Captain Charles SturtPrint Page

The cairn commemorates the voyage of Captain Charles Sturt down the Murray River in 1830. Sturt passed Point McLeay in February 1830 and the cairn was unveiled on the centenary of the event. 

His Excellency Sir Alexander Hore Ruthven, V.C. (Governor) will unveil a memorial cairn to Capt. Charles Sturt, the noted explorer, at Point McLeay, tomorrow week. The memorial was erected by aborigines at Point McLeay under the supervision of Mr. W. T. Lawrie (school master).

The movement was sponsored by the historical memorials committee of the South Australian branch of the Royal Geographical Society of AustraIasia. A meeting of the committee will be held at 4 o'clock this afternoon to complete arrangements for the ceremony. Lady Hore Ruthven will be present. Part of the ceremony will be a demonstration by the aborigines.

Dr. C. E. Fenher, who with Mr. F. L. Parker is honorary secretary, of the society, stated today that Sturt had written in his journal that without the help of the aborigines he would not have been able to accomplish the feat of sailing down the River Murray in 1830. They had helped the party to obtain food supplies. At the junction of the Darling and the Murray the expedition was surrounded by hundreds of hostile natives. They were saved by the arrival of a friendly aborigine. A legend is told at Point McLeay of a pelican coming down the river into the lake. As it came nearer it turned into a boat containing white men. It was in the early morning of February 10, 1830, that Sturt passed Point McLeay. He did not land there.  The point was named after George (afterward Sir George) McLeay, who was second in command.
News (Adelaide), 10 October 1930.

Note:  Point McLeay was renamed Raukkan Aboriginal Community in 1982.

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