
Percy Leason (1889–1959)
The Sturt Expedition Out of Food and Water 1916
oil on canvas; 100.0 x 151.7 cm
nla.pic-an2268338
EUROPEAN EXPLORATION
For the early European settlers unaware of Indigenous knowledge and mapping of the country, the impulse to explore was triggered by both curiosity and necessity. The settlers were curious about their new surroundings, and there was also the pressing need to find more fertile farming land.
After making forays around their immediate area, colonists began to venture further afield: north, south and finally west towards the formidable barrier of the Blue Mountains. Once they had crossed the mountains, they faced the puzzle of rivers that flowed westwards. Was there a vast inland sea at the continent’s centre?
Exploration gradually fanned out from settlements established around the country. Some expeditions arose from the search for straying stock; some grew out of squatters seeking new pastures. Other expeditions were more ambitious and aimed to cross all or part of the continent—from north to south, and from east to west. Some explorers were more successful than others, but all faced dangers and difficulties that can be difficult to comprehend today.
This section presents several of the major exploring expeditions and their discoveries which increased European knowledge of the continent. These expeditions covered distances that would have seemed unimaginable in the explorers’ home countries.