1795-1869. British explorer and soldier. In
1828 he sailed down the Murrumbidgee River in
SE Australia to the estuary of the Murray in
circumstances of great hardship, charting the
entire river system of the region. Born in
India, he served in the army, and in 1827
discovered with the Australian explorer
Hamilton Hume the river Darling. Drawn by his
concept of a great inland sea, he set out for
the interior in 1844, crossing what is now
known as the Sturt Desert, but failing to
penetrate the Simpson Desert.