William Lawson

This article is about the explorer William Lawson. For the garden author, see William Lawson (author) . For the whiskey dealer, whiskey distiller and whiskey brand, see Macduff (whiskey distillery)

William Lawson around 1840 (watercolor on ivory)

William Lawson (born June 2, 1774 in Finchley , Middlesex in England , † June 16, 1850 in Parramatta in New South Wales in Australia ) was an explorer , settler and lieutenant in the British colonial army. He is sometimes held in Australia because of his qualification as the actual leader of the historical voyage of discovery in 1813 through the Blue Mountains .

Early life

Lawson was a child of Scottish parents and lived in Kirkpatrick , went to school in London and became a member of the New South Wales Corps in June 1799 . He reached Sydney in November 1800 and was soon assigned to the garrison on Norfolk Island , where he married Sarah Leadbeater. He returned in 1806, was made a lieutenant and served as commandant of Newcastle, Australia until 1809. Like other officers in the British colonial army of the time, he was interested in land ownership. Around 1807 he bought a small piece of land at Concord and in 1810 he expanded his land to 1.5 km².

Politics, Exploration, and Land Ownership

He was involved in the resistance against colonial governments, such as in 1807 against that of D'Arcy Wentworth and against Governor William Bligh with John Macarthur in the so-called Rum Rebellion in 1808. In the governmentless period after this rebellion, Lawson held to George Johnston and as a thank you received 2.02 km² of land. In 1810 he had to travel to England as a witness to the trial of Johnston. Lawson was not particularly involved in the Rum Rebellion and so he returned to Sydney in January 1812 and then held a post as a lieutenant in the New South Wales Veterans Company . Because of his loyal behavior, he was taken back into government service by Governor Lachlan Macquarie . Lawson used this time to build his so-called Veteran Hall , an early colonial-style building with 40 rooms.

Voyages of discovery

In 1813, Gregory Blaxland offered him and William Charles Wentworth to accompany him in search of a route through the Blue Mountains ( Blaxland Expedition ). His training as a explorer in England made Lawson a valuable member of this expedition. His exact reports and records of distances and travel times were the prerequisites for the successful construction of the later road through the Blue Mountains. For the successful exploration, the three explorers were each given 4.05 km² of land (1000 acres) in the west of the Great Dividing Range . Lawson chose land on the Campbell River , not far from Bathurst . In 1819 he was appointed in command of the new Bathurst settlement, where he served until 1824.

From Bathurst Lawson embarked on three unsuccessful expeditions in search of the way to the Liverpool Plains . However, he managed to explore the Mudgee area for agricultural use. Lawson attributed the discovery of the Cudgegong River to James Blackman, but pointed out that he had discovered Mudgee himself and had advanced ten miles further than Blackman.

Lawson was successful in exploring and colonizing other areas of Australia. He was the first to drive cattle through the Blue Mountains in July 1814. Lawson accompanied the Frenchman Louis de Freycinet's expedition in 1819, which involved natural scientists and botanists . In September 1822 he discovered the coal deposit in the west of the Great Dividing Range at Hartley Vale .

In order to use his lands more economically, he imported merino sheep and sheep, shorthorn cattle and thoroughbred horses from England.

Acquisition of land

Lawson acquired large land in the Mudgee District: 24.28 km² on the west bank of the Cudgegong, where he built a branch on Bombira Hill . This place became the center of his agricultural activities. He owned other large estates with 101.17 km² on the Talbragar River , 24.28 km² at Bathurst, 12.14 km² in Roxburgh , 6.07 km² around Springwood at Veteran Hall and another 647.50 km². In 1824 he went back to Veteran's Hall. After his wife died at the age of 47 on July 14, 1830, he spent his time exclusively at Veteran Hall to help his sons Nelson and William set up and develop their Australian farms.

Social Commitment

He supported the Presbyterian Church in Sydney and Parramatta. He was a city councilor and from 1843 to 1848 a member of the first-time elected parliament for the Cumberland Plain region of New South Wales. At first he stood in opposition to the government and to the policies of Wentworth on various occasions. Nor did he support the settlers who wanted to buy land at cheaper prices. Perhaps because of this, he was not re-elected to parliament in 1848.

Honors

The town of Lawson in the Blue Mountains is named after him. To mark the 150th anniversary of the crossing of the Blue Mountains, an Australian postage stamp was issued in 1963 and a silver coin in 1993, depicting the pioneers Blaxland, Lawson and Wenthworth.

Individual evidence

1. ^ William Lawson on gutenberg.net.au , accessed May 8, 2010
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} adb.anu.deu.au Australian Dictionary of Biography, Lemma William Lawson, accessed May 18, 2010
3. ↑ 1963 Australian postage stamp depicting Blaxland, Lawson and Wenthworth crossing the Blue Mountains , accessed May 8, 2010
4. ↑ Australian 5 dollar coin from 1993 with Blaxland, Lawson and Wenthworth on australianstamp.com ( Memento of the original from May 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 18, 2010