Portrait of John McDouall Stuart, explorer, from the S.A. Northern Pioneers' composite, 1850-1859 (shown in position on B 6912/1).

Stuart was born 7 September 1815 in Dysart, Scotland.  He was educated at the Scottish Naval and Military Academy in Edinburgh where he trained as a civil engineer. He immigrated to South Australia in 1838 on the Indus and on the voyage made friends with James Sinclair later of Green Patch Station near Port Lincoln.  In Adelaide Stuart worked in the Government Survey Department and in 1844 he joined Charles Sturt's Central Australian expedition.  Following this expedition he worked as a surveyor on Eyre Peninsula where he met William Finke.  With Finke he moved to the northern Flinders Ranges and here he met the Chambers Brothers.  These three men would be instrumental in determining Stuart's future directions, sponsoring his expeditions in northern Australia.

On his sixth expedition Stuart successfully crossed the Australian continent from south to north, reaching the northern coast at Chambers Bay, east of Darwin on 24 July 1862. Severely debilitated after six expeditions in four years Stuart was carried most of the way back to Adelaide on a stretcher slung between two horses. A triumphal procession was held in Adelaide to mark his accomplishment. South Australia subsequently annexed the Northern Territory, built the Overland Telegraph Line (largely along Stuart's route), and established the main town at Palmerston (later Darwin).

Stuart died in London four years later in 1866.

Stuart, John McDouall, 1815-1866

Sturt, Charles Napier, 1795-1869

Chambers, James, 1811-1862

Chambers, John, 1815-1889

SA Memory Taking it to the edge: Land: John McDouall Stuart's six expeditions

SA Memory Taking it to the edge: Land: Charles Sturt

Australian dictionary of biography online: John McDouall Stuart (1815-1866)

John McDouall Stuart Society

Charles Napier Sturt Wikipedia