Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1869-07-28
DEATH OF AN AUSTRALIAN EX-
PLORER.
Captain sturt and Has Adventures


Captain sturt and HIS Adventures.
Capt Charles Sturt, one of the earliest
explorers of the Australian Continent, and
subsequently Colonial Secretary for the
province of South Australia died at Chel-
tenham, England, on the 18th of June.
Capt. Stnrt made his first journey into the
interior of Australia In 1926, then discov-
ering the River Darling 500 miles from
sydney. In 1880, no descended the Nor
rumbidgee to the point where its waters
merged in larger stream, tho Murray,
Pursuing its course he came to the conilu-
ence of the Darling with it, and finally to
its own discharge into great lake which
received the name Of AleXandrina, gazing
from its southern shore upon the ocean at
Encounter Bay. In 1874 45, under the
auspices of the government an attempt
was made to raise the vail from the myste-
rious central region of Australia. Captain
Sturt was appointed to the command OF n
party of seventeen assistants and follow
ers. Starting from Adelaide his object
was to strike through the country from
south to north, and though he did not ac-
complish half the distance, during an alb
sence of eighteen months, the journey
threw great light upon the condition of the
interior, and is one of the most remarka-
BILE on record.
Sturt advanced to within two degrees Of
the Tropic Of Capricorn, but no rain falling
from July II to September 8, with another
summer setting in, he deemed it necessary
to return, and entered Adelaide January 10,
1S46. Sturt suffered severely in his expe-
ditions, SO much so that when published
his book in 1888 he was almost blind; but
the passion of exploring does not
easily leave man VINO has once
felt its influence. After being en-
ployed for some years as colonial
surveyor for South Australia (says Lon
don paper), he matured another plan
for an inland journey--this time towards
the very centre of the continent-and set
forth in the September of 1874 Their has
seldom been a more unfortunate expedi-
ton. The plan was good; his followers
no less man than Mcdonald Stuart among
them-were eminently fit for the work ;
and yet it resulted in misery and failure. =
AS it happened the party hit upon the
worst part of the whole land. Often few
miles out of their course might have led
them into more fertile country; but, tho
they spared no toll and feared no danger,
some inexplicable fatality seemed to mock
their hopes.
Men have since followed much the same
plan. and it has led them safe and sound to
the Gulf of Carpentaria; but il was Sturt's
destiny to be pathfinder only and not to
Journey over the ground when it was safe
and easy of access Yet even MS it was, his
discovery of Cooper's sCreek-since various
ly known as Victoria River, and as the
Barcoo-began a new era of Australian eX'
ploration, too late for Sturt to follow up his
own discoveries. The hardships encoun.
tered were horrible. The land burnt up
around the travellers; the scrub and brush
wood on the hills took fire; and the acrid
smoke rolled towards them through the
sultry atmosphere, over the arid
land They came upon the Stony Desert
an ocean of stone, with huge boulders
for its waves, and, far in the horizon, red
sandhills looming like range of cliffs.
Ascending one after another Of these, hop
ing the scene would change, they saw again
the dark purple of the desert, the menac-
ing red of the dunes. Their cattle before
they died of thirst, shifted their feet about
rs though seeking for a cool place on the
burning mari. When the explorers, in
camp, tried to write, the ink dried in the
pen. They tried to paint; the tJlOrs
caked and cracked. They had to dig
huge chamber underground to save their
lives. Even then the second in command
Mr.. Poole, sank rapidly, and died of q
black scurvy.
Almost to the last, Stuart, whose activity
was indefatigable, hoped on; but at length
it is told of him that, with an almost broken
heart, che sat more than an hour ON the
top of the sand hill, with his face buried in
his hands, evidently quite crushed by his
final disappointment" And yet he tried
again. 1t was after this that he
found Cooper's Creek. But at last,
for bare life he must needs turn
back. He found one of his depots only to
find it deserted. He was not sur
prised- only sick, only sorry, only stunned
and beaten. "a sickening feeling came
over me,p he snys, "when | found they
were really gone" Not on my own ac-
count; for, with the bitter feelings of dis
appointment with which was returning
home, I could have calmly laid my head
upon the desert, never to raise it again. "
By GOuB great mercy, nls lrleHuS DOre nlll
home. He reached Adelaide in safety
But he was blind.
Not to the end of his life did he ever
quite recover his eyesight; and this may
have helped to intensity his naturally
modest and retiring disposition. He had
SO far outliyed his fame that, outside his
own little circle, most men fancied him
dead. The time has come at last for his
departure. He died comparatively poor,
yet rich in the most precious part of wealth
i'm the retrospect of long life
most purely and nobly spent. The
praises that might have gladdened
his ears had he lived, must be
spoken above his tomb Yet there is no
shadow of loss, defeat or failure in so simply
and serenely beautiful a career. His work
lives after him, as one who revealed to man
fresh tracts OF his domain. On the steps ol
the lonely explorer, the emigrant wagon and
the railway have followed. The wilderness
through which he pushed his solitary way is
white with sheep His name will live with
the purest in our story, standing not un-
worthiy beside those of Cook, Perry and