page_title: John McDouall Stuart
section_title: Central Australian Expedition 1844
hierarchical_section_title: John McDouall Stuart / Central Australian Expedition 1844
caption_attribution_description: English: Preservation Creek, New South Wales. This shows the Depot Glen waterhole where Charles Sturt camped in 1845. Sixteen kilometres west of Milparinka.
context_page_description: John McDouall Stuart is regarded as one of Australia's greatest explorers. He went on seven major exploring trips into the centre and north of Australia. He was leader of six of these expeditions. He spent more time out in the Australian bush exploring the land than any other explorer. On each trip, he was able to go further north and found water sources that helped him with his final long journey. In 1862, he crossed Australia from Adelaide, South Australia, to Van Diemen Gulf in the Northern Territory. He was the first European to cross the continent from north to south and then return again.
  Exploring Australia caused Stuart to become very sick from diseases such as scurvy and beriberi. He pushed himself to the very limits of human endurance. Each trip left him weaker and at the end of his last trip he was unable to walk or ride and had to be carried back. Stuart's discoveries opened up the country for the growth of farming sheep and cattle. His route was used to build the Australian Overland Telegraph Line from Adelaide to Darwin which joined an undersea line from Java. This meant that for the first time, Australians could communicate quickly with the rest of the world.
context_section_description: Stuart joined Charles Sturt's Central Australian Expedition to search for an inland sea in August 1844. Sturt was so sure that there was an inland sea in the centre of Australia, that he took a large boat as part of his equipment. Stuart joined the group as a draftsman, who would draw up the maps. He was paid one pound a week, and provided with food. Stuart and James Poole, the second in command, were sent out ahead of the main group to find water. The main group could only travel as fast as their flock of sheep could walk. Stuart and Poole found water at Depot Glen, near the current site of Milparinka.
  In the hot dry climate of summer, the group remained trapped at the waterhole for seven months. Stuart took a small group to find water to the north, west, and east, but found none. Stuart was left behind in charge of the main group at Depot Glen. It was very hot so they dug an underground room to keep cool. All the men became sick from scurvy because of the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables. This caused their gums to become soft and their teeth to fall out. They had headaches, their noses bled, and their skin began to turn black. When Poole died, Stuart was made second in command. He also became the surveyor and did all the mapping as Sturt could not see properly. When it finally rained the group tried to keep going north but were blocked by the sand dunes of the Simpson Desert. They turned south and went back to the Darling River. Stuart took over as leader when Sturt became blind and too ill to lead the group. They arrived back in Adelaide after six weeks hard travelling. Sturt had to be carried in a cart, and Stuart, crippled with scurvy and beriberi, looked like a skeleton.
  It took Stuart nearly a year to recover from the expedition. He wrote in a letter: "I lost the power of my limbs for ... six months, and was quite unable to do anything for myself for ... twelve months." For the next few years he was unable to work. The money he had made was spent on doctors and living expenses. In 1849 he moved to near Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula and worked on a farm. He soon found work surveying in the area, and met William Finke and James Chambers. Finke and Chambers were rich men and they paid Stuart to explore for them. They wanted him to find them new farm lands and water, as well as minerals like gold and copper.
caption: The waterhole at Depot Glen
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