Original nursery windows in a renovated wall at Grange the home of Captain Charles Sturt explorer and surveyor, and a founder of South Australia. Now the Charles Sturt Memorial Museum
“Captain Charles Sturt 39th Regt.
Explorer and a Founder of South Australia built this house and lived here 1840 –1853.
This plaque was unveiled by His Excellency the Governor of South Australia Lieut Gen Sir Edric Bastyan KCMG, KCVO, KBE, CB, October 2nd1967.
President Sir Henry Simpson Newland CBE DSO
Vice President & Hon Architect F Kenneth Milne FRAIA
Charles Sturt Memorial Museum Trust Inc.”
*Sturt’s home was built on his property ‘Grange’ in the area known as the Reedbeds, and is now the Charles Sturt Memorial Museum. The buildings house some of Sturt’s original possessions.
Captain Charles Napier Sturt was born 1795 in Bengal, India where his father was a judge under the East India Co.
In 1799, having narrowly survived a bout of smallpox, Charles aged four and his sister Susan aged five were sent to England to live with their mother’s widowed sister, Anna Wood. Their voyage by sailing ship was a perilous journey of six months. Charles and Susan were not to see their parents again for nearly ten years.
While living with his aunt Charles formed a lifelong friendship with his cousin, Isaac Wood.
His father’s economic difficulties prevented Charles’ entry to Cambridge: in 1813 he procured, through the intercession of his aunt with the Prince Regent, a commission as ensign in the 39th Regiment. He served in the Peninsula War and against the Americans in Canada, as well as three years with the army of occupation in France – in 1818 he went with his regiment to Ireland on garrison duties.
In December 1826 he embarked with his regiment in charge of convicts for New South Wales and arrived at Sydney 23 May 1827.
In Sydney Sturt was appointed military secretary to the governor and major of brigade to the garrison. He wrote to his cousin, Isaac Woods, that the governor agreed to his leading an expedition into the interior.
Sturt selected as his assistant, Hamilton Hume. On 2 February they came suddenly to a river: Sturt named it the ‘Darling’.
Under instruction from Governor Darling to “follow the course of the Murrumbidgee River, wherever it led” Sturt led the second expedition from Sydney on 2 November 1929, with several officers in the party from the first expedition, as well as soldiers and convicts. On 14 January the rapid current of the ‘Murrumbidgee’ carried them to a ‘broad and noble river’ which Sturt named for Sir George Murray. After finding a stream flowing in from the north, Sturt decided it was the ‘Darling’ and returned to the ‘Murray’ where they continued until finding Lake Alexandrina on 9 February. After exploring the sandhills and finding the channel there was unsatisfactory for shipping, it was decided to return to Sydney. The return journey was started 12 February and finally arrived safely on 25 May.
Although an interim dispatch carried by Macleay in advance of the returning main party had been published in the Sydney Gazette Governor Darling did not report to England about the expedition until February 1831. Meanwhile Sturt, after an illness, was sent to Norfolk Island as commandant of the garrison. There he earned the respect even of the mutineers for his humane outlook. He was relieved and returned to Sydney, albeit after another illness. With his health failing he was granted leave to visit England. On the voyage his failing eyesight broke down, leaving him blind.
After some successful treatment for his condition he published an account of his two explorations: many petitions later, to the Colonial Office, he was promised a grant of 5,000 acres in New South Wales on condition that he sold his commission and renounced all other rights arising from his military service.
On 20 September 1834 he married Charlotte Greene in St James Chapel in Dover and within a fortnight they had set sail for Australia.
The couple arrived at Sydney mid 1835. He located his grant near Canberra and bought 1950 acres at Mittagong. While there his first son Napier George was born. In 1837 he bought 1,000 acres at Varroville where he established another home. The next year financial difficulties forced him to sell the Mittagong property and caused him to join a venture for overlanding cattle to South Australia. News had been received that the Province of South Australia was in crisis and was short of food supplies. The overlanding was delayed en route: trouble with cows and running short of supplies contributed to the venture’s financial failure.
Sturt was received well in Adelaide. On 30 October he returned to Sydney and news of the birth of his second son, Charles.
In Adelaide he had been invited to join the South Australian public service and on 8 November 1838 was formally offered the position of surveyor-general. He sold his property in New South Wales and sailed with his family on 27 February 1839. In spite of illness and financial worries all seemed well. A shattering blow came in September when Lieutenant Edward Frome arrived from London with a commission as survey general. Gawler attempted to help Sturt and appointed him assistant commissioner of lands, though at reduced salary.
In 1841 Sturt was offered the resident management of the South Australian Company but refused. Soon afterwards Sturt made a mistake when he wrote to the Colonial Office objecting to Captain George Grey’s appointment as governor, and offered himself as candidate for the office. That offer failed, and made him unpopular with Grey.
Sturt’s affairs continued to decline. Governor Grey confirmed his provisional appointment as assistant commissioner, but later refused him the office of colonial secretary on the grounds of his poor eyesight. The Colonial Office then decided to abolish the assistant commissioner’s office, leaving Sturt with the inferior post of registrar general at a much lower salary.
Deeply in debt and poorly paid Sturt sought financial compensation from the Colonial Office. He was refused.
Sturt came up with a plan for exploring and surveying, within two years, the entire unknown interior of the continent. In 1843 he forwarded the plan to the Colonial Office through his old friend Sir Ralph Darling. While waiting for reply he and Grey continued sparring.
This was the same year that Charlotte, Sturt’s only daughter, was born at the Grange on 19 January.
In May 1844 the secretary of state rejected Sturt’s original plan but approved a more limited proposal to penetrate the centre of the continent in an attempt to establish the existence of a mountain range near latitude 28 degrees south.
On 10 August 1844 Sturt left Adelaide with 15 men including John McDouall Stuart, 6 drays, a boat and 200 sheep. In eight days the party reached Moorundie and followed the ‘Murray’ to its junction with the ‘Darling’, up the ‘Darling’ to the vicinity of Lake Cawndilla and camped there for two months, making scouting expeditions into and beyond the Barrier Range. In December the party was short of water and some men showed signs of scurvy, but they moved further north into the Grey Range. There they made camp on permanent water at Depot Glen on Preservation Creek. Summer heat had dried all other water within reach and from 27 January 1845 to 16 July they were trapped in inhospitable country: all men suffered and Sturt’s second in command, James Poole, died of scurvy.
In July heavy rain fell. Sturt moved his party towards Fort Grey, from where he made a series of reconnoitring expeditions culminating in a 450 mile journey towards the centre of the continent. Sturt abandoned the idea of an inland sea.
Sturt and the party returned to Fort Grey: after a trip to the Cooper’s Creek area from 9 October to 17 November they found the waterhole was rapidly drying.
Return to the ‘Murray’ became imperative but Sturt proposed that the main party should go home, while he and John McDouall Stuart made a trip to the centre. The surgeon, J H Browne, resisted the idea and the whole party went off together. Sturt succumbed to a serious attack of scurvy and Browne took command through the most difficult part of the journey. By using Aboriginal foods Sturt had almost recovered when the expedition reached Moorundie on 15 January 1846. He arrived at Adelaide on 19 January 1846 ahead of the party which followed a few days later.
While Sturt was away Charlotte had managed the mixed farm, kitchen garden and dairy while caring for their four young children. The children later recalled how they loved life at the Grange where they were able to roam the sand hills, swim in the ocean and catch yabbies in the creek.
In 1847 the Royal Geographical Society of London awarded Sturt the Founder’s Medal and the family sailed to England in order for him to prepare his journals for publication.
He left for England on 8 May and arrived in London just too late to receive personally the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, but was able to complete a published account of the expedition.
In 1849 the family returned to South Australia and Sturt was appointed Colonial Secretary.
Sturt was known to have expressed a love for Australia and a determination to never return to England. However, the need to secure the future of his children forced him to change his mind and he left Australia 19 March 1853.
He lived at Cheltenham in England, being widely respected and continually consulted about Australian affairs, in particular the preparations for the North Australian expedition of 1854.
In England he applied for governorships of Victoria and Queensland and was unsuccessful. He sought a knighthood, at the instigation of friends, but died before the formalities were completed. Later the Queen permitted his widow use the title Lady Sturt.
*It was not until 1877 that Lady Sturt sold the Grange which was then subdivided and later became the ‘Township of Grange’, now the suburb of Grange.
A bronze statue of Captain Charles Napier Sturt (1795–1869) was unveiled in Adelaide in 1916: a stark contrast to staid monuments in the city.
Other memorials include:
“City of Charles Sturt”, a local government district in South Australia
South Australia’s floral emblem the Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa), discovered during the 1844 expedition
Sturt Street in the city of Adelaide, South Australia
Sturt River, South Australia
Suburb of Sturt, South Australia
Northern Territory’s floral emblem Sturt’s Desert Rose (Gossypium sturtianum)
University of Charles Sturt, New South Wales
[Refs: Charles Sturt Memorial Museum Trust publications, Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol 2, (MUP) 1967 H J Gibbney]
Original nursery windows in a renovated wall at Grange the home of Captain Charles Sturt explorer and surveyor, and a founder of South Australia. Now the Charles Sturt Memorial Museum
“Captain Charles Sturt 39th Regt.
Explorer and a Founder of South Australia built this house and lived here 1840 –1853.
This plaque was unveiled by His Excellency the Governor of South Australia Lieut Gen Sir Edric Bastyan KCMG, KCVO, KBE, CB, October 2nd1967.
President Sir Henry Simpson Newland CBE DSO
Vice President & Hon Architect F Kenneth Milne FRAIA
Charles Sturt Memorial Museum Trust Inc.”
*Sturt’s home was built on his property ‘Grange’ in the area known as the Reedbeds, and is now the Charles Sturt Memorial Museum. The buildings house some of Sturt’s original possessions.
Captain Charles Napier Sturt was born 1795 in Bengal, India where his father was a judge under the East India Co.
In 1799, having narrowly survived a bout of smallpox, Charles aged four and his sister Susan aged five were sent to England to live with their mother’s widowed sister, Anna Wood. Their voyage by sailing ship was a perilous journey of six months. Charles and Susan were not to see their parents again for nearly ten years.
While living with his aunt Charles formed a lifelong friendship with his cousin, Isaac Wood.
His father’s economic difficulties prevented Charles’ entry to Cambridge: in 1813 he procured, through the intercession of his aunt with the Prince Regent, a commission as ensign in the 39th Regiment. He served in the Peninsula War and against the Americans in Canada, as well as three years with the army of occupation in France – in 1818 he went with his regiment to Ireland on garrison duties.
In December 1826 he embarked with his regiment in charge of convicts for New South Wales and arrived at Sydney 23 May 1827.
In Sydney Sturt was appointed military secretary to the governor and major of brigade to the garrison. He wrote to his cousin, Isaac Woods, that the governor agreed to his leading an expedition into the interior.
Sturt selected as his assistant, Hamilton Hume. On 2 February they came suddenly to a river: Sturt named it the ‘Darling’.
Under instruction from Governor Darling to “follow the course of the Murrumbidgee River, wherever it led” Sturt led the second expedition from Sydney on 2 November 1929, with several officers in the party from the first expedition, as well as soldiers and convicts. On 14 January the rapid current of the ‘Murrumbidgee’ carried them to a ‘broad and noble river’ which Sturt named for Sir George Murray. After finding a stream flowing in from the north, Sturt decided it was the ‘Darling’ and returned to the ‘Murray’ where they continued until finding Lake Alexandrina on 9 February. After exploring the sandhills and finding the channel there was unsatisfactory for shipping, it was decided to return to Sydney. The return journey was started 12 February and finally arrived safely on 25 May.
Although an interim dispatch carried by Macleay in advance of the returning main party had been published in the Sydney Gazette Governor Darling did not report to England about the expedition until February 1831. Meanwhile Sturt, after an illness, was sent to Norfolk Island as commandant of the garrison. There he earned the respect even of the mutineers for his humane outlook. He was relieved and returned to Sydney, albeit after another illness. With his health failing he was granted leave to visit England. On the voyage his failing eyesight broke down, leaving him blind.
After some successful treatment for his condition he published an account of his two explorations: many petitions later, to the Colonial Office, he was promised a grant of 5,000 acres in New South Wales on condition that he sold his commission and renounced all other rights arising from his military service.
On 20 September 1834 he married Charlotte Greene in St James Chapel in Dover and within a fortnight they had set sail for Australia.
The couple arrived at Sydney mid 1835. He located his grant near Canberra and bought 1950 acres at Mittagong. While there his first son Napier George was born. In 1837 he bought 1,000 acres at Varroville where he established another home. The next year financial difficulties forced him to sell the Mittagong property and caused him to join a venture for overlanding cattle to South Australia. News had been received that the Province of South Australia was in crisis and was short of food supplies. The overlanding was delayed en route: trouble with cows and running short of supplies contributed to the venture’s financial failure.
Sturt was received well in Adelaide. On 30 October he returned to Sydney and news of the birth of his second son, Charles.
In Adelaide he had been invited to join the South Australian public service and on 8 November 1838 was formally offered the position of surveyor-general. He sold his property in New South Wales and sailed with his family on 27 February 1839. In spite of illness and financial worries all seemed well. A shattering blow came in September when Lieutenant Edward Frome arrived from London with a commission as survey general. Gawler attempted to help Sturt and appointed him assistant commissioner of lands, though at reduced salary.
In 1841 Sturt was offered the resident management of the South Australian Company but refused. Soon afterwards Sturt made a mistake when he wrote to the Colonial Office objecting to Captain George Grey’s appointment as governor, and offered himself as candidate for the office. That offer failed, and made him unpopular with Grey.
Sturt’s affairs continued to decline. Governor Grey confirmed his provisional appointment as assistant commissioner, but later refused him the office of colonial secretary on the grounds of his poor eyesight. The Colonial Office then decided to abolish the assistant commissioner’s office, leaving Sturt with the inferior post of registrar general at a much lower salary.
Deeply in debt and poorly paid Sturt sought financial compensation from the Colonial Office. He was refused.
Sturt came up with a plan for exploring and surveying, within two years, the entire unknown interior of the continent. In 1843 he forwarded the plan to the Colonial Office through his old friend Sir Ralph Darling. While waiting for reply he and Grey continued sparring.
This was the same year that Charlotte, Sturt’s only daughter, was born at the Grange on 19 January.
In May 1844 the secretary of state rejected Sturt’s original plan but approved a more limited proposal to penetrate the centre of the continent in an attempt to establish the existence of a mountain range near latitude 28 degrees south.
On 10 August 1844 Sturt left Adelaide with 15 men including John McDouall Stuart, 6 drays, a boat and 200 sheep. In eight days the party reached Moorundie and followed the ‘Murray’ to its junction with the ‘Darling’, up the ‘Darling’ to the vicinity of Lake Cawndilla and camped there for two months, making scouting expeditions into and beyond the Barrier Range. In December the party was short of water and some men showed signs of scurvy, but they moved further north into the Grey Range. There they made camp on permanent water at Depot Glen on Preservation Creek. Summer heat had dried all other water within reach and from 27 January 1845 to 16 July they were trapped in inhospitable country: all men suffered and Sturt’s second in command, James Poole, died of scurvy.
In July heavy rain fell. Sturt moved his party towards Fort Grey, from where he made a series of reconnoitring expeditions culminating in a 450 mile journey towards the centre of the continent. Sturt abandoned the idea of an inland sea.
Sturt and the party returned to Fort Grey: after a trip to the Cooper’s Creek area from 9 October to 17 November they found the waterhole was rapidly drying.
Return to the ‘Murray’ became imperative but Sturt proposed that the main party should go home, while he and John McDouall Stuart made a trip to the centre. The surgeon, J H Browne, resisted the idea and the whole party went off together. Sturt succumbed to a serious attack of scurvy and Browne took command through the most difficult part of the journey. By using Aboriginal foods Sturt had almost recovered when the expedition reached Moorundie on 15 January 1846. He arrived at Adelaide on 19 January 1846 ahead of the party which followed a few days later.
While Sturt was away Charlotte had managed the mixed farm, kitchen garden and dairy while caring for their four young children. The children later recalled how they loved life at the Grange where they were able to roam the sand hills, swim in the ocean and catch yabbies in the creek.
In 1847 the Royal Geographical Society of London awarded Sturt the Founder’s Medal and the family sailed to England in order for him to prepare his journals for publication.
He left for England on 8 May and arrived in London just too late to receive personally the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, but was able to complete a published account of the expedition.
In 1849 the family returned to South Australia and Sturt was appointed Colonial Secretary.
Sturt was known to have expressed a love for Australia and a determination to never return to England. However, the need to secure the future of his children forced him to change his mind and he left Australia 19 March 1853.
He lived at Cheltenham in England, being widely respected and continually consulted about Australian affairs, in particular the preparations for the North Australian expedition of 1854.
In England he applied for governorships of Victoria and Queensland and was unsuccessful. He sought a knighthood, at the instigation of friends, but died before the formalities were completed. Later the Queen permitted his widow use the title Lady Sturt.
*It was not until 1877 that Lady Sturt sold the Grange which was then subdivided and later became the ‘Township of Grange’, now the suburb of Grange.
A bronze statue of Captain Charles Napier Sturt (1795–1869) was unveiled in Adelaide in 1916: a stark contrast to staid monuments in the city.
Other memorials include:
“City of Charles Sturt”, a local government district in South Australia
South Australia’s floral emblem the Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa), discovered during the 1844 expedition
Sturt Street in the city of Adelaide, South Australia
Sturt River, South Australia
Suburb of Sturt, South Australia
Northern Territory’s floral emblem Sturt’s Desert Rose (Gossypium sturtianum)
University of Charles Sturt, New South Wales
[Refs: Charles Sturt Memorial Museum Trust publications, Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol 2, (MUP) 1967 H J Gibbney]