CHARLES STURT
(1795–1869)
Driven by the dream of an
inland sea, Sturt charted the
Macquarie, Bogan and
Castlereagh rivers, found
the Darling River and
followed the Murray to Lake
Alexandrina on the SA coast.TIM FLANNERY (1956 –)
Explorer, scientist, climate change
advocate and former Australian of
the Year, Tim has made remarkable
discoveries in palaeontology and
mammology. Remote expeditions to
New Guinea (AG 113) and work in
Australia resulted in the description
of more than 40 new species.“Let any man lay the map of Australia
before him, and regard the blank upon
its surface, and then let me ask him if it
would not be an honourable achieve-
ment to be the first to place foot in its
centre.” CHARLES STURT, 1844TIM COPE IS A ‘long-rider’, a special breed of
explorer who travels to discover something of both the
cultures they encounter and themselves. In 2004 Tim
took equestrian long-riding to the extreme. He spent
three years and four months covering 10,000km to
become the fi rst person in modern times to follow
Genghis Khan’s march from Mongolia to Hungary
(AG 89). Keen to better understand nomadic life, he
rode horses the length of the Eurasian Steppe, from
Karakorum in Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia,
Crimea and the Ukraine to Hungary. Six months into
the trip, a Kazakh nomad, concerned that Tim was
travelling alone, gave him a dog named Tigon. Cope’s
new companion would share challenges from wolves
and horse thieves, to the extreme temperatures of
scorching deserts and sub-zero plateaus, and off er com-
fort as Tim grieved the loss of his father. Tim, whose
other adventures include cycling from Moscow to
Beijing and rowing across Siberia, has previously been
named both the AG Society’s Young Adventurer of
the Year and Adventurer of the Year.Tim Cope (1978–)
November–December 2015 59COPE: AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC; STURT: COURTESY AM; FLANNERY: COURTESY TIM FLANNERY