He was the youngest son of Thomas Lenox Napier Sturt, a puisne judge in Bengal for the British East India Company, and Jeanette or Jeannette, née Wilson.

Evelyn was educated at the Sandhurst Military College, and in 1836, at the young age of twenty, he migrated to New South Wales,[1] travelling on the Hooghly, a ship of 466 tons which had previously been used as a convict transport vessel and was under the command of George Bayly at that time.

[1] Sturt resigned his post as Commissioner of Crown Lands in 1839 and decided to take sheep and cattle overland from Bathurst to Adelaide, at the time a massive distance of 1200 km.

[1] Sturt found his troubles to be influenced by various gold rushes, which took a toll on police numbers – indeed he reported in December 1851 that he had lost forty of his fifty staff to resignation.

[1] In early 1853, Sir William Mitchell assumed Sturt's position of Superintendent of police and Evelyn was reappointed as magistrate for Melbourne,[1] serving for the next twenty-five years.

It appears that he was not afraid of brandishing his authority[1] and in 1854 when he was appointed to the commission of inquiry into the Bentley hotel affair at Ballarat – seen by many to be a precursor to the Eureka Stockade[1] – he recommended dismissal of some corrupt government officers and compensation to some of those who had suffered losses.