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Clip description
The South Australian explorer John McDouall Stuart (Clive Marshall) had learnt his skills as a bushman from the great explorer Sturt. What he learnt from his mentor was to travel light, using horses not drays and moving fast over the terrain, the very antithesis of the Victorian expedition.
Curator’s notes
This clip illustrates Peach’s effective use of simple recreations, maps and scenic shots to tell engrossing stories. The attack by the local inhabitants comes as a shock, but is simple and evocative, although only told from the explorers’ side.
Stuart carefully mapped and surveyed the country he travelled through. Even though he failed to arrive at the Timor Sea on two out of the three expeditions he made, his expeditions were still useful. His route became the exact route of the telegraph line running from the south to the north of the continent to connect it with Europe and America by late in the 19th century. He also had a good eye for the country he traversed, so that he was able to advise on what he considered to be rich grazing land for squatters to move onto. People like the Duracks, for example, came overland to this country during the late 1880s.
The strength of this series is Bill Peach’s ability to place these explorers, their discoveries and their tragedies in the wider context of the development of Australia as a country rapidly developing its primary industries of gold, wool and cattle.
