scovered and named after the governor of
that name. But Sturt's famous discovery of the river Darling and his
descent of the Murray River rank among the most noteworthy of a
bewildering number of lesser expeditions.

Captain Sturt landed with his regiment, the 39th, at Sydney in the
year 1827, "to guard the convicts." His first impressions of Sydney
are interesting. "Cornfield and orchard," he says, "have supplanted
wild grass and brush; on the ruins of the forest stands a flourishing
town; and the stillness of that once desert shore is now broken by
the bugle and by the busy hum of commerce. It is not unusual to see
from thirty to forty vessels from every quarter of the globe riding
at anchor at one time."

Sir Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales, soon formed a high
opinion of Sturt's ability, and when an expedition was proposed into
the interior for further exploration, he appointed him leader.

There was a universal opinion in the colony that in the middle of the
unknown continent lay a large inland sea. Oxley had made his way to
a shallow ocean of reeds where the river Macquarie disappeared;
natives spoke of "large waters" containing "great fish." To open up
the country and to ascertain the truth of these rumours were the objects
of this new expedition which left Sydney in November 1828. It consisted
of Hamilton Hume, the first Australian-born explorer, two soldiers,
eight convicts, fifteen horses, ten bullocks, and a small boat on a
wheeled carriage. Across the roadless Blue Mountains they started,
followed the traces of Oxley, who had died just a week before they
started, and about Christmas time they passed his last camp and began
to break new ground. Through thickets of reeds and marshy swamps they
pushed on; the river Macquarie had entirely disappeared, but on 2nd
February they suddenly found a large river some eighty yards broad
enclosing an unbroken sheet of deep water. "Our surprise and delight,"
says Sturt, "are better imagined than described. Our difficulties
seemed at an end. The banks were too steep to allow of watering the
cattle, but the men eagerly descended to quench a thirst increased
by the powerful sun. Never shall I forget their cry of amazement, nor
the terror and disappointment with which they called out that the water
was too salt to drink!" Leaving his party, Sturt pushed on, but no
fresh water was to be found, so he named the river the Darling, after
the Governor, and returned, but