Exploration by John McDouall Stuart, 1858

That intrepid explorer — John McDouall Stuart — a gold medallist of the Royal Geographic Society of London, and a recipient of a gold watch from the same society; who 14 years previously had accompanied Capt. Sturt in an attempt to cross Australia south to north by way of the River Murray, Barrier Range and so on, until the desert country formed too formidable a barrier to allow getting beyond about Latitude 24 deg. south and then to retreat — made an excursion for the examination of the country for selecting sites for runs, to the north west of "Swinden's country."

Whether at that time he contemplated attempting the trans-Australian trip I know not, but he was so successful in this his first venture, that he soon essayed the longer trip, and after four futile attempts, but getting further north each time, he reached the shore of Van Diemen Gulf.

Stuart, with Mr. Barker (who was evidently afterwards replaced by Mr. Forster) and a black boy and six horses (the parliamentary paper said five horses and did not mention Barker) left Oratunga, on the east side of Lake Torrens the head station of Mr. John Chambers, on May 14, 1858, but through delays of various sorts it was not until June 11 that he passed the southern end of Lake Torrens. It was probably at Louden's station or Ootaina that the change in assistants took place, and the reduction in strength of horses, to be discussed later on.

Having rounded the lake, Stuart made northward, and when near Pernatta he was within " visiting " distance of Babbage, out on a governmental exploration. Babbage had that day discovered the body of the unfortunate Coulthard, who died from thirst ; the remaining members of that party had been succoured by Babbage a few days earlier.

Stuart reached the gap between Lakes Torrens and Eyre on June 25, but did not realise the gap was there. It was there the natives pointed to the north-west as the direction of Wingilpin, and told him that it was five sleeps away.

STUART RANGE

Stuart then bore away westerly and north westerly until he reached and named Stuart Range. After passing through the range he turned south east parallel with and about 70 miles from his outward route, and then with a sharp southward turn, he came near Lake Younghusband.

On the 28th, when north of that lake, he records " crossing some horse tracks going to wards the large lake." These were almost certain to have been made by Babbage, who in the early part of July, 1858, went right around the lake and named it " Younghusband." Of course, they may have been made by some of the pastoralists looking for land and not recorded ; or they may have been the tracks of Oakden and Hulkes. Bonney said they went 150 miles north-west from the head of the gulf. Stuart thought Lake Younghusband was the head of Lake Gairdner, as he "could see it winding away in that direction."

Passing the lake, he went north-west for about 55 miles. Somewhere on this course on the 30th, the last of the flour was made into damper or some such eatable. He then turned south-west to Mount Finke, which was reached on August 7, and named after Mr. Wm. Finke, who solely financed the expedition. Before arriving at that mount, some time during the night of August 2, his black boy deserted the party, being very much frightened of the other natives. The black undertook a long and perilous walk. It is not recorded in the journal whether he ever arrived at his "home country."

Stuart had to abandon the "grey mare" on August 5 at some granite range, hoping to pick it up on the return journey, but he did not return that way.

We now come to the outer frontier of Eyre Peninsula. Stuart was about to tackle the proposition that had baffled Hack, Warburton, Geharty and Miller, with this difference : Stuart was making for a known objective, whereas the others were going into the unknown. From a lower spur of Mount Finke, Stuart could see a long distance, but what he saw was only "a dense scrub as black and dismal as midnight." The next day he recorded it as "a fearful country," and "even worse than Captain Sturt's desert," a little salt bush being found in Sturt's desert, but none on Stuart's track. After tending southward, Stuart came across some good country, which was a relief after the prevailing spinifex.

TRACES OF HORSE

On August 9 he records, "We have seen where a horse has been a long time ago." This is a complete mystery. There is no record of any horseman being in that district earlier than June-July, 1858, and that certainly was not "a long time ago." I cannot call to mind any horses getting away from Eyre in 1840-41; even if they did I am doubtful whether horse tracks would remain visible that length of time, although dray tracks of Eyre were visible elsewhere. It would appear that both Geharty and Warburton were in the vicinity of where Stuart saw the tracks.

The change of country did not persist for any length ; it was not long ere the sandhills were higher and steeper and closer together, and the spinifex thicker and higher. But there was one good thing, it was raining. On August 11 they were able to travel for only one hour, the horses being too tired to proceed further. Those few miles travelled were through "the same dreary, dreadful, dismal desert."

The small remaining quantity of provisions was nearly exhausted, and Fowler's Bay was still 50 miles away ; probably Streaky Bay was the nearest place where provisions could be obtained. Up to that time Stuart considered they had travelled upward of 1,000 miles and the horses only had "four clear days to themselves."

On the 12th, the 10 miles travelled was through "the same dreary desert," and no water. On the 13th the horses looked "very bad," but he was hoping to meet the sea coast. The horse Bonney was nearly done up ; was he to be left behind ? No water ! "This is dreadful work," and only 10 miles were made.

On the 14th, after travelling 10 miles, they came to some grass, so camp was made for the sake of the horses, and still no water. He was now in the mallee and tea tree country, with saltbush and pig face in abundance. On the 15th there was hope and encouragement, for they "found some fresh horse track,'' presumably those of Geharty of a month or so earlier.

FOOD RUNS SHORT

The country travelled through "resembled the scrub between Franklin Harbour and Port Lincoln — mallee with grassy plains occasionally." The 16th was somewhat better, a little water being found and the party nearing the coast. The general course he travelled after turning south from near Mount Finke brought him to Beelimaii Gaino on the 17th. Here he regretted that he would be unable to go westward to Fowler's Bay, but instead had to go to Streaky Bay. The horses were not in a fit condition to do anything except compulsory work, while the two members of the party were almost equally unfit.

Taking stock of past experiences, Stuart wrote, "For upward of a month we have been existing upon two pounds and a half of flour cake, without animal food. Since we commenced the journey all the animal food we have been able to obtain has been one wallaby, one opossum, one small duck, one pigeon and latterly a few kangaroo mice, which were very welcome. We were anxious to find more, but we soon got out of their country." These mice, he said, built a nest or habitation of a conical form with twigs and rotten wood, about 6 ft. in diameter at the base and rising to a height of 3 to 4 ft. After narrating about the mice, Stuart resumed his woeful tale.

For the last month they had been reduced to one very small meal a day and at Beelimah they had only two meals left to last them to Streaky Bay. To eke out supples they boiled " pig face " (Mesembryanthemum) and " sow thistles "; both they found very good. The 18th was a resting day. On August 19, 20 and 21 they continued to Streaky Bay, the northern end of the bay being reached on the last-mentioned day. During the absence of Forster, rounding up the horses, Stuart shot a crow, and cooked it in the ashes, "the first food we have had for the last three days ; it was very agreeable to taste and stomach." The 22nd saw them it Eyre's depot and at Mr. Gibson's station, where they were received and treated with great kindness.

(Another Instalment Next Week.)