Sturt had left Sydney in November 1829 charged to explore the Murrumbidgee River or failing that the River Darling. He and his men took to the water in a whaleboat on 7 January 1830 near the junction of the Lachlan River. He discovered that the Murrumbidgee flowed into a larger river which he named the Murray, and continuing to go downstream with that, he encountered what he believed to be the River Darling on 23 January. Sturt had tried to maintain good relations with the Aboriginal people along the rivers by making gifts of tomahawks and pieces of metal to them. The people in turn, contrived to 'hand on' the explorer to the next group, thereby negotiating a safe passage for the explorers. This was most noticeable at the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers where a large and hostile band, armed and ready to attack, confronted the boat party. However a group of men from upstream intervened and averted trouble.

On the 3 February, after a meander or two the river suddenly turned due south, just as an elderly Aboriginal had told him it would. Sturt also noted that waters changed, becoming cloudy, and broadened as well. The cliffs on either side were so high that the Aboriginal people seen at the ...summits showed as small as crows (Sturt, C. Two expeditions into the interior of southern Australia Vol. II, Chapter V 'Remarkable Cliffs')

Sturt continued on downstream and reached the mouth of the Murray River on 12 February 1830.