Explorations in Australia | Page 3

the object of examining the country for
runs. On his return the South Australian Government presented him
with a large grant of land in the district which he had explored.
Mr. Stuart now turned his attention to crossing the interior, and, with
the assistance of his friends Messrs. Chambers and Finke, he was
enabled to make two preparatory expeditions in the vicinity of Lake
Torrens--from April 2nd to July 3rd, 1859, and from November 4th,

1859, to January 21st, 1860. The fourth expedition started from
Chambers Creek (discovered by Mr. Stuart in 1858, and since treated as
his head-quarters for exploring purposes), on March 2nd, 1860, and
consisted of Mr. Stuart and two men, with thirteen horses. Proceeding
steadily northwards, until the country which his previous explorations
had rendered familiar was left far behind, on April 23rd the great
explorer calmly records in his Journal the following important
announcement: "To-day I find from my observations of the sun that I
am now camped in the CENTRE OF AUSTRALIA." One of the
greatest problems of Australian discovery was solved! The Centre of
the continent was reached, and, instead of being an inhospitable desert
or an inland sea, it was a splendid grass country through which ran
numerous watercourses.
Leaving the Centre, a north-westerly course was followed, but, after
various repulses, a north-easterly course eventually carried the party as
far as latitude 18 degrees 47 minutes south, longitude 134 degrees,
when they were driven back by the hostility of the natives. As has
already been stated, Mr. Gregory in 1855, starting from the north-west
coast, had penetrated to the south as low as latitude 20 degrees 16
minutes, longitude 127 degrees 35 minutes. Mr. Stuart had now
reached a position about half-way between Gregory's lowest southward
point and the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Without actually
reaching the country explored by Gregory, he had overlapped his
brother explorer's position by one degree and a half, or more than one
hundred miles, and was about two hundred and fifty miles in actual
distance from the nearest part of the shores of the Gulf. It is important
to remark that the attack of the savages which forced Mr. Stuart to
return occurred on June 26th, 1860, so that he had virtually crossed the
continent two months before Messrs. Burke and Wills had left
Melbourne.* (* They did not leave Cooper Creek until December 14th,
rather more than a fortnight before Mr. Stuart started on his fifth
expedition.)
On New Year's day 1861, Mr. Stuart again left Adelaide, aided this
time by a grant from the Colonial Government of 2500 pounds, in
addition to the assistance of his well-tried friends Messrs. Chambers
and Finke. He made his former position with ease, and advanced about
one hundred miles beyond it, to latitude 17 degrees, longitude 133

degrees; but an impenetrable scrub barred all further progress, and
failing provisions, etc., compelled him, after such prolonged and
strenuous efforts that his horses on one occasion were one hundred and
six hours without water, most reluctantly to return. The expedition
arrived safely in the settled districts in September, and the determined
explorer, after a delay of less than a month, was again despatched by
the South Australian Government along what had now become to him a
familiar road. This time success crowned his efforts; a passage was
found northwards through the opposing scrub, and leaving the Gulf of
Carpentaria far to the right, the Indian Ocean itself was reached. Other
explorers had merely seen the rise and fall of the tide in rivers, boggy
ground and swamps intervening and cutting off all chance of ever
seeing the sea. But Stuart actually stood on its shore and washed his
hands in its waters! What a pleasure it must have been to the leader
when, knowing well from his reckoning that the sea must be close at
hand, but keeping it a secret from all except Thring and Auld, he
witnessed the joyful surprise of the rest of the party!
The expedition reached Adelaide safely, although for a long time the
leader's life was despaired of, the constant hardships of so many
journeys with scarcely any intermission having brought on a terrible
attack of scurvy. The South Australian Government in 1859 liberally
rewarded Mr. Stuart and his party for their successful enterprise.* (*
Mr. Stuart's qualities as a practised Bushman are unrivalled, and he has
always succeeded in bringing his party back without loss of life.) On
the 10th of March a resolution was passed to the effect that a sum of
3500 pounds should be paid as a reward to John McDouall Stuart,
Esquire, and the members of his party, in the following proportions: Mr.
Stuart 2000 pounds; Mr. Keckwick 500 pounds; Messrs. Thring and
Auld 200 pounds each; and Messrs.