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

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