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Explorers of
Australia:
JOHN McDOUALL STUART'S EXPEDITIONS
The fourth expedition
Departed 2 March
1860
With William
Kekwick, Benjamin Head and accompanied by thirteen horses, Stuart
left Chambers Creek and travelled north.
This expedition
saw and named Chambers Pillar, the Finke River, and the James,
Waterhouse and McDonnell Ranges. They were the first Europeans
to see the centre of the continent, to cross from South Australia into what is now the
Northern Territory.
22 April 1860
They reached
the actual geographic centre of the continent. Stuart and Kekwick
climbed a mountain that Stuart named Mount Sturt after Charles
Sturt. It is now called Central Mt Stuart. Stuart and Kekwick
built a cone of stones and raised the British flag. Inside the
cone of stones, they placed a bottle containing a note about their
arrival.
June 1860
They arrived a little
way north of what is now Tennant Creek, about 2400 kms from Adelaide.
Supplies, including water, were running low. The men and their
horses were in a poor condition. They were attacked by the local Warramunga people and turned
back. That place is now called Attack Creek.
20 August 1860
The expedition
arrived at Freeling Springs. They managed to shoot and eat a swan.
That same
day in Melbourne, Burke
and Wills
were farewelled by thousands of enthusiastic people as they set
off in their attempt to cross the continent from south to north.
On his return to Adelaide, Stuart was celebrated and honoured as one of the greatest explorers. For his achievement in discovering what was in the centre of Australia, he was awarded a special medal called the Patron's Medal by the Royal Geographical Society in London. People in Victoria disbelieved Stuart's claims. They said it was impossible to travel so far north in the time he did, and that he either miscalculated or lied about the latitude of where he was. The South Australian government still wanted a route for the overland telegraph between Adelaide and the north coast. It offered Stuart 2500 pounds to lead an expedition that was larger and better equipped than the one of Victorian Burke and Wills, thus starting a race between them.
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to John McDouall Stuart
Expeditions 1...2...3...5...6
If you use any part of this
in your work, acknowledge it in your bibliography like this:
John McDouall
Stuart (2002).
[Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au
Explorers of Australia
Bass & Flinders ... Burke
& Wills... Blaxland, Lawson
& Wentworth ...Eyre ...
Hume & Hovell ... Leichardt
... Mitchell ... Oxley
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