Stuart's first expedition

In the late 1850s there was a flurry of exploration in South Australia's northern districts, with a number of expeditions in the field at the same time. The largest was that led by Benjamin Hershel Babbage, expensively fitted out by the government with large drays and with the leader burdened by an impossible set of instructions. In contrast John McDouall Stuart's expedition was privately funded by William Finke and consisted of only two men besides himself and five or six horses. It was to examine the country to the north-west of the Flinders Ranges in hope of finding good pastoral lands. Stuart travelled some 200 miles further north than Babbage's slow moving expedition, reaching as far north as the region of what is now Coober Pedy. He discovered the fertile and well-watered Chambers Creek which would be his springboard for future expeditions; the permanent waterhole at Andamooka; and a range of hills, subsequently named the Stuart Range by Governor MacDonnell. From here he travelled south-west, eventually reaching the coast at Streaky Bay. From here he travelled back to the Flinders Ranges.

Stuart's efforts were acclaimed and he was described as being 'of a courage, energy and judgment scarcely paralleled in the previous history of Australian exploration...' (RGS p. 154).

As a result of Stuart's expedition the westward boundary of South Australia was moved further west to its present location. This removed the no-man's-land that had previously existed between Western Australia and South Australia, and which was technically part of New South Wales.

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