Henry Hellyer

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Henry Hellyer (born 1790 in Horndean , Hampshire , England ; † September 9, 1832 at Circular Head , Tasmania , Australia ) was an important explorer in the early Van Diemens Land (now Tasmania).

Early life

Little is known about the early life of Henry Hellyer. He was the second son of John Hellyer and Betsy Maine of Portchester , who had eleven children together.

Expeditions

Henry Hellyer was employed as an architect and explorer at the Van Diemen's Land Company and was commissioned by them to explore northwest Tasmania for the possibility of setting up a sheep rearing facility to produce wool. The company had received an assurance from the British colonial government that it would transfer ownership of around 101,000 hectares in Tasmania, which was then undiscovered. The members of this company were also involved in the Cape Grim massacre of Tasmanians .

Hellyer arrived in Tasmania on March 4, 1826, and began his first expedition a month after his arrival. In the six months of his expedition around Port Sorell and the Mersey Fiver , he was successful and named the Black Bluff, Mount Claude and Van Dyke, as well as the Minnow and Dasher Rivers .

In February 1827 another expedition took him to St. Valentine Peak , in the Hampshire and Surrey Hills area . Hellyer was then commissioned to find a way from Emu Bay to the Hampshire Hills. In 1828 he continued his voyages of discovery and was the first European to climb the summit of Black Bluff and the Cradle Mountains . He traversed the entire mountains of the Surrey Hills from Mount Bischoff in the west to Black Bluff in the east; he also came far south to the Cripps Range . On another expedition he reached Mount Farrell and the Murchison River under difficult conditions .

Hellyer continued his voyages of discovery and cartographic work in the company and was appointed to the Land Surveying Ministry as a land surveyor in May 1832, but did not accept the call. After his activity fell into disrepute due to defamation, he committed suicide on September 9, 1832 on Circular Head.

legacy

Numerous landmarks are named after Hellyer, including the Hellyer River and Hellyer Gorge, the mineral Hellyerite , Hellyer College and the Hellyer Regional Library in Burnie , Tasmania.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ dpiw.tas.gov.au (PDF; 7.6 MB): Brian J. Rollins: Henry Hellyer, Esquire 1790–1832, Van Diemen's Company Surveyer In His Footsteps , in English, accessed November 5, 2012
  2. ↑ a b adb.edu.au : Shirley M. Eldershaw: Hellyer, Henry (1790–1832) , in English, accessed November 5, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Hellyer, Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-Australian explorer
DATE OF BIRTH 1790
PLACE OF BIRTH Horndean , Hampshire , United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1832
Place of death Circular Head , Tasmania , Australia