The colony of South Australia was founded as late as 1836, but once established passed through an extraordinarily rapid development. Within a very few years expansion and the search for new pastures had reached the fringe of the desert interior, which was being probed to lay bare its secrets. In 1840 Edward John Eyre set out on an expedition to the north, but baffled by the mudflats of Lake Torrens diverted his energies to exploring the coast of the Bight and in 1841 made his epic and tragic overland journey to the settled districts of Western Australia by following the coastline. In 1844 Captain Charles Sturt made another attempt to the north, bypassing Lake Torrens to the east and eventually, by 1846, reaching 24?N, but only to find himself in the midst of an impassable and stony desert. It fell to John McDouall Stuart in 1860-1 to show by taking a more westerly longitude that the Australian centre was by no means all complete desert. His route traversed extensive grassy plains, crossed flowing creeks and found abundant waterholes. On his third attempt in 1861 the north coast was reached and South Australia moved rapidly to exploit the discovery. In 1863 tne northern territory was annexed to the Colony and an overland telegraph line rapidly run through linking Adelaide with Darwin.