Gday...

1830  -     After tracing the Murray River for thousands of kilometres, Sturt's party finally arrives back in Sydney. 

Captain Charles Sturt was born in India in 1795. He came to Australia in 1827, and soon after undertook to solve the mystery of where the inland rivers of New South Wales flowed. Because they appeared to flow towards the centre of the continent, the belief was held that they emptied into an inland sea. Sturt first traced the Macquarie River as far as the Darling, which he named after Governor Darling. Pleased with Sturt's discoveries, the following year Governor Darling sent Sturt to trace the course of the Murrumbidgee River, and to see whether it joined to the Darling. Sturt followed the Murrumbidgee in a whaleboat and discovered that the Murrumbidgee River flowed into the Murray (previously named the Hume).

Sturt continued to trace the course of the Murray southwards, arriving at Lake Alexandrina, from which he could see the open sea of the southern coast, in February 1830. However, the expedition then had to face an agonising journey rowing back up the Murray against the current. The men rowed in shifts from dawn until dusk each day, low on rations, through extreme heat, and against the floodwaters heading downstream. In March 1830 they reached the junction of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers. By the time they reached their depot at Maude on the Murrumbidgee, they had rowed and sailed 3,000 km on Australia's inland rivers, with no loss of life. The party reached Wantabadgery Station at the point of starvation, where they recovered until returning to Sydney on 25 May 1830.

Sturt's discoveries were significant, for they allowed for the development of paddle-steamer transportation of goods and passengers along Australia's inland waterways. The exploration also allowed for the opening up of more fertile pasture and grazing land in southern Australia.

1847  -     Little-known Australian explorer Joseph Wild dies after being gored by a bull.

Little-known Australian explorer Joseph Wild is credited with discovering Lake George on 21 August 1820. Wild was an ex-convict, sentenced on 21 August 1793 in Chester for shooting a rabbit on another's property, and transported in 1797. He received a ticket-of-leave in 1810 and conditional pardon in January 1813. After being appointed first Constable of the Five Islands District, now Illawarra, in 1815, Wild undertook several expeditions into the interior of New South Wales with pastoralist Charles Throsby. Wild and Throsby were the first Europeans to explore the area that became the Australian Capital Territory.

Joseph Wild died on 25 May 1847 after being gored by a bull at Wingecarribee Swamp. He is buried behind the church in the Bong Bong Cemetery, Moss Vale, New South Wales.

1870  -     Notorious Australian bushranger 'Captain Thunderbolt' is shot dead.

Bushranger Captain Thunderbolt was born Frederick Ward at Wilberforce near Windsor, NSW, in 1836. As an excellent horseman, his specialty was horse stealing. For this, he was sentenced in 1856 to ten years on ****atoo Island in Sydney Harbour. On 1 July 1860, Ward was released on a ticket-of-leave to work on a farm at Mudgee. While he was on ticket-of-leave, he returned to horse-stealing, and was again sentenced to ****atoo Island. Conditions in the gaol were harsh, and he endured solitary confinement a number of times. On the night of 11 September 1863, he and another inmate escaped from the supposedly escape-proof prison by swimming to the mainland.

After his escape, Ward embarked on a life of bushranging, under the name of Captain Thunderbolt. Much of his bushranging was done around the small NSW country town of Uralla. A rock originally known as "Split Rock" became known as "Thunderbolt's Rock". After a six-year reign as a "gentleman bushranger", Thunderbolt was allegedly shot dead by Constable Alexander Walker on 25 May 1870. However, there remains some contention as to whether it was actually Thunderbolt who was killed, or his brother William, also known as 'Harry'

1904  -     Five men are killed in a gold mining accident near Coolgardie, Western Australia. 

The small town of Coolgardie lies about 570km east of Perth, Western Australia. The population of Coolgardie has fluctuated since its foundation, but now maintains a steady population of around 1300. The gold rush began when prospectors Arthur Bayley and William Ford found a rich reef of gold in 1892, which they named "Bayley's Reward", sparking a huge gold rush to Coolgardie. The town subsequently grew rapidly, becoming the third largest town in the state after Perth and Fremantle. However, within a few years, nearby Kalgoorlie was attracting more interest, as the gold deposits were much larger. The town experienced tragedy on 25 May 1904 at the Great Boulder goldmine, East Coolgardie, when five men died in a mining accident. A great cage used in the mining operation fell 121 metres to the bottom of a shaft.

Cheers - John