AustLit

Australian Colonial Narrative Journalism:

Charles Sturt came to Australia in 1827 and is one of the country’s best known explorers, 'discovering' several major rivers and being the first Englishman to chart the Murray River. He published two non-fiction accounts of his explorations – Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia and Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia. During these expeditions he sent home detailed, descriptive letters, which were then circulated by the recipients, including the Governor of South Australia. These were published and re-published by various newspapers throughout the colony, including the Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal and The Australian. Often they appeared with an explanation, but sometimes not. 

According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography Sturt was “a careful and accurate observer and an intelligent interpreter of what he saw”.

• Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, (1833) Project Gutenberg
• “New Holland: Extracts from Sturt’s Expeditions in Southern Australia”, Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, 7 June 1834
• “Report of an Expedition to Lake Alexandria and the Murray”,  Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, 28 March 1840
• “Sturt’s Central Australian Exploring Expedition”, South Australian Register, 9 November 1844
• “Captain Sturt’s Expedition”, Morning Chronicle, 11 December 1844
• “Captain Sturt’s Expedition”,  The Australian, 17 December 1844
• Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia (1849) Project Gutenberg