John McDouall Stuart, Australian Explorer, antique print c1863

$45.00

Fine original engraving of explorer John McDouall Stuart, published c1863 in The Graphic periodical in London (later hand-colour).

John McDouall Stuart (1815-1866) arrived in South Australia in 1839. He worked for the South Australian Surveyor-General, and his superior officer until 1842 was Captain Charles Sturt, who had already surveyed the Murray, Darling and Murrumbidgee major rivers of New South Wales. McDouall Stuart was draughtsman on Sturt's 1844 expedition into the arid interior of Australia, and this experience was invaluable. Sturt Stony Desert and the Simpson Desert proved so harsh, that not only was there loss of life, the team suffered from scurvy and were incapacitated for at least a year following the expedition. Sturt returned to England, and McDouall Stuart returned to private surveying.
In 1858 McDouall Stuart set off on the first of his six major expeditions. During 1861 and 1862 McDouall Stuart led an expedition across Australia from south to north, with no loss of life during the journey, despite the harsh and arid land. Following his path, the Australian Overland Telegraph Line was established, and the main route to Darwin from Port Augusta in South Australia is now known as the Stuart Highway in his honour.