Guide to the Papers of Captain Charles Sturt (as filmed by the AJCP), 1843-1848

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Summary

Collection number:

M403

Creator:

Sturt, Charles, Captain

Extent:

26 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

1. Letter of instructions from Governor George Grey including a minute on Sturt's proposal to cross Australia from south to north, a schedule of men and animals proposed for the expedition, and a list of provisions required.

2. Journal, 11 August 1845-12 January 1846, apparently kept during the expedition, with extra drafts of some passages.

3. Return of provisions and letter to Sturt, 29 January 1846, from Louis Piesse, the expedition's storekeeper, reporting on proceedings at the camp at Rala-rala and the journey from that place to Adelaide.

4. 'Vocabulary of the Dialect Spoken by the Murray River Tribes in South Australia, May 1844' and 'Specimens of the Language of the Natives of the Upper Darling'.

5. Seven letters from the Colonial Secretary, A.M. Mundy, to Sturt July 1845-May 1847 concerning the 1844-46 expedition.

6. Drafts of notes by Sturt on the royalties from mines in South Australia and on the general revenue of the colony; and a draft of part of Sturt's Notice of the Province of South Australia published with his Narrative (London, 1849).

7. Four drawings of landscapes and two charts.

8. Letter February 1847 from Louis Piesse to Sturt, letter February 1848 about Sturt Family matters.

Biographical / Historical:

Charles Sturt (1795-1869), the son of Judge Napier Sturt, was born in India and grew up in England, where he was educated at Harrow. In 1813 he received his commission as an ensign in the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment. He served in Spain, Canada, France and Ireland. In 1825 he was promoted to the rank of captain. In May 1827 he arrived in Sydney with a detachment of his regiment and soon afterwards was made military secretary to the governor, Ralph Darling.

Sturt quickly became interested in inland exploration and in November 1828 he was given approval to trace the course of the Macquarie River. Accompanied by the experienced Hamilton Hume, three soldiers and eight convicts, he followed the river downstream from the Wellington Valley and discovered the River Darling, which he followed for some distance. In November 1829 he set off with a slightly larger party to explore the Murrumbidgee River. He followed it to the junctions with the Lachlan and Hume Rivers, re-naming the latter the River Murray. With seven men, he sailed in a whaleboat to the River Murray's junction with the River Darling and onward to the mouth of the Murray at Lake Alexandrina. There was no ship waiting for them and they were forced to row upstream, eventually reaching Sydney in May 1830.

In 1832 Sturt returned to England and in the following year he resigned from the Army. He published an account of his two exploring journeys, married Charlotte Greene, and returned to Australia in 1835. He bought farming properties in New South Wales and in 1838 travelled overland to Adelaide with 300 head of cattle and a flock of sheep. In 1839 he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Lands in South Australia.

Following Edward Eyre's unsuccessful expedition to central Australia in 1840, Sturt became eager to lead a similar expedition and, if possible, prove the existence of an inland sea. In January 1843 he wrote to Lord Stanley, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, proposing to traverse the continent from south to north. Stanley was sceptical, but authorised an expedition to central Australia with more limited objectives. In August 1844 Sturt left Adelaide with 15 men, six drays, a boat and 200 sheep. After leaving the Darling River and heading north-west, the party crossed harsh country and a scarcity of water. For six months they were trapped at Depot Glen, but after July 1845 they made a number of forays northwards. Sturt failed to discover an inland sea and, faced with the endless sand dunes of Simpson Desert, he eventually gave up. The expedition returned to Adelaide in January 1846.

Sturt subsequently held the offices of Colonial Treasurer and Colonial Secretary in South Australia, but his sight began to fail and he returned to England in 1853. His Narrative of an expedition into Central Australia (2 vols.) was published in 1849. He spent his last years in Cheltenham.

Reference: Edward Stokes. To the inland sea: Charles Sturt's expedition 1844-45, Melbourne, Hutchinson, 1986

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:: Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use:: Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.