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Pioneer Surveyors of New South Wales

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Pioneer Surveyors of New South Wales Surveyor ISSN: 1832-4460 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjss17 Pioneer Surveyors of New South Wales John Weingarth To cite this article: John Weingarth (1919) Pioneer Surveyors of New South Wales, Surveyor, 32:3, 54-57, DOI: 10.1080/18324460.1919.10439464 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18324460.1919.10439464 Published online: 01 Aug 2012. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 1 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tjss17 Download by: [University of South Florida] Date: 24 June 2016, At: 08:17 54 THE SURVEYOR. Pioneer Surveyors of New South Wales. By JOHN WEINGARTH, L.S. GRIMES AND MEEHAN. Before closing these papers I wish to add some particulars about Grimes and Meehan. " Grimes returned from England in 1806, Meehan was then sent once more t.o Tasmania, Grimes was there in April, IB07, Meehan returned to Sydnev late in IB07, Grimes returned earlv in I80B and in April was sent to 'England on account of the Bligh trouble; -Meehan kept out of that affair. he did all the surveying in New South Wales. and compiled a splendid .Map of Sydney in 1807, most valuable to historical students. On the uth December, 1809, he surveyed Roberts' grant at Bondi, he calls it Bundi Bay in his Field Book, No. 5B ; in connection with this, I may mention that in a book callen. the Queens of Society by Grace and Philip Wharton Vol. I, Page 240 are the words" in the forests of Bondi near Paris in 1642." It is to be regretted that the original spelling has not been adhered to, every generation seemed to think it only right to spell names to agree with the pronunciation by the natives then living, forgetting that the later natives would pronounce quite differently in conse­ quence of learning pidgin English. Meehan went with Governor Marquarie to Tasmania in IBu, and returned with him to Sydney, and in r8I2 he again went to Tas­ mania. The Derwent River and Risdon where Meehan was in 1803, were named by Sir James Hayes in 1793, see his history by Ida Lee. From an article" Discovery of the Goulburn Plains," by G. R. Nichol" in the Town and Country Journal of 5th June, 1918, I make the following extracts referring to Meehan :- EARLY EXPLORATION. The successes attained by the western explorers soon found others willing to risk their lives and fortunes in going in other directions, and foremost among these the brothers Hamilton and John Kennedy H\lme, two young native-born Australians, the eldest, Hamilton, Downloaded by [University of South Florida] at 08:17 24 June 2016 born June 18, 1797. The story of their work is best told in Hamilton Hume's OW11 words, published in the" Monitor," a Sydney newspaper, on November 26, IB26, in which he wrote :-On perusing one of the numbers of the" Monitor 'j a few days ago, I notice the comments of "Ali English Immigran,t" respecting the Hume river, the Gulf of St. Vincent, and several other bays and harbours on this coast. I noW b~g leave, Mr. Editor, to say that in my opinion, I have per­ formed Journeys enough. It is true some persons have profited by my excursions into the interior; but, in general terms, I cannot say I have. In the year IB14, accompanied by my brother, I discovered that tract of coup,try now called" Argyle." I was also there in the years IBI5 and IB16 ; and in the year 1817 I accompanied Mr. Throsby JULY 31, 1919. THE SURVEYOR. 55 on his first tour to that part of the country. In the year 1818 I again accompanied Mr. Throsby and the late Mr. Meehan. Mr. Meehan and myself discovered that beautiful lake, now called" Lake Bathurst" and " Goulburn Downs." GOING SOUTH. When the reports of Hume's early discoveries through what IS now known as Bong Bong, Sutton Forest, and Argyle were laid before Macquarie, he sent for James Meehan, the Deputy Surveyor­ General, and Charles Throsby, and directed them to survey and lay out a road from the Cowpastures through this new found country round the head of the Shoalhaven River and thence to Jervis Bay. Macquarie always argued that new country was not of any use to the people without a road to it leading to a port. The story of his building the Great Western-road, under the direction of William Cox, has been told, and so he determined to have a Great Southern­ road as well. On con,"ultation it was determined that the Governor should reques.t Hamilton Hume to join Throsby and Meehan, which he did, and preparations were at once put in hand, and the necessary outfit was assembled at John Macarthur's estate at Camden, then better known as the Cowpastures. It seems strange that the archives of the colony, even of the Mitchell Library, have very poor and meagre accounts of this most important journey of exploration. Even James Meehan's old field-books are almost bare of the facts attending the work, but I find the first reference in a memorandum of James Meehan's, dated March 6, 1818, as f0110ws :-" Commenced a sur­ vey of the country, lying between the Cowpastures, leading to the southward, in order to ascertain if a communication can be established to Jervis Bay." CROSSING THE RAZORBACK RANGE. Meehan and Hume started on this date (March 6). They first crossed the Razorback Range, over Stonequarry Creek, through Bargo Brush, over the Mittagong Range, through Bong Bong (now Moss Vale), laying out the old Great Southern-road as it exists to-day. On March 22 Throsby joined the other two, and the three pushed on, but apparently the Shoalhaven was in heavy flood, and after attempting to get round its waters, and failing to effect a crossing, they determined to part, and the following entry in Meehan's field Downloaded by [University of South Florida] at 08:17 24 June 2016 book tells the story :-" Wednesday, March 25, 1818: Finding it im­ prac~icable to effect a passage any further, we agreed to divide in two pa~tles. Mr. Throsby took the carts, his own three men, George Gnmes and the two natives, in order to try if he could effect a passage by the way we first attempted, while I proceeded with the four other men, Hamilton Hume, and the led horses with loads on their ba~ks. I deemed it most advisable to keep to the south-west, in order as I hoped to head the river." " April I, 1818: We arc obliged to give up crossing the rivet, and not thinking it likely to cross higher up, as my time to stay out is but short, not having a stock of provisions, and, as I judged, there is a considerable tract of forest country on the right of my track, ·1 THE SURVEYOR. JULY 31, 1919 thought it best to explore some of that country. Friday, April 3, 1818 : Marked a gum tree on the east side of a very extensive plain without trees; is good grazing, thick swathe, some sand; end of the hill all very good flat land to the lake. Water covered with rushes, and a greater number of ducks than I had ever seen. Saturday, April 4: in my opinion there is a stream formed from the lake. By the time I arrived at the tent, I had 10 5-8 miles, so that the circuit of the lake would exceed 10 miles. Sunday, April 5: Found the skeleton of a large animal. Hamilton Hume found another." CASUAL EXPLORERS. These hardy explorers seemed very casual over their discovery; they did not get a bit excited; they did not claim the explorer and discoverer's right to give the lake and plains a name, and it was not till 1820 they were named by Macquarie. In October of that year Macquarie determined to visit what was called the new country. Up to this time he had permitted no settlement on the new-found plains, but during the year the British Government sent out a Royal Commissioner, one]. T. Bigge, to enquire and report on the state of the colony. Bigge wished to see all the new country, and, accom­ panied by Oxley, the Surveyor-General, he went to Bathurst, and from there went across to the new country, and arranged to meet Macquarie there at the lake. According to Wentworth's book, "The British Settlements in Australia 3rd Edition, London, 1824, Page 142, Dr. Reid's Journal 22nd October, 1820, says" a chain of ponds appears to run through the middle, those on the west side the Governor called Bredalbane Plains, and those on the east side had been named" Goulburn Plains" by their discoverer Mr. l\Ieehan two years beyond." On the Map in Lycett's book is shown the track surveyed by Meehan from the Cowpastures to Goulburn, also a track marked "Meehan's Track" from Camden to Wellington Valley; the date he made that journey is not stated. but it was probably in 1821 as accOlding to Court of Claims, he was clearing his land at Sutton Forest in 1821, and he was also surveying at Bathurst in that year; a direct route to Bathurst after getting instructions to carry out surveys there would save him a great many miles of travelling. Downloaded by [University of South Florida] at 08:17 24 June 2016 Also on that Map is shown the route from Bathurst to Goulburn taken by Bigge and Oxley in 1820 probably following the track pre­ viously found by Throsby, the present road fairly well follows that route.
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