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In 1827
Allan Cunningham
already had vast
experience in the exploration of Australia, both by land and
sea.
He was a Botanical Collector for the Royal Gardens at Kew and
under the patronage of Sir Joseph Banks
when he arrived in Australia in the
Surry in 1816. His dedication to botany led him on many
journeys - he accompanied John Oxley to the Lachlan
River in 1817 and joined Phillip Parker King on many expeditions
over the next ten years. For his dedication and achievements in
botany and exploration he earned the respect of Government in
this first decade, however his best was yet to come.
The crowning
achievement of his career, came in 1827 when he offered his
services as leader of an expedition proposed by Sir Ralph
Darling. The expedition was to explore the inland country west
of the Great Dividing Range between the Hunter River and Moreton
Bay.
The expedition
consisted of six men, 11 horses and several dogs. Cunningham took with
him a Schmalcalder's pocket compass, a chronometer, barometer
and an odometer as a distance gauge. The horses were all sent
overland from Sydney to the Hunter River but Cunningham himself
travelled by sea to Newcastle on the Lord Liverpool along with the baggage and stores. They
all met up again at
Glennie's farm
and proceeded together to
Segenhoe
near Scone. The expedition left Segenhoe on 30th April to cross
the Liverpool Range at the head of
Dartbrook Creek. It
has been written that the Dartbrook was so called from an
incident when one of two government surveyors who explored the
area in 1824 had been wounded by a spear or dart during an
attack by Aborigines. (This was
Henry Dangar's expedition which crossed the Liverpool
Ranges but retreated when attacked by the Wanaruah tribe)
There were no
attacks from natives on Cunningham's expedition but conditions
were arduous. In crossing the ranges the way was so steep that
pack saddles were taken from the horses and carried on the men's
shoulders. They camped high on the ranges where the Liverpool
Plains could be seen away to the horizon
After
descending the northern slopes of the range on 5th May
Cunningham headed north to the Peel River passing through open bush composed for the most part
of iron bark and box. He then crossed the Warrah and Quirindi
Creeks and observed marks of natives on the trees and bark
huts which had been recently occupied but the first encounter
with natives was not until they reached Manilla River. 'Being a
little in advance of the horses', he wrote, 'I had no sooner
reached its right bank, than my attention was arrested by the
appearance of smoke, which was rising from the forest ground on
the opposite bank, and immediately I perceived four natives and
a child, who having previously observed me were standing for the
moment in a state of extreme surprise and alarm.'
On May 21 the
expedition reached a broad river later named the Gwydir by
Cunningham; after passing through barren wooded country broken
by ridges and gullies they passed close to the present site of
Warialda. They changed direction and came to the Macintyre River
finding it little more than a channel of sand, the country then
being in the grips of a devastating drought. Cunningham was
concerned about the scarcity of water for their own needs as
well. The horses were weakened by the journey and lack of
pasture and half the original rations had been consumed by the
end of May. Winter and the possibility of bad weather
became overriding considerations as he pondered how much further
he should penetrate north. He determined to turn more to the
east rather than persevere on a northerly course as originally
planned and consequently came upon the 'handsome westward
flowing river 30 yards wide and very deep' which he named the
Dumaresq. The party crossed this river near the present site of
Texas and continued on for the next six days through hard,
monotonous country and dense thickets.
On 6th June
west of the present site of Warwick, Cunningham obtained a most
agreeable view of open country. This was, in fact, Cunningham's
first sight of the pasture land which he was to name the Darling
Downs - more than 5,000 square miles of fertile black soil
plains and valleys west of Moreton Bay. Through these Downs
flows the Condamine River which they crossed on this day. Beyond
the Condamine, Cunningham found 'downs of a rich black and dry
soil, clothed with abundance of grass'. In a valley to the east
of the Condamine which he named Logan's Vale in honour of
Captain Logan,
commandant of the settlement at Moreton Bay, Cunningham rested his men and horses. He
climbed the ridge above where he had encamped and from there
observed at a distance of two or three miles to the north
east a very deeply excavated part of the main range 'So
remarkable a hollow in the principal range I determined not to
leave unexamined.'
From
Cunningham's Gap he could have made
his way across reasonable flat country to the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay. But this was not
his intention, and on June 16, he left Logan's Vale to return.
By July 9 he had crossed his outward track near the Gwydir and
continued south across the Liverpool Plains and over the
Liverpool Range by a pass slightly to the west of that which
they had used in May. The expedition reached Segenhoe again on
28th July after an absence of 13 weeks. They rested at Segenhoe
and left on 5th August to travel by Bathurst to Parramatta where
he submitted a report of his expedition to Governor Darling
Allan
Cunningham returned to England and was later offered the
position of Colonial Botanist at Sydney. He declined this
position in favour of his brother Richard who was murdered by
Aborigines on the Bogan River in 1835. Allan Cunningham did
return to Australia but his constitution was weakened by the
hardships and deprivations of his travels and he died in 1839.
The Australian 23
December 1824
The Australian 27 May
1827
Wood, Allan., Dawn in
the Valley, Wentworth Books 1972.
Crowley, Frank.,
Colonial Australia 1788 - 1840 p. 363.
Early Explorers in Australia - Project Gutenberg
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