Port Augusta to Darwin

In 2002, after retiring from the workforce and having set ourselves up with a nifty little caravan, we started our planned trip to Darwin. The intention was to travel via Port Augusta in South Australia and, from there, enjoy a blissful, unhurried journey from South to North along the Stuart Highway. This three-month journey would include side trips to Ayres Rock, the Olgas and Kings Canyon. Then on our way home, we would travel via Mt. Isa, Longreach and Biloela in Queensland. It became for us a thought-provoking trip, a way of following the travels of the Great Australian Explorers.

From Port Augusta upwards (or so it seemed) we drove along a tar sealed road – a ribbon of black, bordered on both sides by the red/brown soil of the outback. ‘Straight as a die’ this ribbon continued ahead of us, up slight rises, down small inclines and along flat terrain but it was always there, stretching out to the horizon. The scenery changed each hour, occasionally dry and dusty, at other times lush and green, then the salt pans of the Lake Eyre Basin shimmering in the afternoon light; short, sunburned trees on top of hills and straight, tall trees in the valleys. We saw very small townships and enormous cattle stations with their stock and camels, kangaroos, emus, lizards, wedge-tailed eagles and hundreds of birds.

For the early explorer, John McDouall Stuart, this journey was a very different story. In January 1860 he was preparing to travel from Adelaide to the Timor Sea, not on a highway but through the unexplored interior of Australia. His desire was to be the first person to reach the very heart of the country. On achieving this great ambition, this explorer was determined to continue on, to win the reward of £2,000 for being the first person to cross the continent from South to North (the prize-money was not won, it was disputed).

Australia’s inland area was covered in dense Mulga scrub and great, arid red plains; where nothing grew and the sun was a blistering orb in the sky. This was Stuart’s fourth expedition inland so he and his companions were well aware how dry and unpredictable this continent could be. In the past they had to turn back on occasions because of the complete lack of water or, because of monsoon rains, impassable rivers and overflowing creeks.

However, on a January morning in 1860, the past hardships were forgotten as the group of men were bid farewell by the people of Adelaide. On Sunday April 22 after months of tracking through this inhospitable land, Stuart wrote in his journal “Today I find, from my observations of the sun… that I am now camped in the centre of Australia. I have marked a tree and planted the British flag here.”

Having achieved this great ambition, Stuart now attempted the remainder of his journey north. He founded Tennant Creek, but sadly, when still 960 kilometres from Van Diemen’s Gulf, (the location of Darwin today) the party was attacked by a large number of hostile natives. Fearing for the lives of his men, Stuart reluctantly returned to Adelaide. The journey back was made on very short rations, weary horses and with scurvy troubled men. They reached Chambers Creek Station, on the outskirts of Adelaide, in August 1860.

We on the other hand enjoyed the comforts of caravan parks, friendly people, plenty of good food and drink and beautiful scenery from the comfort of our air-conditioned car. Several friends had advised us not to go on this journey; “it’s too long and too boring”. What really got to us was the comment “what on earth would you talk about all day?” But we’re good friends as well as husband and wife, and we like each other’s company. We talk about the many things that interest us; we listen to CD’s and enjoy companionable silences.

Stuart was ready to commence his sixth attempt at a crossing. On New Year’s Day 1862, after extensive preparations and several weeks of travel, he was heading north from Finniss Spring (on the south side of Lake Eyre) with 60 horses and fourteen men. They made good time covering the 2,414 km to Newcastle Waters and in April reached the dry Sturt’s Plains. Here began an earnest search for permanent water supplies for pastoral lands in the future.

Travelling with a companion or two, Stuart would scout the area ahead while the remainder of the group would rest. On one of these excursions he came across a broad stream with a different species of tree growing on its banks. Stuart was so impressed with the area he called it Daly Waters and the whole expedition camped there for a few weeks.

As they continued to head further north, Stuart realised he and his men were suffering from bad eyesight caused by the continual burning sun. They all had dreadful stomach pains from scurvy and were dehydrated from lack of water but he continued on, carefully and methodically, from water hole to water hole. Then on the 24th July 1862 Stuart realised he was close to the sea. Next day while riding through a dense tropical forest, the party suddenly broke through to a shore of soft bluish mud lapped by the Indian Ocean.

Quest completed, they turned south. In early December 1862 the riders and pack horses slowly rode back into Chamber’s Creek carrying a living corpse on a stretcher between two horses. John McDouall Stuart was ill, almost at death’s door; the other members of the expedition thin and exhausted, but well. Stuart recovered and sometime later the group made a triumphant entry into Adelaide. The explorers rode through an arch inscribed ‘Here the conquering heroes come’ while on their way to a public banquet in their honour.

Our way of travelling the outback and all it entails, is a lot more enjoyable than the way our ‘Early Australian Explorers’ journeyed. Thanks to them, and their efforts, our country has become known as the most diverse experience anyone could wish for.

                    —Fran Fisher                    Bibliography: Great Australian Explorers—Marcia McEwan.