|
Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell was born
in June 1792 at Grangemouth, Scotland,
the son of John Mitchell and his wife Janet, née
Wilson.
He arrived
with his wife and family on the
Prince Regent on 27 September
1827.
In 1828, on
the death of John Oxley,
Mitchell became surveyor-general, and in 1829
became responsible for the survey of roads and
bridges.
|
 |
In 1830 he assumed
responsibility for the Survey Department and by
the end of 1830 Mitchell had made considerable
changes in the roads from Sydney
to Parramatta and to
Liverpool; he had plotted a new road southwards through Berrima as far
as Goulburn and had discovered and constructed a new western descent
from the Blue Mountains towards Bathurst.
Following
Governor Darling's departure from the colony, Mitchell
was requested by acting Governor Patrick Lindesay to explore the area between the
Castlereagh and Gwydir Rivers to test reports of captured bushranger
George Clarke of the existence of a
large river known as the Kindur flowing to the north-west...........
After several weeks of anxious preparation, I had the satisfaction to
find that every contingency was, as far as possible, provided for in my
department...my last cares were to leave, in the hands of an engraver a
map of the colony, that the past labours of the department might be
permanently secured to the public, whatever might be our fate in the
interior. Little time remained for me to look at the sextants, theodolite
and other instruments necessary for the exploratory journey; I collected
in haste a few articles of personal equipment, and having as well as I
could, under the circumstances, set my house in order, I bade adieu to
my family, and left Sydney at noon on Thursday, the 24th day of November
1831,
being accompanied for some miles by my friend Colonel Snodgrass.
The expedition headed
northwards to Tamworth through known country:
|
Nov. 30.—At length I had
the satisfaction to see my party move forward in exploring order;
it consisted of the following persons, viz.:— Carpenters Alexander
Burnett and Robert Whiting Sailors. William Woods, John Palmer,
Thomas Jones, William Worthington,
James Souter
Medical Assistant. Robert Muirhead, Daniel Delaney, J-
Bullock-Drivers. James Foreham, Joseph Jones, Groom. Stephen
Bombelli, Blacksmith. Timothy Cussack, Surveyor's Man.
Anthony Brown, Servant to me. Henry Dawkins, Servant to Mr.
White. These were the best men I could find.
All were ready to face
fire or water, in hopes of regaining by desperate exploits, a
portion, at least, of that liberty which had been forfeited to the
laws of their country. This was always a favourite service with
the best disposed of the convict prisoners, for in the event of
their meriting, by their good conduct, a favourable report on my
return, the government was likely to grant them some indulgence. I
chose these men either from the characters they bore, or according
to their trade or particular qualifications:
Thus, Burnett was the son
of a respectable house-carpenter on the banks of the Tweed, where
he had been too fond of shooting game, his only cause of "
trouble." Whiting, a Londoner, had been a soldier in the Guards.
Woods had been found useful in the department as a surveyor's man;
in which capacity he first came under my notice, after he had been
long employed as a boatman in the survey of the coast, and having
become, in consequence, ill from scurvy, he made application to me
to be employed onshore. The justness of his request, and the
services he had performed, prepossessed me in his favour, and I
never afterwards had occasion to change my good opinion of him.
John Palmer was a sailmaker as well as a sailor, and both he and
Jones had been on board a man-of-war, and were very handy fellows.
Worthington was a strong youth, recently arrived from Nottingham.
He was nicknamed by his comrades " Five o’clock," from his having,
on the outset of the journey, disturbed them by insisting that the
hour was five o'clock soon after midnight, from his eagerness to
be ready in time in the morning. I never saw Souter's diploma, but
his experience and skill in surgery were sufficient to satisfy us,
and to acquire for him from the men the appellation of " Doctor."
Robert Muirhead had been a soldier in India, and banished, for
some mutiny, to New South Wales; where his steady conduct had
obtained for him an excellent character. Delaney and Foreham were
experienced men in driving cattle. Joseph Jones, originally a
London groom, I had always found intelligent and trust-worthy.
Bombelli could shoe horses, and was afterwards transferred to my
service by Mr. Sempill in lieu of a very turbulent character, whom
I left behind, and who declared it to be his firm determination to
be hanged. Cussack had been a bog surveyor in Ireland; he was an
honest creature, but had got somehow implicated in a charge of
administering unlawful oaths. |
From Tamworth Mitchell
explored to the Namoi and followed it down as far as Narrabri. He then
cut across the plains to the Gwydir near Moree.
Several weeks were spent charting the tributaries between the Gwydir and
the Barwon.............. (»Australian
Dictionary of Biography
Online) and in the process the exaggerated tales related by George
Clarke of a vast inland sea were dispelled.
Later when he returned from the expedition Mitchell
examined George Clarke where he was incarcerated in the hulk, and was
satisfied that Clarke had never been beyond the 'Nundawar' Range.
(Christian Observer)
In 1834 Mitchell produced his famous Map of the
Nineteen Counties.
The Nineteen
Counties were the limits
of location in the colony
of New South Wales
defined by Governor Sir Ralph Darling in 1826.
Lieut-Colonel Henry
Dumaresq had copies available for purchase at Port Stephens in
1835.
Three
Expeditions Into the Interior of Eastern Australia: With
Descriptions.. By Thomas Livingstone Mitchell
Read the diary of Mitchell's youngest daughter
Blanche at the State Library of New South Wales
Pencil drawing
of bushranger
'Bold
Jack Donohoe'
attributed to Sir Thomas Mitchell who is said to
have made it while the body of Donohoe lay in the
morgue.
|
