Each took with them two men; Sturt going to the north-west, and Hume to the north-east.
They left on the last day of December, 1828.
Sturt toiled on until after sunset he came to a northward-flowing creek, in which there was a fair supply of water.

Next day their course lay through plains intersected with belts of scrub, and they discovered another creek, inferior to the last one both in size and the quality of the water.

They camped for a few hours on its bank, and Sturt called it New Year's Creek, but it is now known as the Bogan River.

They were about to pass that night without water on the edge of a dry plain, when one of the men had his attention drawn to the flight of a pigeon, and searching, found a puddle of rain water which barely satisfied them.

An isolated hill with perpendicular sides, which Sturt had noticed for some time, now attracted his attention, as being a lofty point of vantage from which to get an extensive view to the west.