William Hovell

William Hovell

William Hilton Hovell (born April 26, 1786 in Yarmouth , Norfolk , England , † November 9, 1875 in Sydney , Australia ) was a native of England and an explorer in Australia. Together with Hamilton Hume, he was the leader of the Hume and Hovell expedition . It was a significant, early expedition that successfully crossed southeastern Australia. The aim of the expedition was the exploration of suitable settlement land and the investigation of the river courses of New South Wales in a westerly direction.

Early life

Hovell came to sea as a boy and made it up to captain in the Royal Navy . In 1808 he commanded a ship en route to North America. He lived in England with his wife Ester, née Arnell, whom he married on May 10, 1810, before emigrating to New South Wales , Australia on the ship Earl Spencer , where they arrived in October 1813. He had two children with her.

Australia

Hovell did business with Simeon Lord in Australia and became a ship master. He made several trade trips on the east coast of Australia and to New Zealand . In 1816 he was shipwrecked with the merchant ship The Brothers with the Kent Group in Bass Strait near Tasmania . The castaways were not rescued until ten weeks later. In 1819 he settled near Sydney , embarked on expeditions in southern direction from there and discovered the Burragorang Valley in 1823 .

Explorer

Map of the Hume and Hovell Expedition 1824-25

In 1824, Hovell was asked by Governor Thomas Brisbane to set off on a journey of discovery with Hamilton Hume to southern New South Wales and Victoria in order to gather more information about colonizable land and the various rivers that flow south into the Spencer Gulf . Hovell had no experience of exploring the countryside, but he had great experience as a navigator .

The planning for the official expedition did not progress and so Hume and Hovell decided to carry out the trip on their own and at their own expense. The government provided some pack saddles, clothing, striking weapons and handguns. The explorers set out on October 3, 1824 with another six men and reached Hume Station on October 13. From there the expedition started on October 17th with five oxen, two wagons and three horses. On October 22nd, they found the only ford through the Murrumbidgee River . The river could not be crossed in the wagons, so they put the wagons across to the other bank in a boat that was sealed with tarpaulin; the men, horses and oxen swam through the river. A day or two later they overcame the Broken Hill Country with great difficulty - largely because of the heavily laden wagons - as the entire area was flooded. Until November 16, her path led through difficult, mountainous terrain. One day they came to a great river they called the Hume River because Hume was the first to see him. It was a tributary of the Murray River . Charles Sturt gave this name a few years later on his expedition. At first they couldn't cross the Murray River, but after a few days they found a better place to build another boat and cross the river. On December 3rd, they reached the Goulburn River , which they could cross without a boat. During the next ten days they traversed difficult terrain and then the land opened up: it flattened out. On December 16, they saw Port Phillip in the distance. First they bypassed the coast to the southwest and came on this way to Corio Bay near Geelong . Here, while navigating, Hovell made a one-degree error in calculating the longitude, and so they assumed they had arrived at the Western Port . The expedition turned back on December 18, based on their experience stayed further west and therefore came back more quickly. On January 8, 1825, the rations came to an end and the men lived on fish and kangaroo meat for a few days. On January 16, 1825 they came to the place where their expedition had started and two days later they reached Gunning on Lake George .

On March 25, 1825, Governor Brisbane learned of the discoveries of the Hovell-Hume expedition and intended to send a ship to Western Port to make further inquiries. However, it remained with the letter of intent from Brisbane and only the governor Ralph Darling sent an expedition with Hovell on a ship with Captain Wright to the Western Port towards the end of 1826. Hovell's mistake in determining longitude was quickly discovered. Hovell reported on the land around the Western Port and areas to the north and on land on the coast in the east at Cape Paterson . He also discovered a valuable coal deposit. This was the first coal deposit to be discovered in Victoria . Hovell, who was on this expedition for five months, did not undertake any more expeditions in the following period.

Hume and Hovell were each 486 hectares (about 5 km²) and Hovell had been granted 518 hectares for his second expedition with Wright. However, this was agreed at unfavorable terms for the explorers. For ten years Hovell tried in vain to obtain more favorable terms from the government. He then lived in Goulburn .

When his first wife died in 1848, he married Sophie Wilkenson that same year. Hovell died in Sydney on November 9, 1875. His widow donated £ 6,000 to the University of Sydney to fund a William Hilton Hovell teaching position in geology and geography .

Late life

In 1854 there was an argument between Hume and Hovell, in which they fought each other with numerous pamphlets. In December 1853, at a meeting in Geelong , Hovell gave a dinner speech that was partially misrepresented by a newspaper. The impression arose that Hovell is said to have said that the success of this expedition was only thanks to him. After the entire account of Hovell's speech was published, it became apparent that Hume's achievements had been appropriately recognized. Hume was undoubtedly the more experienced member of the expedition and a guide by nature. But Hovell was well educated, had an amiable character, and had excellent navigational skills, and they both worked well together during their expedition. According to their abilities, they contributed to the success of the expedition.

The later expedition from Hovell without Hume to the Western Port, which led to the discovery of a coal deposit, was of great economic importance and therefore extremely well known.

Honors

The William Hovell Drive , which the district of Belconnen far as North Canberra in Canberra leads, is named after him.

In 1976, Hume and Hovell were honored on a postage stamp bearing their portraits issued by the Australian Post and Lake William Hovell named.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} T. M. Perry: Hovell, William Hilton (1786 - 1875) . In: Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1 . Melbourne University Press. Pp. 556-557. 1966. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
2. ^ William Hovell on Dictionary of Australian Biography . Retrieved July 10, 2010.
3. ^ Historical Records of Australia, p. 885, Ser. III, Vol. V
4. ↑ Historical Records of Australia, pp. 725-729. Ser. I, Vol. XIV
5. ^ Australian Post stamp with portraits of Hume and Hovell . Retrieved July 10, 2010.