Myths and Mysteries of the - Australian History Mysteries

Activity page13BBlue Mountains Looking for land Crossing the Blue MountainsSoon after British colonists establishedtheir first settlements in New SouthWales, they began searching for newpastures for their stock. They explorednorth and south, and inland as faras Evan (now Penrith), but foundtheir way further west blocked by theBlue Mountains.Local Gundungurra, Wiradjuri,Wanaruah, Darug and Darkinjungpeoples knew and used two mainroutes to cross the Blue Mountains.But most Europeans saw the rangeas a forbidding maze of sandstonebluffs, deep gorges and dense bush.Then, several expeditions managed topenetrate part way into the mountains,travelling up the Burragorang Valley,inland from Richmond, and around therange to the south.In 1813 Gregory Blaxland, WilliamLawson and William Charles Wentworthforged a route directly west from Evan.The following year a road tracing theirroute was built across the range andsettlers began moving stock into theinland slopes and plains of Wiradjuricountry. In the following decades theBlue Mountains became a holidaydestination for Sydneysiders, and todaymore than three million people visiteach year to admire the rugged viewsand walk the forest trails.All the difficulties were surmountedwhich had hitherto prevented theinterior of the country from beingexplored and the Colony furtherextended.Gregory Blaxland, 1813From his arrival in New South Wales,Governor Lachlan Macquarie soughtto increase the colony’s capacity toproduce its own food. He instructedsettlers to grow grain rather thanraise sheep and cattle, but many largelandholders refused to comply andcontinued to increase their stock. Whendrought struck the Sydney region theygrew desperate for new pastures.In 1813 William Charles Wentworth,William Lawson and Gregory Blaxland,keen to expand their holdings,persuaded Macquarie to support anattempt to cross the mountains. Theydeparted Emu Plains with horses, anAboriginal guide and three convictservants. Twenty-one days and about93 kilometres later they climbed whatis now Mount Blaxland and saw to thewest country suited to sheep and cattle.They had proved that colonists couldcross the Blue Mountains.I am more pleased with the Countryevery day; it is a great extent ofGrazing landGeorge William Evans, 1813After Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworthreturned from the Blue Mountains withreports of promising land beyond,Governor Macquarie instructedsurveyor George Evans to plan a roadacross the range. Evans traced theexplorers’ trail of blazed (marked) treesand then followed a pathway made bylocal Aboriginal people down onto theinland slopes. He found rich grasslands,mostly created by the Wiradjuri people’spractice of periodic burning.Macquarie then commissionedex-soldier William Cox to build a roadthrough the mountains. In six monthsCox’s team of 30 convicts and eightguards completed more than 160kilometres. Bathurst, the first settlementwest of the range, was establishedin 1815, and pastoralists floodedinto the inland. For the next decadethere was armed conflict in the regionas the Wiradjuri, led by the warriorWindradyne, resisted the invasion.2 Add any information to your summary table on activity page 3A.3 Write a brief paragraph or do a comic strip sketch for your own history textbook (in box 9of activity page 3C) to explain to readers how the crossing of the Blue Mountains might bepresented differently by different historical representations. (Use the Museum display andother textbooks to answer this question.)4 Looking at activity page 3A, what are your final answers to each of the questions, based onthe evidence, information and ideas that you have summarised throughout this unit?44Myths and Mysteries of the Crossing of the Blue Mountains