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7C
Source 7
Though agriculture had become established, and the
colony was no longer prey to desperate shortages,
the quantity of food produced was still very small, and
its production erratic. Droughts and floods caused
fluctuating harvests; grain was still being imported,
from Van Diemen’s Land one year, from India another.
Sydney had founded its urban satellites early: the first
was Norfolk Island, the second Parramatta; then the
Green Hills on the Hawkesbury grew up as a military
and service centre for the river farms near the mountain
frontier. The search at sea continued, though the main
body of settlers at Norfolk Island was removed to Van
Diemen’s Land in 1808 and the island abandoned in
1813. Newcastle, at the mouth of the Hunter River,
became a convict depot, formed to isolate secondary
offenders and exploit the coal, timber and shell-lime
resources rather than to establish farming. Bass and
Flinders had explored the southern coast; Port Phillip
was known, briefly settled and then rejected by David
Collins in favour of Hobart on the Derwent, which was
strategically placed in the south to catch the vessels
taking advantage of the ‘Roaring Forties’ spinning
around the Antarctic seas.
So the urban pattern remained centred on Sydney,
but most of the secondary settlements were more like
strategic satellites than agrarian centres. What is more,
they were isolated at considerable distances from each
other, and little or nothing was known of the land in
between.
James Broadbent and Joy Hughes (eds), The Age of Macquarie,
Melbourne University Press, 1992, p. 66
7 What other settlements existed apart from Sydney
by 1813?
8 Why were these not suitable for a large expansion
of food or grazing?
Source 8
Blaxland and his elder brother John were immigrants
from Kent, to whom liberal grants of land had been
made on condition that they invested capital in New
South Wales and engaged in agriculture. But they
preferred to apply themselves to what Governor
Macquarie called ‘the lazy object of rearing cattle’. They
understood cattle-breeding and found it profitable,
whereas Macquarie desired that settlers who obtained
land grants should grow corn. The Blaxlands, working
in partnership, wanted extensive areas for their herds;
and whenever an area suitable for pasture came under
their notice, they were prompt to apply for a slice,
whilst the Governor was equally prompt to refuse them.
They therefore had a pressing motive for ascertaining
whether there was good cattle country beyond the
limits of settlement. Gregory Blaxland had been on two
exploring expeditions — the first of them in company
with Macquarie — before he projected the enterprise of
1813. In that year a severe drought afflicted the colony.
No rain fell during what was normally the wet season.
The greater part of the seed sown produced no crops,
and ‘an alarming mortality’ occurred among the flocks
and herds, It was therefore especially necessary to
make an effort to find out whether there was fodder and
water on the western side of the range.
Ernest Scott (ed.), Australia, vol. VII, part 1 of the
Cambridge History of the British Empire, Cambridge, 1988, p. 109
9 What motives are being suggested here for
crossing the Blue Mountains?
10 You have now seen several possible reasons why
explorers tackled the crossing in 1813. Which do
you think most important?
11 In question 1 you might have considered such
things as curiosity, adventure or greed as
reasons for the explorers’ desire to cross the
Blue Mountains. Do you still think these might
have been significant? Justify your views.
12 Add any information to your
summary table on activity page 3A.
13 Write a brief paragraph or do a
comic strip sketch for your own
history textbook (in box 3 of activity page 3B)
to explain to readers why the explorers wanted
to cross the Blue Mountains in 1813.
The crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813 was done in response to the
stimulus for wool created by the Industrial Revolution in Britain. True or False?
Myths and Mysteries of the Crossing of the Blue Mountains
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