19 August 1853 Charles Sturt

On 19 August 1853 Charles Sturt and his family left their home at the Grange to sail to England for a visit. However, the temporary visit turned into a permanent absence and Sturt died there in 1869. Sturt had come to New South Wales in 1827 as an officer in the 39^th Regiment. After his explorations down the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers in 1829/30 he returned to England, but in 1833 sold his commission and came back to Australia as a settler. In 1838 he sold his property in NSW and moved his family to South Australia April 1839, taking a position with the Survey Department.

At first the Sturts lived in a cottage on East Terrace but sometime in 1840 moved to the large brick dwelling house with 80 acres of land at the Reedbeds which he called Grange. There in 1843 his fourth child was born and while his home life was happy Sturt was not at ease in the Public Service and with increasing financial difficulties in the young colony Sturt again turned his mind to exploration. He undertook an expedition into the interior, but his health was badly affected from the privations he endured. After a leave of absence he returned to the Public Service until he retired at the end of 1851.

M. Casson, ‘Captain Sturt and the house called “Grange”’, Walkabout, 1 October 1956.
Newspaper Cuttings Book Volume III, p.52, SLSA.