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The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888

E >> Ernest Favenc >> The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888




The cattle that had escaped from the settlement had, with their usual
instinct, wandered on until they had found suitable grazing land on the
Nepean, and there had settled down. When discovered they had thriven
well, and increased into a small herd. By the Governor's direction they
were left unmolested, being but occasionally visited, and their run
became known as the Cow Pastures.

Mr. Bass, the bold explorer of Bass Strait, in company with some other
gentlemen, visited these pasture lands in 1797, and from Mount Taurus, on
the Nepean River, took a straight course to the coast, where a whale boat
was sent to meet them. Their .experience was of the usual kind. After
leaving the fertile grazing lands appropriated by the cattle, they
crossed a succession of barren ridges, gradually growing worse and worse
until the sea was reached.

Bass had, before this, attempted to cross the range in 1796. His attempt
was of the same character as all the others, failure and disappointment
attending his steps, although the endeavour to obtain success was carried
through, as might be expected, with his usual untiring energy and
contempt for danger. It is sad to think that a career that opened so
brilliantly should have been doomed to close miserably in the mines of
South America.

Having become partially convinced that there was no high road to be found
between Port Jackson and the Chinese Empire, some of the convicts
(principally the Irish prisoners) became possessed with the notion that a
colony of white people existed three or four hundred miles in the
interior, south-west of the settlement. This tale, highly embellished,
was sufficient to inflame the imaginations of men condemned to servitude,
and panting for liberty. The existing rumour being found out by the
authorities, it proved on investigation that so far had this preposterous
legend gained ground that written instructions had been issued for
guidance to this Arcadia, accompanied with a paper having the figure of a
compass drawn on it. The Governor, wishing to save these foolish dupes
from the punishment and probable loss of life that would necessarily
ensue in carrying out such a wild project, wrote to a magistrate at
Parramatta the following instructions. He was to go to Toongabbie, where
most of these infatuated men were employed, and, knowing how impossible
it would be to reason them out of their belief, he was to inform them
that four picked men would be allowed to start out and satisfy themselves
of the impossibility of any show of success attending their search, and
that in order to ensure their safe return three experienced men would be
sent as guides with them.

On receipt of this information so many assembled that stricter measures
had to be taken, and sixteen of the number were arrested and sent to
Sydney for punishment. Four men were then selected by the malcontents
themselves, and were about to depart in search of the supposed colony
when a treacherous plot was discovered. A scheme was on foot for a
stronger party of convicts to abscond, and these meeting the explorers at
a pre-arranged spot, should there murder the guides, and having possessed
themselves of their weapons, the prisoners would be at liberty to
prosecute their researches alone. Four soldiers were added to the party
to resist any attempt of this sort, and on the 14th January, 1798, they
left Parramatta in search of El Dorada.

Amongst the men chosen to act as guides was one James Wilson, who had for
some time previously been living in the bush with the natives, and had
even submitted to his body being marked and scarred after their fashion.
On his return from this nomadic existence, he stated that he had
traversed the country for nearly one hundred miles in every direction
around the settlement, and discoursed at length upon having seen large
tracts of open country, and many strange birds and animals, unknown to
the settlers. His stories were for the most part discredited, but it was
thought that his experiences would be most useful to the party, and he
was therefore selected.

Ten days after the explorers left, the soldiers returned with three of
the delegates. On reaching the foot of the mountains, where it was
arranged that the soldiers were to leave the party and return home, these
three men were so thoroughly tired of their quest, and convinced of their
folly, that they had begged to be allowed to go back.

On the 9th February the remainder of the expedition reached Prospect Hill
more dead than alive. Wilson alone had kept heart, and managed to sustain
the flagging spirits of his companions sufficiently to enable them to
stagger in to the settlement.

Their report of the surroundings of the colony contained little more than
what was already known or guessed at. They described the country passed
over as alternating between barren, rocky ridges and spacious meadows.
Running creeks had been crossed, and they turned back on the bank of a
river which they described as being as large as the Hawkesbury, with
level country in view on the opposite side.

They had seen but few natives, and those they saw were clothed in skins
from head to foot. Amongst other novelties they had noticed the blue-gum
trees, the mountain wallaroo, which had drawn their attention from being
larger and fatter than those formerly familiar to them, a kind of
pheasant, as they described it, now known as the lyre-bird, a specimen of
which the brought back with them, and a kind of mole, the modern wombat,
one of which formed their last meal before reaching the settlement. These
accounts corroborated the former reports made by Wilson. This expedition
was, however, of not much service from a geographical point of view, from
the unreliability of the course kept.

The party also reported coming across a hill of salt, and in the month of
March, Henry Hacking was sent out to inspect it. He was accompanied by
Wilson and another man, who were supplied with provisions and directed to
penetrate as far into the country as their supplies would permit. Hacking
found that several veins of salt existed, and the two men stated that
they had succeeded in getting 140 miles S.W. by W. from Prospect Hill.
During their journey they had travelled over many varieties of country,
crossing a number of narrow creeks and rivers with which the land was
intersected. They passed through much promising country and much that was
unpromising. From the summits of some of the higher hills that they
ascended, they had extensive views to the westward, and as usual, saw
mountain rising upon mountain in that direction. They brought back
another specimen of the lyre-bird.

In the year '97 preceding this trip, some convicts had boarded and seized
a colonial-built boat, called the CUMBERLAND, during her passage to the
Hawkesbury. The crew were landed at Pitt Water, and making their way from
there overland gave information of the piracy. Two boats under Lieutenant
Shortland started in pursuit. One returned in a few days, but Shortland
with the other went as far north as Port Stephens without, however,
seeing anything of the pirates. His voyage was not by any means destitute
of result, as on his return he found a river; "into which he carried
three fathoms of water in the shoalest part of its entrance, finding deep
water and good anchorage within. The entrance of this river was but
narrow, and covered by a high rocky island, lying right off, so as to
leave a good passage round the north end of the island between that and
the shore. A reef connects the south part of the island with the south
shore of the entrance of the river. In this harbour was found a very
considerable quantity of coal of a very good sort, and lying so near the
water's side as to be conveniently shipped; which gave it, in this
particular, manifest advantage over that discovered to the southward.
Some specimens of this coal were brought up in the boat." In the
foregoing description, the Hunter River and the present harbour of
Newcastle will be easily recognised.

In July, of the year '99, Flinders was instructed by the Governor to
examine the two large openings marked by Cook on the east coast, namely,
Glass House Bay and Hervey Bay. Glass House Bay--now Moreton Bay--was so
called after some remarkable peaks that were visible on the north side.
These peaks Captain Flinders made an excursion to examine, and from the
summit of one obtained an extended view over the surrounding country,
nothing novel, however, being seen. At Hervey's Bay, too, the only
additional information gained, was of a nautical character, the natives
seeming to be the most interesting objects met with.

Wilson, whose career amongst the natives, and as an explorer is most
notable, now met his death in a sufficiently tragic, if appropriate,
manner. This man had served the term of his transportation, and both as a
convict and a free man had passed a great part of his time wandering
through the bush with the aboriginals. He had been suspected, justly or
unjustly, of prompting the blacks to attack the settlers; aiding them
with his knowledge of the habits of the whites, and the best season for
carrying out their designs. At any rate, his long intercourse with the
natives had rendered him careless of consequences, and a flagrant
violation of their customs led to his being speared.

During the governorship of Captain King, Ensign Barraillier came to the
front as an explorer. He was notably an accurate and painstaking
surveyor, and although his expeditions were circumscribed by the ever
present barrier of the Blue Mountains, he was evidently an indefatigable
worker in the cause of science. From a letter of Governor King's,
addressed to Sir Joseph Banks in May, 1803, we learn something of
Barraillier, and also of the petty private squabbles that prevailed
amongst the colonists, even in the highest quarters. Governor King
writes:--

"As our maritime surveying is now turned over to Captain Flinders, who
has the LADY NELSON with him, by the Admiralty's direction, I had begun
making discoveries in the interior by means of Ensign Barraillier. He has
been one journey, and went twenty miles from the first range of hills,
till his further course was interrupted by a river running north, which
is a curious circumstance, being in the mountains. He described it as
wide as the Thames at Kingston. Some native iron he found, and also an
imperfect limestone, and the dung of an unknown animal. Samples of
everything he there found will be sent by the GREENWICH (whaler), and I
did hope to have been able to add something farther from another journey
he was about undertaking, and for which purpose I had established a chain
of depôts of provisions, to further his return.

"Cayley is just gone on an excursion, and you will see by his letters he
is undertaking a still longer one. As he keeps all his knowledge to
himself, I am hopeful you are benefited by it, and I hope much good will
result from his journeys, which he is now determined on persevering in. I
informed you of the refusal he gave me and Mr. Brown to his going in the
INVESTIGATOR."


George Cayley was a botanist sent out by Sir Joseph Banks to collect for
Kew Gardens. He was industrious and painstaking in his vocation, but
sadly overburdened with vanity. He made one important journey to the Blue
Mountains, with the usual result. He erected a cairn of stones at the
furthest point he reached, which Governor Macquarie afterwards christened
"Cayley's Repulse."

To return to Barraillier. Governor King, in the same, letter, further
writes:--


"I have informed you in my several letters of the great use Ensign
Barraillier, of the New South Wales Corps, was to me and the public.
First, in going to the southward, and surveying the coast from Wilson's
Promontory to Western Port, next, in surveying. Hunter's River, where he
went twice, and since then in making useful observations about the
settlement, and in making a partial journey to the mountains, which was
introductory to his undertaking the journey he afterwards performed, but
which I was obliged to effect by a ruse, as Col. Paterson had very
ill-naturedly informed me that officers being at all detached from their
regimental duty was contrary to some instructions he had from the Duke of
York. In consequence I was obliged to give up his services after this
unhandsome claim, but claimed him as my AIDE-DE-CAMP, and that the object
of discovery should not be relinquished, I sent him on an embassy to the
King of the Mountains."

This idea of an embassy to the King of the Mountains is about as unique
an incident in the history of exploration as can be imagined. Whether
Barraillier reached this fancied potentate or not we are left in
ignorance. Governor King says:--

"He was gone six weeks, and penetrated one hundred and thirty-seven miles
among the mountains beyond the Nepean. His journal being wrote in such an
unintelligible hand, I have not been able to get it translated or copied,
but have sent it open under your address to Lord Hobart. . . . I have not
had time to decipher and read it, but am satisfied from what M.
Barraillier has done and seen, that passing these barriers, if at all
practicable, is of no great moment to attempt any further at present, as
it is now well ascertained that the cattle have not, nor cannot, make any
progress to the westward, unless they find a passage to the northward or
southward of those extensive and stupendous barriers. I intend sending M.
Barraillier to Port Jarvis very soon, to penetrate into the interior from
thence, if Col. Paterson is not advised to prevent it."

From this it will plainly be seen how completely the colonists had given
themselves up to the dominion of the overshadowing range that stayed
their western progress. It required the stern hand of necessity to compel
them to at last force that "stupendous barrier," as King terms it.

Meanwhile, the presence of the French ships under Baudin, had created
uneasiness in Governor King's mind, rumour and gossip had magnified their
intentions into a sinister claim being about to be established upon Van
Dieman's Land or the south coast of New Holland. In 1802, King had sent
home to Sir Joseph Banks his idea of the importance of King's Island, and
the adjacent harbour of Port Phillip.


"Port Phillip is also a great acquisition, and as I have urged the fixing
of a settlement in the latter place, I am anxious to begin it, but
unfortunately I have no person I can send there equal to the charge.
Policy certainly requires our having a settlement in these Straits."


No lack of zeal for the future supremacy of the British flag in these
seas can be charged upon the founders of the colony, in fact, Governor
King sent a small schooner under command of a midshipman after M. Baudin,
with secret orders to watch their movements, and, if necessary, hoist the
King's colours and land a corporal's guard at any place where the French
appeared likely to make a demonstration.

Port Phillip was discovered by Lieutenant Murray, of the Lady Nelson, in
1802. Surveyor-General Grimes went there with him, and during the survey
he made, is reported to have camped on the spot where Melbourne now
stands. The port was discovered three times independently in the same
year. First by Murray, next by Baudin, and again by Flinders. Colonel
Collins, formerly of Norfolk Island, was dispatched in the year that
Governor King wrote his letter (1803) to found a township. He at once
declared the country unfit for settlement, with scarcely any examination;
and it was immediately abandoned in favour of Van Dieman's Land.

The results of efforts at inland discovery were now but slight. Flinders
on the south coast had sailed up Spencer's Gulf, and from Mount Brown at
the head a fine view was obtained, but nothing more.


"Neither rivers nor lakes could be perceived, nor anything of the sea to
the south-eastward. In almost every direction the eye traversed over an
uninterruptedly flat, woody country; the sole exceptions being the ridge
of mountains extending north and south, and the water of the gulph to the
south-westward."


Compared with the great size of the island continent, it will be seen
that but an insignificant portion had, by the end of the eighteenth
century come under the sway of colonisation. The rivers Hawkesbury,
Nepean, and Grose, with other minor tributaries in the neighbourhood of
Sydney. To the north, the river Hunter, and to the south, the district
now known as the Illawarra. This was the sum total of the known country
inside the coastal line; and with all the wish to extend their knowledge
of their wide domain, the administrative demands of the little colony
pressed too heavily on the authorities to permit them to devote much time
to extended exploration.




CHAPTER II.



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.

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