2nd February 1829

On this day, 2nd February 1829, Captain Charles Sturt discovered the Darling River. ¹ Captain Sturt was one of several men whose efforts helped to map the wilderness of Australia for the colonists. He and Allan Cunningham were friends, and probably discussed exploration on many occasions.

In 1827 Mr Cunningham named a mountain in honour of Captain Sturt, being Mount Sturt, on the Darling Downs, near the town of Warwick. He mentions Mount Sturt in his Journal on 10th June 1827. ²

Captain Sturt was often mentioned in Mr Cunningham’s correspondence. ³

Captain Sturt was in England for a couple of years 1832 to 1834. He was troubled with partial blindness. It is very probable that during these years, he visited Allan Cunningham who was living at Strand On The Green, in London.

This blog was written by Diane Challenor
The copyright of all the articles, blogs and images at
The Allan Cunningham Project belong to Diane and John Challenor.
If you would like to use our articles, blogs or mages
in your publication please contact us.

1. Source: Wikipedia – Charles Sturt[↩]
2. Source: John Whitehead’s Tracking and Mapping the Explorers Volume 7 Cunningham’s 1827 Expedition to the Darling Downs, p142[↩]
3. Noted by The Allan Cunningham Team: There are fifteen references to Captain Sturt in Allan Cunningham’s letters, transcribed and published in AE&TA Orchard’s Allan Cunningham” Letters of a Botanist Explorer, 1791-1839[↩]