Central Mt Sturt or Mt Stuart

This is the original note which was placed in a cairn on Central Mount Stuart in the Northern Territory and in which John McDouall Stuart named the hill Central Mount Sturt. It is signed by Stuart and by William Darton Kekwick and Benjamin Head, expedition members. Stuart reached this point in his explorations on 21 April 1860. He had carefully calculated what he believed to be the centre of Australia as halfway between Shark Bay (WA) and Brisbane in the east-west direction and 22 degrees south as the halfway point between the north coast at latitude 11 degrees 53 minutes and 32 degrees 7 minutes on the south coast. His exact location was 21 degrees 59' 45"S. The hill is some little distance away at 21 degrees 54'S, longitude 133 degrees 28'.

He blazed a tree and climbed the nearest hill to raise the flag and build a cairn in which he placed the note. He wanted this point on the Australian continent named in honour of Charles Sturt, the leader of the 1844-46 Central Australian expedition on which Stuart had served. The government in Adelaide overruled him and instead of Central Mount Sturt, it is known as Central Mount Stuart. Sturt had struggled to reach the centre of Australia himself but had been turned back by the sand dunes of the Simpson Desert, 150 miles short of his target.

The note was retrieved from the cairn by John Ross, one of the surveyors working on the Overland Telegraph Line, 1870-72. He passed it to Charles Todd, who eventually passed it to the Public (now State) Library of South Australia in 1905. The actual centre of Australia is at 25 degrees 36 minutes 36 seconds South and 134 degrees 21 minutes 17 seconds East. It is called the Lambert Centre and is near Finke, home of the Aputula Aboriginal Community.

When first published, this item is reproduced courtesy of Ms Anne Bachelard.

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

Buy a high resolution copy.