Captain Charles SturtPrint Page

The monument commemorates the explorer, Captain Charles Sturt.  It was unveiled in the centenary year of Captain Charles Sturt`s exploration of the River Murray. The monument was relocated to its present site on the 4th February 2001 and a further plaque was added on the 27th September 2001.  

In January 1830 Sturt's party reached the confluence of the Murrumbidgee and a much larger river, which Sturt named the Murray River. It was in fact the same river which Hume and Hovell had crossed further upstream and named the Hume.  Several times the party was in danger from the Aborigines but Sturt always succeeded in appeasing them.  Sturt then proceeded down the Murray, until he reached the river's confluence with the Darling. Sturt had now proved that all the western-flowing rivers eventually flowed into the Murray. In February 1830, the party reached a large lake which Sturt called Lake Alexandrina. A few days later, they reached the sea. There they made the disappointing discovery that the mouth of the Murray was a maze of lagoons and sandbars, impassable to shipping.

A large crowd assembled on Duranda Terrace on Saturday morning, the occasion being the unveiling of the memorial to Captain Charles Sturt. Mr. A. W. Pearce (chairman) very ably spoke on the object of the gathering, and then called on Dr. C. E. Wilson, of the Royal Geographical Society, who spoke very interestingly on the achievements of Captain Sturt. Captain Parker, of the Historical Memorial Commitee, was then introduced and explained the object of his committee in perpetuating the memory of the pioneers. He congratulated the people on the memorial they had erected. Mr. Pearce then called on Sir Lancelot Stirling, the grand old man of the South, to unveil the stone. Sir Lancelot thanked the people for the honor they had conferred on him and then drew the cord, thus disclosing the monument.
Southern Argus (Port Elliot, SA), 23 January 1930.

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