's Land at Ginnindera, near Canberra
23. Northern Boundary of Sturt's Grant, Ginnindera Creek
24. Sturt's Home at Varroville
25. Silver Vase presented by Survey Staff
26. Sturt's Home at Grange, Adelaide
27. Sturt in Middle Life
28. Departure from Adelaide of Central Australian Expedition
29. Country East of Broken Hill from the Air: Stephen Creek Timber in
    Background
30. Plain from Old Fowler's Gap Hotel
31. A Rocky Glen - Depot Glen
32. Preservation Creek where Sturt camped, showing considerable recent
    silting
33. Cairn on Mount Poole
34. Poole's Grave at Preservation Creek
35. Cemetery at Preservation Creek which includes Poole's Grave
36. Typical Dry Sandy Bed of Creek
37. Sturt's Stony Desert
38. Goyder's Lagoon
39. The Diamantina Plain
40. Kuddaree Waterhole, Mulligan River
41. Tree at Fort Grey
42. Looking North over Cooper Creek showing Innamincka Police Station
43. Cooper Creek at Nappa Merri Station
44. Title-page of book presented to Sturt's son, Charles
45. Sturt in the Years of his Retirement
46. Sturt's Last Home in Cheltenham
47. Statue to Sturt in Adelaide
48. Water-bottle carried by Sturt on his Last Expedition
49. Mr Beasley Unveiling Tablet on Sturt's Last Home
50. Mr Beasley Placing Wreath on Sturt's Grave, 1948]



[MAPS - not in this text file


Routes followed on the First Expedition
Plan of Beemery "Island"
Locality of the Depot on the Murrumbidgee
The Inland Rivers as known in 1830
Location of Sturt's Original Grant near Canberra
Sturt's Mittagong Property
Sturt's Land at Grange
Route North from Broken Hill
Portion of Counsel Tracing
Route North from Milparinka
Route North-west to Simpson Desert
Routes of the Three Expeditions]



NOTE ON THE REFERENCES


Key to Abbreviations:

Life: Life of Charles Sturt by Mrs. N. G. Sturt. Smith, Elder and Co. 1899.

H.R.A.: Historical Records of Australia. Pub. by Commonwealth Government.

Mit. Lib.: Mitchell Library Papers.

Sturt Papers: Papers in the possession of Sturt's grandson, Captain G. C.
N. Sturt, which were presented to Rhodes House Library, Oxford, on 24th
November, 1948.

Two Exp.: Two Expeditions into the Interior of South Australia during the
years 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831 Charles Sturt. Pub. Smith Elders 1833.

Narr. Cent.: Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia: Charles
Sturt. Pub. T. and W. Boone, 1849.

Archiv., S.A.: Archives Department, Adelaide.

R.G.S.S.A.: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, South
Australian Branch.

R.A.H.S.: Transactions of the Royal Australian Historical Society, N.S.W.

* * *

The chapter notes in the book appeared at the end of the book and they
have been reproduced at the end of this ebook. However, in this ebook the
notes have also been placed in square brackets at the end of the
paragraph in which they are referenced. The reference method [c-n] refers
to the chapter number and the note number within the chapter.

Notes which appeared in the book at the bottom of a page appear in round
brackets at the end of the paragraph in which they are referenced. The
reference method is an asterisk.

* * *



PREFACE


There is this difference between science and history: each scientific
discovery brings new knowledge: by contrast, facts uncovered and recorded
by the historian were invariably known to some people at some time:
sometimes widely known and well recorded at the time.

But these facts may have become obscured or forgotten, or even as
recorded may have acquired a new interest or significance.

Therefore, while there is in the story now presented nothing that is
literally new; and although the story of Sturt's life has been told with
skill and affection by his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Napier (Beatrix M.)
Sturt, there is some justification for this new attempt to tell the
story.

Mrs. Sturt's _Life of Charles Sturt_ was published fifty years ago, has
long been out of print, and copies are difficult to obtain, except in
libraries. This is even more true of Sturt's own publications describing
his expeditions down the Macquarie and Murray Rivers, and into Central
Australia.

For these reasons the present generation of Australians cannot easily
learn the story of one who played a courageous and altogether notable
part for twenty-five of the most fateful years of the early period of our
nation's history.

Also, even if the public had easy access to these books, it is difficult
to relate the routes followed by Sturt to modern place-names, and the
story is much more interesting when it can be followed step by step on a
modern map.

Mrs. Sturt, also, was under a great disadvantage in never having visited
Australia.

But the main consideration which, in the author's opinion, justifies the
presentation of this "twice told tale" at this time, is that while the
beliefs, ideals and aspirations which for centuries have inspired man's
nobler efforts have become temporarily submerged in the struggle for
survival, a book like this, which tells the story of a man whose ideal
was service, and who was prepared to die in that service, might be
timely, and might even be welcomed by a large body of young readers.

Canberra 1951



INTRODUCTION


While it is true, as already stated, that this book contains little that
is new, yet documents have come to light, letters have been collected;
and through these, and the other varied channels by which history is
revealed, information beyond that available fifty years ago can now be
consulted.

The continuous and patient work of the Royal Historical and Royal
Geographical Societies, and of many individuals, has determined points of
detail and settled topographical locations, so that the principal task in
a work of this kind is the assembling of material already available.

One point should be stated here. In naming places, particularly streams,
Sturt used the old style of possessive adjectives, for example, Cooper's
Creek: geographers have, however, agreed that this style shall be
replaced by the simple name, such as Cooper Creek. This modern style has,
therefore, been followed throughout. That it has, occasionally,
unfortunate results, must be recognised, for example, "Flood Creek"
conveys a wrong impression concerning the origin of the name.

The maps in this volume are not cartographically accurate, but they do
convey correct information adequate for the general reader.



Chapter I - The Early Years


About the middle of May 1827 the ship _Mariner_ was forging eastward with
long lunges driven by a strong cold wind under a wet dead sky: no one on
board without previous knowledge would have guessed that the bright land
of their new life was then to the north of them.

Standing by the port rail of the quarterdeck was one man who knew it; and
whose memories and forebodings were stirred by the knowledge. For him the
warm sunlight of Cape Town was fading to a pleasant dream, the sullen
rollers a depressing illusion of immobility and desolation, and the
solitary albatross a symbol of life spent in ceaseless movement with an
uncertain goal and an unknown destiny.

These things affected his thoughts and produced a mental depression which
was to recur more than once in later life.

He was a professional soldier--a captain of the 39th Regiment of
Foot--and as he looked back to the west he reviewed the past and all that
he was leaving. His career as a soldier began when, at the age of
eighteen years, he had, through the patronage of the Prince Regent, been
gazetted ensign in the 39th Regiment. Service in the Pyrenees against the
French was followed by service in Canada against the Americans, soon
ended by the hurried recall of the regiment after Napoleon's escape from
Elba. As they arrived in France after Waterloo the regiment served as
part of the army of occupation in France until the end of 1818.

He had had, therefore, five years of varied experience--the first two on
service under active warfare conditions, the last three on garrison duty.

From 1818 to 1825 the regiment was on duty in Ireland, without incident
especially affecting his personal career but involving long delay in
military promotion. He was twenty-eight years old when he, at last,
became Lieutenant; and, at thirty, he became Captain. Then, removed from
Ireland to Chatham, he was sent in charge of a detachment of the regiment
as guard over convicts on this present voyage to New South Wales, which
had begun in December, 1826.

He remembered his boyhood and his family life. He could barely remember
his childhood in India as he had been, in his fifth year, sent with his
elder sister to England to live with their mother's sisters. A happy
childhood lasted until his fifteenth year when,, on his parents' return
to England, he was sent to Harrow. Memories of his happy days with his
uncle Charles, who taught him the management of small boats; with his
sister Susan, with his cousin Isaac Wood, were clouded by the unhappiness
and misfortunes of his father, Napier Sturt.

Napier Sturt was a judge in Bengal under the East India Company, and it
was shortly after his marriage that the prospects of easy wealth, which
was the main attraction to India, had been greatly reduced by the
impeachment of Warren Hastings. His second son, Charles, was born on 28th
April, 1795, in the, very month of Hastings' acquittal.

A large family--there were eight sons--unsuccessful speculation, failure
of an Indian bank, gravely affected the economic position of the family
and saddened the family life.

He remembered with quiet satisfaction that in respect of family and
ancestry he was, in the standard of those times, of "good birth." The
Sturts and the Napiers were Dorsetshire county families of standing. But
he remembered that his grandmother was a confirmed gambler for high
stakes and that all her fifteen children, including his own father, were
distinguished for good looks, fine manners, and the fatal habit of being
in debt.

All this passed through his mind as he stood there. He, a soldier without
influence, for whom promotion had already been very slow, was posted on
service in a lonely outpost at a time when there seemed no possibility of
war, with its chances of quick promotion, and no prospect of promotion
otherwise. He was in his thirty-third year, with no hope of marriage on
his pay. And he had already in his mind prejudged and condemned this new
country which, as yet, he still could not see--he condemned it because of
the uninteresting nature of the military service there; and because of
the character of the population--the majority being convicts.

He admitted later that these prejudices were formed in complete ignorance
of the real conditions, but his depression as he shivered in his great
coat was real enough.

The master of the ship, sensing this, came over from the other side of
the deck and told him that within the next few days they would have
turned the corner and would be moving northward into, if the glass did
not lie, calmer seas and warmer weather. And so it was; within a few days
the ship was moving northwards under full sail driven by a southerly
breeze, yielding easily to the gentle Pacific swell, and the young army
officer, well forward on the forecastle deck, enjoying the warm sun, was
examining all that he could see of this new country.

Behind the flat, heavily-timbered coast were the ranges, sometimes coming
down to the sea, sometimes very distant, but always dominating the
landscape. No one on board could tell him what was behind the ranges, but
he wondered with that wonder which was to be the consuming passion of his
life.

For two or three days the weather remained bright and fresh, but, on the
morning of 23rd May* the wind changed to a light north-easterly breeze,
and on a crisp bright autumn morning the ship turned in between South
Head with its Macquarie Tower and the bold, flat face of North Head. The
ship moved gently up the Harbour, taking in sail after sail until she
came to anchor in Sydney Cove, and Charles Sturt came to the country
which was to be his home for twenty-six years, and his major interest for
life. With him came his faithful soldier-servant Joseph Harris, who
"would never leave him."**

(* Both Mrs. Sturt and Sturt himself give other dates; but this date is
correct.)

(** See Appendix D, Note 1.)

Sturt wrote of his own feeling on this occasion:

[1-1]"With mingled feelings I gazed for the first time on the bold cliffs
at the entrance to Port Jackson, nor did I anticipate anything equal to
the scene as we sailed up that noble and extensive basin. The fact was, I
had not conceived, from anything I had read or heard that, in that remote
region, so extensive a town could have been reared in so brief a period.
It is the very triumph of human skill and industry over Nature.

[1-1. Life p.22.]

"In a climate so soft that man scarcely requires a dwelling, and so
enchanting that few have left it but with regret, the spirits must needs
be acted upon, and the heart feel lighter. Such, indeed, I have myself
found to be the case; nor have I ever been happier than when roving
through the woods or wandering along one of the silent and beautiful bays
for which the harbour of Port Jackson is celebrated."

He never lost this admiration and affection for Australia.

This young man, whose name will be always part of Australian history, was
5 feet 10¾ inches in height, and had brown hair, bright blue eyes, an
aquiline nose, and sensitive, rather humorous mouth.



CHAPTER II - First Years in Sydney


It may be assumed that, having reported himself to his commanding
officer, Colonel Lindesay, disposed of his detachment of soldiers,
delivered the convicts, and taken up his quarters in barracks, he made
his duty call on the Governor, General Ralph Darling.

From that moment he could not escape the obligation of making a decision
as to where his sympathies and loyalties would be; from that moment he
was drawn, even if he did not fully realize it at first, into the net of
Civil Service officialism and intrigue in which his personal interests
suffered, and from which he was never again entirely free.

His call on the Governor would have been made straight into a familiar
"army" atmosphere. With the Governor he would have met Darling's two
brothers-in-law, Henry and William Dumaresq--all three of them army
officers, Henry being now Clerk to the Executive Council; and he would
soon have realized that Darling was facing his difficult task with a very
rigid official attitude. For Darling's task was difficult: his
instructions were to develop the more democratic system of local autonomy
introduced in 1824 and to encourage local civil responsibility. In this
he failed to please either those who were opposed to change, or those who
demanded even greater changes. Sturt may have heard of the memorial
presented to Darling on his arrival in 1825, telling him in rather
forcible terms that there were locally-born Australians who were fired by
a rather self-assertive local patriotism and who, for example, urged in
one memorial to the Home[2-1] Government that the mere circumstance of
having been born in New South Wales should not preclude them from
receiving grants of land. He would have watched the proceedings when
Governor Darling took the unusual course in October, 1827, of instituting
libel proceedings against Wardell of the "Australian" newspaper.

[2-1 H.R.A. XII. xiii: XII. 147.]

There is no indication that he was, during the first six months of his
residence, moved by any of these happenings to ally himself with any of
the factions.

Nor is there any indication that he was affected by the social revolution
in Europe: Waterloo was only twelve years away, and all Europe, except
France, was obsessed with the fear that the "terror" would spread to
other countries. Sturt's youth and early manhood saw the gathering of the
waters for that great tidal wave of common humanity which was to swell
increasingly through, and beyond, the nineteenth century. The first drops
of spray from this were being felt in Sydney when he arrived. At this
stage there was in him a striking singleness of purpose. But by November,
1827, he had become Military Secretary to the Governor, and this
allegiance kept him strictly within the limits of loyalty to Govern. men
t House.

In this official capacity he appears only once. On 23rd March 1828, he
wrote, by direction, to Captain Robison enquiring[2-2] whether, in
letters to England, Robison had made charges against the Governor and, if
so, requesting him to furnish copies of the charges. Sturt was not
further concerned officially in this matter although Darling felt
justified, in April, 1828, in reporting acidly to the authorities in
England that Captain Robison's continuance[2-3] in the service could not
fail to prove in the last degree injurious to it.

[2-2 H.R.A. XIV. 106.]

[2-3 H.R.A. XIV. 111.]

Other evidence suggests that none of these local matters held any
attraction for Sturt, but although he was an officer trained for military
career, it is easy to imagine him, with others all round him seeking
prosperity by novel means and speculating heavily is livestock ventures,
examining his future prospects with some anxiety He had been fourteen
years in the army, was thirty-two years old the probability of promotion
was small, and the prospect of marriage remote. His mind turned to other
possibilities. Writing to his cousin Isaac Wood on 10th November, 1827,
he said:

[2-4] "The Governor-General has appointed me his military secretary but
in February I take an expedition into the interior to ascertain the level
of the inland plains and to determine the supposed existence of an inland
sea. This will not be unattended with danger however, it is a most
important trust, and if I succeed, as I anticipate, I shall earn some
credit. The field of professional ambition is closed upon the soldier
during his service in New South Wales though in no case could a career
more honourable than that of discovery have been open to me when I landed
on Australian shores."

[2-4 Life p.24.]

It seems clear from this evidence that within the first six month of
Sturt's life in New South Wales he had decided that exploration was not
only attractive for its own sake but offered opportunities for gaining
some credit which might prove of material, advantage.

The sequence of events at this period is interesting. Macquarie
encouraged by Colonial Secretary Earl Bathurst, had pushed an active
policy of exploration of the country behind the coastal ranges Oxley, in
1817, had followed the Lachlan River in its westward and southward
course, and had been stopped by marshes. The following year he had
followed the Macquarie River northward until he was stopped by the great
marsh near Buckinguy and he was confident that, at that point, he was "in
the immediate vicinity of an inland sea, most probably a shoal one, and
gradually decreasing or being filled up by the immense depositions from
the waters flowing into it from the higher lands." Evans of his party had
found the Castlereagh flowing north and west.

Next was the Hume-Hovell expedition to the south in 1824 during which
were crossed the Murrumbidgee and Murray flowing west, and the Goulburn
flowing north.

Then, in 1827, Cunningham travelled north as far as the Darling Downs,
crossing the Namoi, Gwydir, Macintyre and Dumaresq Rivers, all flowing
toward the centre of the continent.

In view of all this, it is easy to understand that Darling, reporting to
Colonial. Secretary Goderich the return of Cunningham and the important
results of his expedition, should say:5

[2-5] "I would observe that Mr. Cunningham appears desirous to render the
result of his expedition confirmatory of a favourite hypothesis, the
existence of an inland sea. This opinion has lately become so general
from the reports of the natives that I propose, as soon as the season
permits, to endeavour to ascertain the facts."

[2-5 H.R.A. XIII. 619.]

The date of this despatch was 12th November, 1827. The date of Sturt's
letter to his cousin was 10th November, 1827: the connection is obvious.
But nothing was done at that time.

In May, 1828, Darling received a despatch from London containing a
proposal from a Mr. Ballantyne to land on the west coast of Australia
about 20 degrees south and, using camels, to cross to the settlement on
the east coast. Darling condemned the proposal as not justifying the
expense, difficulty, and hazard, and he added:

[2-6] "I have had it in contemplation for some time past to employ an
officer in this service who has expressed a strong desire to undertake
it: but I have been prevented detaching him by the want of officers to
carry on the duties of the garrison. I entertain the hope, however, that
circumstances will soon permit of my availing myself of his services."

[2-6 H.R.A. XIV. 199.]

[2-7]Sturt's "strong desire" was sufficiently obvious to be mentioned in
the official records of the 39th Regiment, where it is stated that
General Darling yielded to the repeated entreaties of Captain Sturt and
permitted him to proceed for the purpose of prosecuting the discoveries
already commenced by other travellers.

[2-7 Archiv.: S.A. A.663.]

It is hardly surprising that, with exploration and talk of new country
constantly before him, Sturt, too, should have his imagination excited.
It may not have been an unimportant consideration that Oxley, Hume and
Hovell had all been materially rewarded for their services.

The proposal for an expedition dragged on for twelve months, and then,
although Sturt was not sent to discover an inland sea, or to follow
Ballantyne's proposed route, he was, as Darling advised Sir George Murray
on 19th November, 1828, sent on an expedition to ascertain the course and
fate of the River Macquarie.

[2-8]Darling advised Murray that Sturt, from his scientific knowledge,
appeared to be fully competent to the undertaking and was "ardently
devoted to it." Darling thought there was every chance of Sturt's
success; but, although he had been in the colony for some time, he had
had little opportunity of becoming familiar with the country. Darling
stated that, for this reason, he had attached Mr. Hamilton Hume, "an
experienced traveller," to the expedition.

[2-8 H.R.A. XIV. 471.]

Sturt's first year in Australia altered his whole life: the change from
the rigid conventions of army and county life to the exciting freedom of
an unknown continent bred in his active mind a complex of impulses--a
love of exploration for its own sake, a desire for the "credit" it would
bring, a search for economic security, although never any lust for
wealth, a fervent devotion to this country, and running curiously through
it all, the lure of the inland sea, an illusive phantasy nagging at his
mind for seventeen years until, by an effort of will, on the edge of the
Simpson Desert, he freed himself from the illusion and allowed the dream
to fade--yet not altogether die, for there were recurrent flickerings as
late as 1854 (see Ch. 10--"Could this bank have been over any inland
waters?"). But through all this was a dominant motive:

"A wish to contribute to the public good led me to undertake those
journeys which have cost me so much. I should exceedingly regret if it
were thought I had volunteered hazardous and important undertakings for
the love of adventure alone."

His whole life was evidence that this was not vain boasting.

It is of interest to record here the reactions of the civil officials.
The person most interested officially was the Surveyor-General Oxley.
Macquarie had, ten years before,[2-9] described him as intriguing and
discontented. Oxley was one of the party actively hostile to
Darling[2-10] and the latter wrote of him that "he is a very clever man;
but has been too little controlled and I am satisfied will never submit
to the drudgery of carrying on the details of his department." It is,
however, to be noted that Darling followed up this comment by
recommending his brother-in-law for appointment as Deputy
Surveyor-General, as he was desirous of having a person in the Department
who would be some check on the indulgence of any disposition which might
be felt to favour one party or to oppose another. The date of this letter
was 4th September, 1826.

[2-9 Ellis Macquarie p.494.]

[2-10 H.R.A. XII. 256, 535.]

But other influences were at work, and T. L. Mitchell was, on 13th
January, 1827, appointed assistant to Mr. Oxley with reversion of the
appointment as Surveyor-General. Mitchell arrived in Sydney on 23rd
September, 1827, and, on Oxley's death on 25th May, 1828, became
Surveyor-General.

It is recorded that Oxley was opposed to private exploring parties, but
there is no record of his attitude towards Sturt.

Mitchell's attitude was soon declared. Sturt wrote to him on 30th
September, 1828, asking his advice about the forthcoming expedition,
particularly as to the route to be followed, adding: "I am endeavouring
to obtain information, but from no one would I rather receive it than
from you."

Mitchell replied on the same day that, as he had clearly understood from
His Majesty's Government that he was likely to be employed on a journey
into the interior, it was not very natural that he should welcome the
employment of another person on a service which had been considered to
belong to the office of his predecessor, but he added: "to you
individually, however, I shall be glad to contribute any assistance or
advice in my power."

It was ten years since Oxley had done his exploring, and those who had
been active in the meantime, Hume and Cunningham, did not belong to the
Survey staff.

Here, however, is the earliest indication of the jealousy that was to
develop, on Mitchell's side, into hostility.

[2-11 Mit. Lib. A.295.17.21. Note: the point in the text for this
reference could not be found.]



CHAPTER III - The Macquarie Marshes


From Sturt's letter to Mitchell on 30th September it is clear that the
Governor had by that time decided that Sturt should lead an expedition
into the interior; but actually he left it to Sturt to submit a plan of
operation, and, for this, careful consideration of alternatives was
necessary.

[3-1]Governor King in 1800 had reported that the existence of a sea or
strait running from the Gulf of Carpentaria into the southern ocean was a
very favourite idea in New South Wales; but Flinders had disproved this
by sailing up to the head of Spencer's Gulf.

[3-1 Wood: Discovery of Australia p.500.]

[3-2]Then Macquarie had sent Oxley to follow the Lachlan River, hoping he
would be able to trace it to the south-west coast of Australia. However,
as already stated, after being baffled by both the Lachlan and the
Macquarie, Oxley definitely favoured the idea of an inland sea: but, as
he presumed that the Lachlan simply faded out by evaporation and soil
absorption, while the Macquarie marshes were on the edge of the inland
sea, it is to be assumed that Oxley's advice, so far as Sturt might have
sought it, would be to concentrate on the area round the Macquarie River.

[3-2 Ellis: Macquarie p.493.]

The latest advice available to Darling was that of Cunningham, who
favoured the theory of an inland sea.

But how did Sturt react to all this? In the letter of 30th September to
Mitchell asking his advice, he said:

[3-3] "The Governor has at length allowed me to prepare for the interior.
The Governor appears to favour an expedition to the west of Wellington
Valley to determine whether our interior still lies under water, and I am
inclined to favour it also. I am, however, divided as to taking a
southerly or a northerly course, and it is on this point I would more
particularly desire your advice, for should you favour the latter, it
would be necessary for me to start from Moreton Bay, whereas the former
course would oblige me to follow the Murrumbidgee, which I think runs
parallel to the Macquarie."

[3-3 Mit. Lib. A.295.17.21.]

This is sufficient to indicate the current ignorance of the geography of
the interior. During October Sturt must have received official advice of
his commission to lead an expedition, for, on 4th November, 1828, he
wrote to the Colonial Secretary[3-4] formally accepting the commission to
lead an expedition to determine the fate of the Macquarie by tracing it
as far as possible beyond the point to which the late Surveyor-General
went, and by pushing into the interior on a westerly course to ascertain
if there were any high lands in that direction; it being supposed the
country westward was an unbroken land and under water. He then went on to
discuss his route. In order to understand his dilemma it is necessary to
remember that the fixed idea at the time was that the Castlereagh and
Macquarie Rivers flowed north-westward into an inland sea. If, therefore,
Sturt, starting from Oxley's last point, were to journey westward he
could reasonably expect to be very soon stopped by extensive marshes or
the inland sea itself.

[3-4 Sturt Papers.]

Both Darling and Sturt for this reason thought at first that it would be
well to follow up the Macquarie marshes northward along their eastern
rather than the western margin.

What considerations influenced the discussions during October are not
known, but in his letter of acceptance of 4th November Sturt discussed
the possibility of finding an uninterrupted flow of the river westward
and continuing along this into a level and uncertain country in the
interior, his movements being guided by circumstances. But he had to
consider the other alternative: "it may not be prudent to risk the health
of my men by too long a continuance in the swamps and...in the event of
my being unable to penetrate westward I deem it very probable that I
shall make Moreton Bay, if after successive attempts to turn the marshes
I find they still extend to the northward."

It is difficult to-day to imagine such complete ignorance that the
possibility of meeting great marshes or an inland sea anywhere between
Nyngan and Goondiwindi could be contemplated.

As an interesting sidelight on the official discussions there is a
marginal note on this letter written, presumably, by Darling:

"Quite out of the question he would never reach Moreton Bay."

The discussions were finally concluded with an official minute by Darling
(9th November) to Colonial Secretary Macleay directing that Sturt should
endeavour to get round the marshes by the westward, as nothing whatever
was known of that north-west country, and that Sturt should establish a
base to the north of Wellington Valley abandoning ideas of eastward
excursions.

Darling directed that instructions should be prepared and Sturt's
requisition for supplies were approved. As the experience gained on this
expedition very materially influenced Sturt's methods and practice on his
later expeditions, and as there is real interest in examining the
equipment of such an expedition in those early days, the official
instructions issued to Sturt, and the supplies requisitioned by him, are
printed in full as an appendix (Appendix B).

Some aspects of the equipment call for comment; there was no spare
saddle-horse for either Sturt or Hume, no saddle-horses for the men, only
five "breakers" for water, and the clothing must have been of singularly
good quality. It is noted, however, that some alterations were made in
these numbers, as, in addition to two saddle-horses, there were two for
Sturt's own use, and the expedition had seven pack horses and eight pack
bullocks.

As they expected to meet large bodies of water they took a boat "of the
lightest construction," with sprit sail complete, carried on a light
four-wheeled carriage drawn by two bullocks.

It was assumed, correctly, that because of the long drought which began
in 1826 and continued with increasing severity until after the expedition
had returned, that the marshes, by the water-logged condition of which
Oxley had been stopped, would be very much drier and that the
difficulties Oxley had met "would be found to be greatly diminished, if
not altogether removed."

It is necessary here to mention one point. Sturt himself has left on
record that, in respect of longitude observations he was only
self-taught, that he went into the interior to explore, not to survey,
and he admits the possibility of errors in his observations. This has to
be remembered in respect of all his expeditions: there is evidence, too,
of occasional printer's errors in his published works: it is, therefore,
advisable to rely principally upon topographical features in any
identification of places actually visited.

Having received his final instructions on 9th November, Sturt left
Sydney the next day. He followed the old road over the Blue Mountains,
stopping on the way at Dr. Harris' residence (Sheane) and Sir John
Jamieson's place (Regents Ville), overtaking, on the mountains, his men
who had been sent ahead.

The party reached Bathurst on 22nd November, having taken twelve days
from Sydney.

Here Hume joined them and the party was complete: it included Harris, the
faithful servant who had been with him ever since the days of duty in
Ireland, the soldiers Fraser* and Hopkinson, and the prisoner
Clayton--these four were to be with him again on his journey down the
Murray a year later.

(*See Appendix D, Note 1.)

At Wellington Valley an outpost depot had been established in 1826 for
the control of bushrangers*; this settlement was on the right bank of the
Bell about two miles above the junction of that stream with the
Macquarie. Sturt had been instructed to complete all his preparations
here with the assistance of the Superintendent, Mr. Maxwell, who was to
supply trained bullocks.)

(* Macquarie had first used the term "bushrangers" to describe runaway
convicts who were ranging the bush; the term did not at first mean armed
robber, though it soon came to have that meaning because of the methods
adopted by the runaway convicts.)

The party left Wellington on 7th December, and moved north along the
eastern bank of the Macquarie, calling at Gobawlin (Gobalyan) and
Dibilamble at the junction of the Tabragar* with the Macquarie.

(* Now spelt Talbragar.)

At Dibilamble they crossed to the western bank of the river to preserve
as much as possible the direct line to Mt. Harris. On their northward
journey they detoured (12th December) to the west to visit Lake Buddah,
finding it abounding in fish, although it had neither inlet nor outlet:
Sturt correctly supposed the fish came in during floods. Returning to the
river they reached the "cataract" somewhere in the vicinity of what is
now known as Rocky Point; here they crossed to the eastern bank, the
local aborigines helping with the handling of stores. During this
crossing the expedition's barometer was broken.

They reached Mt. Harris on 20th December, having passed the site of the
present town of Warren about 16th or 17th December. At Mt. Harris they
found the remains of Oxley's camp, and Sturt indulged in those very
transient gloomy reflections which seemed to have recurred from time to
time on the occasion of each of his expeditions, and he wondered whether
he would succeed or fail.*

(* In his published account of this journey, Sturt states: "Only a week
before I left Sydney I had followed Mr. Oxley to the tomb." But Oxley
died on 26th May.)

After two days at Mt. Harris because of sickness amongst the men, the
party moved to Mt. Foster, where they camped (22nd December): the camp
being, with reasonable probability, about where Travelling Stock Reserve
27240 is now. Although this was nominally a "base" camp it was, in
practice, very little so used. From here Sturt sent two men back with
despatches and instructions to bring relief supplies to Mt. Harris to
await the return of the main party.

Now began the real business of the expedition--the attack on the marshes.
On 23rd December they moved quietly northwards until they were stopped by
reeds, through which they forced their way back to the river. Here they
were near Buckinguy, probably across the river from Portion II, Parish of
Wundabungay.

The immense lake through which Oxley could not travel was thus, at this
early stage in their journey, found to be: "a large and blasted plain, on
which the sun's rays fell with intense heat." the ground itself, parched
to an extreme degree, showing in many places deep and dangerous clefts.

The party remained at this camp from 23rd to 26th December. While the
party was stationary, Sturt and Hume rode westwards to the Marra Creek,
passing all the time through reed beds.

On the 26th the party moved a short distance northwards and camped again
amongst the reeds. The site of this camp cannot be identified. From this
camp Sturt, on 26th December, taking two men and a week's provisions,
launched his boat: but after proceeding with very great difficulty for
about eight miles he was completely stopped by reeds in shallow marshes
and had to return to camp at the end of the second day. It is possible
that he was on the Monkeygar Creek. While Sturt was away with the boat
Hume had scouted to the northward and had returned to the camp with the
news that twelve miles to the north he had found a serpentine sheet of
water which he was sure was the channel of the river; but beyond this was
a still more extensive marsh. Sturt then moved (28th December) the whole
camp to this new part of the river. Here he again launched the boat, but
after two miles in a natural channel the reeds made any further progress
by boat quite impossible. This was the end of all boat excursions, for
although they dragged the boat with them for many days they never again
used it.

Hope of water travel on the Macquarie having vanished, Sturt decided that
his only course was to force a land journey to the northern end of the
marshes, and also commence his survey of the western interior.
Examination of all available evidence suggests that they were now on the
Macquarie near Willan, probably Portion 17, Parish of Wullamgambone.

Sturt and Hume, each with two men, set out on 31st December on
independent reconnaissances: Hume to go northwards along the eastern side
of the marshes and circle round their northern extremity, while Sturt
went in a general north-westerly direction to see what he could find.

Sturt crossed the Marra Creek south of the Big Lagoon and reached the
Bogan near Cowga, sighting New Year's Range on 1st January. On the
following day he reached and named Oxley's Table Land: from the summit of
the Table Land he saw in the distant south-west the hills which he named
D'Urban's Group. He then returned to the base camp by a route a little to
the east of his outward journey--arriving in camp on 5th January.

Hume, meanwhile, had started on a north-easterly course, crossing the
Marthaguy and reaching the Merri Creek, which he followed northward,
believing that it would join the Castlereagh; but as it turned sharply to
the west and then back to the north-east (about fourteen miles north of
Carinda) he decided to leave it and go to the westward. On 3rd January he
crossed the Marra Creek probably a little south of Yarrawin, then, taking
up a more south-westerly direction; on 4th January he crossed the Bogan
somewhere near Cowga and ascended--and named--New Year's Range. Hume then
returned to camp, arriving one day after Sturt.

One of Sturt's very rare inaccuracies may be mentioned here.

[3-5] In his Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia Sturt
said:

[3-5 Narr. Cent.: 1.15.]

"The New Year's Creek of my first expedition, so called by my friend Mr.
Hamilton Hume, because he crossed it on that day." But this was written
in 1848, and Sturt's memory was at fault, for, whereas Sturt himself
crossed New Year's Creek (the Bogan) on 1st January, Hume did not cross
it until 4th January.

When Sturt and Hume compared notes they found that they had established
that there was a northern limit to the marshes and no recognisable outlet
for the Macquarie River, that, to use Sturt's own words:

"My journey had enabled me to put at rest forever a question of much
previous doubt. Of whatever extent the marshes of the Macquarie might be,
it was evident they were not connected with the Lachlan. I had gained a
knowledge of more than 100 miles of the western interior, and had
ascertained that no sea, indeed that little water, existed on its
surface. Although I had passed over much barren ground, I had likewise
noticed soil that was far from poor. Yet, upon the whole, the space I
traversed is unlikely to become the haunt of civilized man, or will
become so in isolated spots as a chain of connection to a more fertile
country; if a country exist to the westward."

The accuracy of his judgment is notable. A journey to-day anywhere in the
area between Warren, Brewarrina, Bourke and Nyngan bears out, in every
mile, every word of that verdict of the first white man to see it.

Also, when they compared their respective routes, Sturt and Hume agreed
that their tracks must have been very near each other at the Bogan River.
This left open the remote possibility that the lower reaches of the
Macquarie had been between the two routes and had been missed by both of
them. This was too important a point to be' undecided, and it was also
necessary to gain more information as to the nature of the "distant
interior": their provisions were getting low and there was no time to
lose. They decided to go north along the eastern side of the marshes and
turn west as soon as they could force a way through the reeds.

The story of this journey in its geographical aspects can quickly be
told. Hume, with the party, moved slowly north and camped on Bulgeraga
Creek, while Sturt made a hurried trip to Mt. Harris hoping to find that
supplies had arrived there.

On the second day Hume took the party along Bulgeraga Creek till that
creek lost itself in the marshes and then continued northwards for
another fifteen miles. This would bring them to a point almost due west
of Quilbone (perhaps about Portion 3 Parish of Molle).

Here Sturt joined them and immediately took the whole party westwards,
forcing their way through the reeds and emerging on to a vast plain.

Leaving this plain (13th January) they went westward to Marra Creek
(Sturt's Duck Creek) reaching it at about Narrawin, followed it northerly
for seven miles, then turned westward, reaching the Bogan due east of New
Year's Range: just before reaching the Bogan they crossed, on the same
day, both Sturt's and Hume's tracks of the previous journeys, as they had
anticipated. The party camped (17th January) on a water-hole under New
Year's Range. From this camp Sturt and Hume made a short journey
southerly over the claypan to the neighbourhood of Stony Hills,
north-east of Coolabah, returning to the camp the following day to find
one of the men, Norman,* missing.

(*See p. 24.)

From this camp the party moved back to the Bogan to a point where a bar
of red granite crosses the river. The actual point of contact would be
somewhere between Gongolgon and Pink Hills. They followed down the Bogan
to a point almost due east of Oxley's Tableland to which they moved on
23rd January. Here the main party camped while Sturt and Hume made a
journey to D'Urban's Group. The nature of this group of hills and of
Oxley's Table Land evoked in Sturt's mind the concept of these ranges
being like islands in the midst of the ocean, "only wanting the sea to
lave the base." The inland sea was never far from his mind.

At this point Sturt abandoned all idea of journeys further westward--the
water problem had been acute for days. On his return to the camp Sturt
moved the whole party (31st January) back to the Bogan to the point where
that river turned westward along the course now known as the "dry Bogan":
this course they followed westward, and, leaving this river bed in a
general northerly direction, came suddenly, on 2nd February, on the great
watercourse of the Darling--a "noble river" the water of which was
unhappily salt.

"I found it extremely salt, being apparently a mixture of sea and fresh
water. Whence this arose, whether from local causes, or from a
communication with some inland sea, I knew not, but the discovery was
certainly a blow for which I was not prepared."

The point at which Sturt discovered the Darling can be determined with
reasonable approximation. It is indicated by three features, a reef of
rocks near a considerable loop in the river, a distance of approximately
four or five miles from the Darling--dry Bogan junction, and Sturt's
comment:

"If I might hazard an opinion from appearance, to whatever part of the
interior it leads its source must be far to the northeast or north."

The rock bar which appears to answer Sturt's description was probably at
a place described in some of the old records as St. Vincent's Point which
was very close to what is now known as Stony Point--the critical point at
which the Darling turns sharply from a set westerly course to a
permanently south-westerly one.

After crossing the "dry" Bogan the route followed by Sturt is shown in
the sketch prepared by Mr. W. K. Glover, of Llandillo Station. This route
accords so closely with the description given by Sturt that it may be
accepted, in view of Mr. Glover's comprehensive knowledge of the
locality, as being reasonably accurate.

Sturt first pitched camp on the Darling at the point where the Llandillo
pumping plant is now located about three miles upstream from Stoney Point
(the point of first contact is about 8 or 9 miles upstream from Stoney
Point): and the point at which Hume found fresh water is, as shown,
approximately two miles south of Stoney Point. In "traversing a deep
bight" the party must have passed very close to Llandillo homestead,
which is located on the sandhill crossed by Hume.

They followed the Darling downstream--passing the site of Bourke about
4th February--until 9th February, when they turned back, having reached a
point a little south of Redbank.* Before they left this end point of
their journey Hume carved his initials on a tree: these were seen by
Mitchell in 1835 and the place was pointed by Mitchell as 53 degrees E.
of S. from D'Urban's Group. At this turning point Sturt named the river
the "Darling": "to pay by this trifling mark of respect some part of the
gratitude I owe to the present Governor of the Colony."

(* See Appendix, Note. 2.)

They had found the water too salt to drink throughout the whole course of
their journey down the Darling: "I certainly thought we were rapidly
approaching some inland sea": but before they left the Darling he knew
that the saltness was due to springs of salt water in the bed of the
river.

This lack of water was pressing heavily on them--there had been no rain
since they left Mt. Foster--and Sturt felt obliged to return at once to
their base. This they did by their outward route without incident--except
that on 14th February they had to stop to make some slight repairs to the
boat carriage--this boat that was never to be used. On reaching the
western edge of the marshes Sturt and Hume rode northward to examine the
country in that direction, finding that the reeds gradually disappeared.

On 22nd February they reached camp at. Mt. Harris to find supplies
awaiting them: the Macquarie had wholly ceased to flow and now consisted
of a chain of ponds.

The party remained in camp until 7th March, Sturt completing his
despatches to the Governor.

During this period two short journeys were made.

Hume rode westward more than forty miles, crossing the Marra and the
Bogan. He returned reporting that the country was well watered.

Sturt himself made a short journey round the south-west angle of the
marshes, and going northwards got to the bottom of the first great marsh
(Willan), thus, with all their previous journeys, completing the circuit
of the marshes and replacing mystery by knowledge.

There remained one task--a rapid exploration of the country to the north
of the eastern aspect of the marshes. Sturt records that they were
"determined to make for the Castlereagh agreeably to our instructions."
This is perhaps too liberal an interpretation of paragraph nine of the
instructions (see p. 170), but it was an obvious objective.

The party left Mt. Harris on 7th Marsh on an E.N.E. course, crossing the
Marthaguy a little south of Gradgery, the Merri just south of Upper
Neinby, and reached the Castlereagh probably between Riverside and
Coonamble. They followed slowly down the Castlereagh from 10th to 29th
March: on the latter date they reached the junction of the Castlereagh
with the Darling. Sturt was quite sure it was the Darling:

"A single glimpse was sufficient to tell us it was the Darling. At a
distance of more than ninety miles nearer its source, this singular river
still preserved its character, so strikingly, that it was impossible not
to have recognized it in a moment."

At this point Sturt had to consider his future movements. He crossed the
Darling and rode north-west, finding nothing but a boundless plain,
nothing to encourage him to proceed. There was still no rain--so he
started on the return to Sydney. Their point of departure was the
junction of the Lower Marthaguy and a creek running northwards from the
Macquarie marshes; about a mile-and--half south of this they crossed the
tracks made by Hume on his first westward journey, which were still
visible.

Working their way southwards, still following the creek bed (which is
named on Sturt's maps "the Macquarie Rivulet") they cut their own tracks
made on the outward journey to the Darling, and thence down the eastern
side of the marshes, reaching Mt. Harris on 7th April. Moving quietly up
the Macquarie they reached Wellington on 21st April after an absence of
four months and two weeks.

This period of four and a half months was one of sheer hard work
unrelieved by any dramatic incident.

One of the men, Norman, was lost in the bush for nearly three days, being
without food or water for the whole period: Sturt set fire to the cypress
and he was thus guided back to camp. The incident was important, not only
in keeping the others from wandering, but in the effect it had on Sturt's
precautions in later expeditions.

For food they were dependent entirely on their own supplies: native game
was absent, even the aborigines had been driven from this
drought-stricken area. As Sturt said:

"How could an European expect to find food in deserts through which the
savage wandered in vain?"

The problem of water supply can be appreciated by anyone who has been
through this country. To take a party of eleven men with eleven horses
and ten bullocks over the country between Warren, Brewarrina, and Bourke
in midsummer, after a three years' drought, with every foot of the
journey unknown country, would test the qualities of any leader.

"So long had the drought continued, that the vegetable kingdom was almost
annihilated, and minor' vegetation had disappeared: the largest forest
trees were drooping, and many were dead."

They had to rely on surface water rapidly drying up--even the Bogan was a
chain of pools steadily shrinking. Each day water was a recurring
anxiety.

"Mr. Hume and myself wandered over upwards of 600 miles more than the
main body of the expedition in our constant and anxious search for
water."

But, as a good leader, he never left himself without a safe retreat; and,
while on occasion his life line may have been stretched to its limit, it
never broke.

They were greatly troubled with flies "which settled on us in thousands,"
and disappeared at sunset: it is the same to-day.

In his encounters with wild aborigines, for Sturt a new experience, he
had the great advantage of Hume's life-long familiarity with native
customs and mental reactions. Around the Macquarie and across the plains
they met few aborigines: with these, patience and a friendly approach
were sufficient. On the Darling the natives were more numerous.

"The paths of the natives on either side of the river were like
well-trodden roads."

At first these natives, taken by surprise, were hostile and set fire to
the scrub; but again friendly advances were sufficient. These Darling
River natives were suffering from "a violent cutaneous disease that was
sweeping them off in great numbers." When the party was again on the
Darling near the Castlereagh junction more natives were met, and, again,
relations were quite friendly.

From this expedition Sturt formulated the principles governing contact
with wild aborigines.

"The great point is not to alarm their natural timidity; to exercise
patience in your intercourse with them; to treat them kindly; and to
watch them with suspicion, especially at night. Never permit your men to
steal away from the camp, but keep them as compact as possible; and at
every station so arrange your drays and provisions that they may serve as
a defence in case of your being attacked."

While they may not seem much now when the whole of this country can be
covered easily by car, yet, at the time, the results of this expedition
were very important.

For forty years there had been vague speculations as to the nature of the
"interior": these speculations had absorbed an element of mystery, and
even of gloom, by Oxley's discovery of "marshes" as the fate of two main
rivers flowing westward. Even if there were no suggestions of bunyips,
dragons, or other terrors in the swamps, there was a settled conviction
that the interior offered no land for settlement, no prospect of
expansion for the pastoral industry that was already rapidly developing.

Sturt, in one sweep, cleared away all these clouds of mystery. The
marshes of the Macquarie had been shown to be nothing more than an
ordinary marsh or swamp: true it was large, but it had no influence on
the country to the westward which, so far from being a shallow sea, was
"in itself a table land to all intents and purposes."

The Macquarie was found to continue as a small stream from the north end
of the marshes. More than one hundred miles of new country west of the
Macquarie had been traversed and its nature determined.

The course of all the rivers in that area--the Namoi, Gwydir, Dumaresq,
Castlereagh, Macquarie, and Bogan, and their identity as tributaries of
the Darling, had been decided.

Immediately and inevitably came the question--what happens to the Lachlan
marshes? Is the country to the south of that covered by Sturt of the same
character? What is the course of the Darling below Sturt's last point of
contact?

In his manuscript journal of this 1828 expedition Sturt gives his opinion
on the fate of the Darling:

[3-6] "Considering the advantages that would probably accrue to the
colony should the Darling be found to discharge itself on the South
Coast, it is to be hoped that such expectations will eventually be
realised; but I fear this river traverses a vast extent of country ere it
reaches the sea, if indeed it ever reaches it, for I apprehend that it is
turned by high lands, and the union of many rivers in the south-east
angle of the island from its original course, to the northward and
westward."

[3-6 Mit. Lib. A.1933.]

Sturt appended a map at the end of this journal showing the "supposed
course of the Darling." After joining with the Murrumbidgee the river, on
this map, turns, just north of 35 degrees S., in a sharp loop and runs
away to the north-west.

Sturt had done more than replace an exciting mystery by commonplace fact,
and, literally, bring the whole matter down to earth; he had given the
people of this young land a new conception of continental dignity which
was the, beginning of a vigorous and healthy national pride.

And he had done something to himself:

"The Darling River must be considered as the boundary line to all inland
discoveries from the eastward. Any judgment or opinion of the interior to
the westward of that stream would be extremely premature and uncertain.

"My knowledge of the interior is too limited to justify me in any
conclusion with regard to the central parts of Australia. An ample field
is open to enterprise and to ambition, and it is to be hoped that some
more decisive measures will be carried into effect, both for the sake of
the colony and of geography, to fill up the blank upon the face of the
chart of Australia, and to remove from us the reproach of indifference
and inaction."

He had surrendered himself to that absorbing interest in the "central
parts of Australia," to which he was bound for life. Darling, in his
despatch (24th April, 1829) to the Secretary of State, reporting the
results of this expedition, commended Sturt's leadership and emphasized
the [3-7] "judicious manner and patience and zeal which do him infinite
credit."

[3-7 H.R.A. XIV. 607, 721.]

This praise was fully justified.



CHAPTER IV - The Second Expedition


Sturt rejoined his regiment in Sydney on 27th April, 1829, but was
restless under the challenge of the still unsolved riddle of the
interior. The records of the 39th Regiment state that he "again most
particularly requested permission to proceed once more for the purpose of
exploring the country in another direction."

Evidently some decision had been taken by September, 1829, for on 17th of
that month Sturt wrote to Hamilton Hume a letter of considerable
interest: from this letter it seems that both the Governor and Sturt
hoped that Hume would again go with Sturt. Sturt wrote indicating his
plans:1

[4-1] "I hope my plans will meet your approval: they will lead us direct
to the place you wished to make for from Mount Harris, and towards your
old route. You will see that we must descend the Darling in boats...as,
however, I trust we shall again journey together I will not here enter
into particulars."

[4-1 Hume: Overland Journey 1824; 1873 Ed.]

It is obvious that speculation as to the interior was still very
confused. While Sturt, realising that its saltness was due to brine
springs in the bed of the river, had given up his idea that the Darling
discharged into an inland ("Mediterranean" he called it) sea, he still
thought it doubtful whether it continued southerly to the ocean or
"turned westerly and ran into the heart of the interior."

[4-2] About this time, however, Darling received information that there
was a "large lagoon in the neighbourhood of St. Vincent's Gulf."* It is
clear that, after the discussions which must certainly have been held,
the Governor decided that Sturt should follow the Murrumbidgee down to
determine whether it terminated in a marsh, as was considered "not
improbable," or united with the Darling, or emptied itself into the sea
on the southern coast of the Colony.

[4-2 R.G.S.S.A. VIII 49.]

(* This was Lake Alexandrina.)

Should it be found to terminate in a marsh, Sturt was to proceed overland
to the Darling and follow that stream down "as far as circumstances may
render desirable."

The first object was to trace the course of the Murrumbidgee, as, if that
stream should join the Darling, the combination of these two
"considerable rivers" would form a navigable stream opening a direct and,
perhaps, easy communication between Sydney and these distant parts of the
colony: and, if it should be found, as was not improbable, that the joint
stream discharged into the "large lagoon" on the coast there might be
direct communication with the sea, although Darling's information at that
time was that there was no outlet from this lagoon to St. Vincent's Gulf.

The above represents the substance of Darling's despatch (21st November,
1829) to Colonial Secretary Murray announcing the departure of Sturt's
second expedition.

The expedition was based on the plan of following the Murrumbidgee by
land as far as practicable, and then launching the boat, continuing by
water until they were stopped: it is reasonably certain that Sturt did
not anticipate that the boat journey would be as long as it proved to be.
The plan of the journey being similar to that of the first expedition,
the arrangements were of the same pattern. Instead, however, of a light
boat, a whale boat, 25 feet long, with a beam of 5 feet, was first built,
dismantled, and, during the land journey, transported in sections.

On this journey more fire arms were taken than on the first expedition,
and a small still was carried, for the distillation of water in the event
of finding the water of the Darling salt as it was on the previous
journey.

Hume did not join the expedition, and the main party consisted of:

Sturt and George Macleay.

Harris, Hopkinson, Fraser and Clayton, who had all been on the first
expedition.

Two convicts, Mulholland and MacNamee.

And a small supporting land party.

The expedition left Sydney on 3rd November, 1829. Sturt has recorded the
gloomy reflections that seem to have recurred at the outset of each
expedition: but this time transient and not very serious:

"I found myself on that delightful morning leading my horses through the
gates of those barracks whose precincts I might never again enter, and
whose inmates I might never again behold assembled in military array.

"Yet although the chance of misfortune flashed across my mind, I was
never lighter at heart, or more joyous in spirit:"

A.--THE OVERLAND JOURNEY - 3rd November to 26th December

From Sydney to Gundagai it is possible to follow the expedition's route
in terms of the present Hume Highway. Following on Hume's overland
journey to Port Phillip five years before, settlers had pushed out with
their sheep and had established themselves at Yass, Jugiong, and as far
as Gundagai: 'at least one overland party had taken cattle into Victoria,
crossing the Murrumbidgee at Gundagai. To this point, therefore, there
were primitive tracks to follow--tracks which, naturally, kept close to
water.

Sturt, with his party, followed the present Hume Highway to Liverpool,
the Cross Roads past Carnes Hill to the old Cowpastures Road, along which
they travelled, having the Raby Estate on the right and Varroville,
Sturt's home later, about three miles to their left. Near Narellan they
would have a choice of roads to Macleay's property at Brownlow Hill in
the angle between the Hunter Rivulet and Nepean River. From Brownlow Hill
the track kept to the west of the Hunter Rivulet, passing through The
Oaks village and, crossing the Stonequarry Creek, entered the present
town of Picton from the west just beside the present bridge.

From Picton the road followed practically the present highway through
Myrtle Creek, Tahmoor, Bargo, to just south of Yerrinbool where, instead
of turning sharply to the right, towards Aylmerton, it kept straight on
over the Mittagong Range, leaving the present town of Mittagong about one
mile to the west and joining the present highway at Bong Bong. n this
section Sturt passed through the property he was later to own.

From Bong Bong the route was that of the present road through Moss Vale
and Sutton Forest to the Cross Roads. From this point the old road went
south-westwards through the Wombat Brush to the junction of Paddy's River
and the Wollondilly River near the present village of Canyonleigh.

Thence they followed the valley of the Wollondilly, passing
Lockyersleigh, and the site of Old Towrang on the south bank of the
river, crossing a loop of the river, and camping on the river "under the
bluff end of Cookbundoon" at Murray's Flats.

The next morning, 16th November, they moved up the Wollondilly River
across to the flats known as Mulwaree Ponds between the city of Goulburn
and the War Memorial, and followed these flats along to Dr. Gibson's
property Tirranna--thirteen days from Sydney to Goulburn.

Tirranna is readily identifiable, as the property is still owned by the
Gibson family. From Tirranna, four miles south of Goulburn, the route was
westerly over the hills to near the point where the road to Canberra
leaves the Hume Highway, and from there the track was, for practical
purposes, the same as the present Highway. Sturt comments on-, the
Breadalbane Plains, mentions Redall's farm, and notes particularly the
"large white masses of quartz rock"--still plainly to be seen to the
north of the road.

[4-3] Redall's farm was named Mut-mut-billy--the name still existing as
that of a creek in this region. From these plains the Cullerin Range was
crossed, and, on the other side of this range, they visited J. K. Hume's*
station (Woolowardalla) "on the banks of the Lorn" (Fish River). Leaving
Hume's place they camped on Meadow Creek at Gunning. Then to Yass,
crossing the Mundoonen Range by a pass which, Sturt said: "is not
inappropriately called the Devil's Pass."

[4-3 A month in the bush of Australia. National Library Pamphlets, Vol.
IX.]

(* Hamilton Hume's brother.)

At Yass they stayed with Mr. Henry O'Brien at his property on what is now
known as O'Brien's Creek and Yass River. After spending a day quietly
there they continued their journey, Mr. O'Brien presenting them with
eight wethers which were to provide them with a welcome change of diet;
and also sending with them an aborigine to guide them to the
Murrumbidgee. Then, passing "a remarkable hill called Pouni" (Mt.
Bowning) they called at the station of Hume's father (Bowning), and here
they left the route of the present highway, turning to the north-west
along the present road to Binalong, intending to visit Underaliga, a
station occupied by Dr. Harris. This Underaliga[4-4] was almost certainly
the place known later as Dunderalligo located near the position of the
present Goondah railway station. This brought them on to the head of
Jugiong Creek, which they followed down to the point at which the present
Hume Highway crosses it by a bridge--which is also the point at which
Jugiong Creek joins the Murrumbidgee. This hill is a landmark on the
journey. Sturt describes it in his usual terse, accurate way:

[4-4 Information supplied by the Under-Secretary, Lands Department,
N.S.W.]

"The Murrumbidgee came down to the foot of this little hill from the
south: from the hill on which the hut stands it runs away westward,
almost in a direct line."

The hill is easily identifiable--it rises immediately ahead as the
Jugiong bridge is crossed going south.

They camped in the middle of the Jugiong plain at about the position of
the old cemetery.

This was Sturt's first sight of the Murrumbidgee and his delight at the
contrast between it and the Macquarie was great:

"Instead of a river which had almost ceased to flow I now looked down
upon a stream, whose current it would have been difficult to breast, and
whose waters, foaming among rocks, or circling in eddies, gave early
promise of a reckless course."

They followed the river round the bend past the present township of
Jugiong, turning over the hills by a steep pass on to the plain from
which Cooney's Creek rises. From here, keeping to the east of the present
Hume Highway, they made their way over the undulating country till they
came down into Muttama Creek Valley, which they followed till they came
to where Mingay railway station now stands. From this point they followed
along approximately the present private road to Mingay homestead. Here at
that time a Mr. Warby* had a station: at this place, which was their last
contact with settlement, they stayed that night. The following day Mr.
Warby piloted them to the river at Gundagai, probably following the
present route of the Hume Highway from near Mingay railway station. Here
Sturt had to make a decision. This is the point at which their route,
having, from Sydney, been south-west, and known, became definitely west
and quite unknown.

(* Sturt spells it Whaby.)

Mr. Warby had assured Sturt that he could not take the carts westward
along the river on the north bank because of the rough country, so Sturt
decided to cross to the south bank which looked much easier. Copying the
method Hume had used on his overland journey, Sturt lashed tarpaulins
around the dray body and thus ferried his stores across. The point of
crossing can be fixed with reasonable certainty as very near to the
present railway bridge--actually the cairn which has been erected there
as a monument is very properly located. The date shown on the cairn is,
however, wrong--the date was 28th, not 30th November.

In view of the prevalence of nettles on these river flats even to-day, it
is of interest to note that, during this crossing, Mulholland, being
naked after swimming the river, was severely stung by them.

On 29th November they began their journey westward along the south bank
of the river, but had gone only seven miles when the country became
impassable for the drays, while the north bank seemed better: so they
crossed back to the north bank, which they never again left throughout
the rest of the land journey. This crossing was a little to the east of
Nangus--the exact point cannot be determined; the only direct evidence is
that of the Hon. James Gormley, who has recorded:

[4-5] "When I went to Nangus in 1844 several of the aborigines pointed out
Sturt's place of crossing to me."

[4-5 R.A.H.S. 11.39.]

For the next two days progress was slow because of rain, but they managed
to travel as far as a "plain which the natives called Pondebadgery." This
was Wantabadgery, where they rested for a day, the men catching a number
of codfish, the largest of which weighed forty pounds. From Wantabadgery
they crossed a range of hills to the westward--very probably along the
route of the present road, as Sturt's description would fit this route
well enough--coming down to a chain of ponds and serpentine sheet of
water. During this day they rose at one point sufficiently high to obtain
an extensive view and took bearings on "a solitary double hill bearing
S.82 degrees W. distant twelve miles, and another singular elevation that
bore S.32 degrees W. called by the natives Kengal." There has been
considerable speculation as to the identity of these two peaks; but there
can be no certainty.

It seems probable that "the singular elevation" is The Rock, but if this
is so it is difficult to identify the point from which the compass
bearing was taken. It may be noted that this name [4-6] "Kengal" appears
as the name of one of the eminences sighted by Sturt from D'Urban's Group
on his previous expedition. The day after these observations had been
taken they entered a forest consisting of box-trees, casuarinae, and
cypresses on a light, sandy soil, in which both horses and bullocks sank
so deep that their labour was greatly increased.

[4-6 Two Exp. 1.212.]

The combination of a serpentine sheet of water and loose sandy soil
suggests that they came down from the vicinity of Oura on the 5th
December, reaching the sandy flats of Wagga Wagga on that or the
following day. If this be so, there is an error or misprint in the
compass bearings. The point is not of great importance.

As they proceeded down the river the country became much flatter--they
ascended a granite hill (Mt. Arthur) from which they identified a "double
hill bearing S.10 degrees W." which was Mt. Galore.

Sturt continued his journey westward, noting the sandhills [4-7] near
Berembed Weir, ascending an "inconsiderable elevation" (Bundidgerry
Hill), reaching the site of Narrandera on 10th December, and on 11th
December "the country on the opposite side of the river had all the
features of that to the north of it, but a plain of such extent suddenly
opened upon us to the southward, that I halted at once in order to
examine it."

[4-7 The author is indebted to Mr. H. B. Rowlands, of Narrandera, for
information concerning the section between Mt. Arthur and Narrandera.]

Sturt called this plain "Hamilton's Plains," but that name has been
forgotten. The plain is that which is crossed by Yanco Creek, and the
spot at which Sturt made his camp on 11th December is on, or very near,
Portion 8 Parish of Cudgel, this being the only place at which this plain
comes close to the south bank for about half-a-mile: elsewhere the edge
of the plain is some considerable distance from the river. This is, on an
air-line, between six and seven miles west of Narrandera. Having examined
this plain on 12th December they continued their westward journey on 13th
December. They had passed all high lands and the interior to the westward
presented an unbroken level to the eye. Still low ranges continued to
their right and the cypress ridges became more frequent and denser. Now
began a fortnight of weary toil. Some extracts from Sturt's own account
will give the picture:

"Our route during the day was over as melancholy a tract as ever was
travelled. The plains to the north and north-west bounded the
horizon--not a tree of any kind was visible upon them. It was equally
open to the south, and it appeared as if the river was decoying us into a
desert, there to leave us in difficulty and in distress. It is impossible
for me to describe the kind of country we were now traversing, or the
dreariness of the view it presented.

"Neither beast nor bird inhabited these lonely and inhospitable regions,
over which the silence of the grave seemed to reign. We started on the
23rd with the same boundlessness of plain on either side of us, but in
the course of the morning we got upon a light, tenacious and blistered
soil. The drays and animals sank so deep in this, that we were obliged to
make for the river, and keep upon its immediate banks."

On 24th and 25th December they had the same difficulties, struggling over
light rotten soil and through fields of polygonum junceum. They had not,
for days past, seen a blade of grass.

On 25th December, Sturt, with Macleay, rode northwards to the Lachlan,
crossed it, and examined the country to the north of it.* He decided,
correctly, that he had arrived at the junction of the Lachlan with the
Murrumbidgee, and he held the first key to the solution of the riddle of
the rivers.

(* The aborigines, in 1836, told Mitchell of this visit of Sturt to, and
across, the Lachlan.)

The exact point of his contact with the Lachlan is indefinite, but is
unimportant. The next day, 26th December, brought the necessity for a
critical decision:

"On the 26th we traversed plains of the same wearisome description. The
wheels of the drays sank up to their axle-trees, and the horses above
their fetlocks at every step. In several instances, the force of both
teams was put to one dray, to extricate it from the bed into which it had
sunk. I was checked in my advance by high reeds spreading as far as the
eye can reach, under which the soil is so soft that the drays stuck fast
and the cattle knocked up."

They had wandered a little north, away from the river, and had got into
the Lachlan marshes--the sponge-like delta into which the Lachlan fans
out before seeping its way into the Murrumbidgee.

Here was the Macquarie puzzle all over again, recognized at once by
Harris, Fraser, Hopkinson and Clayton as an unwelcome event.

Sturt sent Macleay scouting forward, and, on hearing that the reeds
stretched as far as Macleay could see, the party turned south and camped
on the Murrumbidgee banks.

Next morning Sturt pushed through the reeds until he could see the open
country on the other side, country of a nature similar to that over which
they had been travelling for days. There was need for an immediate
decision. His instructions were that, if the Murrumbidgee ended in a
marsh, he was to go straight across country to regain the Darling.

But did these reed-beds represent the end of the Murrumbidgee?

He had already identified, at least provisionally, the Lachlan, and would
be justified in assuming that these reed-beds were of the Lachlan, rather
than of the Murrumbidgee.

He could have settled the point by scouting around the reed-beds as he
had done on the Macquarie. Actually he did this: he and Macleay rode
along the Murrumbidgee banks for some miles. He found that river still
deep, its current still rapid, and its banks still high--the whole
picture quite different from the flat marshes of the Macquarie. Moreover
he was now at least one hundred miles west of all known river courses,
including his own first contact with the Darling. He felt convinced from
all the evidence that the Murrumbidgee would continue as a river. He had
vague information from the local aborigines near Narrandera that there
was another stream to the south "to which the Murrumbidgee was but a
creek, and that we could gain it in four days."

He had the Darling to the north flowing south-west, the Murray to the
south flowing west, and he was on a river flowing strongly to the west,
he had good reason for presuming that they must all converge--and,
possibly, meet at some point. He could have decided the issue by keeping
on with the journey by land, but the nature of the country and the
wearied state of his cattle induced his decision to launch the boat and
continue the journey by water. When this decision was made, and the party
was in camp assembling the boat, he wrote despatches, and also a friendly
letter to Hamilton Hume (4th January, 1830) telling him of the dilemma,
and of his decision:

[4-8] "Where I shall wander to God only knows. I have little doubt,
however, that I shall ultimately make the coast."

[4-8 Life p.58; Hume Overland Journey 1824.]

The party was in camp from 26th December, 1829, to 6th January, 1830,
assembling the boat they had hauled from Sydney; and, as this was not
large enough to hold all their stores, they felled a local tree and built
a small skiff.

There has been much examination of evidence, and considerable speculation
concerning the location of this depot, as Sturt called his camp. In his
own printed account Sturt gives its position as either twelve or fifteen
miles (he gives both figures) above the point where the Lachlan joins the
Murrumbidgee. As it is not even possible to identify, with any certainty,
the point which Sturt would have accepted as this point of junction, the
site of the depot must remain always uncertain.

[4-9] Following the windings of the river twelve miles would be about
Portion 42, Parish of Toopuntul. n the other hand topographical features
suggest a position near to Travelling Stock Reserve 41069. It would be
not unreasonable to say that the "depot" was somewhere near this
Travelling Stock Reserve: but it would be unreasonable, on any present
evidence, to be more definite. This position is about sixteen miles west
of Maude on an air-line.

[4-9 Valuable advice has been given by the Under-Secretary, Lands
Department, N.S.W., and Mr. R. B. Ronald, of Nap Nap Station.]

B.--DOWN THE RIVERS TO THE SEA - 7th January to 11th February, 1830

All preparations having been completed by 6th January, Sturt selected his
party (whose names have been given above), gave instructions to the
supporting party, under the control of Robert Harris, to remain at the
depot for one week and then return to Goulburn. They killed the last
remaining sheep and everything was ready by the evening of the 6th
January.

On the morning of the 7th January they said farewell to the returning
party and "embarked on the bosom of that stream along the banks of which
we had journeyed for so many miles--whether ever to return being a point
of the greatest uncertainty."

From the 7th to the 14th January they were travelling down the
Murrumbidgee. After passing the presumed mouth of the Lachlan the skiff
was holed by striking a sunken log and immediately sank. Some hours were
spent in recovering the articles which had been thrown out as the skiff
sank: but the worst damage was the mixing of fresh water with the brine
in the casks of meat: this was to affect their food supply to a serious
degree.

They passed and noted the stream near Balranald connecting with the Yanga
Lake. During the last days of this week on the Murrumbidgee the river was
contracting, its banks were not so high; and Sturt began to worry that it
was going to be a case of the Macquarie and marshes all over again. On
12th and 13th January the channel became increasingly blocked by trees
which had been swept down by floods, and whose branches frequently
interlocked making passage by the boat very difficult. On the 14th January
there was a dramatic change:

"On a sudden, the river took a general southern direction, but, in its
tortuous course, swept round to every point of the compass with the
greatest irregularity. We were carried at a fearful rate down its gloomy
and contracted banks. At 3 p.m. Hopkinson called out that we were
approaching a junction, and in less than a minute afterwards we were
hurried into a broad and noble river."

They had reached the Murray, and Sturt now held the second key to the
riddle of the rivers: the ring was closing fast--the upper Darling,
Macquarie, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee, and now the Murray--no longer
mysteries, but very unromantic realities.

Sturt was happy; his deductions were being proved, his decision to launch
the boats was justified, and they were on a navigable stream, the "high
road" either to the south coast or to some important outlet.

From 14th to 21st January they continued down the Murray without
incident; Sturt noting that at every creek junction there was an
extensive sandbank.

On the 19th January, after having been through a critical meeting with a
large tribe of natives, which ended in friendly relations, one man
"remarkable for personal strength and stature (see Ch 4: '...who proved to
be the remarkable savage I have previously noticed.') showed
especially friendly attentions."

About 21st January, in the Redcliffs region, the banks suddenly acquired
a perpendicular and waterworn appearance.

On 22nd January, they had great difficulties in the rapids of the Merbein
rocks, but got through without damage--the natives watching the
proceedings from the banks: then round the Cowanna Bend which Sturt
noted.

The party, therefore, passed the site of Mildura on 22nd January.

At this stage the northward trend of the river was puzzling Sturt.

On 23rd January, with a wide river and a fair wind, they hoisted the sail
for the first time, and were travelling quickly when, without warning,
they saw, ahead, a long sandspit projecting into the river crowded with
natives showing every sign of hostility. Just as it seemed probable the
party would slip past without trouble, the boat ran aground on the
sandbank. The natives crowded up, becoming more excited, and sharp fight
at very close quarters was inevitable. At the climax of the tension the
"remarkable man" whom they had met on the 19th January appeared on the
southern bank, jumped into the river, swam over to the sandbank, and
rushing to the foremost native "seizing him by the throat, he pushed him
backwards and, forcing all who were in the water upon the bank, he trod
its margin with a vehemence and an agitation that were exceedingly
striking."

Gradually the natives became quiet. This crisis over, the boat was pushed
into deeper water, and, behind the sandspit was a new and beautiful
stream, coming apparently from the north. Up this stream they rowed for
some miles, then, hoisting the Union Jack and giving three cheers, they
sailed again down to the junction. Sturt was satisfied that he was on the
Darling "from whose banks I had been twice forced to retire."

Sturt now held the third key to the riddle of the rivers, and the ring
was complete, except for the section of the Darling, south of Redbank,
from the point where Sturt had left it in 1829. Until this section had
been actually travelled (which was not until 1844) there could be no
final certainty that this new stream was actually the Darling.

At this junction Sturt named the main stream the Murray River, in honour
of Sir George Murray, the Secretary of State for the Colonies: He
intended the name to apply to the stream after its junction with the
Murrumbidgee, preserving the names already given to the various streams
which combined to form the main river. Had this intention been observed
the river would have been the "Hume" as far as the Murrumbidgee junction,
and the "Murray" below that.

However, by common use, the stream is now known as the Murray throughout,
although the map of New South Wales published by the Lands Department of
that State in 1933, gives the name of the river as "Murray or Hume
River."

There is an ironical aspect about this naming. Sturt named the river the
"Murray" in accord with Darling's known wishes, but also because of
Sturt's own admiration for Murray as a soldier. But it is recorded of
Murray by his subordinates that, as Secretary of State, they had never
met with any public officer so totally inefficient.[4-10]

[4-10 Mills: The Colonization of Australia, p.10.]

In his published account of this expedition Sturt states that he placed
the junction of these streams at longitude 140° 56' East; but as there is
some definite evidence that he did not take any observations on the spot
at the time, it seems probable that this longitude was arrived at by
calculation later.

The point has some interest in view of the fact that the eastern boundary
of the new province of South Australia was fixed at 141° East.

For further discussion of this point, see Appendix D, Note 3.

Before leaving their camp at the Darling junction they had burnt the
skiff, and cut the still into copper crescents as presents for the
natives.

From 23rd January, when they left the mouth of the Darling at Wentworth,
until 8th February, when they passed Murray Bridge, their journey was
comparatively uneventful.

On 24th January they passed without trouble the Cadell Rocks below
Wentworth. On 26th they passed the outlet stream connecting Lake Victoria
with the Murray, and Sturt named it the Rufus River, after Macleay's red
head.

Next day, 27th, they saw, and named, the Lindesay River after the Colonel
commanding Sturt's own (39th) Regiment: and on 28th they had passed the
border between Victoria and South Australia--near Tareena. Sturt
described the cliffs in this region: "singular in character, and varied
in form: they had the most beautiful columnar regularity: they showed
like falls of muddy water that had suddenly been petrified."

On 29th the sharp bend to the southward, in the neighbourhood of Renmark
and Berri, gave Sturt great satisfaction: but this was tempered by the
beginning of anxiety about the men: their salt meat had been spoiled as
already told, they would not eat the river fish which "without sauce or
butter is insipid enough," and wildfowl or land game was not easily
obtained: the men had little else than flour to eat, and were showing
signs of fatigue.

On 30th January they were between Loxton and Pyap and here Sturt noted
the beginning of the fossil formation which was to become so distinctive
a feature of the river in its lower reaches. At about nine miles from its
commencement, where it was only about a foot high, this fossil bank rose
to a height of more than 150 feet.

By the end of the day on 31st January they had reached Overland Corner,
and, on 3rd February, had turned the North-west Bend at Morgan, having
shortly before been told by an old native that the river would soon turn
southward to the sea.

On 4th February they had seen some seagulls, and on this day also they
were again joined by the old native who, at Morgan, had told them of the
change in the direction of the river.

On 6th February they were told by some natives that they were not far
from the sea.

Continuing their journey steadily they camped in the neighbourhood of
Murray Bridge on 8th February.

On the morning of 9th February they proceeded down the river. At a turn
of the stream a solitary rock of coarse red granite rose above the
waters, and formed an island in its centre.

"After pulling a mile or two, we found a clear horizon to the south, I,
consequently, landed to survey the country. I still retained a strong
impression in my mind that some change was at hand, and, on this
occasion, I was not disappointed; but the view was one for which I was
not altogether prepared. We had, at length, arrived at the termination of
the Murray. Immediately below me was a beautiful lake, which appeared to
be a fitting reservoir for the noble stream which led us to it. Even
while gazing on this fine scene I could not but regret that the Murray
had thus terminated; for I immediately foresaw that, in all probability,
we should be disappointed in finding any practicable communication
between the lake and the ocean, as it was evident that the former was not
much influenced by tides."

They camped on the night of 9th February on the eastern side of the
outlet of the Murray into the lake; and, on the 10th, sailed with a fair
wind to the north shore of Hindmarsh Island, where they camped--the sound
of the surf coming gratefully to their ears, for it told them they were
near the goal they had so long been seeking, and they promised
themselves: "a view of the boundless ocean on the morrow."

This seems to throw some doubt on the literal accuracy of the inscription
on the monument on Hindmarsh Island:

"Hereabouts, in February, 1830, Sturt first saw the waters of Encounter
Bay."

It was next day, 11th February, that, having reached a spot near the
Goolwa Barrage after a fatiguing day of hauling the boat over mud shoals,
they finally ended their long boat journey, and walked across the
sandhills to the sea. There remained for Sturt only one more task--to
determine the ultimate fate of the great body of water that came down the
Murray: how did it reach the sea?

The photograph showing the islands in the lake shows clearly the problem
facing Sturt. Next morning this was settled. On 12th February Sturt,
Macleay, and Fraser walked along the long western promontory to the
outlet from the lake to the sea.

Here was the last key, and the riddle of the rivers was a riddle no
longer. The nature of the country in New South Wales from the coast to
the Darling either was known, or could be assumed with reasonable
certainty: and the fate of all the inland rivers was established, with a
possible reservation about the unknown section of the Darling.

THE RETURN JOURNEY - 12th February to 25th May

Now Sturt had to face the long journey back. His men were very weak, his
food supplies were low, he could not count on a relief ship, and there
was nothing to be gained by landing and going overland to St. Vincent's
Gulf; the men were too weak and the chance of being seen by a vessel were
too remote.* There was no alternative to the long pull back: the natives
around the lake were very hostile, and they must go without delay. They
had taken 36 days on the downstream journey, they must expect a longer
journey pulling upstream: they had reason for thinking that the natives
might be more hostile than they had been on the downstream journey;
indeed they found this expected hostility.

(* See Appendix D, Note 4.)

The homeward journey began as soon as Sturt had returned on the morning
of 12th February. Before leaving, Sturt buried a bottle containing a
record of their visit: this bottle has never been found: also before
leaving, Sturt named the lake "Lake Alexandrina" after the young heiress
to the throne. After she became Queen Victoria, Sturt would have had the
name changed to Lake Victoria, but this was never adopted*; in Sturt's
Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia, however, he speaks of
this lake as Lake Victoria although in other places he uses this name
properly for the Lake Victoria which is an overflow from the Murray west
of the Darling in New South Wales.

* [4-11] On 15th March, 1843, Sturt wrote to Lord Stanley proposing that
the name be changed to "Lake Victoria." On 15th August, 1843, Stanley
advised Grey that Sturt was free to change the name if he wished.

[4-11 Public Records Office, London; 1415 South Australia.]

At starting on the 12th February they were fortunate in having a
favourable wind, which lasted until 17th February, carrying them without
any pulling, across the lake and up the river as far as Swan Reach,
travelling up-stream in five days the distance which had taken seven days
coming down.

From there, however, it was steady pulling without any relief. Sturt and
Macleay both took turns at the oars, and the men became progressively
weaker. For fifty-three days this journey continued.

When the wind failed, and the endless pulling had to be faced, they
cleaned the boat and then started. From dawn till seven or even nine,
o'clock in the evening with an hour for their flour and water lunch, was
the daily programme. Occasionally a wild duck or a few fish relieved
their monotonous diet. The small amount of sugar had ended on the 17th
February, and by 8th March the small residue of salted provisions had
also gone.

They reached Morgan on 21st February and, the course now being eastward,
the men felt that, at least, they were headed homeward.

On 4th March they passed the mouth of the Darling, their apprehension of
renewed trouble with the natives here being unfounded, as the locality
was totally deserted. On 16th March they returned to the Murrumbidgee:
"to our great joy we turned our boat into the gloomy and narrow channel."

They were troubled in the Murrumbidgee, having difficulty with the short
bends cluttered up with fallen timber. They tried poles instead of oars,
without success. But here they shot a swan which gave them all a good
meal. On 23rd March they reached the depot from which they had launched
their boats: there was nothing, it was entirely deserted. The men, who
had been expecting relief supplies were gravely depressed--and the hope
of relief which had kept them going to this point vanished. Now began the
last gruelling section of their long journey.

The intricate navigation of the Murrumbidgee had been infinitely more
distressing than the hard pulling up the open reaches of the Murray, for
they were obliged to haul the boat up between numberless trunks of trees,
an operation that exhausted the men much more than rowing: the river had
fallen below its former level and rocks and logs were now exposed above
the water.

To make things even worse as they toiled upstream from the depot the
flood water came down, the river rising six feet in one night. For
seventeen days from the depot they endured this ordeal, the men passing
even beyond the limits of endurance, but never complaining; until, on
11th April they reached their old camp opposite Hamilton's Plains
(Narrandera) and here they stopped.

Their provisions were nearly finished, and would have been altogether so
if they had not been so fortunate as to kill several swans.

Sturt decided to abandon the boat and finish the journey on land: but as
the provisions were so short, and the men so weak, he sent Hopkinson and
Mulholland forward on foot to Wantabadgery, believing that Robert Harris
would be there with relief supplies.

In the meantime the rest of the party remained in camp. The two men left
on 12th April and returned on the 18th April. In camp the last ounce of
flour had been served out and all preparations made for a desperate
forward move by the main party. The two men, however, had returned with
supplies and Sturt's worries were ended. These two men had gone eastward
90 miles on foot, in three days; and had returned over' the same distance
with bullock drays in four days. This, considering the extremely
exhausted condition of the men before they started, was a remarkable
example of endurance.

"They were both of them in a state which beggars description. Their knees
and ankles were dreadfully swollen and their limbs so painful, that as
soon as they arrived in camp they sank under their efforts, but they met
us with smiling countenances, and expressed their satisfaction at having
arrived so seasonably to our relief."

Sturt was thus able to save all his equipment and records, most of which
he had arranged to bury before they started out on foot: the whole party
left camp on 20th April, reaching Wantabadgery on 28th. Sturt had sent
Macleay forward on 20th April, from their Narrandera camp with despatches
for the Governor. The main party left Wantabadgery on 5th May, passing
through Yass on 12th, and, travelling easily, reached Sydney on 25th May.

D--RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION

The story which has been told in this chapter is that of a journey
remarkable in itself, and notable for its place in the development of
Australia.

Sturt had now revealed himself as a great leader: two difficult
expeditions had been completed with conspicuous success and without
accident. That four of the men who had been five months with him under
the difficult conditions of his first expedition should willingly join
him on the second is evidence which needs no comment. Hume could not,
because of other commitments, join in this expedition, but there is
evidence enough that, for both Hume and Macleay, the friendship which
Sturt formed during these expeditions was never afterwards lessened or
broken.

Eight men confined in a boat only 25ft long all day, every day, for 95
days require something more than normal human relations: leadership of
unusual quality is essential. This leadership Sturt, greatly helped by
Macleay, gave them. The last seventeen days of the boat journey, 150
miles by land but far more by water, was a nightmare for men starved of
food as to quantity, and weakened by the scurvy-inducing quality of what
food they had. All were desperate, Macnamee, at the end, temporarily
insane.

"Their arms appeared to be nerveless; their faces became haggard, their
persons emaciated, their spirits wholly sunk; nature was so completely
overcome, that from mere exhaustion they frequently fell asleep during
their painful and almost ceaseless exertions."

Yet Sturt could assure the Governor officially that during the whole of
the journey the men were cheerful, zealous, and obedient:

The quality of the leadership which gave such results cannot be doubted.

Sturt had now shown that meticulous care for detail which marked all his
work. Day after day down the rivers he charted every bend with the
compass bearing and approximate length of every reach: the successive
sheets of this chart still exist, and their accuracy is extraordinary. He
had already shown on the first expedition an unusual capacity for forming
reliable deductions based on the nature of the country over which he
travelled. This quality was again evident: He had noted that, while the
Murray itself was navigable, its sea-mouth was not, the onshore wind in
Encounter Bay and the surf on the bar making any seaport impossible: he
had noted the long arm of Lake Alexandrina leading into Currency Creek
and regretted that he was not able to explore the possibility of this
being a connection with St. Vincent's Gulf.

He had noted with quick and appreciative eye the possibilities of the
Murray Valley near its mouth:

"It contains land that is of the very richest kind--soil that is the pure
accumulation of vegetable matter, and is black as ebony. If its hundreds
of thousands of acres were practically available, I should not hesitate
to pronounce it one of the richest spots of equal extent on earth, and
highly favoured in other respects. It is, however, certain that any part
of the valley would require much labour before it could be brought under
cultivation."

He had noted and recorded the change from the black soil plains, to the
high red cliffs, and then to the fossil beds emerging from the water
level and rising to cliffs 150 feet high of solid fossil accumulation. He
concluded that a current of water must have swept this vast accumulation
of shells from the extreme north of the continent, that they must have
been at first under water and been raised by some upheaval and:

"I am brought to conclude that in former times the sea washed the western
base of the dividing range...and when the mass of land, now lying waste
and unproductive, became exposed, the rivers, which until then had
pursued a regular course to the ocean, having no channel beyond their
original termination, overflowed the almost level country into which they
now fall; or, filling some extensive concavity, have contributed, by
successive depositions, to the formation of those marshes of which so
much has been said."

These conclusions were not the result of any casual observation or
superficial reasoning: they were not far from the truth. In summing up
the results of the expedition Sturt stated, overmodestly, that the
expedition had returned to Sydney without any splendid discovery to gild
its proceedings; and that the labours and dangers it had encountered were
considered as nothing more than ordinary occurrences. He felt
disappointed that his researches had not benefitted the Colony, as he had
found only a barren tract of country to the westward: he felt, however,
that from a geographical point of view nothing could have been more
satisfactory than the results of the expedition, excepting a knowledge of
the country to the northward between the Murray and the Darling.

Macleay reached Sydney at some date before 6th May. Governor Darling
caused a notice in the form of a Government Order* dated 10th May, 1830,
to be published in the Sydney Gazette. This notice, after stating
concisely the results of the expedition, adds:

"Thus has Captain Sturt added largely, and in a highly important degree,
to the knowledge previously possessed of the interior."

(* This Order contains a curious mistake: it states that Sturt took
twenty-one days from leaving Sydney to launching his boats; actually he
took fifty-eight days. It is also to be noted that in this Order, the
modern spelling of Murrumbidgee is used, whereas Sturt, in his story,
published three years later, speaks of it always as the "Morumbidgee.")

"The opportunity of recording a second time the services rendered to the
Colony by Captain Sturt, is as gratifying to the Government which
directed the undertaking, as it is creditable to the individual who so
successfully conducted it to its termination.

"It is an additional cause of satisfaction to find that everyone,
according to his sphere of action, has a claim to a proportionate degree
of applause. All were exposed alike to the same privations, and fatigue,
and everyone submitted with patience, manifesting the most anxious desire
for the success of the expedition."

This order appeared fifteen days before Sturt himself arrived in Sydney.

The date of this public tribute locally was 10th May, 1830: but it was
not until 17th February, 1831, that Darling sent official advice to
London. Even then it was brief and stated that, as Sturt had been sent,
immediately after his return, to Norfolk Island, Darling had not been
able to transmit a complete report of the expedition. The despatch ends
on this curious note:

[4-12] "If interested in this matter, you will find a sketch of his
operations in a Government Order in the enclosed Gazette, and I shall be
glad to find that the result is satisfactory to you."

[4-12 H.R.A. XVI. 89.]

[4-13] Darling followed this with a longer despatch, dated 14th April,
1831, forwarding Sturt's own report on the expedition. In this despatch
he explained that the transmission of the report had been delayed as
Sturt, thinking that the original report had not been prepared with the
accuracy which was necessary for submission to His Majesty's Government,
had wished to revise and correct it. He had, however, been too exhausted
before being sent to Norfolk Island to undertake this revision.

[4-13 H.R.A. XVI. 242.]

Darling warmly commended Sturt's qualities and leadership and concluded
his despatch:

"I beg respectfully to express my hope that His Majesty's Government will
consider that his zeal and the important services he has rendered give
him a just claim to promotion. It has been as well merited in the present
instance as it could have been on any occasion, and such a mark of favour
would not only be gratefully appreciated by the individual in question,
but would act as a stimulus to rouse others to exertion."

Before this official recognition, however, had come unofficial public
recognition as soon as George Macleay had arrived in Sydney.

On 6th May the Sydney Gazette after recording the results of the
expedition, added this tribute:

"Captain Sturt has inscribed his name in indelible characters upon the
records of our history, and will occupy a respectable rank among those
heroic men to whom the world is indebted for geographical knowledge."

Beyond the actual geographical results of Sturt's two expeditions, there
had been other, intangible, consequences.

When Sturt arrived in Sydney he came to a community of prisoners, not
prisoners at law, but prisoners of circumstance, geographical and social
prisoners in a limited territory within which a small oligarchy had
assumed the rights of "eminent domain," and had pre-empted all the
valuable land.

The harpings of Oxley and Cunningham on "impenetrable marshes" and
"inland seas" had discouraged individual enterprise and expansion.

Within three years of his arrival, and within twelve months of
concentrated activity, Sturt had substituted reality for mystery, had
brought precious water, rivers, navigable waterways, and land--land
unowned, land for the taking, land! It was not "land," it was an empire,
beyond even the appetite of the oligarchs.

In replacing a narrow coastal complex by a continental consciousness
Sturt had shattered the horizon--all horizons--and the task in which
Bligh, Macquarie, Darling had each, in turn, been only partially
successful, had been by him almost completed. He had brought freedom,
freedom de facto if not yet de jure or de lege, freedom of action,
freedom of movement, freedom of opportunity, and the prospect of freedom
from oligarchs.

It is noteworthy that a traveller, visiting these parts just two years
after Sturt's journey, recorded that nine stations had been taken up
covering forty-eight miles downstream from Warby's at Gundagai. (See
Appendix D, Note 5.)

But his very success excited hostility, especially from Surveyor-General
Mitchell; the effects of this hostility will appear later.

Sturt had, at this time, and always, a firm, and completely sincere faith
in God:

"Something more powerful than human foresight or prudence appeared to
avert the calamities and dangers with which I and my companions were so
frequently threatened; and had it not been for the guidance and
protection we received from the Providence of that good and all-wise
Being to whose care we committed ourselves, we should, ere this, have
ceased to rank among the number of His earthly creatures."

Prudence and Providence--God and my own right arm.

E--EXPERIENCES WITH ABORIGINES

The story of Sturt's second expedition would not be complete without some
account of his encounters with the aborigines. It is impossible, within
the limits of this work to give the story in full detail: for this,
Sturt's own original account must be consulted. As he was the first
European to see, and record information about the aborigines over a very
large portion of Australia his experiences and impressions have a special
value.

From Yass to near Narrandera they met very few natives, "not more than
fifty in an extent of more than 180 miles." These natives were very
friendly, each group guiding them to the limits of their own district and
then passing them on in a friendly way to the next group. From Narrandera
to the depot near Maude the natives became more numerous, and rather less
friendly, being inclined to steal if not watched carefully.

After the boat journey had begun, contact with the natives was
necessarily more intermittent and opportunities for friendly relations
limited to the evenings in camp. From near Euston onwards the natives
became much more numerous. The first large group was hostile, then, being
treated patiently, gradually became very friendly, wishing the party to
remain with them. Near Kulkyne occurred the beginning of a dramatic
series of encounters. In the late afternoon of 19th January a large body
of natives appeared on the right bank of the river: soon after, another
large party appeared on the left bank, and the boat was between two
definitely hostile parties. Presently those on the left bank all swam
over to the right bank and the whole group showed clear signs of
hostility, "beating their spears and shields together by way of
intimidation."

Sturt landed at the usual time on the left bank, and while the men were
preparing camp, he set about making friendly contact with the natives:

"I held a long pantomimical dialogue with them, across the water, and
held out the olive branch in token of amity.

"They at length laid aside their spears, and a long consultation took
place among them, which ended in two or three wading into the river,
contrary, as it appeared, to the earnest remonstrances of the majority,
who, finding their entreaties had no effect, wept aloud and followed them
with a determination, I am sure, of sharing their fate, whatever it might
have been."

Gradually they became quite friendly and went to the camp showing great
curiosity. Macleay joined in with their amusement, and he seemed to have
made particular impression on them--Sturt assumed that the natives
regarded him as the re-incarnation of some previously known aboriginal.
They gave him the name of Rundi, pressing him to show them his side, as
if the original Rundi had met with a violent death from a spear wound in
that place. In the morning the whole tribe, upwards of 150, assembled to
watch the departure of the boats. Four of them accompanied the party
along the bank, among whom was one remarkable for personal strength and
stature. Sturt noted that several of this tribe were disabled by leprosy,
or some similar disorder, and that the most loathsome diseases prevailed
among them.

The next evening the four natives already mentioned joined them in camp
on a very friendly footing. Now they were to experience the clash with
the natives which had been made familiar by frequent repetition. It is
worth repeating again, and Sturt's account is given here verbatim; the
date was 23rd January:

"After breakfast, we proceeded onwards as usual. We had proceeded about
nine miles, when we were surprised by the appearance in view, at the
termination of a reach, of a long line of magnificent trees.

"As we sailed down the reach, we observed a vast concourse of natives
under them, and, on a nearer approach, we not only heard their war-song,
if it might so be called, but remarked that they were painted and armed,
as they generally are, prior to their engaging in deadly conflict.

"Notwithstanding these outward signs of hostility, fancying that our four
friends were with them, I continued to steer directly in for the bank on
which they were collected.

"I found, however, when it was almost too late to turn into the
succeeding reach on our left, that an attempt to land would only be
attended with loss of life. The natives seemed determined to resist it.
We approached so near that they held their spears quivering in their
grasp ready to hurl. They were painted in various ways. Some who had
marked their ribs, and thighs, and faces with a white pigment, looked
like skeletons, others were daubed over with red and yellow ochre, and
their bodies shone with the grease with which they besmeared themselves.
A dead silence prevailed among the front ranks, but those in the
background, as well as the women, who carried supplies of darts, and who
appeared to have had a bucket of whitewash capsized over their heads,
were extremely clamorous.

"As I did not wish a conflict with these people, I lowered my sail, and
putting the helm to starboard, we passed quietly down the stream in
mid-channel.

"Disappointed in their anticipations, the natives ran along the' bank of
the river, endeavouring to secure an aim at us; but, unable to throw with
certainty, in consequence of the onward motion of the boat, they flung
themselves into the most extravagant attitudes, and worked themselves
into a state of frenzy by loud and vehement shouting.

"It was with considerable apprehension that I observed the river to be
shoaling fast, more especially as a huge sand-bank, a little below us,
and on the same side on which the natives had gathered, projected nearly
a third-way across the channel. To this sand-bank they ran with
tumultuous uproar, and covered it over in a dense mass. Some of the
chiefs advanced to the water to be nearer their victims, and turned from
time to time to direct their followers. With every pacific disposition,
and an extreme reluctance to take away life, I foresaw that it would be
impossible any longer to avoid an engagement, yet with such fearful
numbers against us, I was doubtful of the result. The spectacle we had
witnessed had been one of the most appalling kind, and sufficient to
shake the firmness of most men; but at that trying moment my little band
preserved their temper and coolness, and if anything could be gleaned
from their countenances, it was that they had determined on an obstinate
resistance.

"I now explained to them that their only chance of escape depended, or
would depend, on their firmness. I desired that, after the first volley
had been fired, Macleay and three of the men would attend to the defence
of the boat with bayonets only, while I, Hopkinson and Harris would keep
up the fire as being more used, to it. I ordered, however, that no shot
was to be fired until after I had discharged both my barrels.

"I then delivered their arms to the men, which had as yet been kept in
the place appropriated for them, and at the same time some rounds of
loose cartridge.

"The men assured me they would follow my instructions, and thus prepared,
having already lowered the sail, we drifted onwards with the current. As
we neared the sand-bank, I stood up and made signs to' the natives to
desist; but without success.

"I took up my gun, therefore, and cocking it, had already brought it down
to a level. A few seconds more would have closed the life of the nearest
of the savages. The distance was too trifling for me to doubt the fatal
effects of the discharge; for I was determined to take deadly aim, in the
hope that the fall of one man might save the lives of many. But at the
very moment, when my hand was on the trigger, and my eye was along the
barrel, my purpose was checked by Macleay, who called to me that another
party of blacks had made their appearance on the left bank of the river.
Turning round I observed four men at the top of their speed. The foremost
of them, as soon as he got ahead of the boat, threw himself from a
considerable height into the water. He struggled across the channel to
the sand-bank, and in an incredibly short space of time stood in front of
the savage against whom my aim had been directed. Seizing him backwards,
and forcing all who were in the water upon the bank, he trod its margin
with a vehemence and an agitation that were exceedingly striking.

"At one moment pointing to the boat, at another shaking his clenched hand
in the faces of the most forward, and stamping with a passion on the
sand; his voice, that was at first distant and clear, was lost in hoarse
murmurs. Two of the four natives remained on the left bank of the river,
but the third followed his leader (who proved to be the remarkable savage
I have previously noticed) to the scene of action.

"The reader will imagine our feelings on this occasion, it is impossible
to describe them. We were so wholly lost in interest at the scene that
the boat was allowed to drift at pleasure. For my own part I was
overwhelmed with astonishment, and in truth stunned and confused; so
singular, so unexpected, and so strikingly providential, had been our
escape.

"We were again roused to action by the boat suddenly striking upon a
shoal which reached from one side of the river to the other. To jump out
and push her into deeper water was but the work of a moment with the men,
and it was just as she floated again that our attention was drawn to a
new and beautiful stream, coming apparently from the north."

The boat thus floating on a broad stream, the mass of natives was left
behind on the sand-bank to wrangle amongst themselves. Sturt landed on
the opposite bank a little lower down. The larger, and hostile party,
seeing this: "curiosity took place of anger: all wrangling ceased, and
they came swimming over to us like a parcel of seals."

The party got back into the boat after Sturt had made a present to the
peace-making intervener, and pulled up the Darling. And that was the end
of that trouble.

From this point onwards they found so many natives that their contact was
continuous and they were, so to speak, passed on officially from one
tribe to the next--but the movements of the party were so rapid that
little time was spent with each group. The natives were quiet and
orderly, and no article was stolen. "Loathsome diseases" were common, and
"syphilis raged among them with fearful violence"--the condition of the
women effectively checking any impulse towards irregular conduct amongst
the men.

The filth of the natives and their repulsive condition--as well as their
growing familiarity--all combined to render contact with them
increasingly disagreeable: yet it was essential to keep on a friendly
basis.

Near Berri they met one of the most numerous of the groups they met on
the Murray, and some of these they met again at Overland Corner, the
natives having crossed the base of the long loop. Here the natives tried
to detain the boat and had to be pushed off forcibly. One old man from
this tribe took a great fancy to Hopkinson and told them they were
nearing the sea, and it was obvious that he had been to the coast at some
time: although the river was still keeping a north-westerly course, the
old man made it clear that it would soon turn southwards.

With this old man was another native who "was small in stature, had
piercing grey eyes, and was as quick as lightning in his movements."

Near Swan Reach, three days later, the old man again joined them in the
boat, and it then appeared he was returning home from a long journey to
the north. On that day, 4th February, they met the tribe of this old man
and he left them. From this point down to Wellington they met several
large tribes, all very friendly, and much healthier and cleaner than the
up-river natives.

As soon as they reached Lake Alexandrina and during the whole of their
stay on the lake the natives were increasingly hostile, so that Sturt
avoided contact with them. They were obviously familiar with guns as they
retreated as soon as Sturt handled one. Sturt attributed this hostility
to the behaviour of sealers on Kangaroo Island (see p. 81).

On the return journey there were fewer incidents. There was the
possibility of serious trouble at Overland Corner, the natives being very
troublesome, and controlled only by firm treatment. It was here that
"eight of the women, whom we had not before noticed, came down to the
water side, and gave us the most pressing invitation to land. Indeed they
played their part uncommonly well, and tried for some time to allure us
by the most unequivocal manifestations of love.

"Hopkinson, however, who always had his eves about him, observed the
spears of the men above the reeds. They kept abreast of us as we pulled
up the stream, and, no doubt, were anticipating our inability to resist
the temptations they had thrown in our way.

"I was really provoked at their bare-faced treachery, and should most
undoubtedly have attacked them, had they not precipitately retreated on
being warned by the women that I was arming my men, which I had only done
upon seeing such strong manifestations of danger."

From the Rufus River to the Merbein rocks they had no trouble, although
they still saw natives: in the rapids round the Merbein rocks the natives
actually helped them with the boat--one of them being the same
"remarkable man" who had intervened on the critical occasion at the
Darling mouth.

Near Euston they again had trouble; uncertainty as to the behaviour of
the natives gave Sturt some anxiety as to the safety of Robert Harris
with his relief supplies--the safety of these supplies becoming now a
matter of first importance.

On 21st March, on the Murrumbidgee, just north of Balranald, they had
their last conflict. This was a serious attack on two successive nights,
and was the only occasion on which Sturt actually fired at the natives:
but it was without deliberate aim, and no native was injured.

They had no further trouble with the natives, and Sturt could, as he did,
write:

"It has been my pride that my path amidst savage tribes has hitherto been
a bloodless one."



CHAPTER V - Norfolk Island and England


After his return from this second expedition Sturt had resumed duty with
his regiment. On 24th July, 1830, he signed a General Order as "Major,"
but this did not indicate any permanent promotion.

In the first flush of his success he did not at once realize, but was
soon to learn, that his ordered life of army routine and discipline was
nearly over; and that he was, for the rest of his life, to be caught in a
mesh of officialdom and intrigue, for which he was, by training and
temperament, quite unsuited.

The story of the next four years is involved, and can best be told in a
time sequence, having regard to the delay of five months each way in
transit of letters between Sydney and London, so that, to a letter sent
from Sydney in January, a reply could not be expected before the end of
October.

Immediately after his return to Sydney in May, 1830, Sturt had written to
his family in England telling them of his journey and its geographical
results. Sturt's father brought this information to the notice of Sir
George Murray, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and the information
must have been available beyond official circles as, in a memorandum
(December, 1830) by Wakefield and Gouger concerning new ideas of colonial
expansion, there is reference to the possibility of a settlement near "a
magnificent river just discovered by Captain Sturt," which had been
traced for a thousand miles, and which would discharge the whole produce
of eastern Australia to St. Vincent's Gulf.

But, meanwhile, Sturt had been sent to Norfolk Island early in August on
military duty, and the year 1830 closed with Sturt still there, anxiously
awaiting news of the promotion which he believed Darling was
recommending. He could not know that neither his report nor that
recommendation had left Sydney.

[5-1] There are few official details about his period of service on
Norfolk Island. Giving evidence before the New South Wales Executive
Council on 27th February, 1832, Sturt said that he commanded the troops
at Norfolk Island from 6th August, 1830, to 7th July, 1831; there is no
reference to the presence of a senior officer.

[5-1 Mit. Lib. Minutes Exec. Co. Vol. 3. Appx. 4, p.225.]

[5-2] On the other hand, in a memorial to Lord Stanley in 1858, he
referred to this period of service and stated that he was sent
confidentially by Governor Darling to restore Norfolk Island to
tranquillity, its state at that time being the cause of serious
apprehension and alarm. He added that the mission was both difficult and
delicate in the presence of a senior officer.

[5-2 Public Records Office, London 5158. New South Wales.]

He remained on Norfolk Island until January, 1832, so that it might be
assumed that he was "in command" from August, 1830, to July, 1831, and
thereafter under the direction of a senior officer. A little further
information comes from official despatches. On 26th August, 1831,
Governor Darling wrote to the Secretary of State informing him that
Colonel Morisset had requested that he be placed in some civil situation
in the Colony, his expectations of the position at Norfolk Island having
been totally disappointed. Darling added that it was his duty to state
that Colonel Morisset was [5-3] a very zealous officer whose duties for
some time past had been of a most arduous nature: he described the
conditions at Norfolk Island:

"The conduct of the prisoners is outrageous in the extreme, they having,
repeatedly, avowed their determination, which they have endeavoured to
carry into effect, to murder every one employed at the settlement, and it
is only by the utmost vigilance that they have been prevented
accomplishing their object. The prisoners at Norfolk Island are men of
the most desperate character."

[5-3 H.R.A. XVI. 338.]

It would seem that Colonel Morisset had been there throughout Sturt's
period of service. It is impossible with the evidence at present
available to determine this point. Sturt's period of service on the
island must have been eighteen months of rigorous discipline and constant
vigilance.