Sturt was sent to Norfolk Island in August 1830 on military duty. Norfolk Island was a penal colony where difficult prisoners were sent. He stayed there until January 1832 and then went back to Sydney. Unable to get more important work and still unable to see properly, he went to England and left the army in July 1833. He wrote a book called "Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, 1828—1831". Sturt was rewarded with of land in New South Wales, and in September 1834 sailed to Sydney with his new wife, Charlotte Green.