Welcome to Stuart Memorial
Introduction | Special Dates | Centenary of Federation
Aboriginal Connections | Photo Gallery

While the completion of the Overland Telegraph Line was one of the largest engineering feats of the nineteenth century and was largely achieved through the vision and commitment of Charles Todd, it could not have even been conceived without Scottish surveyor John McDouall Stuart's courageous transcontinental crossing of Australia during 1861/2.

Stuart's previous two attempts at crossing Australia had failed when his party of ten men and 71 horses set out from Adelaide on October 26, 1861, Stuart following a month later.

On New Year's Eve they had reached Chambers Creek Station and by the middle of January were at Margaret Station where they were held up by weak horses.

Reaching Newcastle Waters, Stuart found enough water to take him through to the Roper River, reaching it on June 25, 1862. By July 24 the party reached the north coast at the mouth of the Adelaide River. They returned to Adelaide arriving on December 17, 1862, Stuart very ill and partially blind.

Stuart had at last shown that the continent could be crossed and most importantly that enough water could be found along the way. He had proven that the interior featured areas of usable land, but no inland sea. It was harsh, dry land with searing heat but it could be tamed. And tamed it would be, just eight years later by the building of Overland Telegraph Line.

The Stuart Memorial is located at Attack Creek, where explorer John McDouall Stuart met hostile natives and very ill, turned back from his expedition.