Hume and Hovell expedition

The Hume and Hovell expedition was one of the most important journeys of explorations undertaken in eastern Australia. In 1824 the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane, commissioned Hamilton Hume and former Royal Navy Captain William Hovell to lead an expedition to find new grazing land in the south of the colony, and also to find an answer to the mystery of where New South Wales's western rivers flowed.

The party

Apart from Hume and Hovell, there are various references to the following six men who were the other members of the expedition. These men played their own valuable role in making the journey a successful one. Angel, Fitzpatrick & Barrois were Hume's men, Bullard & Smith belonged to Hovell and because Hovell was one man short, Boyd, who was known to Hume as a well respected horseman, bushman and swimmer, was at the time indentured to the Kennedy family and Hume arranged for Boyd to join the party as one of Hovell's men.

*Benjamin Smith, was Hovell's assigned servant. He later married Sarah Dean, had two children and died at Eastern Creek, NSW in 1837.

*Henry Angel, granted ticket of leave in 1823. Had previously accompanied Hume and Sturt on 1828 Darling expedition.

*Samuel Bullard, was one of Hovell's assigned servants. He never married and died at Penrith, NSW in 1868.

*Claude Barrois (stated as Bossawa in records), became one of Hume's men just before the expedition. He never married and died in the Sydney Convict Hospital in 1841.

*Thomas Boyd, returned to Tumut district and settled on Gilmore Creek. He married, had 12 children and died at 'Windowie', near Tumut, on 27 June 1885, aged 86 years. He is buried in the Tumut Pioneer Cemetery, where a headstone marks his grave.

*James Fitzpatrick, who took up land between Cootamundra and Gundagai; later bought 'Glenlee' station near Campbelltown, died at 86.

*There was at least one other man, unnamed, who was Indigenous Australian employed as a potential translator.

Outfitting of the expedition

The expedition is considered to have been privately funded however a grant of 50 pounds was granted by Sir Thomas Brisbane, governor, for provisions.

The supplies were as follows: 7 pack saddles, 1 riding saddle, 8 stand of arms, 6 pounds of gunpowder, 60 rounds of ball cartridge, 6 blankets, 2 tarpaulins, 1 tent, 1200lbs flour, 350lbs pork, 170lbs sugar, 38lbs tea & coffee, 8lbs tobacco, 16lbs soap, 20lbs salt, 1 false horizon, 1 sextant, 3 pocket compasses, 1 pram, and cooking utensils.

Departure

The party set out from Appin near Sydney in October 1824, and travelled south to the Murrumbidgee River near the site of Tumut. They crossed "a noble stream" which they named the Hume (now the Murray River) near the site of Albury, and then advanced into what is now Victoria.

Thomas Boyd was a noted swimmer and is acknowledged as being the first white man to swim across the Murray River. This he did with a rope between his teeth, as the party needed to establish a link to the other side of the then raging river so as they could traverse it safely with all their animals and gear.

They proceeded south crossing the Ovens River and Goulburn River by a route further to the east of the Hume Highway and closer to the foothills of Mount Buffalo. They reached the Great Dividing Range in rugged country around Mount Disappointment by following an aboriginal track roughly along the Yea to Kinglake road. They were disturbed by aboriginal burning off and were unable to find a way through the range. They then retraced their steps to what is now the Strath Creek road at Flowerdale then moved west along Sunday Creek to Mount Piper near Broadford.

Crossing the Great Divide

Hume and Hovell tried again to breach the Great Divide and finally succeeded at Pretty Sally. In the next few days they crossed the volcanic plains north and west of Melbourne which the aboriginals called 'Iramoo'. They continued southwards towards the junction of the Maribyrnong River and Jacksons Creek.

Soon they arrived at Corio Bay near the present site of Geelong. Because of damaged instruments they believed they had reached Western Port, the large bay further east which had been discovered by Matthew Flinders and George Bass in 1798. Twenty-two years later, in 1825, James Meehan, who had accompanied John Murray in exploring Port Phillip Bay 18 month earlier, was to tell Hume that there were no large islands in Port Phillip, and that therefore had reached Port Phillip, not Western Port as Hovell had insisted.

They spent three days recuperating before retracing their steps back to Sydney arriving back 18 January 1825.

Return to Sydney

Relations between the "currency lad" (native-born) Hume and the aloof Englishman Hovell had deteriorated, and they raced each other back to Sydney to claim credit for their discoveries. They arrived in January, and were both rewarded with large land grants by Governor Brisbane. They later published conflicting accounts of the journey, each claiming leadership, but today Hume is much the better remembered of the two.

The Hume and Hovell expedition disproved the widely held view that the interior of Australia was an uninhabitable wilderness. They found abundant well-watered grazing land between the Murrumbidgee and the Murray, and also in Victoria. Soon streams of settlers were following their route, which is now the Hume Highway from Sydney to Melbourne via Albury. But their expedition only deepened the mystery of the western rivers.

The route

Monuments

Beveridge, Victoria

The Beveridge Monument was built to mark the location at which Hume & Hovell first sighted the sea.

Lara, Victoria

Monument at Lara.

References

"Hume and Hovell, 1824". Edited by Alan E. I. Andrews: Blubber Head Press, Hobart, 1981.