Sturts Loop: Connecting the Darling to the Corner

Sturt as a Pastoralist

In 1835, Sturt returned to New South Wales to take up the 5,000 acres of land that had been granted to him for his military service. He failed as a farmer, and the overlanding of cattle from Goulburn NSW to the newly established colony of South Australia in 1838 was not a financial success either.

On their return from overlanding, Sturt wrote a detailed report that was published in the local paper. While in Adelaide, he bought several blocks of land, did some surveying for the South Australian Company, and gained the position of Surveyor General, from which Colonel Light resigned. He left for Sydney, where he arrived on October 30th.

In March 1839, while Sturt's brother Evelyn was involved in the overlanding of cattle, as was Henry Osborne, Charles Sturt and his family moved to South Australia to take up employment as Surveyor General. Unfortunately for him, Colonel Frome had been appointed to that job by the authorities in England, and he lost the position when Frome arrived in Adelaide.

Sturt and the Inland Sea

After the birth of his daughter on January 19th 1843, and having settled his family at the Reed Beds, Grange, Sturt once more took to exploring. This time, to settle the debate about an inland sea in the centre of Australia. His party, which included John McDouall Stuart, left Adelaide in August 1844. They returned in January 1846. It was a difficult journey, with temperatures often above 45 degrees Celsius.

Sturt failed to find the inland sea he had sought for so long but did discover Cooper's Creek. Ultimately repelled by the dunes and gibbers of the deserts, he was forced to return to Adelaide due to scurvy and failing eyesight.

He was sympathetic to the Aborigines he encountered in his expeditions, realizing that significant changes to their way of life would result, an attitude he shared with his great friend and fellow explorer Edward Eyre.

When he finally reached the Stony Desert and the Simpson Desert, he was convinced there was no inland sea.

During this trip in 1845, he discovered the Desert Pea near a creek, which he named Cooper Creek after South Australia's Chief Justice Sir Charles Cooper.

Sturt's Grave in England

In 1847, Sturt returned to England, published his well-known Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia and returned to South Australia in 1849 as Colonial Secretary. However, in 1851, he retired to the Grange with a pension of £600 a year. Two years later, the family returned to England again due to poor health. Three of his sons then served in the Indian Army. Sturt died on June 16th 1869. Sturt Stony Desert, Sturt River and the Desert Pea are named after him in South Australia. New South Wales has honoured him with the Charles Sturt University and the Northern Territory with the Sturt Desert Rose.

Moving to the North

Having struggled across the Barrier Ranges, a campsite was established near a gorge on west‐flowing Campbell's Creek on the edge of the Mundi Mundi Plain. A day or so later, another, further north, a soak‐hole on Morphett's Creek, was reached.

From November 29th 1844, the group waited there as two expedition members, James Poole and Harris Browne, travelled on horseback to the west toward Lake Torrens. Crossing dunes and salt flats, Poole and Browne rode until they saw Mt Searle and Lake Blanch. Unfortunately, there was o route that would enable the expedition to continue safely in a westerly direction.

They followed their tracks back to inform Charles Sturt that there was no option other than to continue in the northerly direction. Robert Flood rode ahead to find the next campsite and discovered an excellent waterhole 70 km north on a later named Flood's Creek. After abandoning a dray in Morphett's Creek, which was bogged, they travelled on to Flood's Creek and set up camp for a week.

Poole, Browne and John Mack continued northwards as far as the Queensland border to search for and map the locations of other water sources.

Sturt, John McDouall Stuart and Flood headed east across the Coko Range to the plains beyond toward the Nuntherungie Hills. Each party returned to camp on Christmas day 1844, Sturt passing just south of Bancannia Lake.

With the weather increasingly hot and rainless, Sturt worried about water supplies drying up and was keen to keep moving. The expedition broke camp from Flood's Creek on December 28th. The wagons and carts struggled across the terrain of the Barrier Ranges. At the same time, Sturt rode to Pinnacle Hill to the east, the most northern hill of the Barrier Ranges.

From his vantage point, he saw the dust rising from the wagon wheels to the west.

Depot Glen

To the north of the expedition route from Flood's Creek lies Mt Arrowsmith, a magnetic hill Sturt named after his London-based cartographer. The expedition travelled northeast across the southern slopes of Mt Arrowsmith and camped on a creek running east into Lake Bullea. Then, with the new year's temperatures in the extreme, the expedition continued northwards, across Mt Browne Creek to Evelyn Creek, near where the township of Milparinka now sits.

At Evelyn Creek, the expedition set up camp while Sturt headed northwards into Queensland to the west of the Grey Range as far north as the Wilson River. Finding no water, they, too, returned to the safety of Evelyn Creek.

In Sturt's absence, other group members had discovered Preservation Creek, a tributary of the Evelyn, where a long sheet of water lay within a rocky glen and provided the possibility of water for almost twelve months. On February 1st, 1845, the expedition relocated to this site. Named Depot Glen, it would become one of the most famous locations in Australian exploratory history. The expedition remained entrapped at Depot Glen for almost six months without the possibility of retreat or advancement.

The summer seemed relentless, with temperatures exceeding 100°F for several weeks, and many expedition party members suffered from scurvy. An underground room was constructed within the bank of the gorge to offer Poole, who was incredibly ill, relief from the heat and comfort.

To relieve the monotony of camp‐life, Sturt's men walked daily to the top of the nearby Red Hill (Mt Poole), to construct a stone cairn, 21 feet square at the base, 18 feet high. It has become a memorial to Poole, the only expedition member not to survive.

Continuing the Quest

Sturt knew that it was impossible to move forward with the expedition or even retreat, but they could not rest. Taking three of his men with him, he headed northwards across the border into Queensland again. He followed his earlier trail but, this time, travelled further west of the Warri Warri Creek and Wilson Rivers junction.

Locating a westward flowing creek (Frome's), he followed it to where it ended in Pinnaroo Lake. After the harshness of the country they had passed through, Sturt found this locality far more favourable and named it The Park. Later, the area would be called Fort Grey, after the Governor of South Australia.

Returning to Depot Glen, Sturt noted that many of the native birds that had frequented the waterhole had left, an ominous sign, he said, of receding water supplies.

Within a few days Sturt and Browne headed off, this journey was to search the country to the east of Depot Glen for water. They travelled almost 160 km to Yantara Lake but found nothing and returned to camp. Little wonder that Sturt was pessimistic. The future of the expedition seemed very bleak.

Periodically, Depot Glen was visited by members of the local aboriginal tribes. On one occasion, the arrival of an elderly man fueled hope. Seeing the boat and recognizing its significance, the old man pointed towards the northwest, the direction Sturt believed the inland sea lay as if indicating a vast expanse of water.

Still, they waited, continuing to build the cairn, sending out small scouting parties to explore the wider area and chaining a survey line of some 50 kilometres.

Release from Depot Glen

By June 1845, James Poole was desperately ill, and Charles Sturt began planning for him to be taken to Adelaide as soon as it rained enough. He was to be accompanied by five men and one to nurse him during the journey. A unique bed of sheepskins was prepared on a cart, and letters were written to the South Australian Government requesting additional stores. Rain began to fall on July 12th, and two days late,r the creeks around Depot Glen filled with water.

On July 16th 1845, the expedition left Depot Glen. Sturt's party moved along the survey line to the northwest, and Poole and his carers along the southbound route. Sturt had travelled just six kilometres when a messenger from Poole's party rode up with the news that Poole had died. His body was returned to Depot Glen and buried nearby beneath a beefwood tree. It still bears the inscription carved into the bark: JP 1845. Remarkably, he was the only man to die on the expedition, despite the conditions under which they travelled and lived. Others, including Sturt, also suffered terribly from scurvy, the heat and lack of water.

The day after the sad burial of Poole, the retreating party again set off for Adelaide. Sturt and his team also returned to following their previously chained course to the northwest and continuing their expedition.

The intention was to set up a base camp at Fort Grey to explore a western route around Lake Torrens, allowing a route further north through what was already known to be a tough country.

Beyond Fort Grey

While most of the remaining expedition members remained at Fort Grey to establish a stockade (and endeavour to germinate some of the seeds they carried with them), Sturt moved quickly to examine the country west of the South Australian border adjacent to Lake Torrens.

Finding no passage north of the dunes and lakes, he began his journey back to the fort on August 5th 1845.

Soon after, accompanied by Browne, Flood, Lewis and Joseph Cowley, Sturt headed out for the northwest again. With a massive effort across a barren, waterless landscape, the group reached their most northern point on the edge of the Simpson Desert on September 8th. Convinced that they could not continue toward the centre of Australia, they retreated to Fort Grey. Sturt then decided to take fresh men and scout to the north and east. Sturt took just three men (Stuart, Mack and David Morgan) this time and followed their old route to Strzelecki Creek and Cooper Creek. Sturt had planned to go east along the Cooper, but rainfall in the area encouraged him somewhat, and the expedition turned to the north instead.

They dug wells to capture rainfall, but it was to no avail, and again, they were forced to retreat. Returning to Cooper Creek, the party made one more desperate attempt to locate the inland sea and rode east along the Cooper until, on November 3rd, they finally accepted the futility of their efforts. Sick, almost blind, Sturt retreated to Fort Grey.

The Retreat

Before leaving Harris Browne in charge at Fort Grey, Charles Sturt had given instructions that they should fall back to Depot Glen if they were forced to retreat from Fort Grey. Upon return to Fort Grey, Sturt found that all had indeed left. Ill and disappointed, Sturt rode on to Depot Glen, where the expedition was reunited.

Browne and Flood rode to Flood's Creek for water and returned to Depot Glen with good news. Sturt instructed the men to kill four bullocks, and with their skins, they made large water vessels. Leaving behind most of their stores and the boat, they slowly began the long journey home. Too ill to ride his horse, Sturt was now uncomfortably confined to a bed on one of the drays.

The retreat was successful, assisted by some wild berries found on bushes near Morphett's Creek. Sturt's health improved to the point that, on January 19th 1846, he rode into Adelaide and his home.