03/09/2026
2029/30 BI-CENTENARY OF STURT’S RIVER MURRAY EXPEDITION
On 5th November 1829 Charles Sturt with his party of men, left the barracks in Sydney on a mission to trace the rivers of southern Australia and to determine whether the river system flowed into the Southern Ocean.
On 27th November Sturt reached Mr Whaby’s Station, Darbalara at the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Tumut Rivers, the furthest station, west of Sydney. It was from this station that Sturt left the following day, writing he was leaving the outskirts of civilization on the first day of actual exploration.
On 14th January 1830 he reached the junction of the Murrumbidgee and a broad and noble river, which he named the Murray. Following its course, he did indeed find in February 1830 that the Murray flowed into the Southern Ocean, opening up the possibility for new agricultural settlements and significant river trade.
News of Sturt’s expedition reached England and strengthened support for establishing a colony in southern Australia. In 1831, the South Australian Land Company was formed to lobby the British Parliament for this purpose.
The publication of Sturt’s journals in 1833, together with Collet Barker’s account of the coastline north of the Murray’s mouth, further cultivated interest in the region. The British Parliament subsequently passed the South Australia Act 1834, authorising the establishment of the Province of South Australia.
In 2029/30 it will be the Bi-Centenary of Sturt’s Murray River expedition which solved the riddle of the rivers of inland Australia and led to our understanding of the Murray Darling Basin river system. An expedition that was the catalyst for the founding of South Australia. Let us hope it can be celebrated.
