MURRAY RIVER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21019, 7 May 1930, Page 14

MURRAY RIVER.

A new epoch in the history of Aust> ralia was introduced a century ago with tl ie discovery by Captain Charles Sturt, d f the thirty-ninth Regiment, of the M iurray, the principal river of the continent, picturesquely described at diffe rent times as the “ Nile of Australia ” ai id the “ Mississippi of Australia.” • Sixteen hundred miles long, the river di ains 270,000 square miles of country, at id the opening, up of this vast territa ry, for settlement and development wi is the main factor in the establishment of South Australia. The centenary is being observed by th< i unveiling of memorials at historic spi its, and a granite column forty feet hi® h has been- erected at Hindmarsh Is! ind to commemorate the place at will ich Sturt landed after his adventurous win ilcboat journey down the river, 'I he whole story of the discovery is one of matchless courage and determination, and heroic endurance amidst the mod t terrible hardships. R afore Sturt’s journey, the belief prevail! :d that a great inland sea existed west, of the Blue Mountains. Sturt found the j'lopular speculations on the subject extremely fascinating and when the first proposal of an expedition into the interi 'or was mooted he volunteered his servri :es.

Sir Ralph Darling, then GovernorGenen al of New South Wales, gave him the la idership of the expedition, and he was < accompanied by Hume, who had y won a reputation as an exand a party of eight men. FoIJ» wring the tracks of Oxley to the great marshes, where two or three years ■ previously all traces of the Macquarie River had been lost, Sturt found the country cracked and scorched by the blisterii ig and relentless suns of two entirely 11 Unless years. He h# imself describes it as “ waterless, hopeless , relentless, and accursed." “ In t he creeks,” he says, “ weeds had grown a nd withered and grown again; and youl 'ig saplings were now rising in their bed s nourished by the moisture that still remi lined; but the large forest trees were dro< 'ping, and many were dead. The emus, wi th outstretched necks, gasping for breatl r, searched the channels of the river for ;v ..gfater in vain; and the native dog, so t\ in that he could hardly walk, seemed to implore some merciful hand to dispatch Jb im.” In spite of all difficulties Sturt penetrated dee; a into the marshes. Then he decided to divide his party. Hume, with two men, a truck north, while Sturt and two other men started with a boat on what looka I like a branch of the river. Sturt’s pro, gress was speedily checked. He was can ried into a cul-de-sac where the water a ourse he was following vanished, and 1 ie was compelled to return to camp. , Hume was more successful. He found a serpentine sheet of water which he considered m ight be the channel of the river. The d imp was accordingly shifted to the neigh bourhood of this channel, ,but again disappointment resulted, for when explorat ion was attempted the supposed river d as soon lost in reeds and shallows. j Other creeks were found and examined. Hume travelled separately on various courses about TO miles N.N.W., but could find no indicai ion of the missing Macquarie. Finally, just when the explorers were beginning to despair, it .was decided. to try a, creek leading 'north to Oxley’s table-lajad, and this led them to a magnificent rivtr, which was named the Darling, after £he Governor-General. The sight of e broad stream filled the thirsty with surprise and delight. Here, they thought, was a reward for all their exertions and sufferings. Their joy, howevver, was short-lived, for when they tried ho drink the water they found it strongly impregnated with salt, and absolutely unusable. The first impression was that the trouble was due ho the mixture of sea' and fresh water, but subsequent investigation showed that, the phenomenon was caused by the prolonged drought, which had lowered the riwar to such an extent that the brine spring on the banks preponderated over the fresh water. Want of drinking awater compelled the premature abandonment of the expedition. To such desperate straits were the travellers reduced that more than once, on finding a little mud, Sturt squeezed it through his handkerchief to moisten his lips. Sturt found a measure of compensation for his temporary defeat in the discovery that the Dajrling received from the Blue Mountains, the Macquarie, Castlereagh, and Bogan BLivers, whose i destination had not previously been determined.

He lost little time in taking up the threads again at the point at which they had been dropped. By November, 1829, he was leading another expedition with orders to trace the unknown ■ Murrumbidgee, or its tributaries, whence it was hoped to regain the Darling and complete investigations of its course. This time he had George Macleay (afterwards Sir George) in place of Hume. Twenty-four days out from Sydnr.y the last outpost of civilisation was left behind. Sturt led the expedition thrrtcgh many dangers right into the heart of vast reed beds which apparently presented an altogether insuperable barrier But he had brought with him a whale a smaller boat in sections, and i.hese he now launched.

Early in 1830 he started along a likely 1 ooking channel, and made good progress l mtil the second day, when the skiff ai truck a log and sunk in 12 feet of water. Q > took two days to retrieve the valuable a trgo, and while thus employed blacks ii >bbed their camp of many articles. On resuming the journey Sturt noticed tli iat the country was changing. “ Then oj i a sudden the river took a generally so uthern direction ; but' in its tortuous co urse swept round to every point of the ca upass with the greatest irregularity. W were carried at a fearful rate down its gli iomy and contracted banks . . . Hopkij -son called out that we were approach ing a junction, and ,in loss than ,i mil mte afterwards we were hurried into a | road and noble river.” **. It is impossible,” he adds, “ to descrifc e the effect of so instantaneous a ehaa ige upon us. The boats were allowed to , drift along at pleasure, and such wad, the force with which we had been shot out of the Murrurnbidgee that we | were carried nearly to the bank opposi} ie its embouchure whilst we coating ed to gaze in silent astonishment on the ! capacious channel we had entered; and ; when wo looked for that by which we h ad been led into it we could hardly belie; re that the insignificant gap that presi nted itself to us was indeed the temri nation of the powerful and noble strong m whose course we had thus successft illy followed.” Thi ; newly-discovered river was named the I lurray, after Sir George Murray, then 1 Colonial Secretary.

The expedition traced the course of the river for 33 days, passing the now faraon s “ Great Bend ” at an early stage, and a irefully examining the lake Alex andrin a, in which the stream terminated. It was hoped to find an outlet to the sea on the southern shore of ,the lake, but their e xpectations in this respect were disappi anted. The shortage of provisions rendered further exploration of the country round about fj npossible. As it was, supplies for the return journey ha'll been reduced to a dangerously narrow , margin. Each man had to subsist on . a pound of flour daily, and a quarter 4 )f a pound of tea weekly. The 1 lardfjhipa of -that voyage up stream, with every hour of privation and peril; : a strong adverse current neces sitating if toil at the oars from dawn to midnight ■ daily; dangerous rapids to negotiate, and the constant menace of hostile nsfl Ives, have been vividly related by Sturt. The travellers reached their depot late in April, 1830, when the last ounce of fl flour had been served. They

were all in a pitifully weak state, and Sturt himself was nearly blind. The expedition travelled 2000 miles in 88 days. Sturt, when he discovered the Murray, found also the key to the entire river system of the south-east portion of the Australian Continent, and he ellectuallyfdisposed of a whole string of popular fallacies and erroneous theories Incidentally, he contributed one of the most moving.and thrilling chapters to Australian history.—T. B. F., in the Weekly Scotsman.