Rare hand coloured lithograph of the largest and best depiction of Captain Sturt’s large party departing Adelaide on August 1844 on his exploration journey north.
On August 1844, Captain Charles Sturt (1795–1869) accompanied by a well-equipped party of fifteen men, set out from Adelaide on one of the most ambitious exploratory expeditions of the nineteenth century. Sturt’s mission was to determine the existence of an inland sea or dividing mountain range in the heart of the Australian continent. Supported by the South Australian Government and fitted with drays, provisions, and livestock, the expedition departed from Adelaide with considerable public attention. Sturt’s party travelled north through the Flinders Ranges, establishing a depot at Depot Glen near present-day Milparinka, and continued into the arid interior under extreme conditions of heat and drought. Although Sturt failed to discover the hypothesised dividing range or inland sea, his exploration yielded valuable geographical observations, charted new territory, and greatly advanced contemporary understanding of Central Australia’s desert interior.
Drawn by Samuel Thomas Gill during his time in South Australia 1839 to 1852.
Angas’s description;
‘The annexed plate will convey some idea of the busy and animated scene the city of Adelaide presented on the eventful morning the gallant Sturt set out on his late expedition to penetrate into the centre of the vast continent of Australia: he was attended by a large concourse of his friends and fellow colonists, who accompanied him out of town, mounted upon horseback, and the day was a gala for the citizens of Adelaide.’
From George French Angas’s, South Australia Illustrated.
References:
Abbey, J.R. Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770-1860. London 1972: II, 577.
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976: 4457
Gill, T. Bibliography of South Australia. Adelaide. (1886) 1976: p.16.
Tooley, R.V. English books with coloured plates, 1790 to 1860. Folkstone 1973: 62.
Tregenza, J. George French Angas. Artist, Traveller and Naturalist 1822-1886. Adelaide 1980: ill. front cover.
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney 1987: P.309-316.
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney 2023: c237, pp.407-409
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 1842283
National Gallery Australia: ACCESSION NUMBER 66.7.3.4
National Gallery Victoria: Accession Number 2011.338
Royal Collection Trust UK: RCIN 1070959
State Library South Australia: 994.2T A581 d
State Library Victoria: RARELTEF 919.42 AN4S
University Library Melbourne: 919.42302 ANGA
