A Colonial Explorer.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 134, 10 June 1904, Page 4

A Colonial Explorer.

John McPouall Stuart, the Australian explorer, to whose memory a statue was unveiled in l Adelaide this week, was a man of more than ordinary note. In the course of iiis explorations th« late Mr Stuart discovered a passage between Lake Eyre and Lake Tori-ens, finding a splendid pastoral territory beyond the desert country which Mr (afterwards Governor) Eyre had failed to penetrate. When the South Australian Government ollered in 1800 a reward of £2OOO to the first man who should traverse the continent from south to north, Mr Stuart resolved to attempt the feat. Accompanied by two men, lie travelled to within 400 miles of Van l'ioman's Gulf on the north coast. Forced to return by the hostility of the natives, he planted the British 'lag ill the centre of the continent on April 22, 1860. Subsequently he succecdc ed in reaching Van Dleman's Gulf, and received the Government bonus of £2OOO and a lease of 1000 tfqjiaro miles of grazing land in the interior free of rent for seven years. Mr Stuart, who contributed enormously to the pastoral development of South Australia, and paved the way for the construction of the overland telegraph line from Adelaide to l'ort Darwin, was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, which also presented him with a watch. Mr Stuart died in England on Juno 1(1, 1869.