Charles Sturt
On 3 November 1829, Sturt led another group of eight men to follow the path of the Murrumbidgee River. Governor Darling wanted to know where the river went and to find out if it joined the Lachlan River. They went west from Sydney until they reached the Murrumbidgee near the present site of Jugiong and traveled along the river bank as far as the Lachlan River. From there Sturt used a small boat to travel down the river and reached the Murray River on 14 January 1830. The river had already been visited six years earlier by Hamilton Hume and William Hovell and named the Hume River. Sturt, probably hoping for a reward, renamed the river after Sir George Murray, a British politician. After several days, they found a large river joining the Murray from the north, and Sturt correctly guessed that this was the Darling River. He set up a flag pole and raised the British flag, the Union Jack, and had his men give three loud cheers. The group continued down the river and reached Lake Alexandrina which he named after Princess Alexandrina, later Queen Victoria on 9 February 1830. After finding where the Murray entered the sea, the group then had the difficult and tiring work of rowing the boat back up the river. They left the river near the present site of Narrandera on 11 April 1830 and walked back to Sydney, getting there on 25 May 1830. Sturt became very sick after the trip and became blind.