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Echoes
of the Past (By George Clout) No. 1. 9
May 1918 The Tumut and Adelong Times The Explorers. |
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"The measure of a people is the men That rise from out themselves to lead - with
pen Or tongue or sword, whatever be their rank And for their greatness but themselves to thank." Alpha
Crucis Having been favored
with considerable information in reference to early settlement from very old
residents of these districts, it may not prove uninteresting to place before
your readers some of the conditions that existed in the earlier stages
of Colony's history, and especially before those of a younger growth,
who, as a matter of course, have but a limited knowledge of the state of
affairs that existed when those pioneers who for three quarters of a
century have helped to mould the destinies of this State, commenced
to "clear the cumbered plain." Their indomitable courage, their
never swerving hope, stand out as their over enduring monument. And may we not hope that our great Commonwealth,
in her hour of triumph or trials, may find leaders as reliant and as
trustworthy as the brave old pioneers of the past. Any account of early settlement would
be incomplete without brief mention of those adventurous spirits who
at that at early period made it possible, and the one man who occupies
pride of place as far as our districts are concerned, is undoubtedly
Hamilton Hume. He was born at Parramatta in
1797. At the youthful age of 17 he made an exploring
expedition into the country which is now known as Berrima and Sutton
Forest which they discovered in August 1814. Three years later, at the request
of Governor Macquarie he accompanied Surveyor Meehan in further
explorations when they discovered Goulburn Plains. In 1821 Hume in company with Mr.
Barber, Mr. W. H. Broughton, and his brother (Mr. Kennedy Hume) discovered
the Yass Plains. The Mr. Broughton here mentioned was a step-father
of Messrs. J. A. and R. K. Broughton, so well known in the Tumut
district in connection with the Gocup and
Gadara Stations. It might also be remarked that Mr. Kennedy
Hume, who is here referred to, met with a tragic end. He was shot by bushrangers at
Gunning, in 1839. Mr. Henry O'Brien, at the head of a
band of settlers brought the scoundrels to justice. In the encounter with them the
chief of the gang was killed; another having been wounded, blew his
brains out; and two were taken prisoners. Of these one hanged himself in
gaol, and the other was executed in Goulburn gaol in 1840. The expedition which made the name
of Hume famous in Australian annals was the great overland journey from
Sydney to Port Philip, in which he was accompanied by Mr. W. H.
Hovell (more widely known as Captain Hovell) and a party of six men. This was the first occasion on
which the eyes of a white man had rested on the fertile Murrumbidgee and
Tumut Rivers districts, and apart from the historic it has a local
interest inasmuch as one of the men who accompanied that expedition was a resident
of Tumut for many years after, viz., Mr. Thomas Boyd. The expedition left Appin in Oct., 1824,
and they reached Yass Plains on Oct. 18th. and
the Murrumbidgee on the 19th, the crossing of which was a matter of
considerable difficulty. Hume swam the river with a rope
in his teeth, and, having placed their tarpaulins under and around their
carts or drays, they were floated over in that fashion. Their bullocks and horses had to swim
for it. After crossing the river they got into
rough, woody country, and had to abandon their carts and pack their
belongings on the bullocks. They discovered the Tumut river
on the 22nd, (sic) (should read - 3 Nov) and the Hume (or, as
it is now called, the Murray) on Nov. 16th. Here they camped, and during an
interval Hovell carved the date, and his initials on the butt of a tree
growing on its banks, and that tree has been carefully preserved by
the residents of Albury as a memento of this famous expedition. On Dec. 17th, the explorers reach
the waters of Port Philip, at a point about ten miles westward of
the present site of Geelong, thus completing the most successful enterprise of
its kind that had yet been undertaken in the colony. The return journey was void of
incident, and they were back at Hume's station, at Lake George on
Jan 18th, 1825. The great service rendered to the colony
by Hamilton Hume seems to have been but sparsely recognised by the
authorities of the time, but the valuable work he performed in opening up the
country will be recognised and perpetuated by future generations as
the work of an unselfish pioneer who, as he himself wrote:- "For the sake of those who hear my name, I should wish it to be
held in remembrance as that of one who, with
small opportunities and limited resources did what he could for his
native land." Mr. Hume died at Yass on April
19th. 1873, at the age of 76. Captain Hovell, the colleague of Hume on
the great overland trip, was apparently a man of a somewhat different
temperament. It is recorded that serious
disagreement arose between them previous to their arrival at Port Philip, and
that they never afterwards reconciled. But be that as it may, Hovell was
afterwards deputed by the Governor to form a convict settlement at
Western Port. Now this Western Port was the source
of the disagreement between the leaders, and it was when he undertook to
establish the settlement there that he made the discovery that Hume had
been right, and he in the wrong. He therefore abandoned the task
allotted to him, and a few years after settled in Goulburn. It was the privilege of the writer
to see on many occasions the tall spare form of Captain Hovell working
in the lawn & garden attached to his residence, at the corner of Sloane
and Vernon Streets, Goulburn, directly opposite where the railway
station now stands. Captain Hovell died in Sydney in 1876. It seems almost incredible that but a
brief century has elapsed since the discovery by Hume of Goulburn Plains,
but where the Anglo Saxon plants his foot there the sturdy race
take root, and where he lights his first camp fire its cheery blaze
is the signal for countless more whose aim and object is the subjection
of the land. "A hundred years, and can it be That in such little lapse of time Has grown a nation strong and free, Neath Southern skies, in Austral clime; So, though our life is but a span, Our history but a pretty tale, We stand with nations in the van Of progress peace, all that avail To make a nation great." Henry Kendall. |