Gippsland Times (Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Thursday 6 December 1923, page 5

ANGUS WMMILL N

2 DIGOVEIRER OF .

(By P. J. C. Wallace)

hold a is The idea to pilgrimage ,to the grave of Angus, M'Millan a his death, worthy one, ani. should be an annial affair on the anniversary of is His. sons which the i18th. of May.: should -be not 'the r'his'i'ss

whiclih done. -invited? in only thing should be Somewhere on Hihway, irchi th;'Prine'i~ tbe'our a ciommandiiig position, a monument or should be erected famous ";so.: pioneer explorer. It should be visible from the railEv;a Inyearsi to Pkrince's come the Highway will be the main motor?roed between Melbourne is -neEt and Sydney, and when the railway carried through to the 'NewSouth

I Wales line, the Gippsland route will challenge the' Albury line for supremacy. There are many wealthy families in Gippsland today, who could; bet -suitable ween them, easily spare the lor the erection a necessary money 6f ? memorial. Do they ever think of what they owe to Angus MIMillan Some in of them would not have been existence but forthe fact that their parents inet discovery? or grandparents aInd married, owing to the of Gippsland. I In looking up records at the Melbourne Public Library, saw the fol

lowing extract in a paper .which' was read before the Victorian Hostorical Society just ten years ago: ",What has been done to keep green the memory of him who in 1899-41 blazed the track into the rich valleys of Gippsland--Angus M'Millan ? Beyond a portrait in the Mechanics' Institute, Sale;,and a. tombstone over inl thle 'of ! is the family cemetery that town, nothing Surely 'it time that Gippsland folk awoke to the ptivilege they possess to recognise worthily the work of their energetic pioneer." is In view of the ceremony which taking place this week at the grave the following sketch of-the discovery of Gippsland be of interest. side, may I If there are mistakes to be corrected or furtherfacts which can be supplied in It is by old residents I would be very pleased tosee them print. to be deplored that so many of our pioneers have passed away without their early experiences being chronicled. Cannot something be done before they are all gone ? No part of Australia has a greater variety of scenery than Gippsland. Mountain, plain, river, lake and Sea make an ever-changing panorama as the delighted traveller journeys through this magnificent. distriet-:whichi has rightly been designated "The Garden-of ." The settled portions, with splendid roads, flourishing farms and busy townslhips, show the made in eighty.two years. Views may..be summits which landscape from obtained from mountain .advancement embrace the whole tihe Alps to the sea. The beauty of the Buchan caves is unsurpassed. The

teem ..:s with wild fowl of all kinds. "Lake Tyers, the geni of them all, has its unique and picturesque aboriginal station. The Ninety-mnile beach is a source of never-ending joy. Further east the Croajingolong scenery is ever grander. In 1839, before the gold era, what is now Gippsland w'as an unknown wilderness. The State of Victoria was a portion of. New South.Wales and

. ..thei was known as the Port Phillip Settlement. Melbourne was a small village. Settlement had extended from Melbourne towards Daindenong and Port Western but since the day in 17991when the gallant young Surgeon Bass, is after whom the strait named, had beachedhis boat near Cape Everard no white man had been known to have penetrated its.interior.

Half savage seal hunters who frequented the islands of Bass Strait occasionally made raids on the coast and carried off pative women, but the country itself repelled exploration. The eastern progress of settlenent had

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62562807 country itself repelled exploration. The eastern progress of settlenent had been arrested by dense timber, low scrubby ranges and morasses, s?urounded thick ti-tree. north barrier by On the and north-east the of the A4stralia Alps extended as far as the head of the Murray. On the New SouthWiales site of the present boundary, settlement by squatters and others ha4dexteadl it. ed from Sydney to Twofold Bay and the Manaro district, or as was then called "Maneroo." Reports had been received from the blacks of open .fine grassy country over the Alps to the South West. Vain efforts were made it to reach and a main named George M'Kellar had penetrated' the barrier' as.far as the High Plains, (then called Omio) and formed a cattle station, but the winter climate was very severe.and he got no further. Angus M'Millan was the man who succeeded after several attempts

during 'which he suffered innumerable hardships and risks . from hostile Isle natives. He was then about 30 years of age. He was born in the of Skye and had been in the colonies about nine years. He was. employed as overseer at Carrawang station in the Maneroo district. 29th. On the May, 1839, hestartedwith "J'immny Gibber," the native chief of the Maneroo tribe, to endeavor to reach the country spoken of by the blacks. travelled S.W. for five They days and from the top .of.a high mousn tain, which he named Mt. M'Leod, beheld the promised land of plains, lakes and The was rough black, sea. country very and the becoming alarmed, oi account of the wild natives of the Warigal tribe, refused to. go further. Mc Millan wished to go on and, in turn, coaxed and threatened his black com it panion, but was-of no use so they camped. That iight the explorer woke find up suddenly to the black standing over him with a raised. waddy. lie his coweld grabbed pistol and the native, to submission, accounted for his action by saying that he had been dreaming that another blackfellow was his carrying off gin. It was a narrow escape for the explorer, and he it first thought advisable to turn back. Thus ended his attempt. After this he to his tlip proceeded form a station nearer objective. He was employed by Lachlan M'Alister, A bullock dray and provisions for another-.attempt were despatched from Sydney to Maneroo andm eventually,,froin th? 'latter difficulties, place after innumerable they got the dray over the mountains, in sometimes four feet of snow, crossed the Snowy River, and once it took tnem three days to climb a pinch of nine miles. Without shelter they suf fered very much. They reached a point about fifty miles south of Omeo, called the blacks by Numbla-Mungee, and formed the.new station fora .start ing place for the next attempt to reach those alluring plains and the sea. On the 26th. December, 1839, a party from the newly settled station, consisting of himself, M. M'Alister, C ameron and Bath, a stqckman, started out with several weeks' rations. The objective was Corner ;Inlet' where he find hoped to a suitable port for shipping the cattle from the new country first to Tasmania and Sydney. On the niight they camped on the bank of a river (the signs of natives but Tambo.) Many were seen, they were .not molested. One day M'Millan was riding ahead and came suddenly upon a blacks. number of The natives gazed with affright and astonishment at first horse and rider, the they had ever seen. M'Millan dismounted and made fled in friendly signs to them, but they terror, and all day the wailing of the be heard in gins and picaninnies could the bush. Years afterwards some of the same blacks told M'Millan that they first thought he and the horse were one animal, but when he dismounted they were more terrified,sas they took him for thle horse's picaninnie, as he was carried on its back! They pushed on and by cutting a track through the scrub to the river bank,.were enabled to cross over logs, carrying' their rations and saddles and leading the: horses by ropes, making them swim or scra mble through. The: ranges -on both t idles of the stream were very steep. They had bad luck-wit he. pack horse which slipped on a mountain side and rolled down until stopped by-a tree. It was so badly hurt that.they returned to Numbla-Mungee station. The second attempt had failed. Before starting again M'Millan sent a man to Omeo station to get. a semi-tame black for a guide and for parleying with the wild natives. . The blacks, man returned witli two Cabon Johnny, chief of the Omeo tribe, and a blackboy whom M'Millan named Friday. a whom M'Millan named Friday. " The 11th. January, 1840, saw them started for the third attemtt to reach the kernel of the nut which was proving such a hard one to crack. After travelling for some days over their old route in very rough country, having splendid views of lakes and plains from various mountaiuntops, theyi the river followed it to the lowlands, then ztruck Tambo again and down and on to its mouth where it- enters the' lake. The lake was,alive with ducks, swans, pelicans ani other acquatic birds. hlWMillan named the lake 'Vic toria" after the reigning Queen. (This. part of the lake is called Lake thenow? King.) The country was good, the grass being as high as saddl:girtha. travelled Kangaroos and emus weire numerous. The party -westalolg he lake, 17th. January to it and on came another river and :Nicholson, after a Sydney doctor. The river was too deep to cross.naned so ,ly folloWed it to the horses up ranges, and-the scrambled through a rocky ford.Tbewea -. was fearfully hot and the meat went bad, but:one ofthoeparty.ahot some.her ducks and the situation was saved.. These wer?the:first ducks ever shot the Lakes district. can estimate thie snumberslaugbtd`~1 .in Who e rvey?Lbred.thb then in that sportsman's paradise ? the 18th anqthe On r way. M'Millan named it after Surveyor General :MitcIell, South . of-New. Wales. It they to follow it was not crossable, so had up, havig o~oiptrouble in the the top hill they. had morass. Afterwards from of a grand view of the surrounding country. -Mountains tier:upon tier rose hin d them. Lakes, country to rivers, plains and timbered stretched away tlso'h amid south-west. land of- birth, of-the M'Millan thought of Scotland, the hi" and to. thousands living in in the old a poverty country. Here was new "land supiport them all ! On the spur of the momrent he it

?_med 'aeoiqp.Au~?~ tralis." On the 19th. January, 1840, the Mitchell'was cross S d?,idt?.si. S.W. the party camped at a place which they named Providence .P9zd.. 21st large lake it On a was sighted. They irst.thought was a copinu ation of the one they: Yictoria,,ait but fo!uad that water

had'amed Lake ..s fresh instead salt. was of Ilt they Lake named Welinop. el tey Lots blacks seen" the Lake,. - of were on shore of the , d on bt asle the par·ty. before, sighting White men they-had never seen ai? the of-the horses terrified them. ------.- .

"- . 22nd they to another river (the foill;red it SOn came Avon) i autmd ad crossed it about two miles from the hills. country now co :.Tse line open plains, with occasional beltsd of timber., They can on t;e l plains fine the to tle - had be and a view of mountains north,, ilMal' M Mt. Wellington. They continued S.W. and struck anothe4er' c ty named the M'Allister. Native signs were numerous. On 2rd.th t cross could so. followed it.down, itsnc a a but not do They lput is Tle.Cey now called the Thompson was not observed:. sror below where Sale is, where th:e Glengarry T'ipa on e now ..and.:l iwerem.r junction and form the Trobe. Hundredl of ~ntives naian La b'.l bridje; of the river the jspans stiei, banks where swing sow the -ran parley with M'Millan's.blacks-an. d would niot '+in' 'was away. made, was lame andicould not eef ,OnPldac" :'sey eatired. wanted to get to the sea, and iaftq ende'&d si. to throiigh tihe black I et

but succe? ssp,.1-l?, guides, without i trousers kiife. and L His only oriaments wiere-t . remarkably preserved dred in t�e'suntroi d

by ,or .u... ilI to lbark cabno of a-tee,-bl To cross the river theylirid strip a fashion, butfail~eias the baiik split. Provisions were low, so aeo was held. M'Millan desired to and·,And an outlet- to:.t es;ea,,.Ibulse .go him to baae·t~ others outvoted so he decided returnm to his 4bring'mnwa stock to the go?od the It took country he' had passed near Avon Riwir. te pa..y 8pven days to return,: They:catinped in the open as they hado tot Thuse enem e the trip. explorer's'third h. reported to On 31st Janusary proceeded to Maneroo and his enr !840 ployer, Mr M'Alhsterp an i avg himn ull particulars aboutit senew coasutr tO- :He. also a,~,eport sfriend in Syd.y, the astraydlie wrote .?ut letter;nt seb' to to gs.,,'?s employer was not prepared nd stock the new a Igtms nd stock t new a Igtms ing,rpirt availabld, and lhe kept the lbs? was apparently Imt,,t...s j~ijisel, and:it is just anoth-ilr hi new here that ,i?sbut :country r?o'.e the- "PDh ?) ippsland." veis Stieielecki, Ilis1h nas Couht speti4t, had been doipg N.S. who worfor Ibi Wales Government, 'and who expl ored m anamed Mt.esJluako, hesrd, to explore it.' had all he necesirsy iatstxlamnts.the .m4 ,a party 'He t aitrvp4ny min some of country.' the Govbrnment he I t It .the :At new .

wy, .emise pack horses ti c'irry the Hispaorty -lase oiutfit. arrived-atjIugbl sduring absence at station lM'Mlll~i's Maneroo, and havipg rlIIedi t?jsAs, proyvisions and olitapied.a camp e.ttle from M'Millan's ~ lSt the r frop.'the 27th:M~dhi 1840 (two' after. 'Millan's'? station.on months l( M'AIliater, WiQhe); t Latrobe) ~or ,th:new't+utry.c - ,t "Matthew gent:Withtle one day a MIllan, ?eemt.'y CoIntfor eixplalnl 4') ? to b/.y be crosse, lrdihowedhe ma4e tks Hlph'uprtu Uthe Syde.y-side blail't.i e tbAd with h id. dech ,l

at its t teina h rseached -the Lat birth....: but : " to cross, a few ;:M'Millan in; PI, M the meantime had -truck" tro?ble with di br startedwith a.Alray and seven men to the short of scrub,..and being rations clear a road -across the mountains to they to were compelled abandon the the new country.: This was his fourth horses~Anda: includ 1ttheiribaggage, venture. He had been. worung tor ing their instruments, and at then three weeks: when he received orders tempted; a diCt~ line to Western Port his from: employer not to form any on foot. to lat They hoped reach the more stations until he had discovered ter place in a few days. For Inlet, twenty a port at Corner so the party two days they struggled over ranges, returned. through; .dense their iifti; .scrub, hacking iOn ,14th. July, 1840, for the way with' tomahawks. Sometimes, time, he started with a party consist they to ;their in were up., waists- ing of Lt. Ross, M'Allister, Lath, blc swamp for hours. For over two : Laren and a bla?k. In tweive days lived weeks they on the flesh of nat they reached the Glengarry or Latlr ive bears, sometimes having to eat be, i:e river, further up than where it it flavoured ri rawi,-strongly as was 'made his was former trip. The ce with-eucalyptus. - Broken down anid Thigh with the winter rains. 'They epfeebled.:with. starvation the ragged could: not cross, so once again they party, reached- the outskirts of civil returned to the Tambo statil at isation'at.Western Port on 12th. May. Numbla-Mungee.' they, freely admitted that owed they M'Millan was' now determined, in their lives to Tarra, the native, whose spite of his employer's orders, to lake resources in woodcraft ensured them possession of the country he aad al such.food as they-were able to obtain. ready clea.ed a track co, an:i on Therefore, although Angus M'Mil . which he had spent so much money lan first .into Gippsland, the was: and labor. In October, 1840, he ! Count was first into print When he started with the first draft of cattle had sufficiently. recovered from his and founded a station on the Avon enforced diet of raw native bear, the river, the now famous Bushy Park. Count sent his report to Sir George From there he made his sixth attem Gipps,Gov.ernor of , pt to reach the sea at Corner Inlet, and also.stated that he had named he got six ,but although within miles the. "'Gipps'Land" new country in hon it, of the scrub stopped him, and they our- of His Excellency.

,lost one tomahawk and broke ano enlarged on the re tlher. He named the mountain "Tom's

,+His.Excellency his to port-in-forwarding despatch. MI'Allister's :Cap'" after Tom head London,. and the Count was awarded which it in shape. ,dress, resembled the gold medal. of the Royal Geo He returned to the Avon river sta graphical Society. tion and then left for Maneroo to sec The "Gippsland" was name ,accept his for. ure the protection of rights from ed the -new. territory and M'Mi' the Commissioner of Crown Lands in lan's Australis" 'Caledonia died at its Sydney, but that individual would not Sydney, but that individual would not anid the steamer was wrecked near it, told explorer give and the that as the entrance to the Port channel. A hlie had gone so far afielt he must pro boat was sent towards Melbolrne and tect himself ! was picked up by the Government cut ter. his at the On way back, Tambo sta Vessels were sent to rdscue the tion, his he found that men, whom he remaining crew and passengers. This left had at Bushy Park, had been was successfully done, but the Clon driven from there by wild blacks and mell could not be refloated. The his Tlhe cattle speared or dispersed. cargo was afterwards sold. A few buit men escaped with their lives had years ago the remains of this wreck been pursued for twenty-five miles, could be seen amongst the breakers it and had reached Tambo station. in the channel. Possibly is still M'Millan collected a party which there. included himself,' Dr. Arbuckle, John The people connected with this I RM'Donald, Bath, M'Laren and three wreck reported good country in the iothers to and started out teach the vicinity and a company of squatters lesson. it. blacks a The inclusion of our and merchants was formed to test It pioneer doctor in the party shows us was named the Coun ! that M'Millan meant business There pany and the pioneis of the movement was a desperate fight, but history is left Melbourne on the "Singapore" to ,silent as the casualties among the with horses, citttle and other stock .natives. The. whites came through all and goods. They arrived shortly right. after M'Millan had reached the sea. When things had become quiet, They had with them the native Tarra, who had Strzelecki's and the surviving cattle had been re saved party covered, he started for the seventh from starvation. The black soon time to attempt to reach the sea. The found M'Millan's track and his blazed old story of Bruce and the spider ap trees to the river. Thepioneers gave to plied in this effort, for this time he the native's name the river. After building some huts won ! He had with him T. M'Allis and a left few. ter, four stockmen and a black. storehouse, they a men in charge and decided to explore to Mel They left on 8th. February, 184! bourne overland. They followed Mc the final to for attempt get through . Millan's blazed trail to the river Glen as his employer had given him dis garry and. then struck west, and by 'tinct orders to abandon the new coun keeping further north than the try unless he could find an' outlet by Count's party, avoided the swamps, sea. They crossed the Glengarry and but had to cut through dense scrub for camped on a creek (Merriman's.) It thirty miles. They reached Western. took a day to cut a narrow track to Port on 11th. April, 1841, after nine thel summit of Tom's Cap, but their teen days of rough travelling. toil was rewarded by a splendid view In the meantime M'Millan was bat of' the long-looked for promontory antd tling to get through with his dray, inlets. ih the They camped at what difficulties. whici he did after many now Bruthen Creek on the 12th. Feb He was three weeks clearing the way and had great trouble at the river.. his astonishment finding ruary, and. next day reached the sea Judge at a and found a river (the-Tarra.) On small active settlement where there the 14th. they discovered' a lace for was a wilderness a few weeks before. driver, shipping cattle, with seven feet of His bullock James Lawrence, water at low tide (Port Albert.) The was hailed by the settlers as the lion ! goal was won of the party. He had driven that

As they had blazed a trail all the team of bullocks and dray from Syd way, they were back at Bushy Park ney over the Australian Alp3, on 29th. February. M'Millan was now through many rivers and trackless determined to get his dray through bush and landed it and its contents at i to'the seaport. the port Slightly different travell

traffic present About six weeks before M'Millan ing to the .motor at the discovered, the port, a sinall steamer time on the Prince's Highway. named the Clonmell left Sydney for Angus M'Millan had many more Melbourne with passengers and cargo. tripsof exploration which helped to The captain attempted a short cut open up Gippsland. He died on the anid the steamer was wrecked near 18th. 1865 at the comparative 18th. May, 1865 at the comparative early age of 55 years. NA doubt the hardships of his young manhood hast ened the end.

Near the main entrance of the Sale General Cemetery, in the Presbyter ian ground, stands the modest obelisk over the family grave where he is buried. This is the inscription

ERECTED

To the Memory of

ANGUS 31'MILLAN

Discoverer of Gippsland � Died 18th. May, 1865.

Aged 55 Years

Is his this to be sole memorial ? Will those readers, who have had the patience to peruse this article to the end, kindly turn to the beginning and re-read the extract from the paper of the Victorian Historical Society and ask themselves the question, "What have we done to worthily record our indebtedness to Angus M'Millan, ,Gip psland's Pioneer Explorer?"

Melbourne, 1/12/1923.