Who was John McDouall Stuart?
John McDouall Stuart was a Scottish-born explorer who, in 1862, led the first successful expedition to cross mainland Australia from south to north and return, travelling from Adelaide to the coast near Darwin.
Stuart arrived in South Australia in 1839 and worked as a surveyor. He had travelled with Charles Sturt's expedition in 1844-45 before leading his own journeys into the interior.
After several attempts, Stuart reached the Indian Ocean coast at Chambers Bay, east of modern Darwin, on 24 July 1862. His party then returned to Adelaide, with Stuart so ill that he had to be carried on a stretcher for much of the way.
Legacy
Stuart's route was used for the Overland Telegraph Line, completed in 1872, which linked Adelaide to Darwin and then by undersea cable to Britain. Later, the Stuart Highway and The Ghan railway followed a similar path.
In 1860, during an earlier attempt, he reached a point he believed was the centre of Australia and named Central Mount Sturt after his former leader. It is now called Central Mount Stuart.
He returned to Britain in 1864 and died in London in 1866. His journeys opened up the Northern Territory to settlement and helped South Australia gain control of it in 1863.
Did You Know?
Stuart's expedition succeeded where Burke and Wills failed, because he moved carefully and kept his small party together.