Sturt, Charles

Sturt, Charles

▪ Australian explorer
born April 28, 1795, Bengal, India
died June 16, 1869, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Eng.

      Australian explorer whose expedition down the Murrumbidgee (Murrumbidgee River) and Murray rivers (Murray River) (1829–30) is considered one of the greatest explorations in Australian history. The expedition disclosed extensive areas of land for future development in New South Wales and South Australia.

      Educated in England, Sturt entered the British Army at the age of 18 and for the next 13 years saw service in Spain, Canada, France, and Ireland. In 1827 he became military secretary to the governor of New South Wales, Sir Ralph Darling (Darling River). In 1828–29 Sturt led the first of his major expeditions, tracing the Macquarie, Bogan, and Castlereagh rivers and discovering the Darling River. In his subsequent expedition down the Murrumbidgee he discovered the Murray River and followed it to its source near Adelaide, dealing peaceably with many Aborigines along the way. Exhausted and nearly blinded because of poor diet and overexertion on his trip, he spent 1832–34 recuperating in England, where he wrote Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, 1828–31 (1833). The book led to the choice of South Australia as the site for a new British settlement.

      He returned to Australia in 1834 with a 5,000-acre grant of land and later (1844–46) led an expedition north from Adelaide to the edge of Simpson Desert. Although it discovered no fertile land and was eventually driven back by heat and scurvy, his party was the first to penetrate the centre of the continent. After serving briefly as registrar general and colonial treasurer, he again left Australia for England (1847), where he wrote Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia (1849). He settled in England permanently in 1853. In New South Wales, Sturt National Park, which encompasses some 1,200 square miles (3,100 square km), commemorates his achievements.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • STURT, Charles (1795-1869) — explorer was born in India on 28 April 1795, the second son of Thomas Lenox Napier Sturt, who became a judge in Bengal under the East India Company. The judge always known as Napier Sturt married Jeanette, daughter of Dr Andrew Wilson, who became …   Dictionary of Australian Biography

  • STURT, CHARLES —    a noted Australian explorer, and a captain in the army; during 1828 45 was the determined leader of three important exploratory expeditions into Central Australia, the results of which he embodied in two works; became colonial secretary of… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Charles Sturt — c. 1849. Le Capitaine Charles Napier Sturt (28 avril 1795 – 16 juin 1869) était un explorateur britnnique qui a participé à la découverte de l Australie par les européens. Il mena plusieurs expéditions sur cette île, à partir de …   Wikipédia en Français

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  • Charles Sturt University Study Centres — Established 2001 Chancellor Lawrie Willet Vice Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter Location Sydney and Melbourne, New South Wales, Victoria …   Wikipedia

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