The great drought of 1813--The development of country by stocking--
Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth cross the Blue Mountains--Reach
the head of coast waters and return--Surveyor Evans sent out--Crosses the
watershed and finds the Macquarie River--Construction of road over the
range--Settlement of Bathurst--Visit of Governor Macquarie--Second
expedition under Evans--Discovery of the Lachlan River--Surveyor-General
Oxley explores the Lachlan--Finds the river terminates in swamps--Returns
by the Macquarie--His opinion of the interior--Second expedition down the
Macquarie--Disappointment again--Evans finds the Castlereagh--Liverpool
Plains discovered--Oxley descends the range and finds Port Macquarie--
Returns to Newcastle-Currie and Ovens cross the Morumbidgee--Brisbane
Downs and Monaroo--Hume and Hovell cross to Port Phillip--Success of
the expedition.
The first ten years of the present century were singularly devoid of
excursions inland. The strip of country between the range and the sea,
sufficing for the immediate wants of the settlers, and the discovery of
the Hunter River having opened so much new country for their use, no
actual necessity compelled them at this period to go further a-field.
This lack of urgent need, combined with the bad success that had attended
all efforts to penetrate the mountains, had somewhat damped the ardour of
the colonists.
But throughout these years the stock steadily increased, and the severe
drought in 1813 led some of the settlers to make another attempt to find
out new pasture lands.
The victory that at last crowned the struggle may be said to have at once
inaugurated a new phase of exploration The days of expeditions on foot,
when each man carried his own supply of provisions, and the limit of
their journey only extended a little over a hundred miles, were past.
Horses were now destined to play an important part in the outfit of the
explorer, and take their share of sacrificing their lives in the cause.
The results gained by these first journeys were far from promising;
always hoping to find a navigable river, or rivers, through the interior,
the colonists found themselves most unexpectedly baffled. Having
discovered the head waters of large streams flowing on a western course,
with a sufficient depth of water for boat navigation, it appeared
conclusive that to follow them down would in course of time lead the
party doing so to the sea; the only probable obstacle which would come in
the way would be falls. But the rivers led them into shallow stagnant
swamps, with no limit within ken; the outskirts, so they deemed, of an
inland sea.
Across here Oxley wrote, DESERT; unfitted ever to sustain settlement, and
in doing this he did not err more glaringly than many later pioneers. It
must be borne in mind that the characteristics of the inland plain were
all new to the travellers who first ventured to enter its confines. They
had not won the key of the desert; the fashion in which nature adapted
herself to climatic decrees was a lesson still to be learnt. Oxley spoke
honestly when, in bitter disappointment, he prophesied the future of the
great plain to be that of an unprofitable waste, wherein the work of
men's hands and the cunning of their brains would avail nothing; but he
spoke hastily and almost thoughtlessly. The great plain had its glorious
mission to fulfil, but the secret, like all things worth knowing, was one
that took time and labour to solve; not in one or two generations was it
to be done.
There was one great factor in the reclamation of the desert that Oxley
could not take into his calculations--for he did not know its power--the
sure, if gradual change wrought by stocking. Under the ceaseless tread of
myriad hoofs, the loose, open soil was to become firm and hard, whilst
fresh growths of herb and grass followed the footsteps of the invading
herds. The shaking bogs and morasses were to become solidified, and the
waters that permeated them to retreat into well defined chains of ponds
and lagoons. This the first explorer could not foresee, he was
disheartened by what he found, and unwitting of the change that was to
follow he gave a hostile verdict. But although it did not fall to his lot
to trace out the great system of the Murray watershed, he had, at any
rate, the proud satisfaction of achieving the first stage.
Governor Macquarie, whose name has been sown broadcast over so much of
New South Wales, was a man bent on the development of the colony as
rapidly as possible, and although the defects in his administration have
been severely criticised, exploration received at his hands every
encouragement, and during his tenure of office, the first steps were
taken to open up the vast field of inland discovery. We must now remember
that the adaptability of the country to pastoral occupation was fully
recognised. The days when famine was imminent if the fleet from England
did not duly arrive had passed away. The future of the colony was
assured, provided fresh outlets could be opened up.
In 1813, the prolonged drought to which the little settlement had been
subjected, led to a most serious view being taken of the future. The
stock had now attained dimensions, when the yearly increase was something
considerable, compared to the narrow strip of grazing lands that
supported the herds. It was an evident necessity to find fresh territory
speedily, or great loss would inevitably ensue. Three of the settlers
interested in stock-breeding, made another attempt to cross the range
during this year. They were: William Charles Wentworth, whose name is so
familiar to Australians, Lieutenant Lawson, of the Royal Veteran Company,
and Mr. Gregory Blaxland. They crossed the Nepean at Emu Plains, and
attempted to follow up a main spur forming the watershed of the Grose,
and for a time successfully pursued its twists and windings, keeping to
the crown of the ridge. At last, like all their predecessors, they began
to get entangled in the intricate net-work of deep gullies that rendered
straightforward travelling so difficult in this region. Like them, they
commenced to think advance impossible, and to speak of turning back.
Passages had to be cut through the thick brushwood for their pack horses,
circuitous roads found around steeps too precipitous to scale, and the
purpose of the journey seemed hopelessly lost. They had succeeded in
crossing the first outwork of the mountains, but the Main Range had yet
to be won. At length they fortunately hit upon a dividing spur, leading
to the westward, and this they perseveringly followed, until they were
rewarded by reaching the summit, and seeing below them a comparatively
open valley, and beyond, chains of hills, broken it is true, but only
trifling compared to what they had passed over. It was a work of time and
much labour to gain access to this valley. The mountain they had ascended
was steep and rugged, and great care had to be exercised in descending.
But fatigue was not much thought of with their hopes so happily
fulfilled.
At the bottom of the valley they found a running stream and good pasture,
beyond this point they proceeded about six or eight miles in order to
ascertain the extent of their discoveries, and then returned, having been
absent one month.
The creek found by Blaxland and party was one of the tributaries of the
Nepean, so that granted that a range had been crossed, access had been
only obtained to the higher waters of a coast river. But although this
important journey fell short of one of the great aims of western
exploration, namely the discovery of a river flowing to the west, it was
the immediate cause of the expedition being undertaken that led to the
finding of the Macquarie.
George William Evans, Deputy-Surveyor of Lands, can certainly claim the
honour of first discovering an Australian inland river; but Blaxland and
his companions led the way across the hardest portion of the course.
As may well be believed, the tidings brought back by the exploring party
created great excitement in the small community. No longer would the
mountainous barrier frown defiance at them; for over thirty years it had
successfully resisted all their attempts, but its time had come; the
march to the west had at last commenced. On receipt of the news, Governor
Macquarie sent out Mr. Evans with a party to at once follow up this
discovery and find out what lay beyond. Evans crossed the Nepean on the
20th of November, and in six days arrived at the spot where the last
party had turned back. Striking westward, he found a broken, hilly
country, which was, however, well grassed and watered, presenting little
hindrance to his progress, and on the 30th of the month, he struck the
head of a stream holding a distinctly western course. Following this
down, he found it joined by another from the south, and below the
junction he gave the new found river the name of the Macquarie.
So promising was the country that he continued his course until the 18th
December, when finding the river, now of a fair magnitude, still flowing
steadily north-west, and not being prepared for a very prolonged absence,
he turned back and retraced his steps, arriving at the Nepean on the 8th
January, 1814. Strange to say, during the whole time of his absence in
this hitherto untrodden waste, the only natives seen by the party were
four women and two children.
This most successful termination of the work commenced by Messrs.
Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth, and the confirmation of the hopes that
had been entertained, led to more active steps being at once initiated.
Mr. Cox was entrusted with the superintendence of the work of
constructing a public road across the range, following much the same
route as that taken by the first explorers; and this work was completed
early in the year 1815, and on the 26th April of the same year the
Governor and a large staff set out to visit the new territory, and
arrived there on the 4th May.
Meantime, Mr. Evans was again sent out to the south-west, and once more
he was successful, returning with tidings of the discovery of the Lachlan
River. He was absent nearly a month, and met the Governor and suite on
their arrival at Bathurst Plains.
The course of the Lachlan being nearly due west, it was selected as
the most likely river of the two to lead immediately to the navigable
waters of the interior, which everybody now firmly believed in; but a
delay of nearly two years occurred before an expedition was formed to
carry into effect the purpose of following it down with boats.
Meantime, the settlers took every advantage of this new outlet for their
energies. Cattle and sheep were pushed out, and some of the land put
under tillage. Buildings rapidly sprang up, and, favoured by a beautiful
site, the township of Bathurst soon presented an orderly appearance.
Private enterprise had also been at work elsewhere, and the early pioneer
graziers were now making south from the settlement towards the Shoalhaven
River and the intermediate country. It was down here that young Hamilton
Hume, the first native-born explorer to take the field, was then gaining
his bushcraft. Hume was a son of the Rev. Andrew Hume, who held an
appointment in the Commissariat Department, and came to the colony in the
LADY JULIAN.
The future explorer was born at Parramatta in 1797, so that he was but
seventeen when, in 1814, he made his maiden effort in the country around
Berrima, in company with his brother and a black boy; and-in the year
following he again made an excursion in this district. In 1816 his father
conducted Dr. Throsby to new country that the energy of his sons had
discovered; and in March, 1817, at the time when Oxley was about starting
on his Lachlan expedition, Hume, at the request of Governor Macquarie,
went with Mr. Surveyor Meehan and Mr. Throsby on an expedition as far as
the Shoalhaven River. Here, in consequence of some dispute with Mr.
Meehan, Mr. Throsby left the party, and, accompanied by a black boy, made
his way to Port Jarvis.
Meehan and Hume continued their journey, and discovered Lake George, Lake
Bathurst, and the country called Goulburn Plains.
But the trip undertaken by Mr. Oxley at this time, leading as it did to
such unexpected results, claims our first attention. As the party were to
take boats with them, boat builders were sent up to Bathurst, thence to
proceed to the river and build the necessary craft. A depôt having been
formed on the Lachlan River, on the 6th of April, 1817, Mr. Oxley left
Sydney to join his party there, and arrived at this depôt on the 25th of
the same month, having been detained a short time at Bathurst. On the 1st
of May, Mr. Oxley reached the limit of Mr. Evans' journey in 1815, a
small creek which they christened Byrne Creek; from here the work of
exploration commenced.
The following is a list of the men comprising, this, the first most
important expedition in the annals of exploration:--
"John Oxley, chief of the expedition; George William Evans, second in
command; Allan Cunningham, King's botanist; Charles Fraser, colonial
botanist; William Parr, mineralogist; George Hubbard, boat builder; James
King, 1st boatman and sailor; James King, 2nd horseshoer; William Meggs,
butcher; Patrick Byrne, guide and horse leader; William Blake, harness
mender; George Simpson, for chaining with surveyors; William Warner,
servant to Mr. Oxley."
They had with them two boats and fourteen bât (pack) and riding horses.
Following the bank of the river the party met with no obstruction to
their progress for twelve days, save the usual accidents and delays
incidental to travelling in an unexplored region. Oxley's opinion of the
value of the new district had, as is evident from his journal, been
steadily decreasing since leaving the depôt. The flatness of the country,
the numerous branches of the river and the want of height visible in
its banks, seemingly depressed him very much. On the 6th of May he
writes:--
"I have reason to believe that the whole of the extensive tract of
country, named Princess Charlotte's Crescent" (about 130 miles west of
Bathurst), "is at times drowned by the overflowing of the river; the
marks of floods were observed in all directions, and the waters in the
marshes and lagoons were all traced as being derived from the river.
During a course of upwards of seventy miles, not a single running stream
emptied itself into the river on either side; and, I am forced to
conclude, that in common seasons this whole tract is extremely badly
watered, and that it derives its principal, if not only supply, from the
river within the bounding ranges of Princess Charlotte's Crescent. There
are doubtless many small eminences which might afford a retreat from the
inundations, but those which were observed by us were too trifling and
distant from each other to stand out distinct from the vast level surface
which the crescent presents to the view. The soil of the country we passed
over was a poor and cold clay; but there are many rich levels which, could
they be drained and defended from the inundations of the river, would
amply repay the cultivation. These flats are certainly not adapted for
cattle; the grass is too swampy, and the bushes, swamps, and lagoons are
too thickly intermingled with the better portions, to render it a safe or
desirable grazing country. The timber is universally bad and small; a few
misshapen gum trees on the immediate banks of the river may be considered
as exceptions."
On the 12th of May, their, as yet, uninterrupted course down the river
received an abrupt check.
"We had scarcely proceeded a mile from the last branch before it became
evident that it would be impossible to advance farther in the direction
in which we were travelling. The stream here overflowed both banks, and
its course was lost among marshes, its channel not being distinguishable
from the surrounding waters.
"Observing an eminence about half a mile from the south side, we crossed
over the horses and baggage" (by aid of the boats) "at a place where the
water was level with the banks, and which, when within its usual channel,
did not exceed thirty or forty feet in width; its depth even now being
only twelve feet.
"We ascended the hill, and had the mortification to perceive the
termination of our research, at least down this branch of the river. The
whole country from the west, north-west, round to the north, was either a
complete marsh or lay under water, and this for a distance of twenty-five
or thirty miles in those directions. To the south and south-west the
country appeared more elevated, but low, marshy grounds lay between us
and it, which rendered it impossible for us to proceed thither from our
present situation. I therefore determined to return back to the place
where the two branches of the principal river separated, and follow the
south-west branch as far as it should be navigable. Our fears were,
however, stronger than our hopes, lest it would end in a similar manner
to, the one we had already traced, until it became no longer navigable
for boats.
"In pursuance of this intention we descended the hill, which was named
Farewell Hill, from its being the termination of our journey in a
north-west direction, at least for the present, and proceeded up the
south bank of the stream."
The investigation of the south-west branch proving equally
unsatisfactory, Oxley determined to leave the river and strike for the
coast in the neighbourhood of Cape Northumberland, anticipating that on
this course he would intersect any river rising in these marshes and
falling into the sea between Spencer's Gulf and Cape Otway. The boats
were hauled up on the south bank and secured, together with such articles
as they could not take with them; and at nine o'clock on May 18th, the
journey to the coast commenced.
From having too much water the party now found themselves straitened for
want of it, and the journey, too, began to tell upon the horses. Thick
scrubs of eucalyptus brush, overrun with creepers and prickly acacia
bushes, soon helped to bar the way, and when they at last reached the
point of a range, which they named Peel Range, Oxley reluctantly
abandoned his idea of making for the coast in a south-west direction, and
turned north. Wearily he writes:--
"June 4. Weather as usual fine and clear, which is the greatest comfort
we enjoy in these deserts abandoned by every living creature capable of
getting out of them. I was obliged to send the horses back to our former
halting place for water, a distance of near eight miles this is terrible
for the horses, who are in general extremely reduced but two in
particular cannot, I think, endure this miserable existence much longer.
"At five o'clock, two men whom I had sent to explore the country to the
south-west and see if any water could be found, returned after proceeding
six or seven miles; they found it impossible to go any farther in that
direction or even south, from the thick bushes that intersected their
course on every side; and no water (nor, in fact, the least sign of any)
was discovered either by them or by those who were sent in search of it
nearer our little camp."
* * * * *
"June 5. From everything I can see of the country to the south-west, it
appears, upon the most mature deliberation, highly imprudent to persevere
longer in that direction, as the consequences to the horses of want of
grass and water might be most serious; and we are well assured that
within forty miles on that point the country is the same as before passed
over. In adopting a north-westerly course, it is my intention to be
entirely guided by the possibility of procuring subsistence for the
horses, that being the main point on which all our ulterior proceedings
must hinge. It is, however, to be expected that as the country is
certainly lower to the west and north-west than from south-east to
south-west, there is a greater probability of finding water in this
latter direction. In our present perplexing situation, however, it is
impossible to lay down any fixed plan, as (be it what it may)
circumstances after all must guide us. Our horses are unable to go more
than eight or ten miles a day, but even then they must be assured of
finding food, of which, in these deserts, the chances are against the
existence.
"Yesterday being the King's birthday, Mr. Cunningham planted under Mount
Brogden acorns, peach and apricot stones, and quince seeds, with the
hope, rather than the expectation, that they would grow and serve to
commemorate the day and situation, should these desolate plains be ever
again visited by civilised man, of which, however, I think there is very
little probability.
"June 6. A mild pleasant morning: set forward on our journey to the
westward and north-west, in hopes of finding a better country."
* * * * *
"June 8th. The whole country in these directions, as far as the eye could
reach, was one continued thicket of eucalyptus scrub. It was physically
impossible to proceed that way, and our situation was too critical to
admit of delay; it was therefore resolved to return back to our last
station on the 6th, under Peel's Range, if for no other purpose than that
of giving the horses water. I felt that by attempting to proceed westerly
I should endanger the safety of every man composing the expedition,
without any practical good arising from such perseverance, It was
therefore deemed more prudent to keep along the base of Peel's Range to
its termination, having some chance of finding water in its rocky
ravines, whilst there was none at all in attempting to keep the level
country."
We have now seen how Oxley, prevented from following the river down by an
overflow amongst the marshes, turned south-west, only to be driven back
by impenetrable scrubs and general aridity. He struck north, with the
hope of shortly regaining the too well watered country he had left. The
fixed idea of the utterly useless nature of the country is ever present
in his mind as he proceeds. On the 21st June he writes:--
"The farther we proceed north-westerly the more convinced I am hat for
all the practical purposes of civilised man the interior of this country,
westward of a certain meridian, is uninhabitable, deprived as it 5 of
wood, water and grass."
A sweeping and hasty condemnation this, considering that he threshold of
the interior had been scarcely more than crossed.
On the 23rd of June the travellers suddenly and unexpectedly came upon
the river again, an incident, as the leader says, little expected by any
one.
The next day they started once more to follow down the stream, with
brighter hopes of better success, until, on the 7th of July, progress was
once more arrested, and Oxley turned back recording in his journal:--
"It is with infinite regret and pain that I was forced to come to the
conclusion that the interior of this vast country is a marsh, and
uninhabitable."
The party now retraced their steps to the eastward, disgusted with the
want of success that had attended their efforts, and the dreary monotony
of their surroundings.
"There is a uniformity in the barren desolateness of this country which
wearies one more than I am able to express. One tree, one soil, one
water, and one description of bird, fish, or animal prevails alike for
ten miles and for one hundred. A variety of wretchedness is at all times
preferable to one unvarying cause of pain or distress."
On the 4th of August, being then satisfied of their position on the
river, and knowing that a further course along its bank would only lead
them amongst the swamps that had stayed their downward journey, it was
determined to strike to the northeastward, in order to avoid this low
country and, if possible, reach the Macquarie River and follow it up to
the settlement of Bathurst. After experiencing some difficulty in
manufacturing a raft out of pine logs, whereby to cross their baggage
over, Oxley and his party left the Lachlan.
They endured for some time a repetition of their struggles in the south
for grass and water, and then the explorers reached fertile and
well-watered country; and, on the 19th of August, halted on the bank of
the Macquarie, which river Oxley found to equal his fondest hopes. They
now turned their steps homeward, and arrived at Bathurst on the evening
of the 29th of August.
Convinced that, in the Macquarie, he had now discovered the highway into
the interior, Oxley writes:--
"Nothing can afford a stronger contrast than the two rivers, Lachlan and
Macquarie; different in their habit, their appearance, and the sources
from which they derive their waters, but, above all, differing in the
country bordering on them; the one constantly receiving great accession
of water from four streams, and as liberally rendering fertile a great
extent of country, whilst the other, from its source to its termination,
is constantly diffusing and diminishing the waters it originally receives
over low and barren deserts, creating only wet flats and uninhabitable
morasses, and during its protracted and sinuous course, is never indebted
to a single tributary stream."
Oxley having successfully carried through the Lachlan expedition, was at
once selected to command a similar one down the Macquarie, on which, now
that the former river had so disappointed expectations, men's hopes were
fixed. Oxley seems to have been particularly unhappy in his deductions,
every guess hazarded by him as to the future utility of the country he
passed over, or the probable nature of the farther interior, was
incorrect; and now the Macquarie was to refuse to bear his boat's keel to
the westward; after the same manner as the Lachlan.
In those days men had not yet mastered the idea that the physical
formation of Australia was not to be worked out on the same lines as that
of other countries; they looked vainly for a river with a wide and noble
opening, and none being found on the surveyed coast, conjecture placed it
far away in a few leagues of unexplored shore line on the north-west. The
constancy with which the southern coast had been examined, precluded all
idea from men's minds that the entrance to this long sought river was
there. No, it must be yet undiscovered to the westward. Wentworth says:--
"If the sanguine hopes to which the discovery of this river (the
Macquarie) has given birth, should be realised, and it should be found to
empty itself into the ocean on the north-west coast, which is the only
part of this vast island that has not been accurately surveyed, in what
mighty conceptions of the future greatness and power of this colony, may
we not reasonably indulge? The nearest distance from the point at which
Mr. Oxley left off, to any part of the western coast, is very little
short of two thousand miles. If this river, therefore, be already of the
size of the Hawkesbury at Windsor, which is not less than two hundred and
fifty yards in breadth, and of sufficient depth to float a seventy-four
gun ship, it is not difficult to imagine what must be its magnitude at
its confluence with the ocean: before it can arrive at which it has to
traverse a country nearly two thousand miles in extent. If it possess the
usual sinuosities of rivers, its course to the sea cannot be less than
from five to six thousand miles, and the endless accession of tributary
streams which it must receive in its passage through so great an extent
of country will without doubt enable it to vie in point of magnitude with
any river in the world."
It may, therefore, well be imagined that it was in a most sanguine spirit
that Oxley undertook his second journey.
As before, a party had been sent ahead to build boats, and get everything
in readiness, and, on the 6th June, 1818, he started on his second
expedition into the interior. He had with him, as next in command, the
indefatigable Evans, Dr. Harris, who volunteered, Charles Frazer,
botanist, and twelve men, eighteen horses, two boats, and provisions for
twenty-four weeks.
On the 23rd of the month, having reached a distance of nearly 125 miles
from the depôt in Wellington Valley, without the travellers experiencing
more obstruction than might have been expected, two men, Thomas Thatcher
and John Hall, were sent back to Bathurst with a report to Governor
Macquarie, as had been previously arranged.
No sooner had the two parties separated, one with high hopes of their
future success, the others bearing back tidings of these confident hopes,
than doubt and distrust entered the mind of the leader. In his journal,
written not twenty-four hours after the departure of his messengers, he
says:--
"For four or five miles there was no material change in the general
appearance of the country from what it had been on the preceding days,
but for the fast six miles the land was very considerably lower,
interspersed with plains clear of timber, and dry. On the banks it was
still lower, and in many parts it was evident that the river floods swept
over them, though this did not appear to be universally the case. . . .
These unfavourable appearances threw a damp upon our hopes, and we
feared that our anticipations had been too sanguine."
In his after report to the Governor, forwarded by Mr. Evans to Newcastle,
he writes:--
"My letter, dated the 22nd June last, will have made your Excellency
acquainted with the sanguine hopes I entertained from the appearance of
the river, that its termination would be either in interior waters or
coastwise. When I wrote that letter to your Excellency, I certainly did
not anticipate the possibility that a very few days farther travelling
would lead us to its termination as an accessible river."
So short-lived were the hopes he had entertained.
On the 30th June, after, for many days, finding the country becoming
flatter and more liable to floods, Oxley found himself almost hemmed in
by water, and had to return with the whole party to a safer encampment,
where a consultation was held. It was decided to send the horses and
baggage back to Mount Harris, a small elevation some fifteen miles higher
up the river, whilst Oxley himself, with four volunteers and the large
boat, proceeded down the river, taking with them a month's provisions.
During his absence, Mr. Evans was to proceed to the north-east some sixty
miles, and return upon a more northerly course, this being the direction
the party intended taking if the river failed them.
Let us see how Oxley fared.
"July 2. I proceeded down the river, during one of the wettest and most
stormy days we had yet experienced. About twenty miles from where I set
out, there was, properly speaking, no country; the river overflowing its
banks, and dividing into streams, which I found had no permanent
separation from the main branch, but united themselves to it on a
multitude of points. We went seven or eight miles farther, when we
stopped for the night, upon a space of ground scarcely large enough to
enable us to kindle a fire. The principal stream ran with great rapidity
and its banks and neighbourhood as far as we could see, were covered with
wood, inclosing us within a margin or bank, vast spaces of country clear
of timber were under water, and covered with the common reed, which grew
to the height of six or seven feet above the surface. The course and
distance by the river was estimated to be from twenty-seven to thirty
miles, on a north-west line.
"July 3rd. Towards the morning the storm abated, and at daylight we
proceeded on our voyage. The main bed of the river was much contracted,
but very deep, the waters spreading to a depth of a foot or eighteen
inches over the banks, but all running on the same point of bearing. We
met with considerable interruption from fallen timber, which in places
nearly choked up the channel. After going about twenty miles we lost the
land and trees: the channel of the river, which lay through reeds, and
was from one to three feet deep, ran northerly. This continued for three
or four miles further, when although there had been no previous change in
the breadth, depth, and rapidity of the stream for several miles, and I
was sanguine in my expectations of soon entering the long sought for
Australian sea, it all at once eluded our further search by spreading on
every point from northwest to northeast, amongst the ocean of reeds that
surrounded us still running with the same rapidity as before. There was
no channel whatever amongst these reeds, and the depth varied from five
to three feet. This astonishing change (for I cannot call it a
termination of the river), of course, left me no alternative but to
endeavour to return to some spot on which we could effect a landing
before dark. I estimated that on this day we had gone about twenty-four
miles, on nearly the same point of bearing as yesterday. To assert
positively that we were on the margin of the lake or sea into which this
great body of water is discharged might reasonably be deemed a conclusion
which has nothing but conjecture for its basis; but if an opinion may be
permitted to be hazarded from actual appearances, mine is decidedly in
favour of our being in the vicinity of an inland sea or lake, most
probably a shoal one, and gradually filling up by immense depositions
from the higher lands, left by the waters which flow into it. It is most
singular that the high lands on this continent seem to be confined to the
sea coast or not to extend to any distance from it."
Satisfied that to the westward nothing more could be done in the way of
exploration, Oxley returned to Mount Harris, where a temporary depôt was
formed. Mr. Evans immediately started on a trip to the north-east; he was
absent ten days, during which time he discovered the Castlereagh River.
The weather had set in wet and stormy, the rivers kept rising and
falling, and the level country was soft and boggy, excessively tiring to
their jaded horses; moreover, in consequence of the boats being now left
behind, the packs were greatly increased in weight.
On the 20th July, the whole of the party bade adieu to the Macquarie,
which they had once trusted to so fondly, and commenced their journey to
the eastern coast, making in the first place for Arbuthnot's Range.
Before leaving, a bottle was buried on Mount Harris, containing a written
scheme of their proposed route and intentions, with some silver coin.
On July 27th, they reached the bank of the Castlereagh, after a hard
struggle through the bogs and swamps. The river was flooded, and must
have risen almost directly after Mr. Evans crossed it on his homeward
route. It was not until the 2nd of August that the waters fell
sufficiently to allow them to cross. Still steering for the range, their
course lay across shaking quagmires, or wading through miles of water;
constantly having to unload and reload the unfortunate horses, who could
scarcely get through the bog without their packs. Before reaching the
range, the party camped at the small hill, previously ascended by Mr.
Evans. Here they found the compass strangely affected: on placing it on a
rock the card flew round with extreme velocity, and then suddenly settled
at opposite points, the north point becoming the south. A short distance
from the base of the hill the needle regained its proper position. This
hill received the name of Loadstone Hill.
Crossing Arbuthnot Range round the northern base of Mount Exmouth, the
explorers, although still terribly harassed by the boggy state of the
country, found themselves in splendid pastoral land. Hills, dales, and
plains of the richest description lay before them, and from the
elevations the view presented was of the most varied kind; this tract of
country was called by Oxley Liverpool Plains. On Mount Tetley, and many
of the hills about, the same variations of the compass were observed as
had formerly been noticed on Loadstone Hill. Through this beautiful
district the party now had a less arduous journey than before, and their
horses were able to regain some of their lost strength.
On the 2nd of September, they crossed a river which they named the Peel
River, and here one of their number narrowly escaped drowning. Still
pushing eastward, and continuing to travel through beautiful grazing
country Oxley was suddenly stopped by a deep glen running across his
track:--
"This tremendous ravine runs near north and south, its breadth at the
bottom does not apparently exceed one hundred or two hundred feet, whilst
the separation of the outer edges is from two to three miles. I am
certain that in perpendicular depth it exceeds three thousand feet. The
slopes from the edges were so steep and covered with loose stones that
any attempt to descend even on foot was impracticable. From either side
of this abyss, smaller ravines of similar character diverged, the
distance between which seldom exceeded half-a-mile. Down them trickled
small rills of water, derived from the range on which we were. We could
not, however, discern which way the water in the main valley ran, as the
bottom was concealed by a thicket of vines and creeping plants."
This barrier turned them to the south, and afterwards to the west again;
on the way, they met with a grand fall one hundred and fifty feet in
height, which they named Becket's Cataract. At the head of the glen they
found another fall which they estimated at two hundred and thirty feet in
height; crossing above this cataract, which was called Bathurst's Fall,
the eastern course was once more resumed, and tempests and storms found
them wandering amongst the deep ravines and gloomy forests of the coast
range, seeking for a descent to the lower lands.
On the 23rd of September, Oxley, accompanied by Evans, ascended a
mountain to try and discover a practicable route, and from there caught
sight of the sea.
"Bilboa's ecstasy at the first sight of the South Sea could not have been
greater than ours when, on gaining the summit of this mountain, we beheld
Old Ocean at our feet: it inspired us with new life: every difficulty
vanished, and in imagination we were already home."
Now commenced the final descent, and a perilous one it was:--
"How the horses descended I scarcely know; and the bare recollection of
the imminent dangers which they escaped makes me tremble. At one period
of the descent I would willingly have compromised for a loss of one third
of them to ensure the safety of the remainder. It is to the exertions and
steadiness of the men, under Providence, that their safety must be
ascribed. The thick tufts of grass and the loose soil also gave them a
surer footing, of which the men skilfully availed themselves."
They were now on a river running direct to the sea, which was named the
Hastings River, and which the party followed down with more or less
trouble until they reached a port at the mouth of it, which the explorer,
after the fashion of the day, immediately dubbed Port Macquarie. It is an
unfortunate thing for New South Wales that such an absence of originality
with regard to naming newly discovered places was displayed by the
travellers of that time.
On the 12th of October, the wanderers made a final start for home,
commencing a toilsome march along the coast south. Stopped and
interrupted for a time by many inlets and creeks, they at last came upon
a boat buried in the sand, which had belonged to a Hawkesbury vessel,
lost some time before; this boat they carried with them as far as Port
Stephens, where they arrived on the 1st of November, using it to
facilitate the passage of the salt water arms. During the latter part of
this wearisome journey, they were much harassed by unprovoked attacks by
the natives, and one of the men, William Black, was dangerously wounded,
being speared through the back and in the lower part of the body.
Oxley had thus, after innumerable hardships and dangers, brought his
party, with the exception of the wounded man, back in safety to the
settlements. True he had not fulfilled the mission he was dispatched on,
but he had discovered large tracts of valuable land fit for settlement;
he had crossed the formidable coast range far away to the north, and
established the fact that communication between his newly discovered port
and the interior was practicable. Oxley's expeditions were both well
equipped and well carried out, he also had the assistance of able and
zealous coadjutors, each or any of them being capable of assuming the
leadership in case of misfortune. His travels may be said to inaugurate
the series of brilliant exploits in the field of exploration that we are
about to enter on.
In 1819, Messrs. Oxley and Meehan, accompanied by young Hume, made a
short excursion to Jarvis Bay, Oxley returning by sea, his companions
overland.
The era of the pioneer squatter had now commenced henceforth exploration
and pastoral enterprise went hand in hand. North and south of the new
town of Bathurst, the advance of the flocks and herds went on; Oxley's
report may have somewhat checked a westerly migration, but the stay in
that direction was not doomed to last long. Northward, to and beyond the
Cugeegong River and the fertile valley of the Upper Hunter, southward,
towards the mysterious Morumbidgee, which was now reported as having been
found by the settlers, pressed the pioneers. It is not known who was the
first discoverer of this river. Hume, in company with Throsby, must have
been close to it during their various excursions, and in 1821 Hume
discovered Yass Plains, almost on its bank. It was, however, destined to
be the future highway to the undiscovered land of the west.
In 1822 Messrs. Lawson and Scott attempted to reach Liverpool Plains,
Oxley's great discovery, from Bathurst; they were, however, unable to
penetrate the range that formed the southern boundary of the Plains, and
returned, having discovered a new river at the foot of the range, which
they named the Goulburn.
In 1823, Oxley, Cunningham, and Currie were all in the field in different
directions.
On the 22nd of May, Captain Mark John Currie, R.N., accompanied by
Brigade-Major Ovens, and having with them Joseph Wild, a notable bushman,
started on an exploratory trip south of Lake George. On the 1st of June,
they came to the Morumbidgee, as it was then called, and followed up the
bank of it, looking for a crossing. The day before they had caught sight
of a high range of mountains to the southward, partially snow-topped. In
their progress along the river they came to fine open downs and plains,
which, with the singularly bad taste, which still, unfortunately, holds
sway, Currie immediately named after the then Governor, "Brisbane Downs;"
although but a short time before they had learnt from the aborigines the
native name of Monaroo. Fortunately, in this instance, Monaroo has been
preserved, and Brisbane Downs forgotten.
On the 6th June they crossed the river, and found the open country still
stretching south, bounded to the west by the snowy mountains they had
formerly seen, and to the east by a range that they took to be the coast
range. Their provisions being limited, they turned back, and reached
Throsby's farm of Bong-Bong on the 14th of the same month.
Cunningham, meantime, during the months of April, May, and June, was
busily engaged in the country north of Bathurst. He had two purposes in
view--his pursuit as a botanist, and the discovery of a pass through the
northern range on to Liverpool Plains, which Lieutenant Lawson had been
unable to find. On reaching the range he searched vainly to the eastward
for any valley that would enable him to pierce the barrier, and had to
retrace his steps and seek more to the west. Here he came upon a pass,
which he called Pandora's Pass, [See Appendix.] and which he found to be
practicable as a stock route to the plains. He returned to Bathurst on
the 27th of June.
In October, Oxley started from Sydney on a very different kind of
expedition to those lately undertaken by him. His mission now was to
examine the inlets of Port Curtis, Moreton Bay, and Port Bowen, with a
view to forming penal establishments there. On the 21st of October,
therefore, 1823, he left in the colonial cutter MERMAID, accompanied by
Messrs. Stirling and Uniacke. At Port Macquarie, Oxley had the pleasure
of seeing the settlement that had so rapidly sprung up on his
recommendation of the suitability of the port. Further on, they
discovered and named the Tweed River. On the 6th November, the MERMAID
anchored in Port Curtis. Here the party remained for some time, and found
and christened the Boyne River. Oxley's report was unfavourable.
"Having," he says, "viewed and examined with the most anxious attention
every point that afforded the least promise of being eligible for the
site of a settlement, I respectfully submit it as my opinion, that Port
Curtis and its vicinity do not afford such a site; and I do not think
that any convict establishment could be formed there that would return
either from the natural productions of the country, or as arising from
agricultural labour, any portion of the great expense which would
necessarily attend its first formation."
As it was too late in the season to examine Port Bowen, the MERMAID went
south, entered Moreton Bay, and anchored off the river that Flinders had
christened Pumice Stone River, heading from the Glass House Peaks. Here a
singular adventure occurred:--
"Scarcely was the anchor let go," writes Mr. Uniacke, "when we perceived
a number of natives, at the distance of about a mile, advancing rapidly
towards the vessel; and on looking at them with the glass from the
masthead, I observed one who appeared much larger than the rest, and of a
lighter colour, being a light copper, while all the others were black."
This light-coloured native turned out to be a white man, one Thomas
Pamphlet. In company with three others he had left Sydney in an open
boat, to bring cedar from the Five Islands, but, being driven out to sea
by a gale, they had suffered terrible hardships, being (so he stated) at
one time twenty-one days without water, during which time one man had
died of thirst. Finally they were wrecked on Moreton Island, and had
lived with the blacks ever since--a period of seven months. Pamphlet
informed them that his two companions were named Finnegan and Parsons,
and that they had started to make for Sydney, overland, but, after going
some fifty miles, he (Pamphlet) returned, and shortly afterwards was
joined by Finnigan, who had quarrelled with Parsons. The latter was never
heard of.
Next day Finnegan turned up, and both he and Pamphlet, agreeing that at
the south end of the bay there was a large river. Messrs. Oxley and
Stirling started the following morning in the whale boat to look for it;
taking Finnegan with them. They found the river, and pulled up it about
fifty miles, being greatly satisfied with the discovery. Not being
provided for a longer trip, Oxley turned back at a point he named
Termination Hill, which he ascended and from which he obtained a fine
view of the further course of the river. Still haunted by his inland lake
theory, and as usual drawing erroneous deductions, he writes:--
"The nature of the country, and a consideration of all the circumstances
connected with the appearance of the river, justify me in entertaining a
strong belief that the sources of the river will not be found in
mountainous country, but rather that it flows from some lake, which will
prove to be the receptacle of those interior streams crossed by me during
an expedition of discovery in 1818."
This river Oxley named the Brisbane, and taking with them the two rescued
men, the MERMAID set sail for Sydney, where the party arrived on December
13th. With regard to the shipwrecked men, it may be here mentioned that
their conviction at the time they were found was, that they were to the
south of Sydney, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Jarvis Bay.
Oxley's work and his life too were now almost at a close. He died at
Kirkham, his private residence, near Sydney, on the 25th of May, 1828. He
had been essentially a successful explorer, for although he had not in
every case attained the issue aimed at, he had always brought his men
back in safety, and had opened up vast tracts of new country. [See
Appendix.]
The journey made by Messrs. Hume and Hovell across to Port Phillip has a
character of its own, being the first successful trip undertaken from
shore to shore, from the eastern to the southern coast. The expedition
originated from a somewhat wild idea that entered the head of that
unpopular governor Sir Thomas Brisbane.
Surveyor-General Oxley, not having determined the question as to whether
any large rivers entered the sea between Cape Otway and Spencer's Gulf,
excepting to his own satisfaction, Sir Thomas Brisbane bit upon the
scheme of landing a party of prisoners near Wilson's Promontory, and
inducing them, by the offer of a free pardon and a land grant, to find
their way to Sydney overland; and that they should have a better chance
of eventually turning up, it was recommended that an experienced bushman
should be put in charge of them. The flattering, if somewhat dangerous,
offer of this position was made to Mr. Hume, who, on consideration,
declined it; he, however, offered to conduct a party from Lake George,
then the outermost station, or nearly so, to Western Port, if the
Government provided necessary assistance. The Government accepted h is
offer, but forgot to provide the assistance. This caused much delay and
vexation, and Mr. Hovell, offering to join the party and find half the
necessary men and cattle, the Government agreed to do something in the
matter. This something amounted to six pack-saddles and gear, one tent of
Parramatta cloth, two tarpaulins, a suit of slop clothes each for the
men, two skeleton charts for tracing their journey, a few bush utensils,
and the following promise: a cash payment for the hire of the cattle
should any important discovery be made. This money was refused on the
return of the party, and Mr. Hume states that he had even much difficulty
in obtaining tickets-of-leave for the men, and an order to select 1,200
acres of land for himself. Mr. Hovell was a retired shipmaster, who had
been for some time settled in Australia. Each of the leaders brought with
them three men, so that the strength of the expedition was eight men in
all. They had with them two carts, five bullocks, and three horses.
On October 14th, 1824, the party left Lake George. On reaching the
Murrumbidgee they found it flooded, and after waiting three days, and the
river continuing the same, an attempt was made to cross, and by means of
the body of a cart rigged up as a punt with a tarpaulin, they succeeded.
On the south side of the river they found the country broken, and
somewhat difficult to make good progress through, but it was all well
grassed and adapted to grazing purposes. Here, as might have been
anticipated, they soon had to leave their carts behind, and pack their
cattle for the remainder of their journey. Following the Murrumbidgee,
after a short distance they left it for a south-west course, which still
led them through hills and valleys rich with good grass and running
water.
On November 8th, they were destined to enjoy a sight never before
witnessed by white men in Australia. Ascending a range, in order to get a
view of the country ahead of them, they suddenly came in front of
snowcapped mountains. There, under the brilliant sun of an Australian
summer's day, rose lofty peaks that might have found a fitting home in
some far polar clime, covered as they were for nearly one-fourth of their
height with glistening snow.
Skirting this range, which was called the Australian Alps, the
travellers, after eight days wandering through the spurs of the lofty
mountains they had just seen, came on a fine flowing river, which Mr.
Hume named after his father the "Hume," destined to be afterwards called
the Murray when visited lower down.
Failing to find a ford, a makeshift boat was constructed by the aid of
the useful tarpaulin, and the passage of the Hume safely accomplished.
Still passing through good available country watered by fine flowing
streams, on the 24th they crossed the Ovens River, and on the 3rd of
December they came to another river, which they called the Hovell (now
the Goulburn), and on the 16th of the same month reached the sea shore,
near where Geelong now stands. Two days afterwards they commenced their
return, and on the 18th January arrived at Lake George.
This exploration had a great and lasting bearing on the extension of
Australian settlement. A few years after one of the highest authorities
then in the colony had deemed the western interior, beyond a certain
limit, unfitted for human habitation; and expressed his opinion that the
monotonous flats over which he vainly looked for any rise, extended
almost to the sea coast--snow-clad mountains, feeding innumerable
streams, were discovered to the south of his track.
The successful and arduous expedition led by the young native-born
explorer, had the twofold effect of exposing Oxley's fallacies, and
teaching a lesson of caution to future explorers not to indulge hastily
in general condemnation. This lesson, however, has not been heeded; the
history of Australian exploration being a history of conclusions drawn
one year, to be falsified the next. Hume's journey to Port Phillip at
once added to the British-Colonial Empire millions of acres of arable land
watered by never-failing rivers, with a climate calculated to foster the
growth of almost any species of fruit or grain.
It is a pity that in concluding the review of an expedition, fraught with
so much benefit to the colony, and carried out with so much courage,
hardihood, and facility of resource, that it cannot also be said, and
marked with the same cheerful spirit that pervaded those of Oxley's, but
unfortunately, the evil feeling of jealously that would arise from the
presence of two leaders, showed plainly throughout in petty and
undignified squabbles, which, in after days, led to paper warfare between
the two explorers. It is painful, if amusing, to read of the disagreement
as to their course in very sight of the lately discovered Australian
Alps, and how, on agreeing to separate and divide the outfit, it was
proposed to cut the tent in half, and the only frying-pan was broken by
both parties pulling at it.
Thomas Boyd, the only survivor of the party in 1883, who was then
eighty-six years old, was the first white man to cross the Murray, which
he did, swimming it with a line in his mouth. In the year named he signed
a document, giving the credit of taking the party through in safety to
Hume. Boyd himself was one of the most active members of the expedition,
and always to the front when there was any work to be done.
The training that Hume received in this, and his former journey,
admirably qualified him to become the companion of Sturt in his first
expedition when he discovered the other great artery of the Murray
system, the Darling. The young explorer was thus singularly fortunate in
having his name connected with the discovery of two of the most important
rivers in Australia. In the trip just narrated he and his companion,
Hovell, had arrested the hasty conclusion that was being formed as to the
aridity of the interior. The result of their expedition held out high
hopes for any future explorer, and the report they brought in was
afterwards fully confirmed by Major Mitchell.