Sturt, Charles [key], 1795–1869, English explorer and administrator in Australia, b. India. In 1827 he arrived in Sydney with a detachment of the British army. While in command of an expedition (1828–29) to find the source of the Macquarie, he discovered (1828) the Darling River. On a second journey (1829) he explored the Murrumbidgee and found its junction with the Murray, which he followed by boat to its mouth in Lake Alexandrina. He resigned (1833) his commission because of impaired eyesight and settled in Australia. In 1844 he continued his exploration of the river system of S Australia, traveling up the Murray and Darling rivers and penetrating (1845) almost to the center of the continent. He was colonial treasurer (1845) and colonial secretary (1849–51). In 1853 he returned to England. He wrote Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia (1833) and Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia (1849, repr. 1969).
See biographies by G. Farwell (1963) and M. Langley (1969).
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