John McDouall Stuart Traveler and explorer of Australia Country: Australia

Biography of John McDouall Stuart

John McDouall Stuart was a Scottish-born Australian explorer and adventurer. He graduated from the Naval Academy in Scotland with a degree in Civil Engineering. However, he considered himself unfit for military service in Australia due to his height of 165 cm and weight of less than 50 kg. Intrigued by the stories he had heard about the colony of New South Wales, Stuart decided to immigrate there in 1839 and initially worked as a surveyor. It was perhaps this profession that instilled in Stuart a love for remote and sparsely populated areas of Australia.

Later, Stuart turned to farming, and in 1844, he joined Charles Sturt's expedition to the central part of the country, which lasted for 17 months. Upon his return, Stuart worked in real estate for 12 years. However, by 1858, the "call of the desert" became unbearable. Together with an Aboriginal hunter and another companion, Stuart explored the territory north of Adelaide to Strzelecki Creek. He was awarded the Royal Geographical Society Medal for his achievement of traversing the challenging 1200 km through uncharted bushland.

However, the difficulties of this expedition only fueled Stuart's passion for exploration. The following year, he conducted two more geodetic expeditions to further explore the area he had already surveyed. In March 1860, Stuart embarked on the first of his two most outstanding journeys. Accompanied by two fellow travelers and thirteen horses, they reached the geographical center of the Australian continent. Despite facing attacks from Aboriginal people, hunger, and thirst, the expedition returned to Adelaide in full.