Download Teacher Guide & Print Resources - Australian History ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Activity page 8A Investigation 4 Who actually crossed the Blue Mountains? See the film We know that Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth were involved in the crossing. But who were they, and why did they attempt the crossing? 1 Your task is to look at the biographical information on the three explorers (activity pages 14–16) and complete this table about them. ‘virtual visit’ from 05:50 to 08:45 Aspect Blaxland Lawson Wentworth Age in 1813 Background Position in New South Wales Previous exploring experience Reason for involvement Personal qualities (good and bad) When you have completed looking at the information on the three explorers that follows, answer these questions: 2 Do you think Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth were heroes? 3 Add any information to your summary table on activity page 3A. 4 Write a brief paragraph or do a comic strip sketch for your own history textbook (in box 4 of activity page 3B) to explain to readers who Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth were. 24 Myths and Mysteries of the Crossing of the Blue Mountains
Activity page 8B Gregory Blaxland (1778–1853) Gregory Blaxland (1778–1853), settler, was born on 17 June 1778 at Fordwich, Kent, England. In July 1799 he married Elizabeth; they had five sons and two daughters. The British government promised them land, convict servants and free passages if they emigrated to NSW, in accord with its policy of encouraging ‘settlers of responsibility and Capital’. Gregory sailed on 1 September 1805 with his wife, three children, two servants, an overseer, a few sheep, seed, bees, tools, groceries and clothing. When he reached Sydney he sold many of these goods very profitably, bought eighty head of cattle so as to enter the meat trade, located 1619 hectares of land and was promised forty convict servants. Soon afterwards he also bought 182 more hectares of land. The Blaxlands bought a stockyard and expanded their cattle grazing. When Macquarie arrived he added to their land grants; this, he thought, satisfied all the claims for government assistance to which Gregory was entitled. He became very critical of the brothers for remaining ‘restless and dissatisfied’ and refusing to grow grain, despite their large numbers of convict servants; but Blaxland was concerned with his livestock. By 1813 he had come to realise that his flocks of sheep and cattle were expanding beyond the resources of his coastal grant. Macquarie could not be persuaded to grant extra lands to large flock owners on the coast, and Blaxland thus drew the correct conclusion that the solution to the pastoralists’ land problem lay in discovering a route to the interior. In 1810 he had explored part of the Nepean River. Early in 1813 he requested Macquarie’s approval of an exploring expedition across the Blue Mountains, and on 11 May he set out with William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth. In 1814, like many others almost insolvent because of drought and depression, he tried to persuade Macquarie to sanction a scheme for the exploitation of the interior by a large agricultural company. Macquarie would not agree nor would he allow Blaxland land in the interior for his own flocks. Since Blaxland then had to dispose of his livestock, it is not surprising that he joined the colonial opposition to Macquarie. By 1820 Blaxland had settled down on his Brush Farm estate. Here he conducted many experiments with crops and grasses, unsuccessfully with tobacco growing but most successfully with buffalo grass and viticulture. He had brought vines from the Cape of Good Hope, found a species resistant to blight, took a sample of his wine to London in 1822 and won a silver medal for it. While in England he published his A Journal of a Tour of Discovery Across the Blue Mountains in New South Wales (London, 1823). Thereafter Blaxland disappeared from public activity and when he committed suicide on 1 January 1853, his death was scarcely noticed in the press. Always a man of moody and mercurial character, Blaxland devoted his colonial activities almost entirely to the pursuit of his economic interests, and his diaries do not suggest great attachment to the colonial environment beyond what was suggested by the hope of personal gain. State Library of New South Wales Jill Conway, Online Dictionary of <strong>Australian</strong> Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/blaxland-gregory-1795 5 Complete the biographical table in Activity page 8A for Blaxland. Myths and Mysteries of the Crossing of the Blue Mountains 25
Page 1 and 2: Myths and Mysteries of the Crossing
Page 3 and 4: Contents Teacher’s guide to using
Page 5 and 6: dispossession of Aboriginal people
Page 7 and 8: There has also been some assertion
Page 9 and 10: Activity page 2 You be the historia
Page 11 and 12: Activity page 3B How the Blue Mount
Page 13 and 14: Activity page 4A A ‘virtual visit
Page 15 and 16: Activity page 5A Investigation 1 Wh
Page 17 and 18: Activity page 5C F Hamilton Lund, D
Page 19 and 20: Activity page 6B Here is a summary
Page 21 and 22: Activity page Investigation 3 7A Wh
Page 23: Activity page 7C Source 7 Though ag
Page 27 and 28: Activity page 8D William Charles We
Page 29 and 30: Activity page 9A Investigation 5 Ho
Page 31 and 32: Activity page 9C Source 1 Blaxland
Page 33 and 34: Activity page 10A Investigation 6 W
Page 35 and 36: Activity page 11A Were Blaxland, La
Page 37 and 38: Activity page 11C Candidate 3: Fran
Page 39 and 40: Activity page 11E Coming to a concl
Page 41 and 42: Activity page 12B Source 1 Since my
Page 43 and 44: Activity page 13A How is the crossi
Page 45 and 46: Activity page 13C William Cox’s t
Page 47 and 48: Activity page 14 Conclusion and ref

Download Teacher Guide & Print Resources - Australian History ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?