The early surveyors of South Australia were both explorers and planners, constantly venturing into uncharted territory as well as mapping out the invisible foundations of the future capital city, towns and roads of the new colony and the State.

One of the first to journey into South Australian waters was Captain Thyssen in the East Indian Gulden Zeepaart who, in 1627, sailed along the Great Australian Bight as far as present-day Ceduna. Although unimpressed by the countryside, as was French Admiral D'Entrecasteau when visiting the same area in 1792, Thyssen did leave a legacy of his visit in the name of Nuyts Archipelago.

Lieutenant James Grant RN cruised along portions of the south-east coast in 1800, naming Mount Schank and Mount Gambier. However, the first real charting work was undertaken concurrently by Matthew Flinders RN, in the Investigator, and the Frenchman Nicholas Baudin, in the Geographe, both of whom arrived in South Australian waters in 1802. It was Flinders who named most of the major coastal features, charting the coastal waters in considerable detail.

The mouth of the River Murray was not discovered until 1830, when Captain Charles Sturt completed his journey from New South Wales to the river's meeting point with the sea. Captain Collett Barker RN, searching for Sturt's predicted second mouth to the Murray, found instead the mouth of the River Onkaparinga. Barker landed there and set off to climb Mount Lofty, crossing and naming Sturt Creek on the way.

From the summit of Mount Lofty Barker saw and went on to investigate what he referred to as '16 Mile Creek' (the Port River). Later he crossed overland to the Murray mouth, where he was killed by natives-the first of a number of South Australian surveyors/explorers to suffer this fate.

The reports of Flinders, Barker and Sturt undoubtedly carried considerable weight when Colonel Light eventually chose the location for the new Province. Sturt in particular believed that the plains below Mount Lofty and close to Barker's 16 Mile Creek would be ideal for a settlement.