|
|
Explorers of
Australia:
JOHN McDOUALL STUART'S EXPEDITIONS
The sixth expedition
Another expedition led by Stuart was immediately financed by the South Australian Government. Stuart was to return to Newcastle Waters but then was to continue north to the headwaters of the Adelaide River, and follow it to the sea at Escape Cliffs.
Departed 8 January
1862 
Again with William Darton Kekwick as second in command, the expedition
left Chambers Creek.
Three months later they reached Newcastle Waters, and rested for a few days before starting the crossing of Sturt's Plains, which had caused them to turn back previously. Once again Stuart made scouting trips ahead of the main party and in doing so discovered a number of creeks and rivers which he named after his companions.
24 July 1862
They arrived at the ocean at Chambers Bay, near today's Darwin.
Stuart achieved his dream.
They raised the British flag there, nine months after leaving
Adelaide.
They retraced their steps on the 3400 kilometre journey back to Adelaide. It had been a hard journey and men and horses were exhaused. Stuart's eyesight failed and his health was so bad that he didn't think he'd make it back.
One of the party,
the blacksmith, a man named McGorreyey, made a stretcher for Stuart
when he could no longer ride. The stretcher was carried for about
950 km between two horses. His men were devoted to him and their
care saved his life. They arrived back in Adelaide on 17 December 1862.
On 21January 1863 marked Adelaide's 26th
anniversary of European settlement and there were celebrations
to mark the occasion. John McDouall Stuart led his successful
expedition down King William Street, as the crowd cheered. The
expedition had crossed Australia along its centre, south to north,
and had returned safely, something many people had thought impossible.
This route is now the Stuart Highway, linking Adelaide with Darwin.
The Stuart Highway today, Northern Territory
Some months before his return, Stuart's friend James Chambers
had died. Stuart's right hand had had been badly injured the day
the sixth expedition left, and resulted in his being now unable
to survey. His application for land at Chambers Creek had been
successful, but now his health was too bad for him to farm it,
so he sold it. A year later, William Finke died, and Stuart returned
to England, sailing from Port Adelaide in April 1864.
5 June 1866
Stuart died at the age of fifty, and was buried in London. There
were only seven people at his funeral.
Back
to John McDouall Stuart
Expeditions 1...2...3...4...5
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
| Back to Australia | Back to People and Places |