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13B
Gregory Blaxland’s sword
About 1800.
State Library of New South Wales
Breastplate 19th century
In the 1830s George Larnach and his family
became the first settlers in the Caloola Valley
near Bathurst. They established friendly
relations with the local Wiradjuri people.
Lanarch presented this breastplate to an
elder of the group as a mark of respect.
On loan from Alan McRae
Land grant made to Gregory Blaxland 1812
In 1809 Lieutenant Governor William Paterson
allocated Blaxland 2000 acres (810 hectares) at
Evan, now Penrith. Three years later Governor
Lachlan Macquarie granted him a further 2280
acres (920 hectares) at the same location, and
then, as detailed in this document, 500 acres
(200 hectares) at what is now Cobbity. Macquarie
believed this ended Blaxland’s entitlement, but
the family disputed this in the court. Determined
to expand his holdings, Blaxland looked for land
west of the Blue Mountains.
National Museum of Australia
Surveyor and settler
William Lawson arrived in Sydney in 1800 as an
officer of the New South Wales Corps. He acted
as a surveyor during the 1813 expedition into
the Blue Mountains and may have been the first
to take stock across the range. Lawson selected
1000 acres (400 hectares) near Bathurst as
his reward for a successful expedition. He was
commandant of Bathurst from 1819 to 1824 and
led expeditions to its west and north. Lawson
eventually owned more than 200 000 acres,
making his pastoral enterprise one of the largest
in the colonies.
William Lawson
Mitchell Linrary, State Library of New South Wales
Stone flakes found in the
Bathurst area collected
1900-60
Wiradjuri craftspeople had
made stone tools like these for
thousands of years before the
first settlers arrived. These flakes
were collected by Percy Gresser,
a Bathurst shearer who devoted
his life to researching Indigenous
culture and history.
Bathurst Historical Society
Brick from Fordwich House 1820s
Blaxland hoped his 1813 expedition across the Blue
Mountains would bring him new pastures. Governor
Macquarie rewarded Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth each
with 1000 acres (400 hectares) west of the range, but refused
Blaxland’s request for further grants inland of the mountains.
Despite such disputes with colonial authorities, the Blaxland
family developed a network of properties in New South Wales.
This brick is from Fordwich House, built by the Blaxland
family with convict labour at Boke, near Singleton, in 1824.
Cattle were bred and fattened at Fordwich before being
slaughtered and salted at John Blaxland’s large property,
Newington, on the Parramatta River, west of Sydney.
On loan from Darryl Blaxland
Road making tools used for
crossing the Blue Mountains
William Cox’s team of
convicts used basic tools
like these while building
the first road across the
Blue Mountains, now the
Great Western Highway.
On loan from Ralph Hawkins
46
Myths and Mysteries of the Crossing of the Blue Mountains