Charles Sturt was Australia’s greatest explorer, having already discovered the Murray and Darling
rivers. Highly respected, his recommendations were influential in the establishing of Adelaide and South Australia. In 1844, approaching 50 and visually impaired, a doting father of four young children, he
set off from Adelaide with sixteen men who ranged from a young doctor to rough ex-convicts, from profane alcoholics to a zealous Christian. He selected his men making courage the dominant criterion, knowing the hardships they would face. His goal? To discover a watershed in the Inland nurturing rich agricultural lands, hoping thereby to rescue the South Australian economy that was sliding towards bankruptcy. Sturt dreamt of finding more than this, of an inland sea, and dragged a cumbersome whaleboat into the fierce, blazing deserts on a dray. In this book we accompany Sturt’s lumbering party up the Murray and towards the Red Centre. With them we face the challenges – hostile Aborigines, personal conflicts, exhaustion, inadequate rations, scurvy, searing heat, raging thirst.
One perished; the spectre of death beckoned to the rest.
Sturt emerges as a strong leader with lightning moods, but whose expertise in making the Big Decisions was extraordinary. Sturt’s openness to intuition at moments of crisis is unexpected, while his shortcomings on the level of mundane daily planning is disappointing.
What were the outcomes of this superb yet terrible feat of exploration? Sturt’s expedition encouraged
others to explore the Inland. Prospectors took up pick and pannikin and followed his routes, as did selectors looking for land and squatters seeking good pastures. He blazed the trail followed by hundreds of successful pioneers, miners and graziers.
The author draws the reader into Sturt’s 1844 expedition thrusting towards the Red Centre by quoting
freely from eyewitness accounts. You ride into the fierce, blazing deserts with them, feel what they felt and picture what they saw. It has been carefully researched from original material that is cluttered by a great deal of extraneous detail. The author highlights important details missed by other writers, such as the progressive influence of scurvy on the personalities of the leaders and Browne’s conjecture that Lake Torrens was not a single lake at all. Rudolph gives an empathetic account of the men, one that appreciates their courage and achievements, while not glossing over their weaknesses. It is a readable book for all Australians: the man or woman in the street, in the bush and on properties.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Sources and Approach
Reference Map
Helpful Information
1. The Gathering
2. The Proceeding
3. The Murray
4. The Darling
5. The Barrier Range
6. The Wilderness
7. The Depot
8. The Returning
9. The Break Out
10. The Great North-Western Thrust
11. The Last Cast of the Dice
12. The Cooper
13. The Retreat
14. The Aftermath
Selected Bibliography
About the Author
