Who are some Australian explorers?

Answer 1

John Oxley and George Evans explored the rivers of New South Wales, but Oxley declared that they ended in usless marshes.

It was Charles Sturt who charted the Murrumbidgee to the Murray, and the Murray to the ocean.

Major Thomas Mitchell also explored sections of the Darling River, and the rivers of western Victoria.

Answer 2

There were many explorers or Australia, but very few Australian-born explorers.

Some of the European explorers of Australia, or Australian-born explorers, were:

• Captain John Oxley and Allan Cunningham, who explored inland and northern New South Wales and southern Queensland (c. 1823).
• James Kelly, who explored Tasmania (1816).
• Hamilton Hume and William Hovell explored overland between Sydney and Port Phillip Bay (1824). Hume was Australian-born and a skilled bushman, and he also assisted Sturt on some expeditions.
• Charles Sturt followed the Murrumbidgee River to the Murray River, and on to the southern coast. He also determined that the Darling River flowed into the Murray, thereby discovering Australia's biggest inland river system (1829-30).
• Major Thomas Mitchell contributed much to the discovery of good land in Victoria, although he spent much time trying to dispute Sturt's theory that the Darling flowed into the Murray. He found excellent fertile land in western Victoria (1836). He also explored in southern Queensland.
• Paul Edmund de Strzelecki was the first to climb and name Mt Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mountain (1840).
• Edward Eyre made numerous expeditions, exploring north of Adelaide, and later crossed the Nullarbor Plain from Streaky Bay to Albany (1839-41).
• Ludwig Leichhardt explored inland Queensland and up to the north coast, at Port Essington (1844-45).
• Edmund Kennedy explored the Queensland coast, tragically losing his life when almost within sight of the ship sent to meet him at the northern tip (1848).
• John MacDouall Stuart led a total of six expeditions into Australia's interior, with five of them being attempts to be the first to cross the continent from south to north, commencing from Adelaide. He succeeded on his fifth attempt, reaching the northern waters at Chambers Bay in July 1862.
• Robert O'Hara Burke and William Wills led an unfortunate expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. While their expedition filled in gaps of knowledge, they also died during their attempt to return safely (1861).
• Ernest Giles made several expeditions in the Australian desert, through central and Western Australia (1872-1875).
• William Christie Goss explored central Australia, and was the first to sight and name Uluru (which he named Ayers Rock).
• Peter Warburton undertook numerous smaller expeditions, but his goal was to complete the first crossing of the central Australian continent from east to west, a goal he achieved in 1873.
• The Forrest brothers of Western Australia explored much of the northwest regions in the 1870s. The Firrests were both Australian-born.