Hume and Hovell's expedition
The Hume and Hovell expedition took place in 1824 and 1825 under the leadership of Hamilton Hume and William Hovell and is one of the most important voyages of discovery that were undertaken in eastern Australia . It was the first expedition to find a way from New South Wales into the hinterland of Victoria and to gain new knowledge about the river system there. It was the first step towards the successful settlement and use of these fertile areas. The original goal was to reach Western Port , which the group missed due to a calculation error by Hovell. Instead, she found herself 100 kilometers west of it in Port Phillip . The success of the expedition depended largely on the strengths of the two expedition leaders: While Hume was a strong leader and experienced explorer, Hovell was an excellent navigator . Their relationship was strained from the start, and despite their successful collaboration, a lasting argument developed in later years.
History and preparations
Until 1813 only Australia's coastal regions were known, the entire hinterland, however, unexplored. The first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains , which prevented the colony from expanding to the west due to their inaccessibility, was made by the expedition led by Gregory Blaxland with William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth in 1813, in which George William Evans continued into the hinterland of the Blue Mountains advanced.
One of the most important explorers before Hume and Hovell was John Oxley , who from 1817 explored the rivers that flow inland from the Blue Mountains. Oxley first tried to follow the Lachlan River , which, like all tributaries, flows into swamps. He narrowly missed the Murrumbidgee River on this expedition , which is an important tributary of the Murray River and Murray-Darling River system . Based on these results, he ruled out that all rivers were tributaries of a large stream flowing south into the sea, but assumed an inland sea. In 1818 he started his second expedition and tried to drive on the Macquarie River to this inland sea. It turned out, however, that the Macquarie was just as difficult to follow as the Lachlan, because after 120 miles the river merged into a marshland . The results of his expeditions led Oxley to believe that most of the continent was covered with bog.
After Oxley failures presented the Governor of New South Wales , Thomas Brisbane , no more money for research into the rivers ready but was planning the exploration of the country between the furthest point of Oxley travel and the south coast. His plan was to drop a small group of supplies on Wilsons Promontory , a peninsula in southern Victoria, from where they would find a way to Sydney. In 1824, Brisbane proposed Hamilton Hume as expedition leader. Hume was born in Australia and has been participating in expeditions since he was 17, which is why he had gained a lot of experience by 1824 and was in charge of the expedition. However, he did not believe in the governor's plans and suggested a different course of action: advance from Sydney in a south-westerly direction and reach Western Port, a bay in southern Victoria. Brisbane promised to support the expedition, but ultimately failed to do so. Therefore, Hume won the former captain William Hilton Hovell, who wanted to contribute financially, even if the government bore part of the costs. Hovell was a native of England and came to Australia in October 1813. Because of his skills as a navigator, he was a good addition to Hume.
In addition to Hume and Hovell, seven other people took part in the expedition, including six convicts - Benjamin Smith, Henry Angel, Samuel Bullard, Claude Barrois, Thomas Boyd, James Fitzpatrick - and an Aboriginal of unknown name as an interpreter. It was customary in Australia to hire convicts as workers to private individuals or otherwise force them to work.
The Hume and Hovell expedition was the first expedition on Australian territory to use oxen and to measure distances using a measuring device called an odometer , which measured the distance traveled based on the number of revolutions of the wheels of the ox teams. In addition to oxen, horses, dogs and two covered wagons, she carried food for 16 weeks, tents, ropes, pack saddles, weapons, ammunition and navigation instruments such as compass and sextant . Since the government did not want to pay for the costs and provided hardly any equipment, the expedition was almost entirely privately financed. Only muskets, tarpaulin and bedding were financed by the state, which, according to Hovell, relieved the expedition by no more than 50 ₤. Governor Brisbane, however, promised both expedition leaders as a reward for their participation land of around 5 km² each.
expedition
course
Hume and Hovell basically followed an imaginary line running in a south-west direction from Sydney to Western Port , but were repeatedly distracted from their course and finally found themselves around 100 kilometers too far west at Corio Bay near Geelong due to inaccurate position determinations by Hovell to the west of what is now Port Phillip Bay . The route covered can be divided into three sections.
Appin to Lake George
William Hovell's starting point was his farm "Narralling", eleven kilometers northwest of Hume's station near Appin . From there he set out on October 2, 1824 with his two helpers, four oxen, a horse and several dogs to Hume's farm. After Hovell arrived at Hume's that same day, the two groups united, packed the wagons, and left Appin on the morning of October 3rd. The first part of the trip was calm and easy to manage as the expedition moved in a populated area. On the way, landowners friends were visited, on October 13th she reached Hume's station near Lake George . From there, the travelers followed Lerida Creek to Lake George, where they stayed for three days before returning to Hume's station.
Lake George to Tumbarumba Creek
Hume's station on Lake George was the last outpost of the populated part of the colony, so the actual exploration of the continent only began here. Progress was made difficult mainly by the rivers to be crossed, but also by the impassable terrain.
On Sunday, October 17th, the expedition set out for the Yass Plain without the local guide, as he had unexpectedly left the group the day before. The following day she crossed the grasslands, the McDougal's Plains , so that on October 19 she stood on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River . Because of the rising water level, crossing the river was initially refrained from until the explorers made the decision on October 22nd to try to cross over despite the high water level. To do this, they converted a cart into a floatable boat and then had to stretch a rope across the 30 to 40 meter wide river in order to be able to move the cart across the river and back again. It took a total of four to five hours to get all supplies and equipment to the other bank.
After the Murrumbidgee River, the group expected difficult terrain, as the Murrumbidgee and Goodradigbee Rivers almost completely enclose a high-altitude and rocky area. In the south, the area rises up to 1900 meters. In the west there is another mountain formation, which in the south forms the Snowy Mountains in the Australian Alps , in which the highest mountain on mainland Australia, Mount Kosciuszko , rises.
Because of the difficult terrain, the expedition had to follow a zigzag course since crossing the river, keeping it in a south-westerly direction. On October 24, the men were held up by a mountain range and spent the day looking for a pass over the mountains. After Hume had found one on the evening of the same day, the group was able to cross the mountain range on the afternoon of October 25th. She found herself on the banks of the Goodradigbee River and took the following day to cross it. In the face of the mountainous country ahead of them, Hume and Hovell decided to leave the ox carts where they were and only move on with the animals as porters.
On October 27, the group followed the advice of some Aborigines for a pass over the mountains and moved north along the river until they encountered the Murrumbidgee again. There they found that the route described was not manageable for the cattle, and so they turned back.
It wasn't until two days later that Hume was able to find a way out of the valley of the Goodradigbee River. From now on they moved mainly through a wooded landscape that alternated with swamps and grassy areas. They crossed the Goobarragandra River on November 2nd before encountering the Tumut River a little later . First they followed him upstream in a southerly direction, before they crossed on November 3rd and followed him further south until they found a gap in the mountain range west of them on November 4th.
On November 6th, they came across Burra Creek, which brought them to Tumbarumba Creek . There they were the first Europeans in history to see the snow-capped peaks of the Australian Alps in the south on November 8th.
Tumbarumba Creek to Corio Bay
The timing of the sighting of the Australian Alps was also a turning point in the direction of the expedition. The group could have followed Tumbarumba Creek downstream to the south, since it is a tributary of the Murray River . This would also have meant finding a way through the mountainous and steep terrain along the river, which would have been a difficult task with oxen and horses. For this reason, the group turned around and followed the Tumbarumba Creek upstream to the north, before they advanced at the foot of a mountain formation north of the Murray River to the west. A week later the men were standing at Albury on the banks of the Murray River, which they initially named the Hume River . In search of a suitable place to cross, they initially followed it for a day in a westerly direction. In what is now Albury, they carved their names into the so-called "Hovell Tree", on which a plaque is now attached.
On November 20, they were finally able to cross the Murray River and then penetrated deeper into the land lying southwest before them. They had to cross several major rivers such as the Ovens River on November 25th and the Goulburn River on December 3rd. The landscape changes from forest to swamp areas.
Mount Disappointment represented a setback for the expedition . After the men had been able to follow their south-west route largely effortlessly since crossing the Murray River, they climbed a mountain range on December 7th, on the ridge of which they found, to their disappointment, that there was an even higher mountain range on the other side. They descended into the valley and then climbed the next mountains, where they came to a point where they could no longer orientate themselves because of the tall plants. So they covered the next one and a quarter miles without knowing where they were. While they were looking their way through the bushes, they were surprised by the nightfall and had to spend the night in the rough terrain. The following day they set out to descend and followed King Parrot Creek, which they had crossed two days earlier. In addition, they made the plan to first climb the mountain range again on foot to find a way and to catch up with the cattle if necessary. On December 9th they wanted to put this plan into action, but realized that it was hopeless and gave the massif its current name Mount Disappointment (German for "mountain [der] disappointment"). They returned from their scouting tour in the evening and bypassed the formation to the north.
After Mount Disappointment, they made good progress and saw promising pastureland in the area. On December 14th they crossed the Maribyrnong River and finally stood on December 16 on the south coast, more precisely on Corio Bay near Geelong .
way back
So that the food would not be scarce on the way back, the group set off on December 17th. Because of the experience gained on the way there, she took a more westerly route that led through easier terrain and thus did not require any detours. So they reached Appin again on January 28, 1825, much faster than on the way there.
Results
The Hume and Hovell expedition brought important insights into the interior of Australia. It showed that, contrary to John Oxley's assessment, there was fertile land in other parts of the continent, which made further settlement possible. Soon after completing the voyage of discovery, settlers used the expedition route they had found to get to these areas. Today the Hume Highway from Sydney to Melbourne via Albury roughly follows the expedition route.
aftermath
Newspaper controversy
Shortly after returning to Sydney and the publication of the first travel reports, a lively discussion began in the newspapers about how the results should be assessed. The trigger was an editorial from February 10, 1825 in the newspaper The Australian , which praised the discovered land around Port Phillip (then still thought of as Western Port) and underlined how wrong Oxley's assessment was that only the land around Sydney was usable. In addition, they called for a road from Bathurst to Western Port to enable trade and give new impetus to settlement. Even if the road did not come through, a ship connection to the bay was considered possible. Furthermore, the leading article spoke out in favor of adequate recognition of the expedition leaders, as they had largely financed the expedition themselves.
This sparked four different responses, all published a week later on February 17th. Hamilton Hume was concerned that the editorial might give the impression that the route to Western Port was too impassable for carts. He contradicted the author of the article, accusing him of knowing full well that the country was an ox-cart, and offered a £ 500 bet that he could easily drive a team of horses from Appin to Western Port.
Hovell relativized the statement in the leading article that the expedition was only carried by Hume and Hovell. Instead, he noted that they had received all the government help that was needed.
The Sydney Gazette , a competitor of The Australian , defended John Oxley and other ancient explorers. She mocked the other paper for its enthusiasm and cast doubt on the results of the expedition. The reports of the explorers who explored Western Port and Port Phillip at the beginning of the 19th century were cited for this. Because of the conflicting descriptions of Western Port, the Sydney Gazette concluded that Hume and Hovell had failed to achieve their stated goal.
The fourth reaction was a contribution from a sympathizer of Hume who, under the name "Truth and Justice", criticized the tendency in the newspapers to mention Hovell's name before Hume. He saw the essential contribution to the expedition and the well-being of the colony at Hume and questioned the practice of highlighting Hovell in this way. The accusation that Hovell ultimately did nothing for the success of the company persisted for a long time.
The theses of “Truth and Justice” were discussed a lot in the following. Nevertheless, in the near future they did not move away from naming Hovell's name first.
William Blands work-up
The doctor and politician William Bland (1789–1868) made it his business between 1825 and 1830 to work up the expedition route, and in 1831 published the book Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, New South Wales; by Messrs. WH Hovell and Hamilton Hume: in 1824 and 1825 . It is largely based on Hovell's diary and what he said because Hume's Bland diary was too short. Therefore, in the title, he also mentions Hovell's name first and thus on the one hand follows the general tendency, but on the other hand also triggered the dispute between Hume and Hovell.
Quarrel between Hume and Hovell
In 1853 a year-long dispute broke out between Hume and Hovell, but it has a long history. From the beginning, the relationship between men was not unclouded, which is mainly due to their different origins. Because of his birth in Australia, Hume was considered a "native" whom English immigrants looked down on. He had grown up in a freer society than Hovell, because the social atmosphere in England was still authoritarian. So Hume and Hovell are said to have hated one another; the latter, however, had to accept that Hume was far superior to him in the wild. The other expedition participants later claimed that Hovell suffered badly from Hume. Hume often humiliated and degraded the Englishman. However, there is no indication in Hovell's diary as to why these stories were likely made up.
Although Hovell's name was commonly prefixed to Hume, over time Hovell's reputation suffered more than Hume's. The reason for this was that Hovell's miscalculations became known and it became clear that the expedition had never reached Western Port. From the 1830s onwards, Hume claimed to have always known this fact. The general criticism of Hovell, however, ignored the fact that he had to work under difficult conditions and that his latitude calculations were still astonishingly accurate, but a correct determination of the longitude was next to impossible under the given circumstances. Over the years, the relationship between the two explorers deteriorated.
The open dispute arose after Hovell's speech at a celebration in the Geelong settlement in 1853. Hume was actually also invited, but for unknown reasons he had not received the invitation, so that Hovell was the only guest of honor. He gave a speech about the 1824 expedition which was apparently misrepresented by the Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer . Hume received a copy of the newspaper copy and saw his part in the expedition being played down, although in fact he was by no means forgotten at the celebration. Also, the surviving manuscript of the speech does not suggest that Hovell had devalued Hume in any way. Because of this speech, Hume wrote “A brief statement of facts in connection with an overland expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip in 1824” , a 34-page pamphlet that was published in 1855 and in which he corrected the facts that he believed by Hovell had been adulterated. This publication resulted in a lengthy written dispute. First, in February 1855, Hovell wrote a letter referring to a passage quoting Henry Angel, a member of the expedition. He claims that Hume called Hovell a coward. Hovell asked if this was true, which Hume answered in the affirmative.
William Bland also got involved and wrote a letter to two newspapers, which was published on March 1, 1855. In it he explains why he prefixed Hovell's name in his work on the expedition and expresses his hope that "all possible [...] reasons for future upsets" have been eliminated. As a reason for the appointment of Hovell, he cites that he primarily ascribes the safe return of the troops to Sydney to Hovell's intellect. Hume responded a few days later with a public letter in the same newspaper contradicting Bland's assessment of Hovell's role.
In response to A brief statement ... Hovell himself wrote a pamphlet entitled Reply to "A brief statement of facts, in connection with an overland expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip, in 1824," which was a counter-statement to Hume's claims. In September 1855, Hume then announced in a public letter that he would revise A brief statement and reissue it. However, this only happened 17 years later when he wrote a foreword and added further comments to the text. Hovell wrote Answer to the preface to the second edition of Mr. Hamilton Hume "A brief statement of facts" in connection with an overland expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip, in 1824 . Since Hume died in 1873 and the second edition of his martial arts pamphlet was published after his death, Hovell's Answer ... marks the end of the dispute.
Western Port Settlement
Although Governor Brisbane announced in March 1825 that he would send another expedition by ship to Western Port , it was not until his successor in office, Ralph Darling , that the promise was put into practice at the end of 1826. The governor shipped 20 soldiers, 20 convicts and a few civilians with the ships Dragon and Fly , which reached their destination in November or December 1826. William Hovell also took part and upon arrival found that his position calculations from 1824 were obviously incorrect. During the next five months he explored and documented the region and found coal deposits near Cape Paterson .
On the day of their arrival, the group founded a settlement near today's Corinella . However, the settlers could not find any water, and the cultivation of the land failed. The settlement was therefore abandoned in January or February 1828.
Later expeditions
After Hume and Hovell's expedition of 1824 there were two other expeditions with similar objectives.
In 1830 Charles Sturt followed the Murrumbidgee River to the Murray River and this to Lake Alexandrina. Believing to have found the inland sea in Australia, Sturt turned around and did not discover that the Murray flows further into the sea. Still, he was responsible for the discovery of the Murray-Darling river system . To Hume's annoyance, Sturt gave the Murray River its current name after George Murray , a British soldier and politician who campaigned for the establishment of the colony of Western Australia from London . Hume felt this was unfair, since he had discovered the Murray first and had already called it "Hume River".
In 1835, Thomas Mitchell and Richard Cunningham started an expedition that was supposed to prove that the Darling River does not flow into the Murray River . However, Mitchell discovered his mistake. Cunningham got lost and was taken in by Aborigines, but then fell into delirium and was eventually killed by them. Mitchell, on the other hand, crossed the Murray River, found, like Hume and Hovell, promising landscapes a decade earlier, and finally reached the south coast at Portland .
Culture of remembrance
In 1922, the Hume and Hovell Centenary Celebrations Committee was founded in Melbourne , a committee that was supposed to support residents of the expedition route in organizing the 100-year celebrations. It asked city councils and schools to erect monuments in the form of slabs, stone pyramids and obelisks along the route, thus marking the path of Hume and Hovell. A total of 37 monuments were erected in Victoria, most of them in 1924 for the centenary. Committee representatives and parliamentarians followed the approximate route from Albury to Lara by car and inaugurated numerous monuments along the way.
The monuments are for example at Beveridge , Greenvale , St. Albans , Werribee and Lara .
Hume and Hovell Memorial at Ebden
Hume and Hovell Monument near Gunning, erected in 1981
Hume and Hovell Monument at Beveridge at the foot of Mount Fraser
Hume and Hovell Monument in Lara, erected in 1924
There is a Hume and Hovell Cricket Ground about 85 km from Melbourne. Since 1982 there is a 440 km long path, the Hume and Hovell Walking Track , which leads from Yass to Albury. In addition, the Hume Highway roughly follows the expedition route. A district of Tuggeranong , a suburb of Canberra, was also named after Hamilton Hume . William Hilton Hovell is the namesake of William Hovell Drive , which connects the districts of Belconnen and North Canberra . Roads in other parts of Australia have also been named after the discoverers.
A postage stamp with portraits of the two explorers was issued in 1976 in Australia in her honor.
literature
- Alan EI Andrews (Ed.): Hume and Hovell, 1824 . Blubber Head Press, Hobart 1981. ISBN 0908528078
- William Bland: Journey of discovery to Port Phillip, New South Wales by Messrs. WH Hovell, and Hamilton Hume in 1824 and 1825 . 1831, full text .
- Ernest Scott: Hume and Hovell's Journey to Port Phillip . In: Journal and Proceedings (Royal Australian Historical Society) . Volume 7, Part 6, Sydney 1921, pp. 289-307, online
- Denis Gregory: Australia's Great Explorers. Tales of tragedy and triumph . Read what you want, 2007. ISBN 9780908988433 , ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: online )
- Ernest Scott: Australia, Part 1 , Cambridge History of the British Empire, Volume 7, Part 1, Cambridge 1988, ISBN 0-521-35621-0 , online .
Web links
- Hume and Hovell on historyofaustraliaonline.com (English)
- The Hume and Hovell Expedition pass Tatong (English)
Individual evidence
- John Neylon Molony: The native-born: the first white Australians . Melbourne University Press, Melbourne 2000. ISBN 0-522-84903-2 , online
- Toby Creswell, Samantha Trenoweth: 1001 Australians you should know . Pluto Press Australia, Melbourne 2006. ISBN 1-86403-361-4 , online
- ↑ a b Scott: Australia , p. 122
- ↑ a b Scott: Australia , p. 123
- ↑ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 20
- ↑ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , pp. 21-22
- ^ Molony: Native-born , p. 102
- ↑ Information Hume and Hovell Expedition on murrayusers.sa.gov.au ( Memento of April 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved July 11, 2010
- ^ Samuel Butler: The Hand-Book for Australian Emigrants; being a descriptive history of Australia and containing an account of the climate, soil and natural productions of New South Wales, South Australia and the Swan River Settlement . Glasgow, 1838. Set out in the third chapter from page 28 online
- ↑ a b c d Australian History: Hume and Novell ( Memento of September 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved July 11, 2010
- ^ Scott: Australia , p. 124
- ^ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 245
- ^ TM Perry: Hovell, William Hilton (1786-1875). Pp. 556-557. Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1. Melbourne University Press 1966 Online at adb.online.anu.edu.au . Retrieved July 11, 2010
- ↑ a b c d e Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 15
- ^ William Bland: A Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, 1831, pp. 5-6, reprinted in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , pp. 64-66
- ^ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 17
- ^ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 71
- ^ William Bland: A Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, 1831, p. 9, reprinted in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 74
- ^ William Bland: A Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, 1831, p. 12, reprinted in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 80
- ^ William Bland: A Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, 1831, p. 13, reprinted in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 82
- ^ William Bland: A Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, 1831, pp. 15-17, reprinted in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , pp. 86-90
- ^ William Bland: A Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, 1831, p. 28, reprinted in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 112
- ^ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 18
- ^ William Bland: A Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, 1831, p. 59, reprinted in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 184
- ^ William Bland: A Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, 1831, p. 60, reprinted in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 186
- ↑ William Bland: A Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, 1831, pp. 61-62, reprinted in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , pp. 188-190
- ^ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 25
- ↑ a b Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 26
- ↑ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , pp. 26, 27
- ^ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 27
- ↑ a b Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 28
- ↑ http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010107b.htm Accessed September 27, 2010
- ^ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 55
- ↑ a b Quotation from Bland's letter, reprinted by Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 305
- ^ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 35
- ↑ Sarah L. Mathew: Mrs. Felton Mathew's Journal. , 1833. Reprinted from Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 35
- ↑ Creswell, Trenoweth: 1001 Australians , p. 12
- ^ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 36
- ↑ a b c Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 32
- ^ Reprint of the letters in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 303
- ^ Hume's reply, reprinted in Andrews: Hume and Hovell , pp. 306, 307
- ^ Printed in Andrews: Hume and Hovell from p. 306
- ^ Letter reprinted by Andrews: Hume and Hovell on p. 327
- ↑ Printed in Andrews: Hume and Hovell from p. 333
- ↑ Printed in Andrews: Hume and Hovell from p. 345
- ↑ a b c http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/ergo/settlement_at_western_port Retrieved October 31, 2010
- ↑ a b http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nswgdhs/westport.htm Retrieved October 31, 2010
- ↑ Gregory: Great Explorers , p. 23
- ^ Scott: Australia , p. 133
- ^ Andrews: Hume and Hovell , p. 33
- ^ Scott: Australia , p. 134
- ↑ http://home.vicnet.net.au/~tathg/Events/HH/HumeHovell.htm Commemoration section , accessed October 31, 2010
- ^ Hume and Hovell Cricket Ground ( February 19, 2011 memento in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved July 11, 2010
- ↑ Hume and Hovell Walking Track . Retrieved July 11, 2010
- ↑ http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0011600.jpg Retrieved October 31, 2010
