A Great Explorer.

Northland Age, 11 October 1904, Page 3

A Great Explorer.

There was lately unveiled at AdeluM a statue of John M'Douall Stuart. Tfl “ Adelaide Register ” gives a portrait the gieat explorer, and a graphic review' of the work he accomplished. His luott memorable trip was across the Continent in 1861-2, and the “Register ” says “ the story of that trip concerns one of the finest episodes in the history of British exploration.' ’ John M'Douall Stuart was born in Dysart, Fifeshke, in 1815, and he arrived in South Australia by the barque Indus in 1839.

Stuart’s health suffered very much from the hardships he had to endure in his expedition across the continent. ‘I The return journey was fearful. The agonies that Stuart suffered can only be understood by his comrades. For 400 miles he was carried on a stretcher.” He returned to England in 1864, and died on June 16, 1866. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. A polished granite obelisk erected by his sister marks his grave, and bears the inscription—“To the memory of John M'Douall Stuart, South Australian Explorer—the first who crossed the Continent from the South to the Indian Ocean. Born 1815; died 181:6.” The statue; a full-size likeness of the explorer, has been erected by the Caledonian Society, and the sculptor is a Scotsman, Mr. James White. It is of heroic size, and stands on a handsome trachyte pedestal. On a polished part of the pedestal appears the inscription—“ John M'Douall Stuart, explorer—Adelaide to Indian Ocean, 1861-2.” Below there is a bronze tablet with the following—- “ Erected by public subscription and presented to the City of Adelaide on 4th June' 1904, by the South Australian Caledonian Society.”