It was ever Sturt’s misfortune to be the sport of the seasons; drought and its attendant desolation dogged his footsteps like an evil genius.  Oxley had followed, or attempted to follow, the rivers down when a long period of recurrent wet seasons had saturated the soil, filled the swamps and marshes, and swollen the river-courses so that they appeared to be navigable throughout for boats.  Sturt came at a period when the country lay faint under a prolonged drought and the rivers had dwindled down into dry channels, with here and there a parched and meagre water-hole.  The following description of his is too often quoted as depicting the usual state of the Australian interior:—­

“In the creeks, weeds had grown and withered, and grown again; and young saplings were now rising in their beds, nourished by the moisture that still remained; but the large forest trees were drooping, and many were dead.  The emus with outstretched necks, gasping for breath, search the channels of the rivers for water in vain; and the native dog, so thin that he could hardly walk, seemed to implore some merciful hand to despatch him.”

[Map.  Sturt’s Route.  Hume and Hovell’s Route 1824.]

To Sturt and his companions, who were the first white men to face the interior during a season of drought, the scene may not have seemed too highly-coloured; but, in common with many of Sturt’s graphic word-pictures, his description applies only to special or rare circumstances.

In 1828, no rain had fallen for two years, and even the dwellers on the coastal lands began to despair of copious rainfalls.  Whenever their glance wandered over their own dried-up pastures, men’s thoughts naturally turned to that widespread and boundless swamp wherein the Macquarie was lost to Oxley’s quest; and many saw in the drought a favourable opportunity to discover the ultimate destination of these lost rivers.  An expedition to the west was accordingly prepared in order to solve the problem under these very different existing circumstances, and Sturt was selected as leader.  To Hamilton Hume was offered the position of second in command, and, as the dry weather had brought all farming operations to a standstill, he was able to accept it.  Besides Sturt and Hume, the party consisted of two soldiers and eight prisoners, two of the latter being taken to return with despatches as soon as they had reached the limit of the known country.  They also had with them eight riding and seven pack-horses, and two draught and eight pack-bullocks.  A small boat rigged up on a wheeled carriage was also taken; but like many others carried into the interior, it never served any useful purpose.

The country was by this time well-known, and partly settled up to and below Wellington Vale; but when Sturt reached Mount Harris, Oxley’s former depot camp, he had come to the verge of the unknown, and halted in order to consider as to his immediate movements.  He consulted with Hume, and as there seemed to be no present obstacle to their progress, it was determined, as Sturt writes, “to close with the marshes.”