Sturt's Strezletki Creek in South Australian territory was then followed.

This peculiar watercourse branches out from the Cooper and runs in a south-south-west direction.

It brought Gregory safely to the northern settlements of South Australia.

The fruitless search for it, however, was one of the main causes of the death of Burke and Wills in 1861.

This was Gregory's final attempt; he accepted the position of Surveyor-General of Queensland, and his labours as an explorer terminated.