LIBRARY OF
AUSTRALIAN TRAVELS, &c.
PUBLISHED BY T. AND W. BOONE,
29, NEW BOND STREET.
Now ready, in 2 vols. 8vo. with numerous Plates, some coloured,
NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION
INTO
CENTRAL AUSTRALIA,
The character of the far Interior of Australia had long been a most interesting geographical problem, many imagining the centre to be occupied by a large inland sea, others conjecturing that it was an arid desert, which opinion was further strengthened by Mr. Eyre's unsuccessful endeavour to penetrate higher than the 29th degree of latitude in his expedition during the years 1840 and 1. Captain Sturt, so appropriately denominated the "Father of Australian Discovery," in consequence of being the first traveller to explore the rivers Murray, Murrumbidgee, Bogan, and Castlereagh, volunteered to conduct a party into the interior to determine this important question. With the approbation of Lord Stanley, the Colonial Minister, he accordingly started in the year 1844, and, after a series of unparalleled privations, succeeded in reaching the centre of the Continent in a line direct north of Adelaide. The journal of this perilous Expedition gives an account of the remarkable Stony Desert, the bed of Lake Torrens, descriptions of the Natives and their villages, and the discovery of several small rivers, &c.; added to which, his observations and collections on the Natural History have since been arranged by R. Brown, Esq. and J. Gould, Esq. in the form of an Appendix.
"The details of this romantic and perilous Expedition are replete with interest. From the numerous and lengthened expeditions he has undertaken, and the general intelligence and scientific skill he brings to bear upon the question, we know of no recent traveller in Australia whose opinions are entitled to more weight.—The portion of the work which refers to the Colony of South Australia is particularly valuable to intending emigrants."—Morning Herald.