page_title: John McDouall Stuart
section_title: Fifth expedition 1861
hierarchical_section_title: John McDouall Stuart / Fifth expedition 1861
caption_attribution_description: Spinifex Savanna (Spinfex spec.) in MacDonnell Ranges, Central Australia
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: The public and the newspapers began to talk about a race across the continent of Australia. Could Stuart, experienced and used to moving quickly, beat the better equipped, but very slow moving Burke and Wills expedition. After their failures with Babbage and Tolmer's expeditions, the South Australian government now believed that Stuart would succeed if he had enough support. They gave £2,500 to set up another expedition and provided ten armed men to protect Stuart from any more attacks by the Aborigines. Chambers agreed to supply more horses and to pay Stuart and Kekwick's wages. In Victoria, a policeman was sent off to tell Burke to get going to the Gulf of Carpentaria as fast as possible, but Burke had already heard about Stuart's planned trip. Burke divided his group in two, and leaving most of his supplies behind at Menindee on the Darling River, he headed north to Cooper Creek.
  On 1 January 1861, Stuart with a group of 12 men and 49 horses set off from Chambers Creek. The hot weather made it hard to find water and many waterholes from his earlier trips were dry. In February Stuart sent back two men with five horses. They reached the northern border of South Australia at about the same time that Burke and Wills reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. He was able to travel 240 km north of Attack Creek, where he found a large waterhole he called Glandfield Lagoon, after the mayor of Adelaide. Chambers later changed the name on Stuart's maps to Newcastle Waters, after the Duke of Newcastle, a British politician. From here Stuart again looked for a way to go north west to the Victoria River, but he was unable to find water. With the food running out, the men becoming sick, and horses in poor condition, Stuart again decided to return to Adelaide. Burke and Wills had not returned to Cooper Creek and were missing.
  Stuart was presented with the Royal Geographical Society's Patron's Medal for 1861.
caption: Grassland near the Macdonnell Ranges
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