by Tim Flannery
After a pause of some length, Finow replied that the explanation did not satisfy him. He still thought it a foolish thing that people should place a value on money when they either could not or would not apply it to any useful (physical) purpose. ‘If,’ said he, ‘it were made of iron and could be converted into knives, axes and chisels, there would be some sense in placing a value on it; but as it is I see none. If a man,’ he added, ‘has more yams than he wants, let him exchange some of them away for pork or gnatoo.† Certainly money is much handier, and more convenient, but then, as it will not spoil by being kept, people will store it up, instead of sharing it out, as a chief ought to do, and thus become selfish; whereas, if provisions were the principal property of a man, and it ought to be, as being both the most useful and the most necessary, he could not store it up, for it would spoil, and so he would be obliged either to exchange it away for something else useful or share it out to his neighbours, and inferior chiefs and dependants, for nothing.’
He concluded by saying, ‘I understand now very well what it is that makes the Papalangis so selfish—it is this money!’†
GREGORY BLAXLAND
Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson
Breach the Barrier, 1813
A modest man, Gregory Blaxland wrote his official account of the first crossing of the Blue Mountains in the third person, and referred to it in his title as ‘a tour’. And the crossing itself, after so many frustrated attempts by others, seems to have been ridiculously easy. Aboriginal trails may have aided the explorers in finding their way through the maze of canyons, cliffs and isolated pinnacles that form the Blue Mountains, but the key was to stick to the ridges. Whatever the case, this defining moment in European Australian exploration seems like an anticlimax.
On Tuesday, May 11, 1813, Mr Gregory Blaxland, Mr William Wentworth and Lieutenant Lawson, attended by four servants, with five dogs, and four horses laden with provisions, ammunition and other necessaries, left Mr Blaxland’s farm at the South Creek for the purpose of endeavouring to effect a passage over the Blue Mountains, between the Western River and the River Grose. They crossed the Nepean, or Hawkesbury River, at the ford, on to Emu Island, at four o’clock, p.m., and having proceeded, according to their calculation, two miles in a southwest direction, through forest land and good pasture, encamped at five o’clock at the foot of the first ridge. The distance travelled on this and on the subsequent days was computed by time; the rate being estimated at about two miles per hour…
On Monday the 17th, having laden the horses with as much grass as could be put on them, in addition to their other burdens, they moved forward along the path which they had cleared and marked, about six miles and a half. The bearing of the route they had been obliged to keep along the ridge varied exceedingly; it ran sometimes in a north-north-west direction, sometimes south-east, or due south, but generally south-west or south-southwest. They encamped in the afternoon between two very deep gullies, on a narrow ridge, Grose Head bearing north-east by north, and Mount Banks north-west by west. They had to fetch water up the side of the precipice, about six hundred feet high, and could get scarcely enough for the party. The horses had none this night: they performed the journey well, not having to stand under their loads.
The following day was spent in cutting a passage through the brushwood, for a mile and a half farther. They returned to their camp at five o’clock, very much tired and dispirited. The ridge, which was not more than fifteen or twenty yards over, with deep precipices on each side, was rendered almost impassable by a perpendicular mass of rock, nearly thirty feet high, extending across the whole breadth, with the exception of a small broken rugged track in the centre. By removing a few large stones, they were enabled to pass.
On Wednesday the 19th, the party moved forward along this path, bearing chiefly west and west-south-west. They now began to ascend the second ridge of the mountains and, from this elevation, they obtained for the first time an extensive view of the settlements below. Mount Banks bore north-east; Grose Head, north-east; Prospect Hill, east by south; the Seven Hills, east-north-east; Windsor, north-east by east.
At a little distance from the spot at which they began the ascent, they found a pyramidical heap of stones, the work, evidently, of some European, one side of which the natives had opened, probably in the expectation of finding some treasure deposited in it. This pile they concluded to be the one erected by Mr Bass to mark the end of his journey.† That gentleman attempted, some time ago, to pass the mountains, and to penetrate into the interior; but having got thus far, he gave up the undertaking as impracticable; reporting, on his return, that it was impossible to find a passage even for a person on foot. Here, therefore, the party had the satisfaction of believing that they had penetrated as far as any European had been before them…
On Saturday the 22nd instant, they proceeded in the track marked the preceding day rather more than three miles in a south-westerly direction, when they reached the summit of the third and highest ridge of the mountains southward of Mount Banks. From the bearing of Prospect Hill, and Grose Head, they computed this spot to be eighteen miles in a straight line from the River Nepean, at the point at which they crossed it. On the top of this ridge, they found about two thousand acres of land clear of trees, covered with loose stones and short coarse grass, such as grows on some of the commons in England. Over this heath they proceeded for about a mile and a half, in a southwesterly direction, and encamped by the side of a fine stream of water, with just wood enough on the banks to serve for firewood. From the summit, they had a fine view of all the settlements and country eastward, and of a great extent of country to the westward and south-west. But their progress in both the latter directions was stopped by an impassable barrier of rock, which appeared to divide the interior from the coast, as with a stone wall rising perpendicularly out of the side of the mountain.
In the afternoon, they left their little camp in the charge of three of the men, and made an attempt to descend the precipice by following some of the streams of water, or by getting down at some of the projecting points where the rocks had fallen in; but they were baffled in every instance. In some places, the perpendicular height of the rocks above the earth below could not be less than four hundred feet. Could they have accomplished a descent, they hoped to procure mineral specimens which might throw light on the geological character of the country, as the strata appeared to be exposed for many hundred feet, from the top of the rock to the beds of the several rivers beneath.
The broken rocky country on the western side of the cow pasture has the appearance of having acquired its present form from an earthquake, or some other dreadful convulsion of nature, at a much later period than the mountains northward, of which Mount Banks forms the southern extremity. The aspect of the country which lay beneath them much disappointed the travellers: it appeared to consist of sand and small scrubby brushwood, intersected with broken rocky mountains, with streams of water running between them to the eastward towards one point where they probably form the Western River and enter the mountains.
They now flattered themselves that they had surmounted half the difficulties of their undertaking, expecting to find a passage down the mountain more to the northward…
On the 28th, they proceeded about five miles and three-quarters. Not being able to find water, they did not halt till five o’clock when they took up their station on the edge of the precipice. To their great satisfaction, they discovered that what they had supposed to be sandy barren land below the mountain was forest land, covered with good grass and with timber of an inferior quality. In the evening, they contrived to get their horses down the mountain by cutting a small trench with a hoe, which kept them from slipping, where they again tasted fresh grass for the first time since they left the forest land on the other side of the mountain. They were getting into miserable condition…
On the 29th, having got up the horses, and laden them, they began to descend the mountain at seven o’clock, through a pass in the r
ock about thirty feet wide, which they had discovered the day before when the want of water put them on the alert. Part of the descent was so steep that the horses could but just keep their footing without a load, so that, for some way, the party were obliged to carry the packages themselves. A cart road might, however, easily be made by cutting a slanting trench along the side of the mountain, which is here covered with earth.
This pass is, according to their computation, about twenty miles north-west in a straight line from the point at which they ascended the summit of the mountain. They reached the foot at nine o’clock, a.m., and proceeded two miles, north-north-west, mostly through open meadow land, clear of trees, the grass from two to three feet high. They encamped on the bank of a fine stream of water. The natives, as observed by the smoke of their fires, moved before them as yesterday. The dogs killed a kangaroo, which was very acceptable, as the party had lived on salt meat since they caught the last. The timber seen this day appeared rotten and unfit for building.
Sunday the 30th, they rested in their encampment. One of the party shot a kangaroo with his rifle at a great distance across a wide valley. The climate here was found very much colder than that of the mountain, or of the settlements on the east side, where no signs of frost had made its appearance when the party set out. During the night, the ground was covered with a thick frost and a leg of the kangaroo was quite frozen. From the dead and brown appearance of the grass, it was evident that the weather had been severe for some time past. We were all much surprised at this degree of cold and frost, in the latitude of about 34. The track of the emu was noticed at several places near the camp.
On the Monday, they proceeded about six miles, south-west and west, through forest land, remarkably well watered, and several open meadows, clear of trees and covered with high good grass. They crossed two fine streams of water…
The party encamped by the side of a fine stream of water, at a short distance from a high hill in the shape of a sugar loaf. In the afternoon they ascended its summit, from whence they descried all around forest or grass land, sufficient in extent, in their opinion, to support the stock of the colony for the next thirty years.
This was the extreme point of their journey. The distance they had travelled, they computed, at about fifty-eight miles nearly north-west; that is, fifty miles through the mountain (the greater part of which they had walked over three times) and eight miles through the forest land beyond it, reckoning the descent of the mountain to be half a mile to the foot…
They now conceived that they had sufficiently accomplished the design of their undertaking, having surmounted all the difficulties which had prevented hitherto the interior of the country from being explored, and the colony from being extended. They had partly cleared, or at least marked out, a road by which the passage of the mountain might easily be effected. Their provisions were nearly expended, their clothes and shoes were in very bad condition, and the whole party were ill with bowel complaints.
These considerations determined them, therefore, to return home by the track they came…On Sunday the 6th of June, they crossed the river after breakfast, and reached their homes, all in good health. The winter had not set in on this side of the mountain, nor had there been any frost.
GEORGE EVANS
They Began to Laugh, 1814
George William Evans arrived in Australia in 1804 and managed the government grain store at Parramatta. He went on to become acting surveyor-general, a farmer, an artist and a resolute explorer. In November 1813, in the wake of Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson, he became the first European to roam the lush plains to the west of the Blue Mountains. For this work he was awarded the sum of £100 and a thousand acres of land in Tasmania. He was to join other expeditions in both New South Wales and Tasmania.
In his later years, Evans opened a bookshop in Sydney. I wonder how many people dropped in just to chat with the old explorer. He loved children, for he had at least twelve of them himself, and seems to have delighted in their company, regardless of whether they were black or white. We join him in April 1814 near Bathurst.
Tuesday, 21st—Fine weather very warm; halted at the commencement of Bathurst Plains early, as I was desirous to examine this part. I ascended Mount Pleasant: the west end led me on a ridge of beautiful hills, along which I travelled about three miles; a small stream of water forming ponds run at their foot. I was gratified with a pleasant sight of an open country to the SW of them; at the space of seven or eight miles I could discern the course of a river winding to the west. I saw three or four large plains; the first of them I was on, the chain of ponds before mentioned running through it.
I feel much regret I am not able to travel a week or more in that direction. I imagine the flat open country extends thirty or forty miles; at the termination I can only discern one mountain quite pale with three peaks. I suspect an open country lay about the SW point; as I passed, the range of hills then obscured it from me, nor had I time to examine it.
I cannot speak too much of the country. The increase of stock for some 100 years cannot overrun it, the grass is so good and intermixed with variety of herbs. Emus and geese are numerous, but cannot get any.† We counted forty-one emus this day: our dogs will not follow them.
Returning we saw smoke on the north side of the river. At sunset as we were fishing I saw some natives coming down the plain. They did not see us until we surprised them: there were only two women and four children. The poor creatures trembled and fell down with fright; I think they were coming for water. I gave them what fish we had; some fish hooks, twine and a tomahawk they appeared glad to get from us. Two boys ran away; the other small children cried much at first. A little while after I played with them they began to be good-humoured and laugh. Both of the women were blind of their right eye.
JOHN OXLEY
An Oval Grave, 1817
An Englishman who initially pursued a career in the navy, John Oxley was the first of the great overland explorers. His expeditions into the country west and north of the Blue Mountains, with George Evans and others, can be said to mark the beginning of the classic phase of Australian exploration.
Explorers are naturally curious. But here, on the banks of the Lachlan River in 1817, did Oxley go too far?
July 29—The stream where we stopped was about four feet from the banks, running with much rapidity; and I think the flood in it has rather increased than abated.
Almost directly under the hill near our halting-place, we saw a tumulus which was apparently of recent construction (within a year at most). It would seem that some person of consideration among the natives had been buried in it, from the exterior marks of a form which had certainly been observed in the construction of the tomb and surrounding seats. The form of the whole was semi-circular. Three rows of seats occupied one half, the grave and an outer row of seats the other; the seats formed segments of circles of fifty, forty-five and forty feet each, and were formed by the soil being trenched up from between them. The centre part of the grave was about five feet high, and about nine long, forming an oblong pointed cone.
I hope I shall not be considered as either wantonly disturbing the remains of the dead, or needlessly violating the religious rites of an harmless people, in having caused the tomb to be opened that we might examine its interior construction. The whole outward form and appearance of the place was so totally different from that of any custom or ceremony in use by the natives on the eastern coast, where the body is merely covered with a piece of bark and buried in a grave about four feet deep, that we were induced to think that the manner of interring the body might also be different.
On removing the soil from one end of the tumulus, and about two feet beneath the solid surface of the ground, we came to three or four layers of wood, lying across the grave, serving as an arch to bear the weight of the earthy cone or tomb above. On removing one end of those layers, sheet after sheet of dry bark was taken out, then dry grass and leaves in a perfect state of preservation, the wet or damp having
apparently never penetrated even to the first covering of wood. We were obliged to suspend our operation for the night, as the corpse became extremely offensive to the smell, resolving to remove on the morrow all the earth from the top of the grave, and expose it for some time to the external air before we searched farther…
July 30—The rain continued throughout the day without intermission…This morning we removed all the earth from the tomb and grave, and found the body deposited about four feet deep in an oval grave, four feet long and from eighteen inches to two feet wide. The feet were bent quite up to the head, the arms having been placed between the thighs. The face was downwards, the body being placed east and west, the head to the east.
It had been very carefully wrapped in a great number of opossum skins, the head bound round with the net usually worn by the natives, and also the girdle. It appeared, after being enclosed in those skins, to have been placed in a larger net, and then deposited in the manner before mentioned. The bones and head showed that they were the remains of a powerful tall man. The hair on the head was perfect, being long and black; the under part of the body was not totally decayed, giving us reason to think that he could not have been interred above six to eight months. Judging from his hair and teeth, he might have been between thirty and forty years of age.† To the west and north of the grave were two cypress trees distant between fifty and sixty feet. The sides towards the tomb were barked, and curious characters deeply cut upon them, in a manner which, considering the tools they possess, must have been a work of great labour and time. Having satisfied our curiosity, the whole was carefully re-interred, and restored as near as possible to the station in which it was found. The river fell in the course of the day near two feet.