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447155

Title
Charles Sturt - Diary, 3-21 November 1845, including sketches, ca. September 1844 - November 1845
Creator
Charles Sturt, 1795-1869
Call number
Safe 1/23b
Level of description
fonds
Date

1844-1845
Type of material
Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Drawings, Watercolours
Reference code
447155
Issue Copy
Digitised
Physical Description
0.01 metres of textual material (1 volume) - manuscript
1 album (notebook containing ca. 51 pencil and watercolour sketches) - 10.0 x 16.5 cm.
ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Charles Sturt (1795-1869) arrived in New South Wales in May 1827 as a captain in the 39th regiment. The following year he set out with Hamilton Hume to trace the course of the Macquarie River. They discovered and named the Darling River. In subsequent years Sturt explored the Murrumbidgee, Darling and Murray Rivers. On 10 August 1844 he left Adelaide with a party of men to search for an inland sea. The expedition suffered from lack of water, but reached the Simpson desert before returning to Adelaide in January 1846. Sturt later returned to England where he died in 1869.
Scope and Content
A small pocket notebook. The sketches are in watercolour and pencil. Portion of the diary appears to have been written first in pencil and afterwards in ink.
The diary records events from 3-21 November 1845 when the party was on the return journey to Adelaide. They explored Cooper's Creek before returning to The Park, or Fort Grey, a depot which they had established on the outward journey. The heat was extreme and they found little water. Sturt describes the appearance and customs of the Aboriginal people, as well as the vegetation, soil and wildlife of the area.
Some sketches are dated, with date range 11 Sept.-22 Nov. 1844. Undated sketches were made probably before and certainly after these dates: the grave sketched on page 88 is described on 29 Oct. 1845 in the 1849 printed account of the expedition. The sketches formed the basis for some of the engravings in the printed account. Some pencil sketches are very faint. List of sketches:
Page 6 'The body as viewed with spines'. Pencil
Page 9 [Sketch of hills and plain]. Pencil
Page 11 [View of hills and plain]. Watercolour
Page 13 'Lake Victoria'. Watercolour
Page 15 'Junction of the Rufus Sept. 11' Watercolour
Page 17 'The Rufus & the Lake'. Watercolour
Page 19 'The Rufus & the Lake'. Pencil
Page 21 'The Rufus & the Lake'. Pencil
Page 22 'General view of'. Pencil
Page 23 'Scenery on the Lake'. Watercolour
Page 25 'Ana-branch 22 Sept.'. Watercolour
Page 27 '26th Sept.' [Sketch of river]. Pencil
Page 29 'Morning on the Backwaters of the Darling Oct 8'. Pencil
Page 31 'The Darling'. Pencil
Page 33 '27th Sept. The Shadows of the trees on the right to be dark'. Pencil
Page 35 [Sketch of river]. Pencil
Page 37 [Sketch of river with trees]. Pencil
Page 38 '8 Nov'. [Sketch of river]. Pencil
Page 39 'Darling'. Pencil
Page 41 'Backwaters'. Pencil
Page 43 '12th Novr. Pine Ridges, Calandrinia Balon[ensis]'. Pencil
Page 45 'Burial Ground On the Darling'. Pencil
Page 47 'Darling 7 Oct'. Pencil
Page 49 'Calandrinia calyptrata, J. Hooker'. Pencil
Page 51 'Discolor? tree on the Darling'. Pencil
Page 53 [Sketch of river]. Pencil
Page 55 'The Darling near Laidleys Ponds, dark shadows on water'. Pencil
Page 57 'The Rocky Gully 16 Nov'. Pencil. This sketch seems to be the model for the engraving 'Lower part of the Rocky Glen' in the 1849 printed account of the expedition, vol.1 p.195
Page 59 'The bend from which Eyre turned'. Pencil
Page 60 'On the Iron Stone Hill, Isotoma petraea, Ferd. Von Mueller'. Pencil
Page 61 'Lat 30'. [Landscape with bark shelter]. Watercolour
Page 63 'The Darling'. Pencil
Page 65 'Water hole Nov. 6'. Watercolour
Page 67 'The Main arm'. Pencil
Page 69 'Cournapaga Holes 22nd Oct'. Pencil
Page 71 'Broad grassy lid? of the brush, Near Stone Wash Hill'. Pencil
Page 72 [Sketch of hills]. Pencil
Page 73 'Water Holes 29 Oct'. Pencil
Page 74 [Sketch of outline of a hill]. Pencil
Page 75 'The Island 25 Oct'. Pencil
Page 77 'Water Hole at Yerloga? Nov. 4th, Curnpoga bow?, The Bullock Water Hole'. Pencil. This sketch seems to be the model for the engraving 'Parnari' in the 1849 printed account of the expedition vol.1, p.165
Page 78 'Iron Stone Hill 22 Novr'. Pencil. This sketch appears to be the model for the engraving 'Piesse's Knob' in the 1849 printed account of the expedition vol.2 p.127
Page 79 'Iron Stone Hill'. Pencil
Page 82 'The Pass Nov. 9th'. Pencil
Page 85 'The Murray at the Opal Cliffs'. Watercolour
Page 86 [Sketch of river and trees]. Pencil
Page 87 [Sketch of waterhole]. Pencil
Page 88 'Grave on the Big? Creek 12 ft long 7 broad - oblong with cut boughs bent to fit the Curve'. Pencil. This sketch seems to be the model for the engraving 'Native Grave' in the 1849 printed account of the expedition vol.2 p.57
Page 89 [Sketch of hills]. Pencil
Page 90 [Sketch of river]. Pencil
Page 95 'Nov 6. Morning. Opposite bank dark green. Shadows under the trees ? deep'. Pencil. This sketch appears to be the model for the engraving 'Cooper's Creek' in the 1849 printed account of the expedition vol.2 p.59
Page 108 [Sketch of trees]. Pencil
General note

This volume is the only known example of the rough field notebooks from which Sturt wrote his journals and other accounts of the expedition. The various versions of his accounts are discussed by Richard C. Davis in 'The Central Australian Expedition, 1844-1846: the Journals of Charles Sturt', edited by Richard C. Davis, London, Hakluyt Society, 2002 (Mitchell Library call number 919.4042/45).

Sturt's account of the expedition was published as 'Narrative of an expedition into Central Australia, performed under the authority of Her Majesty's Government, during the years 1844, 5, and 6, together with a notice of the province of South Australia' by Charles Sturt, London, T. and W. Boone, 1849, 2 vols.

Presented to the Library in 1929 by Miss Dora Montefiore whose relatives were connected with South Australia. Her father spent some time in Adelaide in the 1840s.
The preservation microfilm copy at CY 1397 was made in May 1989.

Transferred from Large safe
Digital order no:Album ID : 823634
Subject
Aboriginal Australians--Australia, Central.
Australia, Central--Discovery and exploration.
Explorers--Australia, Central.
New South Wales--Discovery and exploration--19th century.
South Australia--Exploration.
Topic
graves
rivers
shelters
trees
waterholes
Place
Central Australia
Cooper Creek (S. Aust.)
Darling River (N.S.W.)
Murray River (N.S.W.-S.A.)
Exhibited in

Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection - State Library of New South Wales (January - November 2009)
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IE3245692