Journal of the
Central Australian
Expedition 1844-1845 order this book
Charles Sturt
Price £40.00

What inner force drove the explorer, Charles Sturt, into the Australian desert and sustained him in his journey, even when the chance of finding an inland sea or fertile land was almost negligible? Sturt's previously unpublished Journal written for his wife, Charlotte, reveals that it was not only heady optimism about the chance of a major geographical discovery but also, professional and personal misery.

Unhappy in a dusty office job, galled by real and imagined insults from his superiors, and worried about providing for his young family, Sturt took his melancholy into the desert. The greater the torture inflicted by the elements, the more he flagellated his conscience. Yet he took comfort in the knowledge that his real strengths and talents lay in exploring. He hoped his perseverance would bring recognition from those who had ignored or criticised him, and he also prayed that the desert would teach him a lesson that would somehow make life more bearable.

Fortunately the gloomiest forebodings in his Journal were not realised, and, whatever his own doubts and discontents, the outside world praised the 1844-45 Central Australian expedition as yet another heroic contribution by an explorer who, having already opened up so much of the eastern river system, tackled the desert with the same relentless vigour.

From "Native raises hopes of inland sea. Anxiety.":

"Having satisfied myself on these heads I rode away to the N.W. but almost immediately got into the same dreadful kind of country from which I had just retreated, besides which it was so intensely hot, that neither could my men or horses stand it. Flood complained that the top of his head was burning, and the horses drooped theirs as if overcome by drowsiness. I therefore stopped under the shade of an unhappy hakea bush until the cool of the evening, and then went back to the water-holes and the next morning joined Joseph, and you may in some measure judge of the tremendous heat to which we had been exposed when I assure you that behind a large tree four feet from the ground the thermometer stood at 132 degrees and that in the direct rays of the sun it rose to 157 degrees and on our way back to the camp feeling it exceedingly hot and wishing to ascertain the temperature, I desired Joseph to give me the thermometer which was laid in the folds of a clean shirt in a box and in that situation was up to 110. You cannot indeed conceive the dreadful heat in this exposed and stony region. Every article we have went to ruin before it, the teeth of our combs fell off, the handles of our razors split, every box warped, and every nail was loosened. Our tires fell off the wheels, and the drays rattled all over. The soles of the men's shoes were fairly burnt off, and citric acid melted in the bottle in which it was kept. The dogs would not stir from the water but remained on the bank, after having gone into it up to their necks, repeating their bathing as soon as they were dry."

ISBN 0904573311. Hardback, 264 pages.

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