Sturt and his men were existing on a diet of flour and tea, with the only fresh food being the occasional duck or pigeon which they shot. The horses had only pulpy samphire which gave them little nourishment. Their ribs stuck out and they could shambled along. No rain had fallen for over a month, but it could have been as much as curse as a benefit as it would have made the ground very heavy going. Sturt sent Dr Browne to investigate the country to the west, while Sturt himself continued to the north.

Browne returned very quickly to report a salt creek coming from the north. Dr John Harris Browne was appointed the medical officer on the expedition. He had studied medicine in Paris and Edinburgh before emigrating to South Australia in 1840 where he took up land for raising sheep. James Poole was second in command on the expedition; he would die and be buried at Depot Glen the main base in the Barrier Ranges.

John McDouall Stuart was the expedition's draughtsman, and would later establish himself as an explorer and pioneer a route through central Australia. Other expedition members were Louis Piesse, Daniel Brock, George Davenport, Joseph Cowley, Robert Flood, David Morgan, Hugh Foulkes, John Jones, Turpin, William Lewis, John Mack and John Kerby. The expedition also took a whaleboat in the event of finding an inland sea, and 200 sheep.