Activity page 12A Investigation 8 What impacts did the crossing have? See the film Did the crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813 have significant impacts? To decide we need to look at what followed from the event. 1 Read the comments below, and summarise them, using this table. As you add information and ideas, you can also annotate them with your judgements about whether the impacts were good (+ve) or bad (–ve), and short-term (ST) or long-term (LT). One example has been done to help you. ‘virtual visit’ from 12:00 to 14:40 and 14:40 to 15:50 Impacts of the Crossing of the Blue Mountains Economic New land for grazing sheep (LT) (+ve) Social Environmental Human Identity 40 Myths and Mysteries of the Crossing of the Blue Mountains
Activity page 12B Source 1 Since my return to England many of my friends have expressed a wish to peruse my Journal …. It may not be deemed wholly uninteresting, when it is considered what important alterations the result of the expedition has produced in the immediate interests and prosperity of the colony. This appears in nothing more decidedly than the unlimited pasturage already afforded to the very fine flocks of merino sheep, as well as the extensive field opened for the exertions of the present, as well as future generations. It has changed the aspect of the colony, from a confined insulated tract of land, to a rich and extensive continent. Dedication by Blaxland in his Journal, 1823 http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/blaxland/gregory/b64j/part1.html#part1 Source 4 In the first place, Macquarie did not plan a rapid peopling of the inland region — his plans for Bathurst ‘rested on the assumption that there was no pressing need for people to go there’. His proposed regulations for settlement were not approved until 1817, and even then he took no immediate action to put then into effect. Although a few soldiers and labouring men had been stationed at Bathurst, there were no settlers until 1818, when ten grantees were finally put on small farms. In 1820 Macquarie was still rejecting proposals for a large-scale convict settlement on the grounds that it posed a security risk, and he had actively discouraged settlement by reserving large areas as Crown land. The Bathurst area remained for many years a small official outpost. Grace Karskens, An Historical and Archaeological Study of Cox’s Road and Early Crossings of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Crown lands Office, Bicentennial Project Unit, Sydney, 1988 p. 41 Source 2 Cox’s Road itself, rough and steep as it was, constituted the appropriate first step towards the Colony’s perceived future development: it marked the line of European ‘civilisation’ through the wilderness and made possible Macquarie’s official claim over the vast interior for some future imperial destiny. Grace Karskens, An Historical and Archaeological Study of Cox’s Road and Early Crossings of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Crown lands Office, Bicentennial Project Unit, Sydney, 1988 Source 5 In 1788 the Aborigines of the Blue Mountains had had no contact with Europeans; within 30 years their traditional way of life had been irrevocably changed. Of the generations of new Mountains dwellers who followed, few appreciated the Aboriginal heritage of the region, even though evidence of their presence was known from the Nepean River and the adjacent escarpment. Eugene Stockton and John Merriman (eds), Blue Mountains Dreaming: The Aboriginal Heritage (Second Edition), Blue Mountain Education and Research Trust, Lawson, 2009, back cover Source 6 Source 3 What was needed in the meantime was, firstly an official claiming of the region in symbolic and practical ways, laying suitable foundations for later development, and secondly a means by which the colony’s starving stock might quickly be taken into the new country. Cox’s Road served both purposes admirably. While not untruthful this description was exaggerated. For the journey over Cox’s Road proved to be extremely difficult and laborious. Significantly, as the numbers of travellers gradually increased, so the long process of re-alignment and improvement followed. Cox’s original road was simply not suitable for the transport and communication required for inland settlement, and so while it was of considerable symbolic importance, it had only limited actual economic usefulness. Grace Karskens, An Historical and Archaeological Study of Cox’s Road and Early Crossings of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Crown lands Office, Bicentennial Project Unit, Sydney, 1988 Items on display in the Crossing of the Blue Mountains exhibit in the National Museum of Australia — iron axe heads and nails, a breastplate given by settlers to Aboriginal leaders, Aboriginal stone tools found in the Bathurst area. 2 Could this display represent a comment on the impact of the new settlers on Aboriginal life and culture? Discuss this idea. Myths and Mysteries of the Crossing of the Blue Mountains 41
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